| How about those new room/speaker
electronic interface boxes that promise incredibly flat response through room correction?
Things are never as simple as they seem. We humans are very good at differentiating between the source of sound and the effect of a room. Put your best friend in 10 different rooms with very different sonic characteristics and he or she will still always sound like your best friend. No matter how bad the room acoustics, they will not become a different person. This is because the mind gives preference to the source (direct) sound and partially or totally disregards the effects of the room. But, modify the tone of your friend's voice to counter the room effects, and now you have a new best friend. The mind still locks onto the source and the source doesn't sound like your friend. The same thing happens to a violin, a piano, a quartet, or an orchestra. Modify the tone for flat response in the room, and the accuracy and realism is lost. You make the source sound inaccurate and the source is what we hear. So why is there a positive reaction to these boxes in the market place? Because even though they screw-up the overall sound, they do have one social redeeming value. At the lower frequencies where wave lengths are long and the direct sound and room effects are homogeneous, (Below about 150Hz) humans cannot differentiate between the source and the room effects. Equalizing these bass frequencies for flat response can provide very positive benefits. And since these low frequencies form the musical foundation and are critical to conveying the music's emotion, some people may consider the benefits there more than the the negative effects through the midrange and treble. Our view is that this technology should only be used below 150Hz where the results are purely positive. It should never be applied to the midrange or treble or even be in the signal path. This is how the technology should be used and how it is used in the Vandersteen Model Five Loudspeaker. |