Audyssey MultEQ XT

[NutsAboutPS3]

I've been soldiering on for some time with my old Denon 3802 receiver. A very good receiver, but no HDMI inputs so no lossless sound from the PS3. I'd been weighing up my options, thinking about a standalone player to decode the lossless codecs to pass via analogue to the 3802, and eventually decided to order a Denon 3808 to have complete flexibility for lossless audio.

The Denon 3808 is proving hard to get hold of, so the store has kindly loaned me a 4308 to use till my 3808 arrives.

Anyway, that is the introduction, what I really want to say is that I have been completely blown away by how good the MultEQ XT system is. For those who don't know what it does, some information here:
http://www.audyssey.com/technology/index.html
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/r...ssey-multeq-xt

I was expecting it to have an effect, but was completely unprepared for how big an improvement it has made. My speakers are Tannoy full range speakers, 4 x Mercury mx2 for front and rear left/right, Mercury mxC for the centre, and an mx-sub 10.

Problem 1: The centre speaker has two driver units plus tweeter vs a single driver unit plus tweeter for the other speakers. Consequently it always had a slightly different frequency response curve compared to the other speakers, and this always bothered me. Problem fixed by MultEQ XT, the centre speaker now matches the others.

Problem 2: I never used the sub because it always seemed subtley disconnected from the rest of the sound. I've read that such timing problems are not uncommon with active subs. Problem fixed by MultEQ XT, the sound from all speakers including the sub now sounds properly integrated.

Problem 3: All the speakers had a slight colouration to the sound. Of course, I picked them after listening to many different speakers, all speakers have their own characteristics, these are good speakers and were well reviewed when they were introduced, but there was noticeable colouration to the sound. Problem fixed by MultEQ XT, the frequency response curve seems much flatter, I doubt it's perfect, but it's like having completely different speakers attached to the system. I've been having great fun listening to old CDs again to see what they sound like with this setup, and every single song so far has sounded great, whereas when you have colouration in the system you tend to find that some songs sound good and others not so good.

In short, if you've got an old amp and are waiting for a player that can decode all the lossless codecs so you can carry on using it, I would seriously think about upgrading to a modern amp with MultEQ XT. I actually think the MultEQ XT has a bigger impact than lossless vs non-lossless; to give an idea of the impact, I'd rate my setups relative to each other as:
Old 3802 amp with lossy audio - 7/10
New 4308 amp with MultEQ XT and lossy audio - 9/10
New 4308 amp with MultEQ XT and lossless audio - 10/10