Measure first, and do it for free

Before you spend another dollar on gear, cables or more panels, measure your room. Measure it with free software and a microphone. Not the way I did it.

I bought the McIntosh MEN220, Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect inside a McIntosh chassis. There were other correction systems out there, and I knew it. I chose this one mainly for one reason: I'm a McIntosh boy.

Let me be clear, it did its job. Without my treatment the MEN220 had to correct the room by 25%; with the panels back on the wall, only 7%. That number proved what the room had been doing to my system all along. It is a little bit expensive, though, and I wouldn't go that far.

Find any REW software, most of it freeware and self-explanatory, put a microphone at your seat and identify the problems before you invest in gear or extensive treatment. Then go panel by panel, position by position: install, measure, reapply. The biggest mistake, and I made it more than most, is overdoing it until the room becomes lifeless. You paid for the speakers, the gear and the panels, and you end up with a dead room.

Brand loyalty bought me a correction box. The truth about my room was available for free.