Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms (Audio Engineering Society Presents)

Sound Reproduction......Page 4 Copyright page......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 14 PART ONE: Understanding the Principles......Page 20 CHAPTER 1: Sound Reproduction......Page 22 1.1 A PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE......Page 24 1.2 RECORDINGS AND THE MUSIC BEING RECORDED......Page 27 CHAPTER 2: Preserving the Art......Page 30 2.1 BACK TO THE BEGINNING: CAPTURING SOUND QUALITY......Page 32 2.2 BACK TO THE BEGINNING: DIRECTION AND SPACE......Page 34 2.3 A CIRCLE OF CONFUSION......Page 37 2.4 BREAKING THE CIRCLE: PROFESSIONALS HOLD THE KEY......Page 38 2.5 MEASURING THE ABILITY TO REPRODUCE THE ART......Page 43 3.1 LIVE MUSICAL PERFORMANCES......Page 46 3.2 SOUND REPRODUCTION......Page 51 3.3 RECORDING: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN ROOMS......Page 54 3.4 HEARING: HUMAN LISTENERS IN ROOMS......Page 56 3.6 AN ACOUSTICAL AND PSYCHOACOUSTICAL SENSE OF SCALE......Page 58 4.1 LARGE PERFORMANCE SPACES: CONCERT HALLS......Page 62 4.2 OFFICES AND INDUSTRIAL SPACES......Page 70 4.3 DOMESTIC LISTENING ROOMS AND CONTROL ROOMS......Page 72 CHAPTER 5: The Many Effects of Reflections......Page 86 6.1 AUDIBLE EFFECTS OF A SINGLE REFLECTION......Page 92 6.2 A REFLECTION IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHER REFLECTIONS......Page 101 6.3 A COMPARISON OF REAL AND PHANTOM IMAGES......Page 104 6.4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS WITH MUSIC AND OTHER SOUNDS......Page 105 6.5 SINGLE VERSUS MULTIPLE REFLECTIONS......Page 108 6.6 MEASURING REFLECTIONS......Page 110 CHAPTER 7: Impressions of Space......Page 114 7.1 THE TERMINOLOGY OF SPATIAL PERCEPTION......Page 117 7.2 LISTENERS AND THEIR “PREFERENCE” FOR REFLECTIONS......Page 118 7.3 SOME REFLECTIONS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS......Page 121 7.4 SUMMARIZING AND CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD......Page 128 8.1 FIRST-ORDER REFLECTIONS......Page 132 8.2 ASW/IMAGE BROADENING AND LOUDSPEAKER DIRECTIVITY......Page 145 CHAPTER 9: The Effects of Reflections on Sound Quality/Timbre......Page 160 9.1 THE AUDIBILITY OF ACOUSTICAL INTERFERENCE—COMB FILTERING......Page 161 9.2 EFFECTS OF REFLECTIONS ON TIMBRE—THE AUDIBILITY OF RESONANCES......Page 174 10.2 THE EFFECT OF A SINGLE REFLECTION ON INTELLIGIBILITY......Page 180 10.3 MULTIPLE REFLECTIONS, NOISE, AND SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY......Page 181 10.4 THE EFFECTS OF “OTHER” SOUNDS—SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO......Page 182 10.5 LISTENING DIFFICULTY—A NEW AND RELEVANT MEASURE......Page 186 10.7 A PORTABLE SPEECH-REPRODUCTION TEST......Page 187 CHAPTER 11: Adaptation......Page 190 11.1 ANGULAR LOCALIZATION—THE PRECEDENCE EFFECT......Page 191 11.2 PERCEPTIONS OF DISTANCE......Page 193 11.3 SOUND QUALITY—TIMBRE......Page 194 11.4 SUMMARY......Page 199 12.1 SOLID ANGLES AND THE RADIATION OF SOUND......Page 202 12.2 LOUDSPEAKER MOUNTING OPTIONS......Page 207 12.3 “BOUNDARY-FRIENDLY” LOUDSPEAKER DESIGNS......Page 213 CHAPTER 13: Making (Bass) Waves—Below the Transition Frequency......Page 216 13.1 THE BASICS OF RESONANCES......Page 217 13.2 THE BASICS: ROOM MODES AND STANDING WAVES......Page 220 13.3 DELIVERING GOOD BASS IN SMALL ROOMS......Page 235 13.4 LOOKING AT TIME AND FREQUENCY DOMAINS......Page 258 13.5 TIME AND FREQUENCY DOMAIN-MEASUREMENT RESOLUTION......Page 264 CHAPTER 14: Summary of Part One: Looking for a Way Forward......Page 268 PART TWO: Designing Listening Experiences......Page 288 15.1 A FEW DEFINITIONS......Page 290 15.2 THE BIRTH OF MULTICHANNEL AUDIO......Page 292 15.3 STEREO—AN IMPORTANT BEGINNING......Page 295 15.4 QUADRAPHONICS—STEREO TIMES TWO......Page 297 15.5 MULTICHANNEL AUDIO—CINEMA TO THE RESCUE!......Page 299 15.6 MULTICHANNEL AUDIO COMES HOME......Page 300 15.7 MULTICHANNEL AUDIO—THE AMBISONICS ALTERNATIVE......Page 304 15.8 UPMIXER MANIPULATIONS: CREATIVE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTINCTS AT WORK......Page 306 15.9 MULTICHANNEL AUDIO GOES DIGITAL AND DISCRETE......Page 309 15.10 FINDING THE OPTIMUM CHANNEL/LOUDSPEAKER ARRANGEMENT......Page 311 15.11 RECOMMENDATIONS......Page 319 15.12 ASSIGNING THE CHANNELS AND THE CENTER-REAR OPTION......Page 322 CHAPTER 16: Putting Theory into Practice: Designing a Listening Experience......Page 326 16.1 THE ROOM......Page 327 16.2 BASIC VIDEO......Page 331 16.3 MERGING AUDIO AND VIDEO......Page 335 16.4 DIRECTIVITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE LOUDSPEAKERS......Page 340 16.5 A SUMMARY OF LOUDSPEAKERS AND THE ACOUSTICAL TREATMENTS IN ROOMS......Page 352 CHAPTER 17: Loudspeakers I: Subjective Evaluations......Page 356 17.1 THE GENESIS OF A LIFE’S WORK......Page 358 17.2 SUBJECTIVE MEASUREMENTS OF LOUDSPEAKERS—TURNING OPINION INTO FACT......Page 363 17.3 CONTROLLING THE EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES......Page 365 17.4 HEARING PERFORMANCE IN LISTENING TESTS......Page 372 17.5 BIAS FROM NONAUDITORY FACTORS......Page 376 17.7 CREATING A LISTENING ENVIRONMENT FOR LOUDSPEAKER EVALUATIONS......Page 381 CHAPTER 18: Loudspeakers II: Objective Evaluations......Page 384 18.1 TWO SIMPLE SOURCE CONFIGURATIONS......Page 385 18.2 MEASURING THE ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF LOUDSPEAKERS......Page 391 18.3 COMPARING THE SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE DOMAINS......Page 409 18.4 THE REAL WORLD OF CONSUMER LOUDSPEAKERS......Page 414 18.5 EXAMPLES OF PROFESSIONAL MONITOR LOUDSPEAKERS......Page 429 18.6 OTHER MEASUREMENTS: MEANINGFUL AND MYSTERIOUS......Page 437 19.1 LOUDNESS AND THE BASICS OF HEARING......Page 448 19.2 HEARING TILTS, PEAKS, DIPS, BUMPS, AND WIGGLES......Page 463 19.3 NONLINEAR DISTORTION......Page 470 19.4 POWER COMPRESSION......Page 472 20.1 THE KLIPPEL EXPERIMENTS......Page 476 20.2 THE OLIVE EXPERIMENTS......Page 480 20.3 AN INTERIM SUMMARY......Page 484 CHAPTER 21: Acoustical Materials and Devices......Page 490 21.1 KEY ACOUSTICAL VARIABLES AND MEASUREMENTS......Page 491 21.2 THE MECHANISMS OF ABSORPTION......Page 495 21.3 ACOUSTICAL PERFORMANCES OF SOME COMMON MATERIALS......Page 496 21.4 FLUTTERS, ZINGS, AND THE LIKE......Page 511 21.5 SUMMARY......Page 512 CHAPTER 22: Designing Listening Experiences......Page 514 22.1 CHOOSING THE MULTICHANNEL DELIVERY SYSTEM......Page 515 22.2 LAYING OUT THE ROOM......Page 518 22.3 LOUDSPEAKER DIRECTIVITY AND THE ACOUSTICAL TREATMENT OF INTERIOR SURFACES......Page 521 22.4 SUBWOOFERS, SEATING AND ROOM DIMENSIONS......Page 528 22.5 CHOOSING THE LOUDSPEAKERS......Page 530 22.6 LEVEL AND TIME ADJUSTMENTS AND EQUALIZATION......Page 535 22.7 IN CONCLUSION......Page 538 References......Page 542 Index......Page 560

