In the "what's most important for 'believability'" thread, there's a kind of gentle & mannerly impasse where a number of members that state the room is the just as important an element in believability (depending on the speaker) as the source & electronics.
I've not had much experience with different room treatments as mostly the rooms I've listened to reproduction in were what I considered of a reasonable quality, acoustically.
Recently I've discovered DML speakers - distributed mode loudspeakers popularised by NXT speakers. I must admit that I never paid much attention to these as they were marketed more as PC speakers & "lifestyle" speakers rather than hiFi. Maybe it's because this speaker technology has evolved somewhat to address the shortcomings of DML & BMR (Balanced Mode Radiators) have developed from them?
But anyway, the point of this technology is that instead of the optimal goal of traditional speaker technology which was a point source radiator for all audible frequencies, DML has a different dispersive way of radiating sound. Traditional speakers use a pistonic driver attached to a cone to generate longitudinal sound waves (correlated between speakers) wheres DML use a panel on which resonances are created at the various frequencies - transverse sound waves.
Unfortunately, I don't have AES membership & this site (Tectonic) have many AES papers on DML & room interaction but this public paper is a good summary of the main ideas - summarised here:
This makes sense to me & would seem to suggest that room treatment for this technology is both far less & essentially different to that used for traditional, directive speakers.
What do people make of this in the light of the idea that one can treat a room to achieve a "great" sounding room?
I have two questions (at the moment):
- how is this room treatment designed to achieve the "great" room as it appears that there isn't a consensus about this?
- Is this lack of consensus because it's not a "great room" that's being designed - it's actually dependent on the speakers being used in that room
I've not had much experience with different room treatments as mostly the rooms I've listened to reproduction in were what I considered of a reasonable quality, acoustically.
Recently I've discovered DML speakers - distributed mode loudspeakers popularised by NXT speakers. I must admit that I never paid much attention to these as they were marketed more as PC speakers & "lifestyle" speakers rather than hiFi. Maybe it's because this speaker technology has evolved somewhat to address the shortcomings of DML & BMR (Balanced Mode Radiators) have developed from them?
But anyway, the point of this technology is that instead of the optimal goal of traditional speaker technology which was a point source radiator for all audible frequencies, DML has a different dispersive way of radiating sound. Traditional speakers use a pistonic driver attached to a cone to generate longitudinal sound waves (correlated between speakers) wheres DML use a panel on which resonances are created at the various frequencies - transverse sound waves.
Unfortunately, I don't have AES membership & this site (Tectonic) have many AES papers on DML & room interaction but this public paper is a good summary of the main ideas - summarised here:
In live performances:
· The sound sources are multidirectional, radiating sound in all directions, most of it away from individual listeners in the
audience.
· Perceptions of timbre, space, and envelopment created by reflections within the room are essential parts of the
performance.
In sound reproduction:
· Most loudspeakers have significant directivity and are aimed at listeners.
· Ideally, perceptions of timbre, direction, distance, space, and envelopment should be conveyed by multichannel audio
systems delivering specific kinds of sounds to loudspeakers in specific locations.
· Ideally, what listeners should hear should be independent of the room around them. In practice it is the required degree of
independence that is under investigation.
This makes sense to me & would seem to suggest that room treatment for this technology is both far less & essentially different to that used for traditional, directive speakers.
What do people make of this in the light of the idea that one can treat a room to achieve a "great" sounding room?
I have two questions (at the moment):
- how is this room treatment designed to achieve the "great" room as it appears that there isn't a consensus about this?
- Is this lack of consensus because it's not a "great room" that's being designed - it's actually dependent on the speakers being used in that room