37%: the highest correction I ever recorded

When I applied the MEN220 in my old room, it measured a 37% correction. That is the highest correction ratio we have ever recorded in any room. And it was my own living room.

Around 800 square feet, which sounds generous until you learn it was L-shaped. The seat sat three and a half metres from the speakers with zero gap to the back wall, the left speaker was exposed to a big open area and the right one was pushed against a full glass wall. Beautiful views, beautiful size, a nightmare by every audiophile standard.

Then I added panels, absorption and diffusion, and the correction dropped to the mid-teens. That was progress, but the problems remained. Treatment can calm a room; it cannot change its shape.

For years my ears had complained about that room, and for years I answered them with equipment. The number simply put a figure on the complaint. Once I saw it, I stopped asking which component to change next and started asking which room.

Your ears can be argued with. A 37% correction cannot.