floyd Toole, A Leading Expert In The Field Of Sound Reproduction, Explains How To Design The Best Possible Listening Experience For Recording Control Rooms And Home Entertainment Systems. This Comprehensive Work Considers The Whole Sound Reproduction Chain From Multi Channel Audio Configurations And The Loudspeaker/room System To Acoustics And Psychoacoustics And The Evaluation Process.

part 1 Shows The Reader How To Create The Best Listening Experience, Offering Practical Approaches To The Sound Reproduction Chain. Parts 2 And 3 Are An In-depth Consideration Of Acoustics And Psychoacoustics - The Science Behind Part 1.

* How To Design A Great Audio System - For A Home Entertainment System Or A Professional Recording Control Room
* Offers A Comprehensive Look At The Sound Reproduction Chain Offering Practical Advice And Helpful Graphics Throughout
* Learn From A Leading Expert In Sound Reproduction - Floyd Toole Provides Essential Knowledge In A Highly Readable And Entertaining Style

Floyd Toole, a leading expert in the field of sound reproduction, explains how to design the best possible listening experience for recording control rooms and home entertainment systems. This comprehensive work covers the whole sound reproduction chain from multi-channel audio configurations and the loudspeaker/room system to acoustics and psychoacoustics and the evaluation process. Part 1 shows the reader how to create the best listening experience, offering practical approaches to the sound reproduction chain. Parts 2 and 3 are an in-depth consideration of acoustics and psychoacoustics. "Covering Designing Listening Experiences, Acoustics, and Psychoacoustics, this book will show you the importance of understanding the reproduction chain in its entirety. Using Floyd's practical and easily accessible advice, you will be able to design and improve your audio systems and aural enjoyment."--Jacket