REW

Measurement Guide

Focus Fidelity

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 Contents
Contents.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................2
Revisions ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................2
Contact...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Technical Support ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Room EQ Wizard...............................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Measurement Microphones ...............................................................................................................................................................................................3
Microphone Setup..............................................................................................................................................................................................................4
REW Setup ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Performing Measurements ................................................................................................................................................................................................8
Microphone Positioning ........................................................................................................................................................................................8
Measurements in REW .........................................................................................................................................................................................8
Impulse Reference Alignment .........................................................................................................................................................................................13
Measurements Export......................................................................................................................................................................................................14

Revisions
Revision Date Description
1.0 21 March 2021 Initial Issue
1.1 31 July 2021 Added REW Ref alignment instructions, updated export settings.

Contact
e-mail: [email protected]
web: www.focusfidelity.com

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 Introduction
This document is a step-by-step guide for performing impulse response measurements suitable for use with Focus Fidelity’s filter design software.
The measurement software and microphone used here is Room EQ Wizard (REW) with a USB connected measurement microphone
Measurements at 6 to 10 positions of both the left and right channels are required, the measured impulses should be more than 2 seconds in length
and be exported from REW as *.wav files. This guide provides a walk-through of this process.

Technical Support
For support please e-mail [email protected] and include your REW mdat file or Focus Fidelity project file.

Room EQ Wizard
Room EQ Wizard (REW) is a widely used freeware application for performing acoustic measurements, the official website is
https://www.roomeqwizard.com/
This guide was written using version 5.20 RC6.
The latest beta release is available here https://www.avnirvana.com/resources/categories/rew-room-eq-wizard-beta-downloads.1/

Measurement Microphones
The MiniDSP UMIK-1 is a very widely used measurement microphone, the UMIK-2 is a newer model and is the model used here.
More information and purchase options can be found on the product pages on MiniDSP’s website,
https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/UMIK-1
https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/UMIK-2
A floor standing microphone stand is highly recommended to allow for easily moving the microphone to different positions,

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 Microphone Setup
If you are using the UMIK-2 install the windows device drivers if you have not done so already. The UMIK-1 does not require a driver to be installed.
Download the microphone calibration files from the MiniDSP website, these are available from the UMIK-1 & UMIK-2 product pages,

Turn the volume control on your amplifier down.

Connect your UMIK-1 or UMIK-2 to your PC. Connect your Hi-Fi system to your PC, this guide assumes you have a DAC, amplifier or speakers with
USB or HDMI audio input from your PC.
It is important to configure Microsoft Windows to the same sample rate which will be used in REW, this avoids Windows introducing a sample rate
conversion stage.
Open windows control panel and select manage audio devices,

Select your playback device,

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Click Properties, select the advanced tab,

Select 24 bit, 48000Hz. Click OK.

Select the recording tab,

Select UMIK-2 (or UMIK-1) and click Properties, select the advanced tab,

Select 24 bit & 48000Hz. Click OK.

Click OK to close the sound dialogue.

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 REW Setup
Start REW. On start-up REW should recognise the microphone,

Click Yes. REW will prompt you for the microphone’s calibration file,

Click Yes.

Browse to your calibration file, select the on axis calibration file (the one without _90deg in the filename). Click Close.
From the preferences menu select preferences.
Ensure the setup is as shown below. Sample Rate must be set to 48 kHz, sweep level -3.0 dBFS.

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Click the Cal Files Tab,

Ensure that the calibration file is loaded for all entries of your UMIK in the Mic cal files list.
Sound card calibration is not required.
REW does not apply the microphone calibration to the impulse response measurements which will be exported as described later. For this reason
your microphone calibration should also be applied in the Focus Fidelity Filter Designer. This described in the filter designer user guide.

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 Performing Measurements
Microphone Positioning
Position the microphone in your primary listening position, point the microphone at the mid point between the speakers.
Five to nine further measurements should be taken around this primary position, vary the position of the microphone in all three dimensions.

Measurements in REW
In REW click the new measurement button,

Starting with the right hand loudspeaker and the microphone in the central listening position name the measurement Right Centre.
Ensure the rest of the settings are as shown above,
Start Freq = 0, End Freq = 24000, Level = -3.00 dBFS, Length 256k, Use acoustic timing reference, sample rate = 48 kHz.
Turn the volume on your amplifier down.
Click the check levels button, REW will play a white noise signal through the right hand loudspeaker for a few seconds.
At the end of the test noise REW will indicate if the volume level was loud enough.
Increase the volume setting and repeat until REW indicates Level OK. Keep the amplifier volume at this setting for all further measurements.
Click start to perform the measurement.
A high frequency chirp should be emitted from the left hand speaker followed by the main sweep signal from the right hand speaker.
The chirp from the left hand speaker is the acoustic timing reference.

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Your REW screen should show the new measurement,

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Click the new measurement button again,

Name the measurement Left Centre and swap the output to the left output indicated by green arrow above.
Leave all other settings and amplifier volume the same as before.
Click Start. The sweep signal will will run. Once complete your REW screen should look like,

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Move the microphone to a new position, click the new measurement button,

Switch the output back to the right channel, name the measurement Right Pos 1. Click Start.
Repeat for the left hand channel, name the measurement Left Pos 1.
Repeat for a further 4 to 8 measurement positions.

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You should have a complete set of measurements in REW,

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 Impulse Reference Alignment
Select the first measurement at the top of the list on the left hand side. Click the impulse button above the graph,

The Ref marker above the graph (circled in green in image above) should be aligned with the direct sound impulse. It can be aligned with the posi-
tive or negative peak but must be aligned with the same peak for all measurements.
The Ref marker can be dragged left or right to adjust the alignment.
In the example below REW has automatically (and incorrectly) placed the Ref marker (circled in green) on a reflection instead of the direct sound.

The ref marker should in this case be dragged to the left to align it with the positive peak of the direct sound.
Repeat the alignment check and adjustment (if required) for all measurements.

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 Measurements Export
Go to the file menu and select Export -> Export all impulse responses as WAV,

Choose the options shown below and click OK

Ensure the “Apply IR Window before Export” is selected.

Select a directory and save the measurements.

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