Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

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Re: What challenges does audio face?

Posted by tomservo (M) on August 21, 2006 at 15:11:42

In Reply to: What challenges does audio face? posted by okiemax on August 20, 2006 at 22:38:49:

Hi

Your question involves my work so warning, I am wearing a manufacturers hat.

If one were to compare all the links in the chain the one which has the most flaws, the largest number of ways it changes the signal, it would by far be the loudspeaker.
It does something electronics doesn’t, it spreads out a signal in time much more that the phase shift of a minimum phase device does with the same response.
In the middle of an amplifiers bandwidth, it out to be able to pass a square wave no problem. Speakers that actually can do this over any significant bw are rare and the exception. Like electronics, speakers also generate sound at multiples of the input frequencies AND uncorrelated sound (noise) as a function of level.
Multiple drivers are usually used too, these are normally too far apart from each other to add coherently and so at best they measure nice on axis (only).
Some issues are common to all speakers, like the phase shift associated with a direct radiator and its low cutoff so few have heard the "without" case.
People get concerned about absolute polarity while they use speakers that rotate hundreds or thousands of degrees of excess phase.
Measurement systems which don’t actually measure acoustic phase (but do have a curve for it) are even popular.
Here is where there is a lot of room for the market to move should reproduced quality become more than a novelty, only discussed in places like this.
The "mass market" is the force that wags the dogs tail now, that stuff has great spec’s. looks cool, but is nearly empty on the inside and will die in 3 or 4 years more or less.

Tom

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