It’s still pretty early days. It’s been in most people’s hands a week or less. Other than a few questions on wiring/connection and eq/setup, it’s been pretty quiet.
Usually, on an accessory sale like this, no news is good news, as it means people are enjoying their systems and listening and not calling us with questions or concerns
Chris … nice to see you keeping an eye on your 'baby’s thread.
I’m sure owners will chime in with some observations at some stage.
They are all stuck, sitting in front of their speakers stunned by the sound. We’ll have to wait until a power outage . . . . 
I just downloaded the PS Audio sub app. It says Zen microphone is not attached. What does this mean? What do i need to get make the room eq work? I have a UMIK-1 mic but my system is stereo only so no other thing to plug it into.
Thanks
the zen mic is an external wireless measurement mic but it’s not absolutely required for subwoofer EQ duties.
With iOS, you can click past this and use your internal phone microphone.
Please let us know if you have any questions or issues with the control app.
As a side note, while the variable phase and delay work with the shipping firmware, we have a firmware update on our website to enable the phase invert toggle button in the app. This feature was added late but can be handy with some advanced multiple subwoofer setups.
The sub room eq could benefit from more documentation. Maybe I just can’t find it. Thanks
Thanks, Chris. I will do the update and look into the Zen mic as I don’t do Apple software or phones, just Apple records and fruit.
Should I buy the Audio Art Triangle Zen Microphone? It says it is compatible with WiSA or CAPELLA systems? Or order the Platin Audio Zen mic from overseas? Do you have a US source to buy these from as an accessory for your subs for Android users?
Are there other available instructions for the PS Audio Android app for the F12 subs to use the room eq?
I want to give everyone a clear picture of where things stand with the auto room EQ feature on the Foundry F12, particularly on Android.
The F12’s app includes both manual and automatic room EQ functionality. On iOS, the auto room EQ can use your phone’s built-in microphone, so it’s ready to go out of the box. On Android, a separate measurement microphone is currently required. The reason comes down to the Android ecosystem itself — there’s enormous variability across Android devices in how their microphones are implemented. Unit-to-unit consistency, automatic gain control behavior, noise suppression algorithms, and other onboard audio processing all vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and even model to model. That makes the built-in mics on Android devices too unpredictable for the kind of accurate acoustic measurement this feature requires. Apple’s tighter hardware control makes the iPhone’s built-in mic reliable enough to work for this purpose.
We’re still making a final decision internally on how to handle this — including whether it makes sense to keep this feature in the Android app at all — so I’d hold off on purchasing any microphones for now.
I also want to be straightforward about my broader take on auto room EQ in a subwoofer specifically. When this kind of feature lives in a source component or an integrated amp, it can correct the response of your entire system — that can be very useful. In a standalone subwoofer, though, it can only correct the subwoofer’s own response. It can’t account for how your main speakers and sub interact with each other in-room, which is often where the real problems live. So while it’s a nice bonus on iOS where the phone mic makes it essentially free, I’m not sure it’s worth the cost of a dedicated mic for everyone.
On the mic itself: the measurement mic sold by Platin Audio (the Danish OEM behind the auto room EQ and wireless functionality we’re using) is the recommended option if you do go that route. You may see the same mic resold under other names — Audiart, Buchardt Audio, etc. — but they’re all the same microphone hardware.
If you’re the type who really wants to dig in and get the best possible result, here’s my #1 suggestion: pick up a USB measurement microphone for your laptop and use free software like REW (Room EQ Wizard). That will let you take full-room measurements and then dial in the F12’s manual EQ, phase, delay, and low-pass crossover controls with a level of precision and system awareness that auto room EQ in a sub alone simply can’t match.
We have another product in development built on the same DSP platform with this same manual and auto room EQ functionality, so we’re working through these decisions carefully to make sure we’re adding real value and not just checking a feature box. More to come.
Fantastic information! I’d like to point out that this amount of transparency and BTS look into a manufacturer’s development process is unmatched IME. Thanks Chris!
Chris,
Thanks for the update info. Maybe there will be a PMG stereo preamplifier that would have dsp room eq internally with multiple balanced line outputs to main speaker amps and the sub amps to integrate the FR30’S and F12’s to the room.
That might convince me to replace my current preamp for the synergy.
Cheers.
The PMG Signature line does not use any DSP, and that’s very intentional. PMG is our purist, flagship approach - analog preamp, analog phono stage, flagship DAC, and so on. The goal with PMG is the best possible sound quality with the shortest, cleanest signal path. We certainly weren’t going to add additional AD/DA conversion stages and DSP processing that would limit system bandwidth and performance in any way. That said, if you’re running a PMG streamer through something like Roon, you do have the option of applying system-level DSP and EQ on the software side but that’s your choice, not something we’re imposing in the hardware.
