Ik multimedia Arc Studio - ARC 4

[JasonE]

Also for the @IK Multimedia folks, would definitely love to see an audio interface with this feature built in.

Need to suggest this to RME.

 

[JasonE]

I am still very interested in this unit. I run the Yamaha H7 speakers along with the sub. I am assuming that this unit goes between my interface outputs and the speaker inputs. I haven't looked at the connections on the hardware for this too deep yet.

 

[Jarick]

I am still very interested in this unit. I run the Yamaha H7 speakers along with the sub. I am assuming that this unit goes between my interface outputs and the speaker inputs. I haven't looked at the connections on the hardware for this too deep yet.

Correct, it goes between the two. You will want a pair of XLR cables to run from the ARC to the monitors.

The HS8 speakers sound a lot better with the ARC. At least for my room, it fills out the low end substantially, where it was more upper bass before, now it's a lot flatter and deeper. It also scoops out the low mids a bit which clears up the sound. I think for the most part that's due to room issues rather than speakers but either way it should help.

I've spent the last few days rearranging my room and trying different speaker positions. Funny enough every change I make seems to make it worse lol. But I'm getting my desk put back together now.

 

[JasonE]

Correct, it goes between the two. You will want a pair of XLR cables to run from the ARC to the monitors.

The HS8 speakers sound a lot better with the ARC. At least for my room, it fills out the low end substantially, where it was more upper bass before, now it's a lot flatter and deeper. It also scoops out the low mids a bit which clears up the sound. I think for the most part that's due to room issues rather than speakers but either way it should help.

I've spent the last few days rearranging my room and trying different speaker positions. Funny enough every change I make seems to make it worse lol. But I'm getting my desk put back together now.

I did get a chance to look at the hardware online after I posted and saw that it is XLR in and XLR out. That will be perfect for my setup. I already have the cables. I had to change my cables when I got my new interface a couple of years ago. The cables I used on the one before the new one will work for this.

Sounds like you are enjoying the unit so far. I will probably pick one up once I get through my taxes and start digging into my recording again.

 

[Jarick]

I did get a chance to look at the hardware online after I posted and saw that it is XLR in and XLR out. That will be perfect for my setup. I already have the cables. I had to change my cables when I got my new interface a couple of years ago. The cables I used on the one before the new one will work for this.

Sounds like you are enjoying the unit so far. I will probably pick one up once I get through my taxes and start digging into my recording again.

I run balanced 1/4" to XLR from my MOTU interface, then XLR out to the Yamahas. Nice thing with the ARC is that it includes a power supply (always on), and you don't need to keep USB connected after it's set up.

I don't love on my MOTU M4 that it is USB powered, so anytime I unplug my laptop it powers off (even though it's plugged into a powered USB hub). I'll likely swap it out for something that has separate power at some point.

 

[Jarick]

Oh one other funny thing, after everything is plugged in the ARC is weighted so much to the back that it just tilts back at an angle. I'm going to need to add some weight to the front so it sits flat again.

 

[JasonE]

I run balanced 1/4" to XLR from my MOTU interface, then XLR out to the Yamahas. Nice thing with the ARC is that it includes a power supply (always on), and you don't need to keep USB connected after it's set up.

I don't love on my MOTU M4 that it is USB powered, so anytime I unplug my laptop it powers off (even though it's plugged into a powered USB hub). I'll likely swap it out for something that has separate power at some point.

I went in big when I had to replace my interface. I decided to spend more money and buy something that was going to be as future proof as I could find. I bought the RME UCX II. It is a much higher quality interface than what I was using. However, it uses balanced 1/4 input and output connections. My other interface was XLR for both.

Note: I just looked and I actually bought this interface 3 years ago and it has gone up in price by $300. I also got the RME ARC-USB Advanced Remote Control with mine for free at that time. They were running a special on it. That is another $179. I feel like I got a super deal on this now. At the time it was a chunk of cash.

