A Question About Time Alignment

I tried to read every post here but too many have confused light waves with sound waves, light travels as a electromagnetic wave composed of photons, all electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed which is the speed of light.

Sound waves are a vibration, does not contain any photons, the vibration alternately compresses and decompresses the air particles next to it, creating a wave that is composed of compressions and refractions. Sound cannot therefore travel through space where there are no particles to create a sound wave.

Everything affects sound when it is in the air there is no free ride it is not a electromagnetic wave...

I copied and pasted the following for those of you in need of quick refresher:

You can calculate the wavelengths of audible sound in air. Audible sounds in air have frequencies that range from roughly 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Not surprisingly, the wavelengths of audible sounds also vary widely. Assuming a speed of sound of 340 m/s,

For 20 Hz sound in air: $\lambda =\frac{v}{f}=\frac{340m/s}{20Hz}=17m$

For 20 kHz sound in air: $\lambda =\frac{v}{f}=\frac{340m/s}{20,000Hz}=0.017m=1.7cm$

This calculation shows that wavelengths of sounds in air are distinctly human sized. The wavelengths range from roughly the diameter of a dime (for the highest frequencies) to roughly the length of a city bus (for the lowest frequencies). For comparison, the wavelengths of visible light are all far smaller than the thickness of a single human hair and have a very narrow range (from roughly 400 to 700 nm).

Time delay is something that your brain uses to locate sounds in space. We are extremely sensitive to it. We can perceive fractions of a second. The reason we know that a sound comes from right center is because our ears and brain are sensitive enough to detect the difference in the timing of the sound hitting our right ear and then traveling across our face to our left ear. If time alignment didn’t matter than we couldn’t locate sound in space. The reason we aren’t completely fooled that we are listening to a live performance is because our left ears are picking up what the right speaker is playing and the right ear is picking up what the left speaker is playing. That is why highly directional speakers can often make a spooky 3-D image if set up and corrected properly but that sweet spot is extremely small (like move your head fractions of an inch small). That is why time alignment and room correction are both important to mitigate room nulls to get the best image possible. There is a ton of disinformation here and I spent years sifting through the chaff to create a system based on factual measurable scientific results. If anyone is struggling to figure out why things just don’t quite sound right the answer is probably in this realm and it is often overlooked because time alignment and room correction are perceived as difficult to do and frankly not many people have heard a system set up correctly employing these techniques. This forum is about sharing ideas. People put great weight into small physical changes in their systems. It would behoove them to respect the power time alignment and room correction can truly make as well. Perhaps a user will find this insightful, easy to understand, and seek to better their system because of it. That’s why I’m still posting from time to time even if I get trolled by someone who doesn’t believe in science. 
 

Thanks,

Steve

Steve,

@hifidream You should read up on Head Related Transfer Function research.  It's a lot more than timing.

Having said that, I've heard speakers with great, near perfect impulse responses and they did not by themselves move me.

Hi Eric,

    Yes I’ve based my system on the principles of Edgar Choueiri. The missing piece to my system is his BACCH 3D sound implementation. I didn’t get into all that for the sake of simplicity. Just because a system is set up correctly doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy the sound of the speakers, you are at least listening to them at their best. His work in this field is profound. I am wrapping up paying for my daughter’s wedding and then I’ll be saving for the BACCH 3D package to run on my Mac Mini, I can’t wait!
 

Thanks,

Steve

My creation, the "Mermans" use a JBL 18" (2241H), a JBL ~10" (2251J) and Heil AMT.  Each is separate and I time align the drivers to my seating position by physically moving the three cabinets relative to each other.  I use a Behringer 61-band RTA to set the drivers for the smoothest transition in the crossover region.

The result is that, in addition to the sound being its "smoothest," the imaging is greatly improved.  BTW, in this pic, the 10" cabinets are a bit too far forward.