I just came across with the Neutralizer app for Android, http://www.neutralizer.pro/. It seems a good and simple way to equalize a speaker taking into account the user perception. I suppose something similar exists for audio systems (my hi-fi days are long past).
Thanks Q Section for your educated and insightful post Coincidently, just last night I heard a lengthly interview on C Span of the Razer CEO as part of C Span's coverage of The TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. Razer has embarked on a new business model financing and/or aquiring start-up and established companies some of which may be beyond the gaming industry. Their philospophy is that Razer has unquestionably been so successful in developing it's own best in class products (it's new Razer Blade gaming laptops, for example), it can make the world a better place by applying their methods and expertise to other companies. Because all at Razer, including it's founders, top-level management, are avid gamers, it is expected that most of the companies it funds or aquires will be related to the gaming industry. While Razer ATM does not make any speakers they do make high quality headsets. THX late last year introduced the THX AAA headphone ampliflier. FWIW: The Logitech 623 is, and has been,THX Certified since it was first introduced.
Nope. Genesis IIs did not last very long. The Genesis IIs were awesome, particulalrly the base and tweeters,and their outstanding good looks - light oak, faceted shape wood, floor standing, 3-way, approx 4 feet high,on a base that set themn off at a slight angle. I learned that Genesis II's folded the "hard way." At one time I had an upstairs "neighbor" who had no rugs on the floor and who would stomp around, play loud music, and was in general a nuisance that did not respond to management's complaints, so I had to take matters into my own foolish hands.. I managed to stack storage boxes to near my ceiling and placed the Genesis II's on top of them flush with my ceiling. Cranked up the amps to full blast. Laughed MAO for about a minute until the woofers blew-out. Because they were flush with the ceiling there was not sufficient passage for the air pressure to escape. They did shake the ceiling and walls while they lasted When I learned that replacements for the Genesis woofers were not available, I replaced the woofers with Radio Shack Realistics as a matter of convenience. Figured I could get higher quality replacements but the cost would be high and they were unlikely to properly integrate into the system.They never again came close. [My information was that the Company itself folded.] They were so attractive that I now use them as a base for my PC desk One stacked on top of the other (laying horizontally with a height boost with some very strong Styrofoam-hidden) with a thick plank of Oak laid on top. pic does not do them justice. http://www.humanspeakers.com/genesis/images/gen33.jpg
Are you talking about $43 - $50 speaker. For instance Cyber Acoustics CA-3602a?. They sound unbalanced to me. They have overpowering mid-range, almost no lows.
Flat frequency response - is subjective to what the listen prefers, what works best in a given room (audio engineers often have to notch filter out resonances in live events, leaving holes is the frequency response). Also must not forget there are other factors such as near vs far field -listener distance (in a given room its rare for flat response at 1m will still be flat when listening at 3m), speaker positioning limitations, as well as other performance characteristics of speaker systems such as transient response, harmonic distortion and lister factors as such as at what frequency human ears are most sensitive to flaws in a speakers ability to accurately reproduce sound waves. Its all a giant balancing act, computer speakers, car speakers, studio monitoring and live gigs all have differing and competing set of requirements, throwing more money at components will not automatically improve sound quality unless you take effort to measure, integrate components and tune as a whole system. Once you get beyond the budget end of HiFi, the average room become the biggest limiting factor is accurate sound reproduction. I've worked with sound engineers at gigs setting up for live bands and I've got my own measuring equipment and measured speakers accurate to +-2.5DB by the manufacturer be put in large rooms and response changes to +-15DB (especially bass, room modes and null). If you have resources of good speaker location and tuning of your system its possible to get good in room response, even from the budget end of HiFi, better than you would get from putting multi thousand $/£ systems in a room without any consideration for sound quality.
I think I know what you meant to say, I just don't agree with what you actually said. So to clarify, there are 3 factors here. A "flat frequency response" is NOT "subjective" and has nothing to do with listener "preference". Flat is flat. You can measure it. You can see it with sound pressure meters, audio frequency analyzers, and scopes. The output of any given speaker is either flat or not flat. It is not subjective. It is measurable. It is just a fact. And it is not influenced by individual ears or preferences. Outside of a special audio measuring rooms in test labs, what is heard by a listener, or picked up by test equipment in any given room is not flat. As I noted a week ago in post #4 and again in post #9, the sound (frequency response) at the listener's head will be influenced by walls, ceilings, floors, carpet, drapes, furniture, etc. Consequently, "each" speaker's output needs to be calibrated individually to achieve a flat response at the listener's listening position. This still is NOT subjective or influenced by user preference. The sound at the listener's head is flat, or not flat. It is measurable, and a fact. Now comes the user preference and subjectiveness parts. As I also noted in post #9, after calibrating each speaker's output to the room for a "flat" response at the listener's head position, in EVERY case (regardless the quality - or price of the speakers), my clients did not like the sound! They would complain it sounded tinny, or too bright, or not enough bass, or too much bass - it was "too flat!" So it was always necessary to enhance this frequency range, or attenuate that range until the "subjective" owner heard his or her "desired" sound based on their own listening "preferences". But note we always started from the flattest point, then adjusted various frequency levels from there.
Bill, 1. I meant a listeners preference to flat is subjective - basically what you say in 3 2. Totally agree. This is all with the assumption that all source sounds are mixed and produced for a flat response when reproduced Cheers, Nick
Nope, not true either - not when it comes to the speaker's performance. If the artist does not like how the sound engineer mixed his music, that's between the artist and the engineer - not the speaker. The speaker should faithfully reproduce what was recorded. Period. It does not matter what the sound engineer enhanced or attenuated, added, took away or distorted before the music was recorded onto the master. What's on the master tape (or whatever) should be faithfully reproduced by the speaker.
Are the speaker/monitors used for the mixing a perfect flat response ?, will the same speaker/monitors (and rest of audio setup) be used for listening at home ?, if no to either there will be differences and faithful reproduction is impossible. This is why competent engineers test their mixes out on a number of speakers to ensure as good a compromise as possible.
Totally immaterial to this discussion! You are focusing on "before". This topic is about "after". What happens in the studio and/or mixing room during the mastering and "before" the song is pressed onto a CD or vinyl is totally beyond the control of consumers or the speakers we use in our living rooms, or attached to our computers. The speakers we put in our living rooms or attach to our computers must not alter the waveform in any way! They must reproduce the music exactly - "after" that music was pressed onto the CD or vinyl. And the only way any speaker can do that is by having a perfectly flat frequency response. If the SPL at 4,256Hz was recorded 3.25dB higher than 46Hz in the studio or mixing room, then when playing that same song, 4,256Hz must be reproduced 3.25dB higher than 46Hz in the living room - if that speaker is to be considered a quality loudspeaker. You can keep going on about what happens during the recording process, but that is OT and not the point of this discussion. Unless you were on stage when the artist was playing that song, you would have no idea how it really sounded. Neither does your speaker maker. So they must simply reproduce the waveform exactly - "after" it was pressed into the media.