The F12 subwoofer and our future active and lifestyle products are a different story, and Paul has been pretty clear in past videos about his thinking here: DSP correction can make some really significant improvements in the bass region specifically, and it’s the right approach for an active subwoofer or active speaker design.
When you start looking at more lifestyle-oriented hi-fi — where speakers might end up in less than optimal positions, or where you want to get the most out of a compact speaker and subwoofer combination using bass management, crossovers, a dedicated subwoofer output, and so on — DSP becomes a genuine value-add. The ability to optimize crossover points, apply room correction, and manage the interaction between a sub and smaller speakers can make a meaningful difference in real-world listening situations where perfect placement and a dedicated listening room aren’t in the cards.
So the short version: PMG stays pure and uncompromised. For active subs, active speakers, and lifestyle products, DSP is a powerful tool that lets us deliver better real-world performance, and we’re going to use it where it makes sense.
DSP depends on what streamer/dac is and what software you use to get the music. For me I use Roon and a convolution filter. REW as Chris said is free and can be used to create the filter. Its not going to solve everything, room, speaker and seat placements first, then some treatments and then DSP. Its the icing on the cake, not the cake. For an easier experience Focus Fidelity is a great pay tool that does the filtering and DSP stuff.
That being said I was curious on what the DSP in the new sub would add to the filtering I do now. Looks like manual after is better. For what its worth, I tried using my F12SE from Rythmik PEQ and such and it seemed to not make much of a difference in the graphs. Not sure why… bad implementation of it? Or just did not matter in my case. Not sure.
BTW: I just looked up the app on the Google Play store and it is just called PS Audio. Description is Control your subwoofer. Adjust level, phase, delay and Room EQ.
Yes, we will be resubmitting the Android app to correct the name and description to match the iOS app (which is called “Foundry Control”)
I would agree with you on all of those points. The benefit of having PEQ and advanced features in each sub is that the array can be individually optimized and aligned, both with each other and with your main speakers, to smooth out peaks and dips across multiple listening positions. That’s something a single system EQ can’t do, because each sub interacts with the room differently and often needs quite different EQ settings.
This is exactly the problem that tools like Multi-Sub Optimizer (MSO) are designed to solve. MSO is free software that automatically optimizes the gain, delay, and PEQ of each sub individually to minimize seat-to-seat variation. miniDSP has a great walkthrough of how this works in practice here. We have very similar functionality (of fitlers, delay etc) as minidsp does (we are both using analog devices Sigma DSP chips) in our built-in app.
Once that spatial variation is addressed through multi-sub alignment, your total system EQ (like a FIR convolver in Roon) becomes far more effective, because it’s no longer trying to fix seat-to-seat inconsistencies that are really acoustic/placement problems.
I have heard the miniDSP work on friends 4 sub setup. It was a decent AVR from 2018 era. It did a great job. It does want a low level input.
In my set up with one sub per channel only focus fidelity can integrate them very well. If I had more than one per channel I can see what you are saying about needed that extra PEQ etc to fine tune.
After upgrading my home theater Marantz AV10 to Dirac ART I am amazed at what it does. Have all the speakers interact with each other for bass correction the sound is absolutely amazing. I have two G25HP subwoofers. Each is 1500 watts AB w dual 15 opposed woofers. They are quite amazing. I like my 12’a for music but they don’t go as deep. But for theater they rock. Dirac bass control was on par with anthem but ART was on another level. Highly recommend.
I just ordered a pair of F12’s along with the wireless transmitter. We’ll see how it goes and possibly order two more. I want to spread them around the room rather than stack.
This is the ultimate tweak! I can’t wait.
I’ve been running multiple subs for several years now with great results, REL Carbon Specials in my case.
I have two stacked in the right front corner behind the speaker, and one each on the side walls firing diagonally (to the extent that a subwoofer actually “fires” in a direction) opposite the listening position. Bass is thus very evenly distributed in my room, and throughout the house.
Properly setting phase can be a bit tricky, and indeed I had it wrong on the right-side sub for an embarrassingly long period of time, which I dealt with by setting its output at an extremely low level. Then, one day I decided to crank it up and wander around the room and house listening for peaks. When you have it wrong, it’s like a ventriloquist “throwing” his or her voice–the bass was booming in the bathroom furthest from the system. I flipped the switch and adjusted the level and I had even better bass (and midrange!) than ever before.
Happy boy!!!
Bacch next level. Also the simplicity of implementation.
ART won’t work for two speakers. Or at least would not do much.