|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
192.31.106.34
In Reply to: RE: 16 horns measurements posted by Jmmlc on December 14, 2010 at 00:33:44
Jean-Michel:
Could you comment on off-axis horn performance. I'm looking for your views on this subject-how important is this performance attribute in your experience? Also, do you have any opinions on the subject of harmonic vs. modulation distortion in horn/driver units--i.e., are they equal in importance? This gets back to the scoring question - how do you aggregate the scoring to find a winner? This has little to do with the method of testing/data reduction which was apparently the point of discussion above.
Kindest regards,
Chris
"As far as the ear can tell, consistently clean and spacious bass can be reproduced only by a driver unit coupled to a horn-type acoustic transformer..."; Jack Dinsdale, May 1974
Follow Ups:
Hello,I wrote in a prevous message that the choice or not of a constant directivity is directly in relation with each one preference in term of listening conditions. I have probably to go deeper in that idea.
Seen from the other side of the Atlantic ocean, it appears that the use of constant directivity horns or waveguides is a North-American thing corresponding to a different way to consider what is the reference for the reproduction of musical records at home. There is a cultural aspect at work here which is not taken in account in the fundamental studies performed by Toole and others about what are the requirements in terms of frequency response linearity on and off frequency axis, reverberated field...to obtain a good listening. If such studies have been done in Europe or in Asia, I guess that the results should have been different and such have been also the associated marketing.
In North-America, live concert is still the reference. People want to reproduce in their larger living rooms, a large and deep soundstage which could mimic the live performùance. This preference induces its own characteristics. By example, a comparatively large listening distance and as a consequence the fact that the energy of the reverberated field arriving to the ears of the listener is larger than the energy of the direct waves. If you listen in such conditions it appears a further need to have a tonal balance associated with the reverberated field which not imbalances the tonal balance of the direct waves. Therfore the need to a good control of how the energy spread in the listening room. This is well described in the papers from Toole and others.
In Europe (and specially in France) and since a long time, the live concert is no more the reference. Audiophiles often plays themselves a musical instrument in solo or in very small formations. Non players audiophiles have a parent or a relative who play an instrument. Many audiophiles are also "amateur" sound recoders. At home, the goal is no more to try to reproduce a very extended soundstage in their relatively small listening room but to reproduce solo instruments or small bands, while preserving relative 3D position and dimensions of the instruments. This requires a large ratio direct energy / reverberated energy and it is more easy to reach this charcateristics with a small listening distance, an audio chain having low phase distortion and loudspeakers having a regularly increasing directivity. There is no need in that conditions to have the same tonal equilibrium for the reverberated field than with the direct waves...
So you may understand why there is a far smaller enthusiasm for waveguides and CD horns in France than in North-America and why the off axis measurements seem less important to consider on that side of the Atlantic ocean...
This is just my humble opinion.
Best regards from Paris, France
Jean-Michel Le Cléac'h
Edits: 12/14/10 12/14/10 12/15/10
Thank you, Jean-Michel. I apologize in advance if I have missed any past conversations related to this subject--I recently joined the active conversations here.
"What are we trying to achieve?" is a area that I have come into increasing contact with, and has become an area of study all by itself.
Chris A.
"As far as the ear can tell, consistently clean and spacious bass can be reproduced only by a driver unit coupled to a horn-type acoustic transformer..."; Jack Dinsdale, May 1974
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: