How does ARC keep speakers safe when creating correction curves?

ARC considers the safety of your speakers when creating correction curves. The key is not to overdrive a speaker. Driving a speaker far beyond its natural frequency response can cause damage. For this reason, when ARC Genesis encounters a dip in the frequency response, it limits the correction to +6dB of adjustment at that position—a reasonably safe amount to increase a speaker’s frequency response. For example, if your speaker placement results in a 10dB dip at 400 Hz, ARC only adjusts the speaker to be 4dB below the target curve at 400 Hz. If there are severe dips in your frequency response, the best approach is to experiment with speaker placement before running ARC to see if you can flatten out the speaker’s natural in-room response. When ARC encounters a peak in frequency response, it can apply a correction to decrease that frequency by any amount—underdriving a speaker does not cause harm. To sum all this up, it’s easier to reduce output than it is to increase it.