วีดีโอ

what if one side of the room is open? for instance, no wall along the Left side

Useful discussion here. Some speakers are more "real world room friendly" than others, and people need to take their listening space into account. I recently returned some highly regarded speakers, not because I didn't agree with reviewers who raved about them per se, but because they didn't work well in the listening space I have.

Exvelent 🎉

Kinda weird that a person who isn’t into audiophile sound works at a high end speaker manufacturer. I wonder what role he has there. 🤔

This may be true, but you'd need the ears of a bat in order for it to be significant or to be worth fretting over.

thank you

Which only goes to show that there is no rule of thumb. This gentleman's "one to one and a half" ratio is radically different from Jim Smith's "83%" .

Very informative. Thanks

This for me, is the best explanation on the internet. Finally, something that makes it simple to understand.

The issue you mentioned is visualized by a Waterfall plot which is part of every audio measurement software these days.

so weird...is it me or is this video audio only coming out the left speaker...not to impressive if so...

This is a very useful information and it is easy to follow and understand thanks so much.

These tech talks are interesting. However, there's a sense to me that you're living in the past. Most of the points you make have been overtaken by the work of Toole and the others at Harman.

Well done guys

I just say when you guys learn how to build a proper speaker perhaps you can give advice!

If your so techy, why does this video only have audio on one channel ?

This is another great series Alan.

Most excellent

Just watched your tech talk series. Very enjoyable. Great explanation. I often see these issues in the measurements especially on older speakers. Always interesting to hear how they translate when actually listening to them.

Speaker placement. You ask 10 different, so say, experts, you’ll likely get 10 opposing opinions. This video quotes a ratio of 1 To 1.5 whilst I’ve also heard quoted 1 to .83 and 1 to 1. Other commonly used figures are the one third rule and the 1 fifth to 4 fifths rule. Audiophiles talk of replicating the live performance in their own listening environment. This video talks of a wall of sound, a tangible soundstage. That doesn’t exist in a live performance, except perhaps in an intimate Jaz lounge. Imagine, if you will, a rock band. Centre stage is the vocalist. To his right the lead guitarist. To the vocalists left, the rhythm guitarist. Behind the vocalist, the keyboard player. In the far right corner the drummer. In the far left corner the bass player. A saxophonist stands to the right of the bass player. A good production team can do a reasonable job of capturing this soundstage and the instrumentalists placement, in the recording by altering the time difference between the right and left speaker. But, at the live performance each musician is individually miked to speakers on stage, at the rear of the hall, along the side walls and even in the ceiling. This destroys that wall of sound. What you hear in your listening environment will not accurately replicate what the concert goer witnessed. I once heard a TH-cam reviewer, reviewing a pair of speakers. He said he could clearly hear the female vocalist swaying from side to side. No, he couldn’t. She was singing into a Mike connected to static speakers. What he probably heard was the production team adjusting the right, left faders. Once you accept the fact that what you are hearing from your hifi at home, is fake, an illusion cleverly created by that recording team, then you will have a better understanding of what to expect from your home system. Personally. My hifi has to fight for it’s right to be in our family 17 by 19 feet lounge. The front baffle of my speakers is 35 inches from the wall behind them. My listening position is 35 inches from the wall behind me. The distance between the centre of the left and right tweeter is 102 inches. The distance from my listening position to the central point between the speakers is 132 inches. Which gives a ratio of 1 to 1.29 almost fits the one fifth to four fifths rule, but that is by chance, not design. It’s not ideal. It’s a combination of my version of good audio physics and my wife’s concept of pleasing aesthetics. With major compromises on both sides. Anyways, it works, I do sit back with n aged, single malt and enjoy well reproduced music. Yes, in a perfect world, it could doubtless be tweaked to sound a lot better, but that perfect world doesn’t exist. Most of all, enjoy the music.

This was highly useful and nice!! Please offer more of these subjects. Tks

In my experience , if we have a live band in our room , the room will interfere with the output of the band , so what we hear will be inclusive of all reflection . If you have even been to a live gig and you are anything like me , the front row is the last place you want to be . Speaker placement has no rules . My art stiletto 6 speakers want to be as far apart as they can be regardless of room and distance to the listening seat , my ls3/5a can be near field or far away , close together or far apart and are consistent in performance . Toe in has an effect with both speakers but less so with the ls3/5a . I do appreciate these videos but they are also worthless unless they are targeted at a specific speaker .

It's true. I was very impressed by Sennheisser's IE80 earphone when I first upgraded from a cheaper model. And I though the sound was very dynamic and balanced compared with my previous earphones. Later I learned from online reviews that it's kind of boomy, and there is standard eq to balance it. But after I applied the standard eq, and switch it to the eqqed effect - god my first impression was that it became so harsh and too bright, even hard to bear when listening to my favorite songs: the hissing of the highs was too much for me!. After listening to the eqqed sound for a while, I felt better. But today I'm still not sure if I prefer the eqqed sound or the original sound - seems our ears tend to adapt to the new sound characteristics after a while, unless we do the AB test quickly. Even when I do apply an eq, I would choose to downgrade the intensity, a handy function provide by Wavelet app.

