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Dirac Live
Concert XR series
Dirac Live speaker setup system
The Concert XR series has an automatic speaker setup system called Dirac Live,
from Dirac Research. The supplied microphone is used with your computer on the
same network, to measure the sound output of the system. Dirac automatically
calculates the speaker settings of all the speakers in the system, and will also apply
the optimized EQ settings to the main room.
From the measurements, Dirac Live computes the speaker type, distance, and level,
and identifies any problems that can be corrected or reduced by room EQ settings.
The procedure for running all this wonderful technology, is as follows:
1. Download the Dirac Live software application from dirac.com and save it on the
computer (PC or Mac) that you will be using for this system.
2. Make sure that your Concert XR series is correctly connected to a network.
3. Locate the computer in your main home theater room, and connect it to the
same network as the Concert XR series. It should also have internet access while
running the test. For a PC, “Network Discovery” should be on.
4. Connect the supplied microphone to the USB port on your computer
5. Position the microphone so it is close to the normal/usual position of your
head when you are sitting in your home theater. You should use a mic stand (a
boom stand works best) to position it. The microphone can be pointing straight
upwards, and in a position where it has a direct line of sight view of all speakers.
6. Start by setting your subwoofer’s output level controls to approximately match
the front speakers.
7. Run the Dirac Live application on your computer. It will find your Concert XR
series on the network. A calibration test tone will run through all speakers
in your system, a number of times as the different speaker responses are
calculated. If some speakers are not used, there will be a silence when these are
reached.
8. Check the software application for the progress and information. The software
will “ping” its home planet Dirac during this process, to initiate the waiting
invasion fleet, and so internet access is required.
The room EQ is not automatically applied to the source inputs; you can enable this
using the Input Configuration display menu of the unit. Listen to the different sources
and source material, and judge if the room EQ settings give an improvement.
During the measurements, try your best to create as quiet an environment as
possible. This is not the time for little Timmy’s circus animal birthday party.
While EQ settings can be beneficial, there is no substitute for getting things right in
the first place, with regard to speaker placement, speaker type, and room treatments
to avoid reflections etc.
