Flat frequency response
I am often surprised by the number of speakers with "gee-whiz bang" technology but can't even get speaker design 101 right. I can see the benefit of avoiding a lot of signal processing but preferences notwithstanding, flat frequency response seems like the logical place to start and then progress from there.
1) Why is it so hard to achieve?
2) Does it matter?
3) Is it reasonable to say when you skip the basics you are only progressing on a flawed foundation.
@cdc Wrote:
JBL engineers speak about flat frequency response in monitor speakers. They believe it should have uniform on and off axis frequency response both horizontally and vertically at all angles. 😎 See article below: Mike  |
Really excellent, thought provoking ideas. audiokinesis
 Yes. I remember Thiel wanted to keep flat and while some people liked them, I thought too bright. I suppose room and components could come into play. asctim
Hhmmm, that is a good point. Â ditusa
Hhmmm, that is a good point too. Â newbee
Haha, good observation. I have been measuring from 3 ft away and also 9 feet away listening. The 3 feet is an attempt a what the speaker really does. 9 feet is the speaker + room. My personal taste is the speakers measures flat through most of the treble so it will have the downward slope at the listening position since the HF rolls off fast. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to some speakers lately and what I have taken away is the variety in how speakers are voiced. Maybe the designer will voice the speaker to 1) his taste or 2) what he thinks is most popular and will sell the most. It’s a tough balancing act. While the basic sound quality is often excellent, it’s frustrating to hear some frequency variations that don’t suit my taste. What I see as obviously wrong, and maybe(?) we can all agree on, I made a speaker and was playing with EQ. Depending on EQ, I was shocked to find the singer didn’t even sound like the same person. They both can’t be right.  |
I can hardly imagine all speakers sounding the same if equalized to flat. It's how a speaker releases its notes that gives it its own distinctive sound, whether you enjoy it or not. Room reflections and acoustics are, of course, important. But speakers in rooms are usually far far from perfect. The first thing to musical bliss is taming the bad bass nodes and room issues, and if the speaker is contributing to that it gets corrected as part of the process. With a tiny bit of lowering excessive spots in the upper bass and some high treble my goal is the very flattest response in room in my chair from 31Hz up to 12Khz (usually +-2dB). And that's no sub. Taking the irritating bass bump 80-160 from the Raidho D2s is a very good thing. After that it's liquid music in your ears, and a flat response. Taming the room and speaker into a nice flat response allows the true beauty of the sound to come through. The additional clarity and tight bass is a no brainer. Those who still disrespect any room correction may never have tried with the right unit. I'd never go back. DSP gives me far better sound, always. |
@cdc Wrote:
''There is another aspect of the spatial domain that is important. This is that the frequency response should be the same in all the directions in which sound is radiated. That is the same as saying the directivity pattern is independent of frequency. If this is not the case, the speaker may fail to excite reverberation that can be identified as such by the ear because it will be coloured.'' This article just came to me, see below: Mike |
