[castleofargh]

 I agree that it's hard to hope to get it right only by ear and EQ with speakers, if only because EQ can't solve everything in a room. but not getting it right, doesn't mean there isn't progress that can be made by ear. of course experience might play a massive part when fooling around with EQ, and it's easy to just make a mess when we have none. probably the reason why so many people believe that EQ ruins the sound.

 

[sonitus mirus]

   I agree that it's hard to hope to get it right only by ear and EQ with speakers, if only because EQ can't solve everything in a room. but not getting it right, doesn't mean there isn't progress that can be made by ear. of course experience might play a massive part when fooling around with EQ, and it's easy to just make a mess when we have none. probably the reason why so many people believe that EQ ruins the sound.

 
EQ can't solve everything in a room, but if your head is locked in a vise, it might make things just about perfect.

  I have an EQ that has a pink noise generator and uses a microphone to set itself automatically.  Since I'm only sitting at my desk where I use the speakers, it works out ok.  Though, I would prefer the results to be more consistent, as I can perform the same test without touching the microphone and the results are quite a bit different every time.  I'm paranoid that I am doing more harm than good, so I left the EQ out of the loop until I can find some time and energy to learn more about the process of treating a room and setting an EQ.

 

[castleofargh]

  EQ can't solve everything in a room, but if your head is locked in a vise, it might make things just about perfect.

  I have an EQ that has a pink noise generator and uses a microphone to set itself automatically.  Since I'm only sitting at my desk where I use the speakers, it works out ok.  Though, I would prefer the results to be more consistent, as I can perform the same test without touching the microphone and the results are quite a bit different every time.  I'm paranoid that I am doing more harm than good, so I left the EQ out of the loop until I can find some time and energy to learn more about the process of treating a room and setting an EQ.

I believe you need to hold the mic in your mouth to get closer to your HRTF within the room

.  you get massive changes or just small ones? because I would expect noise to be noise even pink one so some changes are expected with such a method.
I've tried doing about the same as you on crappy desktop speakers with the IMM-6 (I only use the best... not) and room eq wizard. I have more fun than success, but the EQ most certainly did some good, I just totally gave up on trying to get back up on the rolled off parts because the distortions were rapidly becoming an audible problem, so I didn't turn a donkey into a race horse, but the mids do sound better.
the hilarious part was trying to do the same with the tweeters inside my laptop ^_^.
 
but I do get great results(subjectively at least and I still go for what I favor by ear afterward) measuring IEMs with the Vibro Veritas gizmo. I had to create a make believe calibration(that sucks), and I get a nasty 15khz resonance, but else it's really working fine and again I use REW to make an EQ simulation and then check if it went as anticipated using virtual audio cable, VSThost, and some EQ in the loop while I measure again(that brought a all lot of new problems, but in the end it works ok for my humble needs). so I really have an idea of where I'm going and that rocks. it's obviously a great improvement compared to doing stuff by ear(if only for how much faster I can EQ something), but surprisingly(or not) my previous settings were mostly where they should. I suck a lot at estimating the low end, and even with test tones I don't think I can do better than +/-1.5db(so up 3db variations from one attempt to another). I knew it already and measurements confirmed that. about the same in trebles, but most IEMs can't do much after 10 or 12khz anyway and my ears are done after 16.5khz, so it never mattered much in that direction.
the only stuff I EQ 100%  by ear now is my hd650.

 

[AtomikPi]

   
EQ can't solve everything in a room, but if your head is locked in a vise, it might make things just about perfect.

  I have an EQ that has a pink noise generator and uses a microphone to set itself automatically.  Since I'm only sitting at my desk where I use the speakers, it works out ok.  Though, I would prefer the results to be more consistent, as I can perform the same test without touching the microphone and the results are quite a bit different every time.  I'm paranoid that I am doing more harm than good, so I left the EQ out of the loop until I can find some time and energy to learn more about the process of treating a room and setting an EQ.

 
 
Keep in mind that room modes are affected by note frequency. So as you go higher in frequency, space between peaks and nulls decreases. This is why newer iterations of Audyssey don't bother fixing room modes in the treble. I'd suggest starting by EQing bass and then working your way up. Or find a reputable room EQ plugin and calibrated measurement microphone. (I use Sonarworks with my studio monitors and Audyssey XT32 with my far-field setup, although the lack of configurability in Audyssey is very frustrating.) Plus there's the issue that the EQ algorithms of a lot of plugins simply suck. 

 

[bfreedma]

Keep in mind that room modes are affected by note frequency. So as you go higher in frequency, space between peaks and nulls decreases. This is why newer iterations of Audyssey don't bother fixing room modes in the treble. I'd suggest starting by EQing bass and then working your way up. Or find a reputable room EQ plugin and calibrated measurement microphone. (I use Sonarworks with my studio monitors and Audyssey XT32 with my far-field setup, although the lack of configurability in Audyssey is very frustrating.) Plus there's the issue that the EQ algorithms of a lot of plugins simply suck. 

Have you considered buying the Audyssey Pro kit? That would give you much more flexibility than stock XT32. I've been very happy with the measured results after using some of the curve customization features available in Pro after running XT32/Pro to get the baseline room EQ.

 

[AtomikPi]

Have you considered buying the Audyssey Pro kit? That would give you much more flexibility than stock XT32. I've been very happy with the measured results after using some of the curve customization features available in Pro after running XT32/Pro to get the baseline room EQ.

That's not a bad idea. I can't stop hearing the BBC Dip - or whatever it's called - as a coloration. I suppose there are worse ways to spend money than the pro kit. I'll do it eventually, once my wallet recovers. Speaker-Fi makes headphones seem cheap.

 

[StanD]

I see you guys are still at it.
Here's an interesting post. Once in a while someone posts that the rectifier tubes in their tube amp affects tone in ways that I couldn't imagine. What do you think? 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/711824/hifiman-he-560-impressions-discussion-thread/14145#post_11947104

 

[arnyk]

  I see you guys are still at it.
Here's an interesting post. Once in a while someone posts that the rectifier tubes in their tube amp affects tone in ways that I couldn't imagine. What do you think? 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/711824/hifiman-he-560-impressions-discussion-thread/14145#post_11947104

 
It's the natural consequence of relying on casual audiophile sighted evaluatons.

 

[StanD]

  I see you guys are still at it.
Here's an interesting post. Once in a while someone posts that the rectifier tubes in their tube amp affects tone in ways that I couldn't imagine. What do you think? 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/711824/hifiman-he-560-impressions-discussion-thread/14145#post_11947104

 
 

   
It's the natural consequence of relying on casual audiophile sighted evaluatons.

If that's sight, I'd call it blind, but not in the sense of what we would call blind testing. Everytime I read such a rediculous claim, I feel the need to pass gas.

 

[Ruben123]

So.... what happened to Arny?

 

[StanD]

  So.... what happened to Arny?

Perhaps he'll be resurrected as Arnyk1.

 

[Bibo]

  So.... what happened to Arny?

He knew too much...

 

[StanD]

 
He knew too much...

Unlike Sgt. Schultz. (Hogan's Heros)

 

[headdict]

This is why I'm still around.

 

[castleofargh]

I've been warned a few times already by Curra that I was very close to graduate if I kept doing what I'm doing.
but if all you have to do is publicly insult somebody, that's cheating IMO.