 

[laxu]

Oh one other funny thing, after everything is plugged in the ARC is weighted so much to the back that it just tilts back at an angle. I'm going to need to add some weight to the front so it sits flat again.

That...seems like a ridiculous oversight in design. It's not like XLR etc connectors should vary much in weight, right?

I guess you need to put a rock on top of it. Then you can say it's your rock rig!

 

[Jarick]

That...seems like a ridiculous oversight in design. It's not like XLR etc connectors should vary much in weight, right?

I guess you need to put a rock on top of it. Then you can say it's your rock rig!

Well the ARC is super light, but yeah the XLR cables coming out the back, the weight of the cables just hanging down tips it backwards. I put a ceramic dish full of picks on it for now but even then it will tilt back a bit!

 

[TJontheRoad]

I had great success recently with treating my studio and the Neumann auto correction system plus KH-150 monitors. So I've decided to give this another try for my Event PS6 monitors with the IK Arc Studio system.

I think the issue I had before with Arc was that the room wasn't treated. I probably was expecting/hoping for too much.

 

[TJontheRoad]

Test completed with the ARC Studio. More details here;

Studio Treatment Thread

Inspiring thread. I have a room that will be updated sometime this year. Really like those corner panels @Sleezy E (y) . I'm going to try something similar, although my room is smaller than yours.

thegearforum.com

 

[Stone]

YEah Im also Still Interested in this But for my Fractal and Powercabs, not sure that would work though
any thoughts welcome for sure

thanks all
Mike

 

[Allexi]

Have someone compared this to Sonarworks SoundId?
So far I don’t see any advantages tbh.

 

[laxu]

Have someone compared this to Sonarworks SoundId?
So far I don’t see any advantages tbh.

Sonarworks Reference ID was really buggy in my experience. It would crash on both my Mac and PC just by turning on the Axe-Fx 3 I had, or any other audio interface. But that was a few years back so it might be better now.

I don't see a whole lot of advantage to this box either. Sonarworks can correct both speakers and headphones whereas this seems to be limited to just speakers. It could be lower latency.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Main benefit is that it runs outside of the computer, so you don’t have to deal with virtual soundcards or plugins at all. Another stage of A/D and D/A is quite a drawback, both for latency, and if you are using something high spec.

I know a few Sonarworks users that simply didn’t want to have to deal with bypassing the plugin or changing profiles for different monitors and have bought a few of these IK boxes so it’s just permanently on their monitors.

Having heard Neumann’s MA-1 technology, I’m SOMEWHAT done with either Sonarworks+IK ARC, simply because what they’re doing is far beyond correcting the response to an eq curve.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Demoing just the software part of this. Now that I have the Neumann's with their own built in DSP, its quite tempting to not have to use plugins for my other monitors either. If it goes well, I might grab one of these boxes. I know I should know better than to put any kind of trust in IK, but credit where its due, they've got a product to market before anyone else that people were looking for (and at a good price - looks like IK have sold out of their first run of these). I kind of wish someone else would have got this product out first, but hey-ho.

Initial thoughts:

- I'm very familiar with Sonarworks and have recently got on Neumann's calibration too. IK is the only one where you don't have to provide measurements of how far the speakers are apart or how far you are from them. Feels a bit more rogue.
- Its quite hard to consistently position the mic in the same spot for each height withough pre-marking spots on the ground. I wish it was a bit more specific with where its looking for the mic to be placed (Sonarworks + Neumann are much more fussy about this).
- You can't go back on a previous measurement. When doing 21 of them, its annoying to realise half way through that the mic is a bit high or has sagged in position, to have to redo all of them.
- Software is actually quite clean and snappy which is rare for IK. Runs nicely and looks good.
- I did a measurement on ARC 3 (which I own but never used) and the demo of ARC 4. Both yielded quite different "before" plots, despite using the same mic. I wonder how much the differences are in how hard it is to place the mic in the same spot each time.
- Good options for how the software handles the calibration. I don't like linear phase, and its nice to control how hard the EQ is working in various ways. With v4 there is good options for the target curve too.
- The results are somewhat comparable with Sonarworks, I'm not sure I could pick a preference of the quality of one over the other. The Neumann calibration is doing a LOT more on a deeper level and improves things more noticeably. This is like a gentle EQ-ing to improve things a bit, but you don't get anywhere near the same level of spatial depth and subwoofer punch that the Neumann can do.

