loudspeaker stereo imaging

When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...


Pete

"Ewar Woowar" wrote in message
...
When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...


Pete



earwax

"Ewar Woowar" wrote in message
...
When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...


Pete



earwax

In article , Ewar Woowar
wrote:
When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...

The requirements are probably:

Fairly flat response with no significant time/phase anomolies.

Controlled dispersion pattern that is fairly uniform as a function of
frequency. (See KH's article on Polar Patterns in this month's HFN.)

Relative absence of colourations or distortions.

Decent listening room acoustics.

Careful placement of speakers and listening location

Appropriately recorded source material.

A design like the Quad ESL's helps with the first few requirements, for the
others the loudspeaker designer is in your hands. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

In article , Ewar Woowar
wrote:
When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...

The requirements are probably:

Fairly flat response with no significant time/phase anomolies.

Controlled dispersion pattern that is fairly uniform as a function of
frequency. (See KH's article on Polar Patterns in this month's HFN.)

Relative absence of colourations or distortions.

Decent listening room acoustics.

Careful placement of speakers and listening location

Appropriately recorded source material.

A design like the Quad ESL's helps with the first few requirements, for the
others the loudspeaker designer is in your hands. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Ewar Woowar wrote:

When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...


Pete


It has a lot to do with the positions of the HF and LF drivers and your
listening position. These result in errors which can muddy the stereo
sound field. The only real solution is to use dual concentric speakers.

Ian

Ewar Woowar wrote:

When I listen to some speakers, the stereo imaging is amazing - you can
pinpoint each member of the band on the stage infront of you, yet other
speakers do not have this property.

From a design point of view, how do you go about achieving superb stereo
imaging?

Thanks for any explanations...


Pete


It has a lot to do with the positions of the HF and LF drivers and your
listening position. These result in errors which can muddy the stereo
sound field. The only real solution is to use dual concentric speakers.

Ian

In article , Ian Bell
wrote:


It has a lot to do with the positions of the HF and LF drivers and your
listening position. These result in errors which can muddy the stereo
sound field. The only real solution is to use dual concentric speakers.

Interesting. I'd suspect most people wouldn't immediately think of the Quad
ESL63's as 'dual concentric'. :-) More like 'multiple quasi-concentric' or
'phased array', though. They image quite well, though.

The ESL57's (which are not 'concentric') do also seem to image very well,
Given the above, it seems reasonable to think that there are alternative
approachs to 'put the tweeter in the middle of the woofer' that can work...
;-

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

In article , Ian Bell
wrote:


It has a lot to do with the positions of the HF and LF drivers and your
listening position. These result in errors which can muddy the stereo
sound field. The only real solution is to use dual concentric speakers.

Interesting. I'd suspect most people wouldn't immediately think of the Quad
ESL63's as 'dual concentric'. :-) More like 'multiple quasi-concentric' or
'phased array', though. They image quite well, though.

The ESL57's (which are not 'concentric') do also seem to image very well,
Given the above, it seems reasonable to think that there are alternative
approachs to 'put the tweeter in the middle of the woofer' that can work...
;-

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

jim, thanks for that, i thought it might be to do with phase and polar
patterns.

i guess a wide dispersion pattern flat over frequency, same signal coming
from 2 speakers would mimic similar sound waves to a single actual source
located in the middle. thinking back to o'level physics, i guess you could
get a tray full of water and compare two pulsating bobs (two omnidirectional
speakers) with one pulsating bob in the middle and compare the waves
arriving at an equidistant point (the listener).


Fairly flat response with no significant time/phase anomolies.

Controlled dispersion pattern that is fairly uniform as a function of
frequency. (See KH's article on Polar Patterns in this month's HFN.)

Relative absence of colourations or distortions.

Decent listening room acoustics.

Careful placement of speakers and listening location

Appropriately recorded source material.