lafayette wrote: > Good post, and good post Adamslim, too ( you can deduce my argument from > the article and read about it elsewhere). There is no question -- none > -- that if you're listening to broad dispersion sources or to off-axis > speakers you will, per force, hear stuff outside of the boundaries of > the speakers. But, think about it: those wave fronts are moving away > from you, right? The only way they get BACK at you is by reflecting > off of something.
That may be how the physicality of the transmission medium works but we're talking about a psychoacoustic effect here. The human hearing system is an incredibly complex thing and has the capability to localise sound in three-dimensional space based on the differences in sound that arrive at our two ears. A well-made, "pure" recording, i.e. one made with a pair of microphones (there are several techniques that are commonly used), will contain psychoacoustic cues that tell the brain that the sound it is hearing comes from "outside" the speakers. It's also possible, with suitable processing equipment, to artificially position a sound in the sound stage. It's even possible to make a sound "move" around in the sound stage, e.g. move from rear centre, out to the right (outside the speakers), back to the centre but at the front, out to the left (again, outside the speakers), and back to rear centre. This is all done by adding the aforementioned psychoacoustic cues. This really is nothing to do with (playback) room reflections - in fact, such reflections will "blur" the sound and take away from the sound-stage rather than enhance it. Let me be clear - this is not a personal attack, I just happen to think you're wrong in your assertion that any sound that appears to come from "outside" the speakers is a result of room reflections. Peace. R. _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
