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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: Re: Disagree posted by JeffMO on July 23, 2002 at 13:19:35:
... is that the ears derive timbre not only from the first-arrival (on-axis) sound, but also from the reverberant sound in the room (the off-axis sound).Live instruments create a reverberant field that has the same tonal balance as the on-axis sound (horn instruments are something of an exception to this). This tonally correct reverberant field contributes to the timbral richness of live music. Reproduced music seldom has this quality because most speakers don't recreate a tonally correct reverberant field.
The current emphasis on good on-axis response stems from psychoacoustic research in the 60's and 70's that established the on-axis response as the primary contributor to perceived timbre. What has been overlooked by most designers is the still significant role the reverberant field response plays.
The old argument used to be flat on-axis response vs. flat power response, and unfortunately the latter called for on-axis peaks to compensate for driver beaming. The flat on-axis camp pretty much won out. But a more useful analysis would have been to look at what happens over time, and to design for similar tonal balance in the first-arrival and reveberant (later-arrival) sound. There are relatively few designs that get the reverberant field right, but those that do tend to excel at long-term fatigue-free listening.
If you'd like to easily evaluate a speaker's reverberant field response, crank it up a bit louder than normal and walk into another room, leaving the door open. If it sounds convincingly like live music back in there, then that speaker has very good reverberant field response (and very good dynamics, too).
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Follow Ups
- The reason the off-axis response matters... - Duke 14:44:52 07/23/02 (3)
- Re: The reason the off-axis response matters... - musicluver 15:02:24 07/23/02 (2)
- Musicluver - - Duke 15:54:55 07/23/02 (1)
- Re: Musicluver - - musicluver 17:15:55 07/23/02 (0)
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