You have not progressed in 30 years or millimeter

In my experience, a 1dB deviation that affects a broad frequency range, whether it is caused by resonance or not, is quite audible. That said, a high Q resonance, if large enough in amplitude, can also be quite audible, partly because of the high amplitude, and partly because of the duration of the ringing. It may not occur that often, but it quite off putting when it does.

Excellent video. Extreme near field is how I grew up. We used to cram all of our friends in there as well. When I was younger living in tiny homes, I would sit between the speakers on the heavily carpeted floor where I could still crawl over to the controls and stand to work the turntable between records. Now I use a supersized desktop/studio style layout with 12" mains and a pair of subs. It's very head-phonic minus the isolative disruption between the two the skull otherwise inflicts. Add some well practiced, recording dependent, EQ on the fly and I'll never go back to trying to appease an otherwise, non-existent audience. For the uninitiated, the rest of the room still sounds comparatively top notch, to what most people are used to or even care about. In other words, if your audience is tiny, forego trying to design a favorable whole room. Instead, be acoustically selfish.

My lord Good day to you. I've seen your speakers on the internet, but I haven't heard them up close. I think I'll like them! Tell me what is the difference with Proack? Thank you from Greece.

Two speaker, mono - worth exploring.

I MOVED MY SPEAKERS 3 FEET FROM THE BACK WALL AND THEN I MOVED THEM RIGHT UP AGAINST THE WALL AND IN BOTH CASES NICLELBACK STILL SUCKS !!

Good morning. Can you tell me the Helbrth 40.3 speaker with which amps it works great..?

I believe it! May I suggest if a cost-no-object speaker C was used, the A and B speakers could be compared separately to this reference?

stupid diagram

makes a vid about sound and has sound so low you cant hear it

I’ve seen quite a few videos and articles on speaker placement but none better than this one. Clear, straightforward, and easily understood, it’s a great practical guide to speaker and listener positioning in real rooms. And yes, I’d like to see more 😊.

Intelligent, educational and well explained. This, for me was priceless. Thank you.

Good Day Thanks a lot for this video!!! When I experimented with headphone amplifiers I listen many of many interesting sings and many of finding sings is not have a good enough explaining for electrical or physical lows :))

Good day this is a unique experience of Audio thanks dear !!!

But how about live performances, when you are listening to real voice in the room singing, the sound is reflecting the walls the same way as per your drawing when sound is coming from speakers. Hence that means - to simulate real performance you need sound with reflections, and if you will eliminate reflections you will get different experience from Live performance??? Unless the room where performance was happening was treated...

The reason you hear the boom boom of that car audio going by especially if the windows are all raised is that the SPL in the car changes with the speaker movement and so does the cars body panels. What you are actually hearing is these body panels which have effectively become a car shaped speaker drive unit annoy everyone they drive past.

My Wife insists that I hide my Mordaunt Short Avant 906 3 way floor mounted speakers behind the TV, which is on a low open backed credenza shelf drawer set in one corner, and at the end of the couch in the other. So I got a flat screen TV blocking the right channel and a bloody 3 seater couch blocking the left! the tweeter is above the couch but the TV is in the way of the whole right hand speaker. What can I do to improve sound quality? And don't say get rid of the Wife!

Muy útil. Gracias!!!

The distance between the speakers and the distance from each speaker to the listener should be equal. Period. 1-to-1. An equilateral triangle. This never changes by room. And the room dictates placement of ideal listening positioning, as determined by nodes/standing bass waves. This is not a subjective thing. There are several other false/incorrect statements made here, but I won’t let myself sound like a troll, and parse them out, but suffice to say there are further untrue declarations made. But a 1:1.5 ratio, distance between speakers to distance from each speaker to listener? Absolutely false. I say this based on science, not subjective perception or preference, nor some alternate theory. This is established, measured acoustic science. The distance between speakers, and the distance between speakers and listener, to the sweet spot, should ALWAYS be equal, forming an equilateral triangle, without exception. Period. And the location of the listener should be the spot on what is typically a perpendicular pathway bisecting the front wall where the bass response is the most balanced and natural. Again, period. How far the listener’s position is from the from the front wall should be based on this. And, although practically try, for the most part, bass frequencies transmitted from studio speakers, whether two-way or three-way, or a subwoofer(s), are not the same in the way you depicted in this video. It is more subtle, but in no way “the same” in those circled areas.

Your explanation and visual drawing aids are very concise and easily understood. May I submit a suggestion,, Many of us have a room/area that isn't a rectangle but of an open floor plan. One area flows into another if you will. Could you explain possible solutions for that?

Nice videos. Are your drivers injection moulded or vacuum formed or some other process is being implemented?

Fenominal explanation

This is great!

Dosen't Elon Musk what to put electrodes in our brains 🧠.

ok why I am losing the right audio channel of this video..

Đúng là một trong những đôi loa huyền thoại của hãng này

Your appreciation for the fantastic product that Steinway have created tells me a lot about how you design and make your own products. Great video, showing respect and recognition, thank you. One day I will place a pair of Harbeth 40s in my living room. I hope. 🙋‍♂️