A survey of Room Correction devices - Meridian, TacT, Lyngdorf

In the next couple of articles I'm going to create a comprehensive directory of the room correction products available on the market and assess them against the functional criteria that have been explained in the last two articles (here and here).

The functional criteria have been shortened to fit into the table. Here is the interpretive legend:

• Choose Freq --> Must not apply correction filters above the transition frequency OR must allow the user to switch off room correction above the transition frequency
• Choose Target --> Must allow the user to choose a target frequency response
• No A/D or D/A --> Must not perform an un-needed analog to digital or digital to analog conversion
• Auto Measure --> Must provide automatic measurement and correction filter generation capabilities

If you didn't read the detailed and comprehensive introduction to room correction, see this article.

Manufacturer	Model	Choose Freq	Chooose Target	No A/D or D/A	Auto Measure
Meridian	861 Multi-Channel Processor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Meridian	G68 Multi-Channel Processor (A)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Meridian	G61R Multi-Channel Processor (A)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TacT	TCS MkIII 12-Channel Processor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TacT	RCS 2.2 XP / Mini Two channel pre-amplifier (1)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TacT	M/S 2150 XDM Integrated amplifier (2)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
TacT	Boz 216 Pre-amplifier (3)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lyngdorf	DPA-1 Pre-amplifier	Yes	Limited (i)	Yes	Yes
Lyngdorf	RP-1 Standalone room correction device	Yes	Limited (i)	No	Yes
Lyngdorf	TDAI2200 Integrated ampifier	Yes	Limited (i)	Yes	Yes

Notes:

Interestingly Meridian does not have a 2 channel device incorporating its Meridian Room Correction algorithms.

(A) The difference between the G61R and the G68 is that the G68 incorporates video switching, tuner and multi-zone capabilities.

(1) The RCS 2.2 XP provides analog inputs whereas the 2.2 Mini is digital input only.

(2) The only difference between the M and S models appears to be the addition of a volume control wheel in the M model.

(3) The Boz line is modular, in that it can be extended to provide up to 16 channels of digital amplification. The 216 is the preamp and also a controller for all the other digital amplifiers.

(i) The Lyngdorf products do not offer complete flexibility in choice of target curve, instead offering what they call Voicing curves. Whilst the curves offered do not provide complete end-user flexibility, and some are slightly strange (6 dB cut above 100Hz anyone?!), I imagine they have done this to prevent user error (e.g. setting a curve with a 20dB peak).

Next week I'll cover some of the other products on the market from Audyssey, Velodyne and DSPeaker.

What do you think? Let me know, as always, via the comments!