New PEQs For Blodgett Lower Level Gear ~ EleFrugalKit Mods And Blodgett Theater Experiments 09Mar26-11Mar26

Motivation... I wanted to trial the minDSP 2x4HD in the Blodgett Theater. So, I removed it from the EleFrugalKit on the east wall and returned to the excellent (but PEQ-less) Schiit multibit DAC. I played the EleFrugalKit straight for a bit but wanted less & more.

EleFrugalKit East Wall PEQ... I listened and measured the raw 20Hz-20KHz sweep and observed it could be improved toward my desired house sound (house curve). But how with no DSP in the DAC? I returned to a prior scheme I'd used; I auto-created filters in REW and exported them to a text file. Then, in JRiver MC I invoked the 'DSP Studio' and manually added all the filters needed (JRiver MC doesn't have a 'load filters from text file' capability ~ requested the feature before). So, while I can't live measure the results in REW for this signal path, I did simulate it (lower fat red) and listen and it is much improved. These filters will not be applied when the source is switched to the Bluetooth (aptX HD) receiver but I use that much less than the JRiver MC streamer source.

Blodgett Theater Experiment With Front & Sub PEQ... I was still not satisfied with the low end clarity in the Blodgett Theater as auto-adjusted by AccuEQ from Integra controller. And that controller doesn't allow external setting of PEQ or FIR filters. And the overall sound could be flatter. So, I lashed in the miniDSP 2x4HD between the Integra controller and my amp; I also connected the sub to one of the remaining channels of the miniDSP, bypassing the Integra's sub output. This scheme will better integrate the sub with the mains but will not take advantage of Dolby's separate discrete LFE output. I began with bass & mid-bass integration of the mains to the subwoofer. I adjusted the subwoofer cutoffs and gain till satisfied. The end sub sweep is shown in red with the gold showing the mains.

Blodgett Theater 2.1 PEQ... With the subs and mains gain integrated as I liked, I moved on to building filters for the mains first, and then the sub separately. Below is the automatic PEQ (parametric equalization) filter development tasks themselves ~ I then loaded those filters/biquads (limited to 10 per channel) into my miniDSP on the L/R main channels and the sub channel. The before and after SPL sweeps on all 2.1 channels show substantial flattening/improvement.

Finally I re-swept the full 2.1 system and compared it against the original 2.1 SPL. Good improvement, dominated by flattening the response of the mains... I should probably still bring the subwoofer down some it seems.

Music Now & Possibilities... Of course I played some tunes and YT vids and re-adding DSP is worth it. I could improve it more if I had HDMI inputs directly and more filters per channel. Contemplation for another day... miniDSP has recently announced the Tide 16 which could be a further DSP boon and eliminate the Integra DHC-80.6 altogether.