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Speaker Measurements Importance of Time & Phase Objective Gauges of Fidelity Isfactory Conclusions About Audio Components

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Speaker Measurements Importance of Time & Phase Objective Gauges of Fidelity Isfactory Conclusions About Audio Components 3 Why Flat Response? Auricle Publishing Number 13 2005 $35.00 US 4 How Can You Tell? 8 Speaker Measurements Importance of Time & Phase Objective Gauges of Fidelity isfactory conclusions about audio components. I’ll This Journal will explain how to interpret speaker offer examples in an attempt to explain why. 9 measurements so you’ll know what the test results Evaluating mean and what they can tell you about a If you hate listening to a component Time & Phase product’s potential for accurate per- or system, no group of meas- formance. These objective meas- urements can magically 11 urements can be very valuable to make that experience Minimizing consumers because they show enjoyable. On the other Stored Energy which products to avoid there- hand, if a component by narrowing the field of con- or system is demon- 13 tenders and minimizing the strably inaccurate Evaluating number of components you’ll learn to hate it Energy Storage you’ll have to audition. sooner or later (based on my expe- 16 Objective measurements rience) when you Importance don’t tell the entire story of learn how to hear of Bass course, and they raise the the flaw(s) that may age-old questions about initially have gone 17 objective versus subjective unnoticed. Evaluating Bass product evaluation. Performance I’m convinced that you The Debate have a far better chance for 19 A debate we encounter frequently in audio long-term satisfaction if you fol- Thiel CS2.4 involves the validity of “objective” versus “subjective” low the high fidelity approach and Review evaluations. You’ll notice that I have enclosed both choose from those components that terms in parentheses. That’s because neither word accurately reproduce the signal accord- 25 has an exact definition when it comes to audio, and ing to accepted standards. You can Interview with it’s easy to become involved in a semantic argument still rely on your subjective Jim Thiel that simply diverts attention from the real issue. responses as you choose from Objective usually means an evaluation based on those components which are 35 repeatable “scientific” tests. Subjective usually objectively accurate. Interview with means an evaluation based solely on the Richard emotional reaction of the reviewer. Ah, We live in a touchy- Vandersteen if life were only that simple. feely world and many will try to convince you In reality neither method can be that “if it sounds good, 46 employed alone in order to come to sat- Engineering it is good.” While there is Double Standard www.audioperfectionist.com Intro an element of truth here, there are objective measurements to tify the brand of piano playing. Doesn’t that make me a skilled gauge fidelity and many will try to ignore this fact or downplay listener who doesn’t need measurements as a guide? On the its significance. Why do they do this? Because in a world other hand, couldn’t I be fooled by products with colorations where no objective standards exist, anybody can be a “design- complementary to my wife’s voice and pianos? er” and everybody is an “expert” or qualified “reviewer.” Where would all these pundits be if they were forced to learn some- If a certain coloration reminds me of a certain kind of music thing about engineering? some of the time, isn’t that enough? However, if I like a certain coloration won’t my listening be limited to a genre that benefits from that coloration? If I listen exclusively to that musical genre Semantics does it matter that measurements may show that the sound I An argument about the meaning of the words can divert atten- enjoy is not accurate? If I hate listening to an audio system will tion from the real issue. That issue is deciding which method of my opinion change if I’m presented with a set of impeccable component evaluation produces the most satisfactory results. measurements? What’s objective? A conclusion based solely on “facts” per- haps? Whose facts? Which facts? Can we come to a truly Extremes objective conclusion based on only a few selected measure- Must we choose between these extremes or is it possible to ments (facts)? If so, which ones count? Among those that combine the best elements of both objective and subjective count, which are most important? Do measurements reflect all evaluation and arrive at the most satisfactory conclusion? the facts we need to examine in order to come to a satisfactory conclusion? I believe that it is not only possible but absolutely necessary in order to reach musical listening nirvana. I think we need to And what’s subjective? A position select those audio components and systems that provide emo- based purely on emotion? Is tional satisfaction from among those that are demonstrably the emotional accurate according to accepted standards. Accepted standards response of the include, but are not limit- examiner a ed to, reasonably accu- faulty basis for rate measured perform- conclu- ance. sions? Isn’t an Yes, Virginia, audio sys- Facts Exist tem designed Facts are simplistic, but solely to pro- they can be very useful. duce an emo- They don’t necessarily tional response demonstrate the value in the listener? of something but they sure can help to expose I can always a fraud. This Journal identify my will explain speaker wife’s measurements and voice show their value. This and knowledge won’t provide a usual- substitute for personally auditioning ly iden- components but it will narrow the field. 