Signal routing¶

Overview¶

Matrix mixer selection tab in miniDSP Flex HT

The Matrix Mixer tab is the second of the two mixers. It routes the signal from the Dirac Live processing blocks (down the left) to the output channels (along the top). This is the default setting of the matrix mixer:

Matrix mixer with default routing for the miniDSP Flex HT

Each input from the Dirac Live / Input PEQ blocks (down the left) can be routed to any of the output channels (along the top). If more than one input is routed to a given output, they are summed together.

For more detail on the specifics of each point in the matrix see the Channel Routing page.

Examples¶

This section contains several examples illustrating use of the Matrix Mixer. In a real application, you will often want to combine these examples in various ways (for example, to use multiple subwoofers together with active speakers).

Note that these Matrix Mixer examples complement the Channel Routing examples. The general rule is that each Dirac Live channel should correspond to one "speaker". Therefore, the matrix mixer is typically used to split a speaker channel to multiple outputs (whereas the Channel Routing tab is used to combine or split input channels to speaker channels).

Multiple subwoofers¶

The diagram below shows an example of multiple subwoofer use. This example is for a 5.1 system – since channels 7 and 8 are not used for speaker channels, they can be used to control additional subwoofers:

The matrix mixer for this example is:

Routing for multiple subwoofers in miniDSP Flex HT

Multiple subwoofers can be used to smooth bass response over a larger listening area. For more information, see the app note on our website Tuning multiple subwoofers with miniDSP.

Info

Note that multiple subwoofers are being treated as a single "speaker channel" and are all fed from one Dirac Live channel. While it may be tempting to run Dirac Live separately on each subwoofer, this is not recommended, as the response of the combined subs will not be as desired. The recommended approach is 1. optimize multiple subwoofers for best response consistency over the listening area (see the app note linked above), then 2. use Dirac Live to make the average combined response meet your desired target curve.

Active speakers¶

The miniDSP Flex HT is not limited to use in 5.1 or 7.1 home theater systems! With its flexible routing, it has many other uses.

The diagram below illustrates the signal flow for a 3-way active speaker system. The woofer, midrange and tweeter of each speaker are each given their own amplifier channel controlled by an output channel from the miniDSP Flex HT:

Signal flow for active speakers in miniDSP Flex HT

Here is the matrix mixer for this example:

Routing for active speakers in miniDSP Flex HT

For more information, see the app note on our website Designing a 3-way active speaker with the miniDSP Flex Eight. (The app note was written for the Flex Eight but also applies to the Flex HT.)