Free tool

Measure your loudspeaker

With a measurement microphone such as the miniDSP UMIK-1 you can measure the speaker itself, without the room: a short window for the mid and treble, close to the cone and the port for the bass. The result is an FRD file the Loudsmith app can use in place of its driver model.

1Microphone and sound
No calibration file loaded.

For the UMIK-1, download the file for your serial number from miniDSP; use the 0° file when the microphone points at the speakers.

2Far field: mid and treble

Put the speaker in the middle of the room, away from the walls. Point the microphone at the tweeter, or at the driver you measure, at the distance and height below.

3Near field: bass

Put the microphone 1 to 2 cm from the centre of the cone, almost touching it, and turn the volume down: it is very loud there.

4Joining

Below it the near field is used, above it the far field. Leave empty for automatic.

Measured response

The far field (dashed blue) and the near field (dashed orange) joined into one curve (gold).

No measurement yet. Start with the far field, then the near field at the cone.

Save the result

FRD with frequency, level and minimum phase, as VituixCAD, XSim and the Loudsmith app read it. A single driver goes straight into the app's crossover.

For a good measurement

  • To measure one driver, connect only that driver straight to the amplifier, without the crossover. Start quietly with a tweeter: a sweep at full level can damage it.
  • Measure every driver from the same microphone position and at the same volume, so their levels compare.
  • The phase is calculated (minimum phase), because AirPlay and Bluetooth hide the exact timing. For a single driver this is the usual way.
  • A microphone cannot measure impedance. The app keeps using the impedance from the catalogue, or a ZMA file you load yourself.