Blog 25 | Studio Reference Monitors and Room calibration



December 17, 2024 - Posted by Mash Maximus

This week we will learn a little bit about room calibration. Now this can be a touchy and divisive subject as the world of professional audio monitoring is divided between those who appreciate room calibration and those who think that monitors should just reproduce an unadulterated signal. Even our team of audio professionals at Pro Audio LA have their individual preferences and biases, which made researching this article quite challenging but also exciting.

What is room calibration?

Room calibration is the process of affecting the signal coming out of a playback source (media player, computer, DAW, converter/interface) in a way that compensates for frequency and phase discrepancies in room, so that by the time the sound reaches your ears, you are getting the most accurate representation of the signal you are listening to.

If you have ever listened to music in your car and thought “hmm…this track could use some more bass and maybe less treble” and then proceeded to go into the equalizer function in your cars stereo to make those adjustments or if you have ever listened to music on a multi component audio system and played around with the equalization to get it to sound “just right”, you did room calibration.

Obviously, I am oversimplifying things a bit, but the principle is the same. In the case of modern room correction/calibration; however, we are referring to more complex elements that collectively affect how a pair of speakers can sound in any given room. These elements can be the rooms dimensions, what is in it, the location of the speakers in the room both in relation to the rooms boundaries as well as where the listener is positioned etc.

Most traditional professional studios have ample amounts of acoustic treatment that was methodically designed, built and applied to get the best sounding room possible; however, the average studio user these days is often working out of their home, garage or generic commercial space. These are the folks who benefit the most from room correction calibration.

This brings me to the tools. This list can be very long but we will stick with a few of our favorite products that specialize in room calibration/correct. Genelec, Amphion and Trinnov.

Genelec has been at the forefront of active reference monitor technology development for a while now. Their current lineup of the SAM series and One series speakers, include really clever driver placement as well as Smart Active Management technology that lets the user calibrate their Genelecs to any room they are in. It could be a bare concrete basement (yikes!) or a plush listening room with fluffy cushions and soft padding on all surfaces. The way it works is that you connect your interface or converter outputs to the speakers. You connect Genelecs proprietary calibration interface to the speakers as well as your computer. Now you use Genelecs GLM software to generate some frequency sweeps that are picked up by a microphone that is also connected to this same interface. Once the software receives a snapshot of your room, it uses clever algorithms to generate an equalization and phase response that offsets the imbalances and acoustic deficiencies in your room. Now when you play any audio through your Genelec monitors, you hear a more accurate version of your source material.


Trinnov has been in the room correction/calibration game for a very long time as well, honing their chops in the audiophile/hifi realm. Their standalone systems use the same basic principle of room correction except that their systems can be used with any set of speakers. Some of their offerings also include systems tailored for surround and immersive mixing environments. In fact, one could argue that accurate immersive mixing would be virtually impossible without room calibration/correction technologies, such as the ones offered by the likes of Trinnov and Genelec.
Then there are the audio purists. Those who believe that the source material should follow the simplest path out of your playback device, through your speakers and into your ears. Amphion is our favorite brand for this ethos. Their philosophy of simplicity is what made them special. A pair of passive speakers with a carefully designed waveguide, powered by an external amplifier that was hand matched to the speaker’s acoustic qualities, bellowing out audio in its simplest and most honest form. This is what Amphion and others like them have done and continue to do today. Audio purists all over the world agree that this is the right approach. Treating a listening room or studio with acoustic treatment to compensate for room deficiencies and then letting the speakers do their thing is how things should be.

We at Pro Audio LA have found from our years of helping clients find the right sound that neither is completely right or wrong. Both approaches have their place and approaching the idea of room correction/calibration with functionality in mind helps us make sure that the solutions we offer our clients are not biased by our beliefs but based on each client’s individual practical needs.

Let’s say you are a veteran mix engineer who has a purpose built studio with acoustic treatment built into the walls during construction – because your clients don’t play around and neither do you. A pair of Amphion Two18s with the BaseTwo25 extension system will very likely sound sublime in your space and let you dial in your mixes in no time. Could you benefit from incorporating a Trinnov Nova into your setup? Maybe, which is why we encourage our more experienced clients to demo room calibration systems in their own space before making any decisions. Maybe not – because you spent a lot of time and effort in designing your room and acoustically treating it in the first place. Your “beautifully honest” Amphions can truly shine in your excellent sounding space.

What if you are a hardworking producer/engineer who works constantly but is limited to their spare bedroom. Your in-laws often visit, so you can’t really fill the space with acoustic treatment, so you purchase a pair of Genelec 8341 and a 7360A subwoofer. You can easily get extremely precise results by utilizing Genelecs GLM calibration software, without having to disrupt anything in your house. Have your in-laws decided to stick around longer than anticipated and now you must work out of a friend’s commercial space? No problem. Use the GLM software again and calibrate your speakers to the new space. The possibilities are incredible.
As you can see, different circumstances require different solutions and; therefore, having a strong opinion for or against room calibration/correction technology does nothing for the folks who need help with their sound! Moreover is the fact that getting familiar with a monitoring system or pair of speakers will likely yield better results than any combination of tools. Knowing your room and the speakers you use should be the first step. Recognizing the way your mixes sound in your mixing room vs in your car vs in your living room will be an invaluable skill. Once you have achieved this level of oneness and familiarity with “your” sound, talk to the opinionated nerds at Pro Audio LA about room calibration/correction or maybe book an acoustic consultation. We would love to help.