IKM ARC and ARC2: Measurements
Recently I bought the upgrade to the new version of IK Multimedia ARC. They say it has better resolution in the bass area. I wanted to find out if this is really true, so I did some measurements with REW before and after ARC2.
Here are some graphs of my room with some absorbers I built (broad band and 2 corner bass traps):
Left speaker:
Right speaker:
ARC (first version)
A few weeks ago I did measurements with the first version of ARC (1.3.1 to be precise ;-)
Right speaker with ARC:
Left speaker with ARC:
Much better. Overall frequency response and stereo image is better. But the bass area is not flat (due to the modes in my room).
ARC 2
Now the new ARC2. Will it be worth the upgrade price?
Right speaker with ARC2:
Left speaker with ARC2:
The bass frequency response is much better now as you can see and as I can hear ;-) Kick drums are now very punchy and really come from the center now. With ARC it was a little bit like: "yeah, somewhere between left and right" But now it's dead center with punch. I like that!
edit: after a few songs listening to Meshuggah, Slipknot, John Scofield, Destiny's Child: holy shit!!! I love my 'new' bass! For me it's already totally worth it.
Update: here a closer look at the differences between ARC and ARC2. The gray trace is ARC2, 1/6 octave smoothing. I guess you know what the untreated response is ...
Left:
Right:
Oh, and when you do your ARC measurements this is helpful:
A laser pointer attached to the mic:
and a piece of cloth with some numbered dots on it:
