Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms

[TheWarrior]

In all seriousness, this thread is just one of many examples why this book was written. Thanks to slick marketing, there is entirely too much mis information available to the consumer.

'Sound Reproduction' is not a How-To, it is an explanation of why we hear what we hear and when we will hear it in our homes, with that data being correlated to listener preference with a near guarantee.

It will explain the circle of confusion between recording and reproducing, and why a familiar recording should not be used to tune a system rather than to merely rate the quality of playback - those are two different things.

It will explain how the room influences the sound you hear, and contrast that to larger venues while explaining the differences in the way each is optimized for sound reproduction.

It will explain how the construction of a room affects the sound.

It will explain how to define a 'good' loudspeaker.

It will explain that EQ only allows you to control what you are putting out in to the room, it does not allow you to control the room. The room still dictates what you will hear, when and where. And without knowing what frequencies your room is interacting with, and how, you cannot know how to achieve the best results. Anything else is just guessing, which is exactly what this book avoids doing.

And it may very well challenge you to learn more.

'Sounds' like a good mix for Audioholics!

 

[Pogre]

Hey alex, how do I apply all that impossible to figure out accurately knowledge to my room and system? What would I do differently from what I already have?

*Edit: To be fair I don't think I've ever told you my name, Jason.

 

[TheWarrior]

Hey alex, how do I apply all that impossible to figure out accurately knowledge to my room and system? What would I do differently from what I already have?

*Edit: To be fair I don't think I've ever told you my name, Jason.

I appreciate that, Jason!

Believe me, I had to re-read everything, a lot. A lifetime of research is a lot of information to absorb, and I don't dare claim to know it all by heart.

The phrase, 'Work smarter, not harder' comes to mind, and sorry for the analogy, but with that book in your hand, you have a tool.

Why not dive right in to Chapter 6 - Loudspeaker/Room Systems. That goes straight in to the concept of 'One room, two sound fields' - The transition frequency, the precedence effect, and more definitive descriptions of sound and how humans hear them. Perfect primer for 7 and 8 which are broken in to dealing with sounds above and below transition.

 

[ATLAudio]

“I think @gene is far wiser than I am this discourse is why he did not include any specifics.”

I believe that if any further specifics were necessary, Gene would have included them, and Dr. Toole would have demanded their inclusion. I also believe that Gene would include adequate information needed to an article titled “Bass Optimization for Home Theater with Multi-Sub and mDSP.”

“I thought I could help some people just by taking the first steps as described in the text (of the book, not article).”

Again, if these steps were as crucial as you claim, I believe that Gene would have included them, and Dr. Toole would have demanded their inclusion.

“Sorry if my offers to help sound like demands, but thanks for keeping this thread going. My aim was to increase awareness of the book, and I'd say the last 2 weeks of consistent posting and controversy make this a marketing WIN!”

I’ll be honest; I believe that you do Dr. Toole far more disservice in your cultish approach to promoting his book, than you do in helping.

“…And without knowing what frequencies your room is interacting with, and how, you cannot know how to achieve the best results. Anything else is just guessing, which is exactly what this book avoids doing.”

Following this logic, since Gene’s article, which is approved by Dr. Toole, doesn’t include these more crucial specifics, then it is just guessing, according to Dr. Toole. Got it… Here’s what I think, Gene is doing a better job interpreting Dr. Toole’s work than you are.

“In all seriousness, this thread is just one of many examples why this book was written. Thanks to slick marketing, there is entirely too much misinformation available to the consumer.”

The first thing a cult does is tell you everyone else is lying (James Randi). I’m certainly not an apologist for audio marketing, nor do I believe that Dr. Toole is a cult leader, far from it, but, your cultish promotion of his book frequently relies on the liberal use of this type of reasoning.

 

[TheWarrior]

“I think @gene is far wiser than I am this discourse is why he did not include any specifics.”

I believe that if any further specifics were necessary, Gene would have included them, and Dr. Toole would have demanded their inclusion. I also believe that Gene would include adequate information needed to an article titled “Bass Optimization for Home Theater with Multi-Sub and mDSP.”

“I thought I could help some people just by taking the first steps as described in the text (of the book, not article).”

Again, if these steps were as crucial as you claim, I believe that Gene would have included them, and Dr. Toole would have demanded their inclusion.

“Sorry if my offers to help sound like demands, but thanks for keeping this thread going. My aim was to increase awareness of the book, and I'd say the last 2 weeks of consistent posting and controversy make this a marketing WIN!”

I’ll be honest; I believe that you do Dr. Toole far more disservice in your cultish approach to promoting his book, than you do in helping.

“…And without knowing what frequencies your room is interacting with, and how, you cannot know how to achieve the best results. Anything else is just guessing, which is exactly what this book avoids doing.”

Following this logic, since Gene’s article, which is approved by Dr. Toole, doesn’t include these more crucial specifics, then it is just guessing, according to Dr. Toole. Got it… Here’s what I think, Gene is doing a better job interpreting Dr. Toole’s work than you are.

“In all seriousness, this thread is just one of many examples why this book was written. Thanks to slick marketing, there is entirely too much misinformation available to the consumer.”

The first thing a cult does is tell you everyone else is lying (James Randi). I’m certainly not an apologist for audio marketing, nor do I believe that Dr. Toole is a cult leader, far from it, but, your cultish promotion of his book frequently relies on the liberal use of this type of reasoning.

I wholeheartedly agree that it would be amazing if Sound Reproduction were as simple of a subject as you want it to be. Unfortunately, it's not. That's why there's a 500 page book about it.

Science is not at all like religion, you don't get to pick and choose which parts you want to adhere to, like how you treated the article you posted.

It's a lot of information, for sure, but it's pretty straightforward:
You either want to understand why your room measures the way it does, or you want to guess.
You either want to know how to work with the influences of the room, or you want to guess.
You either acknowledge the room is in control and you have to work with it, or you believe that DSP gives you total control.

The only things I've recommended doing is to use predictive capabilities based on physical measurements in order to treat known room modes with informed decisions. These steps are nothing but data gathering so you can make those informed decisions.

Resonances are the building blocks of sound. But when speakers resonate, it colors the sound, just like room modes 'color' the sound. The wavelengths of the frequencies being reproduced will interact with boundaries of similar dimension. That actually can create one of 3 different types of modes, that will measure differently and need to be treated differently.

All we've heard from you is a steadfast NO to any physical measurements or predictive capabilities that will ensure more accurate setup, and a NO to sharing DSP inputs and the decisions that went in to creating them so you might receive advice.

It doesn't seem like you want to do anything but argue.

So please carry on with your innate room setup skills that were sharpened from an elementary article on the subject. When you're ready to learn more, there's a great book for you to read!