On the whole, its quite good. Its certainly cheaper than a Trinnov, and its also cheap enough to reduce your expectation to "it'll probably come out sounding slightly better rather than worse", so in that regard, I think you can expect some kind of improvement.

What remains to be seen:

- When IK comes along with v5, I literally have NO IDEA what to expect from them as far as upgrade policy for current users. No doubt, due to the success of this, they will probably offer other boxes that support several monitors, external controllers, built in interface (with measurement mic preamp) etc. IK are without doubt one of the worst companies to handle this kind of stuff fairly, so buying in at this version basically means I will have to accept that for any new versions or features, its likely that I'll be paying close to a "sale price" just to stay up to date.

What I would recommend:

- I think the fully integrated systems offered by Neumann and Genelec are simply on another level. If you can afford to go that route, I just don't see how you can top it. Trinnov is also fantastic, but the pricing is ludicrous as they charge you extra for support of additional speakers and subwoofers. Neumann have the lowest point of entry with the highest bang for your buck - you can have time aligned subwoofers and phase corrected montioring for less than the cost of a bone stock Trinnov on its own.

 

[TJontheRoad]

Demoing just the software part of this. Now that I have the Neumann's with their own built in DSP, its quite tempting to not have to use plugins for my other monitors either. If it goes well, I might grab one of these boxes. I know I should know better than to put any kind of trust in IK, but credit where its due, they've got a product to market before anyone else that people were looking for (and at a good price - looks like IK have sold out of their first run of these). I kind of wish someone else would have got this product out first, but hey-ho.

Initial thoughts:

- I'm very familiar with Sonarworks and have recently got on Neumann's calibration too. IK is the only one where you don't have to provide measurements of how far the speakers are apart or how far you are from them. Feels a bit more rogue.
- Its quite hard to consistently position the mic in the same spot for each height withough pre-marking spots on the ground. I wish it was a bit more specific with where its looking for the mic to be placed (Sonarworks + Neumann are much more fussy about this).
- You can't go back on a previous measurement. When doing 21 of them, its annoying to realise half way through that the mic is a bit high or has sagged in position, to have to redo all of them.
- Software is actually quite clean and snappy which is rare for IK. Runs nicely and looks good.
- I did a measurement on ARC 3 (which I own but never used) and the demo of ARC 4. Both yielded quite different "before" plots, despite using the same mic. I wonder how much the differences are in how hard it is to place the mic in the same spot each time.
- Good options for how the software handles the calibration. I don't like linear phase, and its nice to control how hard the EQ is working in various ways. With v4 there is good options for the target curve too.
- The results are somewhat comparable with Sonarworks, I'm not sure I could pick a preference of the quality of one over the other. The Neumann calibration is doing a LOT more on a deeper level and improves things more noticeably. This is like a gentle EQ-ing to improve things a bit, but you don't get anywhere near the same level of spatial depth and subwoofer punch that the Neumann can do.

On the whole, its quite good. Its certainly cheaper than a Trinnov, and its also cheap enough to reduce your expectation to "it'll probably come out sounding slightly better rather than worse", so in that regard, I think you can expect some kind of improvement.

What remains to be seen:

- When IK comes along with v5, I literally have NO IDEA what to expect from them as far as upgrade policy for current users. No doubt, due to the success of this, they will probably offer other boxes that support several monitors, external controllers, built in interface (with measurement mic preamp) etc. IK are without doubt one of the worst companies to handle this kind of stuff fairly, so buying in at this version basically means I will have to accept that for any new versions or features, its likely that I'll be paying close to a "sale price" just to stay up to date.

