UltraSonic Spotlight speaker and room correction?

[iomegaman]

So I was pondering today about room correction (I have the IK ARC system that is bearable but not much else) and most of these use "calibrated measurement" mics...you know the ones with the thin tube prior to the SD capsule...I suppose to keep reflective or side sound out of the equation as much as possible...

You then run an impulse response through your speakers and the mic captures the room sound according to the theory...

But this got me thinking...

Would you be able to get accurate MATERIAL response from using such a mic/system but instead of using your speakers you were to align a focused spotlight speaker next to the mic so that ALL the mic picked up was the reflection from the beamed-to-source?

I'm thinking of building a cheap Ultrasonic laser (directional speaker) to try this out...

The thing I was wondering is if you could try out different kinds of sound dampening materials this way...it would allow you to test and do room correction based on tuning the frequency of the rooms treatment rather than injecting some correction EQ into your DAW session...


I wonder if the technology has advanced enough now that it would merit an attempt?

Here's UselessTube video but he's only doing around 11 bit accuracy, which I'm sure can be beat without much effort...

Point me to all the ways I'm an idiot and I'll thank you later.

 

[cyrano]

All the measurement mics I've seen have no tube in front of the capsule. Do you know of any that have a tube in front of the capsule?

 

[iomegaman]

Maybe my description was inaccurate...I meant those long tapered shaft slender mics like the ones that come from Sonarworks or the ARC system by IK Multimedia...I just assumed the tapered shaft was for isolation because my understanding is it uses a fairly standard pencil capsule but the tapered shaft helps with isolation.

 

[cyrano]

The ARC measurement mic seems to be a MEMS one. I've got no idea if the sensor is at the front or the back, but I would be amazed if it wasn't at the front.

The Sonarworks mic is a typical cheap 6 mm electret, but with an individual FR chart and a calibration file.

I don't really know why all of these measurement mics use that tapered shaft. I've always supposed it was to avoid reflections from the mic itself.

I've been tinkering with the idea of a focused speaker from another angle. I wonder if it is possible to use one central speaker with several drivers and separate amps/channels to reproduce stereo or even ambisonic sound. Only, the math is way above my pay grade. There is, however existing software in the academic sphere.

In my mind this would also reduce room reflections, as there is only one source that's as far as possible from the walls.

I haven't built anything, but I've collected power amps totaling 16 identical channels. In about a year I'll retire and hope to have the time to start tinkering. Keep in mind I have other projects too, so that time estimate might be a bit optimistic...