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Brian Eno's "ambiphonic" 3 speakers setting??




QUOTE:

"Brian Eno

1982 release

AN AMBIENT SPEAKER SYSTEM

I regard this music as environmental: to be experienced from the inside. Accordingly I considered releasing a quadrophonic version of it, an idea I abandoned upon realising that very few people (myself included) own quadrophonic systems.

However, I have for many years been using a three-way speaker system that is both simple to install and inexpensive, and which seems to work very well on any music with a broad stereo image. The effect is subtle but definite - it opens out the music and seems to enlarge the room acoustically.

In addition to a normal stereo hifi system all that is required is one extra loudspeaker and some speaker cable. The usage of this speaker in the three-way system is such that it will not be required to handle very low frequencies: therefore a small or "mini" speaker will be adequate.

As shown in the diagram, the two terminals of the new speaker are connected to the two positive (red) speaker connectors on the amplifier. This speaker is located somewhere behind the listener - at the apex of a triangle whose base is formed by the original loudspeaker set-up. One of the unexpected benefits of this system is an increase in the usable listening area - almost any point in the room will yield good (although not necessarily "accurate") stereo sound.

I arrived at this system by accident, and I don't really know why it works. What seems to happen is that the third speaker reproduces any sound that is not common to both sides of the stereo - i.e., everything that is not located centrally in the stereo image - and I assume that this is because the common information is put out of phase with itself and cancels out.

More technically, the lower the impedance of the added speaker, the louder it will sound. If it is found to be too loud (although this rarely seems to happen), you can either insert a potentiometer (6-12 ohms, at least 10 watts) into the circuit, or move the speaker further away. "

...does anybody have tried this?

I don't dare to use it with my amplifier. i'm afraid to damage it... you need a "common ground" amplifier, wich apparently most designs are, but i'm not sure about mine (technics SE-A5). Also i don't know how the amplifier actually reacts to the more complex load this represents??

otherwise, it would be nice to experiment with it. Maybe i'll try with a cheap amp and a bunch of junk speakers before i actually try this on my main system...




Edits: 02/07/11

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Topic - Brian Eno's "ambiphonic" 3 speakers setting?? - KanedaK 07:41:29 02/07/11 (8)

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