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Pin point imaging isn't for everyone

A subject my posts touch on often is whether pin point imaging is desirable, or natural. While thinking about wide-baffle speakers in another thread I came across this quote, courtesy of Troels Graveson’s DIY speaker site. He quotes famous speaker designer Roy Allison:

I had emphasized dispersion in order to re-create as best as I could the performance-hall ambiance. I don’t want to put up with a sweet spot, and I’d rather have a less dramatically precise imaging with a close simulation of what you hear in a concert hall in terms of envelopment. For that, you need reverberant energy broadcast at very wide angles from the loudspeaker, so the bulk of energy has to do multiple reflections before reaching your ear. I think pin-point imaging has to do with synthetically generated music, not acoustic music - except perhaps for a solo instrument or a solo voice, where you might want fairly sharp localization. For envelopment, you need widespread energy generation.


You can read Troel’s entire post here:

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Acapella_WB.htm

This goes, kind of, with my points before, that you can tweak the frequency response of a speaker, and sometimes cables, to get better imaging, but you are going significantly far from neutral to do so. Older Wilson’s were famous, and had a convenient dip around 2.4 kHz.
erik_squires
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
Neo6 music mode
now there’s an oxymoron if ever there was one. [I worked for dts]

Multichannel processor playback is only suitable for phase mangled mp3, AAC et al. when out of the room or otherwise disinterested as in background in a noisy party. Otherwise the image wander and egregious level and phase distortion forces me to ask that it be turned off or I must leave the room. I literally feel ill with continued exposure.

See http://ielogical.com/Lossy/
erik_squires OP
16,051 posts
 
Hi @ieasles,
I also worked in theater sound equipment.

I find your statement a little hard to read.

My experience with Neo6 and classical or Jazz was that it did a really good job of filling in the center, an area where traditional 2 channel playback is lacking, but we are so conditioned to hearing it we don't notice.

Best,
Erik
fynnegan
112 posts
 
People say there is no pinpoint imaging in a big concert hall. But if you were standing at the conductor’s place, you would hear pinpoint imaging and soundstage depth. That’s where the microphones often are too, a bit behind the conductor, above his/her head.
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
@erik_squires 
filling in the center, an area where traditional 2 channel playback is lacking

A friend once said "It's like Joe Pass is sitting right there." No system I've ever owned or used in the studio had a center hole.

If there is a hole in 2 channel play back, it's improperly set up or the speakers are deficient.

I don't recall the track, but I when I first heard Neo:6, I left the demo. IMO, it's unbearable on music I know and downright annoying on music I don't.


david_ten
5,480 posts
 
it did a really good job of filling in the center, an area where traditional 2 channel playback is lacking, but we are so conditioned to hearing it we don't notice.

@erik_squires   Can you explain? This statement is a head-scratcher for me at the surface. Thanks. 

[Emphasis on "filling in the center, an area where traditional 2 channel playback is lacking"]
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