Hey everyone,
I wanted to post a think-piece about learning to do speaker analysis. In particular for a beginner starting out with a 2-way system and using in-room measurements may be the very best way to get started.
Of course there will be room interactions not fully accounted for, but maybe a measurement which gates the tweeter/mid-woofer crossover areas and then blends that with the mid-woofer's low end response is the best way to get started?
With 1m measurements there are a few complications we avoid (compared to quasi-anechoic), such as:
I wanted to post a think-piece about learning to do speaker analysis. In particular for a beginner starting out with a 2-way system and using in-room measurements may be the very best way to get started.
Of course there will be room interactions not fully accounted for, but maybe a measurement which gates the tweeter/mid-woofer crossover areas and then blends that with the mid-woofer's low end response is the best way to get started?
With 1m measurements there are a few complications we avoid (compared to quasi-anechoic), such as:
- Integrating the port (if any) with the woofer response
- Adding baffle step calculations
- Understanding boundary reinforcement and how that will shape the final outcome.
- Measuring the acoustic offsets
- Measuring off-axis to pick ideal crossover location.
There's a soundfield created by two sources, in stereo.
There are no room interactions, it's the sound that propagates and collides on hard surfaces and refracts, reflects, diffracts at angles and holes.
What you catch at 1 m on axys is only the amplitude ( magnitude- scalar) of a vector.
There are no room interactions, it's the sound that propagates and collides on hard surfaces and refracts, reflects, diffracts at angles and holes.
What you catch at 1 m on axys is only the amplitude ( magnitude- scalar) of a vector.
I would suggest reading a book as the efficient tried and tested way to get from knowing nothing to having an idea of where to look for guidance on what is not understood.What do you all think of this as a solid learning path for most beginners? Would you suggest another direction instead?
What exactly are you suggest is a better learning path for beginners?There's a soundfield created by two sources, in stereo.
There are no room interactions, it's the sound that propagates and collides on hard surfaces and refracts, reflects, diffracts at angles and holes.
What you catch at 1 m on axys is only the amplitude ( magnitude- scalar) of a vector.
I would suggest reading a book as the efficient tried and tested way to get from knowing nothing to having an idea of where to look for guidance on what is not understood.
Of course. My point was meant to ask, for absolute beginners, whether or not attempting to do a fully quasi-anechoic analysis of a speaker is the best approach or not.
I'm very much afraid the spirit and background of my original post is getting lost. When I talk to a lot of DIY'ers who are just starting to mod speakers it seems to me their enthusiasm is somewhat blunted by the difficulty of complete measurements. Given that and my desire to see more people enjoy the hobby I posited that encouraging messy but good approaches is useful.
My opinion......My point was meant to ask, for absolute beginners, whether or not attempting to do a fully quasi-anechoic analysis of a speaker is the best approach or not.
... When I talk to a lot of DIY'ers who are just starting to mod speakers it seems to me their enthusiasm is somewhat blunted by the difficulty of complete measurements.
Yes, given today's tools it doesn't make sense to not take good on- and off-axis measurements with a dual channel setup. The goal is to make something DIY as good, or better, than commercial offerings. But if you aren't going to do it right, you can get perfectly acceptable performance from new, or especially used, speakers.
I wouldn't bother buying a book. There are 5 to 10 page Internet write-ups that explain what needs to be done.
Jeff Bagby's straightforward suggestions (which is exactly what they are) remain about the best 'simple' guide that I'm aware of, in terms of producing data that's actually useful:
http://audio.claub.net/software/FRD...curate In-Room Frequency Response to 10Hz.pdf
http://audio.claub.net/software/FRD...curate In-Room Frequency Response to 10Hz.pdf
I think probably the most important thing is technique and discipline. You need to be able to reliably make repeatable measurements. If you can't do that your are toast. So I would put emphasis on practicing as a beginner and experimenting with distance, measurement spots in the room and so on so you can find the "sweet spot" where you have the least amount of room influence.
Once you find a spot you can just tape off reference points so you can set -up quickly and get reliable and repeatable results.
Rob
Once you find a spot you can just tape off reference points so you can set -up quickly and get reliable and repeatable results.
Rob
I think it is important to recognize and acknowledge that different peoples have different styles of learning. Some people want or need to grasp the theory of how something works before taking action. Other people learn best by taking action first, and after gaining a sense of how something works, then diving into the theory.
@eriksquires - your idea makes sense for some people.
@eriksquires - your idea makes sense for some people.
Definitely agree with this. I am in the camp of normally reading a lot to learn, but when it comes to entirely new topics like speaker measurements, everything I know about theory goes out the window and I just need to play with fast and easy techniques to better understand the concepts, before I can spend time reading again about the right way to do things.think it is important to recognize and acknowledge that different peoples have different styles of learning.
2 cents: Just get a free Android APP called Frequency Sound Generator and listen to finger-swept tones, of as many speakers/setups as possible. Their most apparent sound-quality issues become exposed and correlated to their frequency response. Then one learns quickly how to make such measurement-by-ear reliable and repeatable, more broadly useful and actionable for diy.
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- Speaker analysis is hard, so 1m measurements are the way to go!