Speaker Performance in an Anechoic Chamber

K

konajoe

Audioholic Intern
What do speakers sound like in an anechoic chamber or a big open field, where reflected sound is almost completely eliminated? Do they sound insanely good, or weird?
 
M

MidnightSensi2

Audioholic Chief
What do speakers sound like in an anechoic chamber or a big open field, where reflected sound is almost completely eliminated? Do they sound insanely good, or weird?
I've never heard speakers in an anechoic chamber, but have been inside them for other purposes. The noise floor inside was so low it was a bit creepy. Could hear even the slightest sounds.

Sounds themselves in an anechoic like environment don't sound that different. You'll just hear the speaker, no reflected sound. For outdoors, probably best to hang the speaker from a tall height to remove the ground reflections. There are cranes that accomplish this.

My 2.1 setup is nearfield and the room is very well treated, it simulates an anechoic-like atmosphere to some extent, but isn't as heavily treated with absorption which can over kill a room. Imaging and midrange vocal clarity are probably the biggest bonuses from this sort of setup.
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
What do speakers sound like in an anechoic chamber or a big open field, where reflected sound is almost completely eliminated? Do they sound insanely good, or weird?
Well, let's start with a few things:

1) What is the speaker's anechoic response anyways? In these spaces, what you will hear will be dominated by the direct response of the loudspeaker. Simply put, if you're 15 degrees off-axis, you'll hear the sound at 15 degrees off-axis. If you're sitting in a vertical lobing position, you'll hear the lobing.

2) what is sound itself like in an anechoic chamber? Some have described these scenarios as amplifying so much as your own heartbeat. It's caused nauseousness in some people. Generally, we as people prefer echoes. We're not bats, but we still use our hearing for our basic functions.

3) Outdoors. now all of a sudden you do have some reflections. The most obvious one being the ground bounce. You also have to hear the speakers louder, because the noise floor outdoors is going to be even higher than the noise floor indoors.
 
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