How to plan a Dirac Live® ART configuration
What to collect and decide before an Active Room Treatment calibration: layout, speaker limits, groups, support settings, Fsiso, and the target curve.
Short answer
Planning an ART configuration means deciding, before the session, how your speakers are grouped, which groups may support each other, over what frequency range and how strongly, and which target curve applies. Dirac Live measures the room and calculates the correction. A plan gives you reasoned starting values to enter, compare with Dirac's defaults, and check by measurement and listening.
What ART does, and what it needs
Active Room Treatment (ART) is a feature of the Dirac Live room-correction software. Dirac describes it as coordinating your speakers so they work together to control room resonances in the bass, instead of correcting each speaker on its own. Dirac ART FAQ
Below a frequency limit called Fsiso, a supporting speaker may contribute to another channel's output. Above that limit, each speaker receives standard per-speaker correction. Dirac ART Setup Guide
According to Dirac's FAQ, ART needs an ART-certified processor or receiver, a Dirac Live license with ART, the Dirac Live application for Windows or Mac, and an omnidirectional measurement microphone. Systems with subwoofers also need a Bass Control license, and the smallest supported system is a stereo pair. Requirements can change, so check Dirac's current documentation for your hardware.
1. Collect your system details
Most planning decisions depend on a few facts about the system. Gather them before you start, from the processor's setup menu, the speaker and subwoofer specifications, and the room itself.
- The exact layout configured on the processor: bed channels, subwoofers, and height speakers.
- Each speaker's low-frequency limit, usually the -3 dB point from the specifications. When it is uncertain, a conservative estimate is safer than an optimistic one.
- Where each speaker sits: front, side, rear, or height, and whether any speaker or subwoofer is close to a seat.
- Whether your subwoofers are the same model and where each one is placed.
- How many seats matter, and whether one main listening position takes priority.
- What you listen to most and at what level: films, music, or both.
- Optional room notes such as dimensions, seat positions, and speaker distances. These are reference notes; they do not replace measurement.
2. Decide how speakers are grouped
An ART group is a set of speakers that share the same correction parameters. Dirac's guidance is to group speakers with similar capability and position, and to put subwoofers with different capability in separate groups so each can have its own support settings. Dirac: ART Channel Group and Support Settings
Grouping matters because a group works within the limits of its most limited member. A small speaker grouped with a large one can restrict the larger speaker's range, while an optimistic group can ask the smaller speaker to work outside its safe range.
- Check that every physical channel appears in exactly one group.
- Keep speakers with materially different low-frequency capability apart.
- Revisit grouping after changing the layout, a speaker, or the strategy.
3. Decide who may support whom
A support relationship permits one group to contribute toward another group's target within a frequency band and up to a level. It is a permission, not a volume setting: ART can use less than the limit when the measured problem needs less.
Dirac recommends letting only subwoofers and large full-range speakers support the LFE channel, so smaller speakers are not driven beyond their capability. Dirac: ART Channel Group and Support Settings
Placement also matters. A supporting speaker close to a seat, or a subwoofer behind it, can draw attention to itself. A cautious plan narrows or removes those relationships first and widens them only when measurement and listening support it.
4. Set the frequency limits and levels
Three settings shape each relationship. Definitions for each are in the ART terms guide.
| Setting | What it controls | Dirac default and range |
|---|---|---|
| Fsiso | The highest frequency at which speakers may support each other | 150 Hz; 50 to 150 Hz |
| Support Level | How strongly a supporting group may contribute; more negative means more | -18 dB; -24 to -1 dB |
| F-support Low and High | The frequency band in which a supporter may contribute | Set automatically; by default not below 50 Hz for speakers other than subwoofers |
- Dirac's setup guide suggests finding the highest Fsiso that still gives a good result. Lower values are more robust; higher values offer more benefit but can make supporting speakers audible. Dirac ART Setup Guide
- F-support Low should respect the supporting speaker's real low-frequency capability. Room gain can make a speaker look more capable at one seat than it is.
- F-support High cannot usefully exceed the receiving group's Fsiso.
5. Choose the target curve
The target curve is the tonal goal of the correction, not a picture of the measured response. In ART, target curves belong to the main channels. A subwoofer group that only supports other channels contributes toward their targets and has no target curve of its own. Dirac: subwoofers outside the LFE channel group
Decide whether every target-bearing group should share one curve or whether existing speaker targets should stay and only the bass changes. The target curve guide compares both approaches.
6. Prepare the calibration session
- Measure at the positions Dirac Live asks for. The software shows how many points ART needs for your setup.
- Check background noise before measuring so a fan, appliance, or traffic does not mask the sweeps.
- Keep your planned groups and values close at hand, along with any target curve file you will load.
- Enter the groups and support settings, load the target curve, and let Dirac Live calculate the filters.
- Dirac's setup guide suggests comparing correction modes on its Spread graph before you settle on a result.
7. Verify, then adjust one thing at a time
Starting values are a hypothesis. Listen with familiar material at a matched level, and look at the measured result.
- If a supporting speaker becomes audible as a separate source, narrow its band or lower Fsiso.
- If you hear strain, compression, or a speaker working too hard, reduce the support or the level.
- Change one setting for one reason, then compare again.
- Keep the original plan as a reference, and test wider settings in a separate filter design or processor slot.
What planning cannot tell you
A plan cannot see your room's modes, verify a speaker specification, or predict how a particular seat will measure. Its values are starting points, not measured requirements. Results depend on the room, placement, equipment capability, playback level, and measurement quality, and Dirac Live's measured result takes priority over any planned value.
Example: one plan and its assumptions
Fsiso: 110 Hz Within group Support Level -5 dB 45 to 90 Hz Center Support Level -5 dB 55 to 90 Hz Subwoofer Group Support Level -21 dB 20 to 90 Hz
These values follow from the assumptions above. A different layout, speaker, placement, seat count, or intent produces different values, so treat this as an illustration of the format, not a recommendation for your system.
Where ART Coach fits
You can plan with notes and a spreadsheet. ART Coach structures the same decisions in a seven-step Planner. It derives groups and support relationships from the layout and speaker limits you enter, suggests Fsiso, Support Level, and F-support values, prepares a target curve file, and exports a Setup Sheet and Technical Reference for the session.
ART Coach does not measure your room, connect to Dirac Live, or create correction filters. Its values are planning suggestions to compare with Dirac Live's defaults and your measured results. The planning workflow is free; see what ART Coach does and does not do.
Sources
- Dirac Live Active Room Treatment (ART) FAQ, Dirac help center
- Dirac Live ART Setup Guide, Dirac help center
- How-to: ART Channel Group and Support Settings, Dirac help center
- Why do subwoofers outside the LFE channel group not have a target curve?, Dirac help center
- ART Coach in-app Guide, version 1.0.8, ART Coach
Statements attributed to Dirac summarize its public help center; check it for current behavior. ART Coach’s planning rules come from the app and its in-app Guide. ART Coach is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Dirac Research AB. Dirac® and Dirac Live® are registered trademarks of Dirac Research AB.