A method for characterizing a listening environment for playback of multichannel audio, comprising: producing a first probe signal, wherein said first probe signal is a broadband sequence having a magnitude spectrum that is substantially constant over a specified acoustic band; supplying the first probe signal to each of a plurality of electro-acoustic transducers positioned in a multi-channel configuration in a listening environment for converting the first probe signal to a first acoustic response and sequentially transmitting the acoustic responses in non-overlapping time slots as sound waves into the listening environment; and for each said electro-acoustic transducer, receiving the sound waves at a multi-microphone array comprising at least two non-coincident acousto-electric transducers each converting the acoustic responses to first electric response signals; deconvolving the first electric response signals with the first probe signal to determine a room response for each electro-acoustic transducer; for frequencies above a cut-off frequency, computing a first part of a room energy measure from the room responses as a function of sound pressure; for frequencies below the cut-off frequency, computing a second part of the room energy measure from the room responses as a function of sound pressure and sound velocity; blending the first and second parts of the energy measure to provide the room energy measure over the specified acoustic band; and computing filter coefficients from the room energy measure. producing a first probe signal, wherein said first probe signal is a broadband sequence having a magnitude spectrum that is substantially constant over a specified acoustic band; supplying the first probe signal to each of a plurality of electro-acoustic transducers positioned in a multi-channel configuration in a listening environment for converting the first probe signal to a first acoustic response and sequentially transmitting the acoustic responses in non-overlapping time slots as sound waves into the listening environment; and for each said electro-acoustic transducer, receiving the sound waves at a multi-microphone array comprising at least two non-coincident acousto-electric transducers each converting the acoustic responses to first electric response signals; deconvolving the first electric response signals with the first probe signal to determine a room response for each electro-acoustic transducer; for frequencies above a cut-off frequency, computing a first part of a room energy measure from the room responses as a function of sound pressure; for frequencies below the cut-off frequency, computing a second part of the room energy measure from the room responses as a function of sound pressure and sound velocity; blending the first and second parts of the energy measure to provide the room energy measure over the specified acoustic band; and computing filter coefficients from the room energy measure. receiving the sound waves at a multi-microphone array comprising at least two non-coincident acousto-electric transducers each converting the acoustic responses to first electric response signals; deconvolving the first electric response signals with the first probe signal to determine a room response for each electro-acoustic transducer; for frequencies above a cut-off frequency, computing a first part of a room energy measure from the room responses as a function of sound pressure; for frequencies below the cut-off frequency, computing a second part of the room energy measure from the room responses as a function of sound pressure and sound velocity; blending the first and second parts of the energy measure to provide the room energy measure over the specified acoustic band; and computing filter coefficients from the room energy measure.