Dirac Roadmap for 2022 Denon & Marantz AV Products

Sound United recently announced new 2022 AV products for Denon and Marantz capable of supporting Dirac room correction. Dirac is an industry leading room correction software that is favored by many home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles.

There are 3 Types of Dirac Room Correction to consider:

1. Basic Dirac Live:  The original version, its SIMO and has no bass management of its own
2. Dirac Live with Bass Control:

• Dirac Live Bass Control Single Subwoofer
• Dirac LIve Bass Control multi Subwoofer

3. Dirac Spatial Correction (formally called Unison)

This is the version we discussed in our Dirac Spatial Correction Youtube video and it is not something that exists on any consumer products for the home.  It is used in some cars, like the noted Volvo.  This approach is a fundamentally different approach to room correction, being a MIMO instead of SIMO approach.  Even the multi-sub bass control noted above is a SIMO approach, it doesn't cancel the models, it is simply exciting modes more evenly amongst the 2-4 LF sources.  The MIMO approach used in this new spatial room correction has some really cool advantages.  When Unison was released, I had talked to DIRAC and was unclear how it could be utilized in a system like a Marantz processor and typical off the shelf speakers.  They claim to have worked that out so that is why we are curious if this is in fact going to be supported in Marantz and Denon products. 

11.4CH Denon AVR-X3800H AV Receiver: The Ultimate Budget Preamp?

Q: What Version(s) of Dirac will Denon & Marantz AV products support?

A. At this point, we can only confirm that we will support both Dirac Live room correction technology - limited and full bandwidth versions AFTER the firmware update in March 2023. We also plan to support Bass Control upgrade although the integration efforts has not yet started. We expect we should be able to release a new firmware to support Dirac Live Bass Control upgrade sometime in 2024 - TBD.

Regarding Spatial correction, we will continue to work with Dirac team for any solutions they would release to consumer AV products in the future, however, it is just too early to commit anything new at this point.

Q: Will Last Year’s Denon/Marantz products be upgradeable to Dirac?

A: The previous Denon/Marantz models such as the AVR-X8500H, SR7015/8015, AV7706 or the AV8805 will NOT support Dirac Live upgradability. Our Dirac Live integration is enabled by adopting new DSP and software for the 2022 new Denon/Marantz lineup ONLY.

Q: Will Dirac be an upcharge or a free firmware update?

A:  Dirac live will be an optional upgrade (upcharge).  Once after firmware update in 2023 March, customers, either installers or DIY consumers, will need to go to dirac.com/denon or dirac.com/marantz to purchase a license key from Dirac to calibrate each AVR. Customers can purchase either a limited version or a full band-width. A MAC address will be needed. A license key for the limited version will cost $259 and the full-bandwidth version will cost $349. It will be possible to upgrade from the limited to the full-band width version at later stage with additional cost of $99.

 We recommend to register at the Dirac websites below to be notified when the service is available.

See: Dirac Press Release and Denon and Marantz product pages for latest updates.

Denon AVR-A1H is a 15.4CH AV receiver that supports 150wpc x 15, & 4 independent subwoofer outputs

Q: Can DIRAC be run over Audyssey or are they separate calibrations?

A:  Separate calibrations. You can NOT use a part of Audyssey functions such as Dynamic Volume or Dynamic EQ on Dirac Live, and vice versa. You will also need a dedicated microphone of your choice to perform Dirac calibration like a Mini DSP UMIK-1. The included Audyssey microphone in the AVR is for Audyssey calibration ONLY.

Q: Could one conceivable run DIRAC and Audyssey, store them in different presets to do A/B comparisons?

A: Yes, each Denon and Marantz AVR supports “Speaker Preset” function where  you can store up to 2 calibration results on the AVR and switch between these two from the AVR’s “Option” menu.  For example:

“Speaker Preset 1” = Audyssey

“Speaker Preset 2” = Dirac Live

The Speaker Preset function was originally developed to allow you to store two separate speaker configuration and/or Audyssey calibration results easily on the AVR, without using the Audyssey app or a USB thumb drive to rewrite the AVR’s setting.  

Q: Do Sound United products support manual PEQ or do you have to do those adjustments in DIRAC or Audyssey?

A: We do not support manual PEQ. Any EQ adjustments have to be done through the Dirac Live software, or the Audyssey MultEQ app or MultEQ-X software.