What I would recommend:

- I think the fully integrated systems offered by Neumann and Genelec are simply on another level. If you can afford to go that route, I just don't see how you can top it. Trinnov is also fantastic, but the pricing is ludicrous as they charge you extra for support of additional speakers and subwoofers. Neumann have the lowest point of entry with the highest bang for your buck - you can have time aligned subwoofers and phase corrected montioring for less than the cost of a bone stock Trinnov on its own.

Yeah, they don't specify distance from the listening position for the horizontal mic test positions. Only vertical distances are specified. I also thought that was odd. I did measurements anyway to keep it consistent. 6 inches away forward/back from position 1 for the 4 corner tests and 12 inches away for the 2 side test locations.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Well IK got me. It's just too convenient having the calibration handled outside of the computer, especially now that my other monitors are working like that.

So the ARC Studio just arrived, first thoughts with that:

- MEMS calibration mic is the flimsiest cheapest POS I've ever seen. There's no way this costs more than $5 to make - if you found it in a Happy Meal you'd feel like Ronald is pinching the pennies. No real issues in operation, aside from the fact that I had to try several cables (all with Neutrik connectors) to get a satisfying latch. Not really comfortable sending 48v with something so flimsy. Julian Krause mentions this in his review and he was not lying. If you have a good measurement mic already with a calibration file just use that.
- The actual box itself is fine. I wish the power connector was bigger, or that it was bus powered. The L&R should be reversed, the L output is closer to your right speaker as you look at it, not sure why thats the case. It's also prone to tilting back if your cables are part of a loom or if there is any kind of pressure pulling it backwards. Would have been better with longer cables, but the ones supplied are fine length wise.
- I did a calibration with their mic, but purposefully kept my measurement area smaller. I think the results have much better imaging this way, I think the software should really make it clear what you should aim for depending on what results you are after. There isn't really any guidance in that regard.
- I really don't like that you can't redo a measurement. All it takes is a dog barking, someone opening a door, or an unstoppable fart to throw doubt into your measurements.
- They should also let you choose the order you do the captures in. I would MUCH rather start with my listening height and position and move in a more logical pattern than what IK suggests.
- You should be able to transfer things between the plugin version and app (for managing the profile on the HW) more easily.

Generally its working well, it sounds good and solves a problem. Its the most IK thing ever where:

- its cheap
- its good enough

Things that would make it better:

- a version with a subwoofer output so it can do time, phase and crossover alignment
- a version with support for several monitors, with and without the same sub, and also with a remote controller (preferrably like the Kii Three remote where it adjusts the EQ slightly with volume so you get a consistent sound at any volume
- I'd kind of like something like that rackmount with an external remote. It should also have proper digital I/O, interface support and potentially even a preamp for the measurement mic.
- I don't care how much IK big up their converters. They are made to a cost, and they are also just adding another conversion to the chain that I'd rather avoid if possible.

 

[Whizzinby]

Stop doing this. Get slate VSX. Trust me on this.

+1 very useful to get a better idea how the track will translate in cars and earbuds, particularly dialing in bass to either not be too dominant in a car vs nonexistent on earbuds. I use them as my primary headphone even when not using the software

 

[MirrorProfiles]

just made a calibration, and the software crashed right at the end without saving the file. 30 minutes wasted=the joys of being a customer of IK.

Bug reported to IK, fully looking forward to a shrug of the shoulders and nothing being done to help. My options now are basically take a 30 minute gamble every time I need to do a new measurement. I wish IK took bug's and customer service seriously, they're one of those companies who have been told repeatedly by customers where they are not doing well, and IK basically tell everyone they're wrong rather than doing something about it. How bad does the customer experience have to get before IK shakes it up and improves things?