Archive for the ‘Acoustics’ Category
The reason for the purchase of any stereo system is to listen to music. Good quality stereo systems can be very expensive. Those most concerned with hearing music the way the artist intended it to sound tend to be very particular about their selection of stereo equipment. They’ll bring a few familiar CDs to the audio store and audition the pieces of the system before they decide which combination sounds just right. After assembling the perfect stereo system from all the available components, the first thing they do is ruin the sound.
The surest way to ruin the sound of a stereo system that sounded just right in the audio store showroom is to bring it home and install it in any room of a typical house. As anyone who cares that much about music should know, but frequently overlooks, the room in which the sound is played has a dramatic effect on the sound quality, altering it quite perceptibly before it reaches the listener’s ears.
The showroom at the audio store has almost certainly been outfitted with the proper room acoustic treatments to let the listener hear just the stereo equipment without the room effects added in. Even if it hasn’t been so treated, the room effects of the showroom will be very different from the room effects in one’s home resulting in a completely different sound when the buyer brings the stereo system home.
No matter how much time one spends adjusting the precision equalizer, the electronics can’t adequately compensate for the various room effect distortions that will be present throughout the room. If the stereo is meant for one single listener who will always be seated in exactly the same spot, then the equalizer can help somewhat, but because of the complex interaction between room geometry, sound waves of different frequencies, and the different levels of acoustic reflectivity of the surfaces within the room, no two spots in the room will experience the exact same sound no matter how perfect it was when it left the loudspeaker.
By applying inexpensive room acoustic treatments, however, much of the effects of the room on the sound quality can be removed from the equation altogether. Room acoustic treatments can help clarify mid-range frequencies, the portion of the frequency range where the human voice falls. They can also help preserve the overall tonal balance of the music by removing the selective reinforcement of certain frequencies that may be caused by echoes from flat, solid surfaces like walls within the room. Even the large sound waves of deep bass tones can be made more consistent by adding the proper room acoustic treatments.
If you are one of those people who is willing to go through all the trouble of choosing just the right stereo system so you can hear music the way it’s supposed to sound, don’t forget that proper room acoustic treatments are one of the most important parts of the complete sound system.
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