2 www.audioperfectionist.com Why Flat Response? Objective measurements can’t tell you everything about how a Why Accurate Speakers Must Have Flat component or system sounds but they absolutely can tell you Frequency Response by Richard Hardesty when the search for accurate reproduction is hopeless. All audio components, including loudspeakers, must have rea- sonably flat frequency response in order to accurately repro- Why Are Certain Facts Important duce the timbre of musical instruments and voices. This fact is clearly evident and here’s why. In this issue I’ll Every sound produced by a musical instrument or voice is explain made up of a fundamental frequency and a series of harmonic why cer- overtones. The fundamental frequency defines the note being tain per- played. The harmonic structure allows the listener to identify formance the specific instrument playing or voice singing the note. charac- teristics The complete sound of each note the listener hears is a combi- are nation of fundamental and harmonics. The fundamental estab- important lishes pitch and the harmonic structure defines the unique for the characteristics of each instrument or voice based on tone accurate rather than pitch or volume. These unique tonal characteristics repro- are called timbre. duction of recorded music. “...instruments sound different These because each has a unique articles will offer harmonic structure (timbre)...” my opin- ions and A piano and a violin can play the same note with the same illustrate fundamental frequency. The pitch and volume of the notes the logic from the piano and violin may be identical. The instruments that led me to these conclusions. Then I’ll explain how to sound different because each has a unique harmonic struc- tell which transducers provide these characteristics and ture (timbre). The waveforms from these instruments have dif- which ones can’t possibly present an accurate reproduc- ferent shapes when displayed on an oscilloscope and each tion of the recorded information. delivers a unique sound to the ear even when playing the same note at the same volume. The fundamental frequency of How Do You Tell Which Products Work? that note is identical but the harmonic structure is different. The tonal characteristics (timbre) are different and easily After each of the articles that describes desirable performance identified by the ear. attributes there will be an article that explains how these attrib- utes can be measured and how you can interpret the measure- The unique timber of each instrument or voice is established by ments. Yes, objective facts exist and they can be of value to you. the quantity and ratio of harmonic overtones which determine the shape of the wave. The exact relationship of these over- Also In This Issue tones must be preserved in order to reproduce timber accurate- Shane Buettner reviews the Thiel CS2.4, an outstanding, high- ly. This requires that audio components exhibit flat frequency value speaker system. And we’ll present my interviews with Jim response and maintain proper timing relationships. Flat fre- Thiel and Richard Vandersteen. APJ quency response is required in order to preserve the amplitude www.audioperfectionist.com 3 How Can You Tell? sound. A speaker system that delivers midrange har- monics in reverse phase can’t possibly recreate musical timbre accurately yet that’s exactly what most speakers do. The information that follows will explain how to tell which speakers are correct in the amplitude and time domains. While the articles in this Journal will be specifically about speakers, the facts apply to all audio components. Speakers serve as good examples because they tend to be the least accurate of compo- nents and exhibit the gross- est deviations from accu- rate amplitude response and phase. APJ relationships between the fundamental and each harmonic How Can You Tell if overtone. Proper timing must be maintained in order to pre- serve the phase relationships between the fundamental and a Speaker System has harmonic overtones. Flat Frequency Response? by Richard Hardesty You can test speakers yourself with readily available computer- If the speaker system or other component deviates from flat ized instruments like Clio (www.mclink.it/com/audiomatica/ response, signals at some frequencies will sound louder or home.htm) and MLSSA (www.mlssa.com/) or you can refer to the softer than they should.
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