My Audio Setup

Here’s a brief overview of how I have my audio rig set up. It’s relatively simple, with a few auxillary devices connected such as a vinyl turntable, a reel-to-reel deck, and a guitar amp.

Other than the auxillary devices, I used a single AKG C414 II microphone. The two output devices are straight-forward: an outboard DSP handles crossover points, corrective EQ, and timing for the two nearfields and single subwoofer; and additionally, an external bluetooth transceiver.

Audio Devices

My FireFace UFX was modded by Revive Audio; mainly swapping out the default op-amps for Burr Brown components, and rebuilding the PSU to have a lower noise floor.

My DSP is an interesting unit. If you’re unfamiliar, a DSP (for audio) is essentially a blank canvas for manipulating audio signals. In my case, I use it to introduce corrective EQ that accounts for the acoustics in my room to achieve a more balanced sound. Additionally, I also use it to introduce a slight timing correction to account for the fact that my subwoofer is a bit farther than I’d like it to be.

Routing

The physical routing of my setup is relatively straight forward. Following the graph below, input devices are on the left while output devices are on the right. Not shown is my patchbay, which sits between the auxillary audio devices and my interface.

All devices are custom wired, with shielded and balanced cables using Neutrik connectors.

DSP & Room Correction

The MiniDSP 4x10 HD comes with 4 preset slots for output devices and EQ corrections. Currently, I have my presets as such:

Presets 1 and 3 are the typical room measurements (accounting for presence of subwoofer), while presets 2 and 4 are the same room corrections but slightly skewed towards a Fletcher Munson curve.

For room measurements, I use a MiniDSP U-Mik1 (USB-C) and RoomEQ Wizard.

Software Routing & Presets

RME TotalMixFX

TotalMixFX is my main audio control software. It handles all of the audio inputs and outputs connected directly to my interface. Aside from serving general routing purposes, it also has a very nice compressor that I use to even out my vocal mic.

For general purposes, I have 2 main outputs. “Speakers” and “headphones”. Speakers outputs via AES to my DSP, which controls the nearfields and subwoofer. The “headphone” output is a mix that feeds my physical headphone outputs on my interface (9/10, 11/12) as well as the output going to my bluetooth transmitter.

Within TotalMixFX, I have a few presets for output routing. Preset A sets the speakers as the main output, with voice-specific applications going to my headset. Preset B routes everything to the dedicated headphone mix. For a more detailed view of which audio devices and applications go to which physical output, see the table below.

MiniDSP 2x8

For the final section of my output stage, the MiniDSP 2x8 application controls the EQ profiles, crossover, speaker timing and physical speaker routing.

In Conclusion

I’m pretty happy with my setup— I’ve got mostly everything I need to do what I want, audio-wise.

My next step is to consolidate all of my rack equipment and auxillary devices into a more logical physical layout, as well as attempt to control most of the devices using smart relays. At the moment, I successfully have HomeAssistant controlling the power for my nearfields whenever Plex is playing music, but I plan to take it further eventually.

This post will be updated and have more information added as time goes by.