Home » Audio » General » More on time alignment. Wayne?
Re: More on time alignment. Wayne? [message #3671 is a reply to message #3659] Thu, 31 August 2006 10:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18793
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I'm saying use of the phrase "time alignment" is a marketing ploy. It is not an accurate way to describe what is being accomplished with proper driver placement and crossover design. Baffle position is important, and tilting the baffle is one way to set position that can also be aesthetically pleasant. But the use of the phrase "time alignment" has always been marketing rhetoric.


Links to articles about phase related issues [message #3673 is a reply to message #3668] Thu, 31 August 2006 10:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18793
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I did a few searches here and in the other speaker forums on ART for posts about "phase", "time alignment" and other related things. Here are a few of the threads I found:

Thanks I will check them out. NT [message #3675 is a reply to message #3673] Thu, 31 August 2006 12:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mr Vinyl is currently offline  Mr Vinyl
Messages: 407
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (1st Degree)
NT

Re: More on time alignment. Wayne? [message #3679 is a reply to message #3671] Thu, 31 August 2006 15:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
GarMan is currently offline  GarMan
Messages: 960
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (2nd Degree)
Wayne, I think one of the issues is that there are different people are using the term "time alignment" in different ways and nobody's bothering to ask what each other means.

My take is that time alignment is possible WITHIN limited ranges of the frequency range and is neccessary for smooth FR. With current driver technology, time alignment is not possible throughout the entire FR.

Re: More on time alignment. Wayne? [message #3681 is a reply to message #3679] Thu, 31 August 2006 17:47 Go to previous message
Wayne Parham is currently offline  Wayne Parham
Messages: 18793
Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)

The thing is, the companies that boast loudly about "time alignment" usually use it as a way to set themselves apart and I think that's disingenuous. It has always appeared like sales rhetoric to me, since the companies that make an issue of it are doing nothing different than others loudspeaker manufacturers. Their "alignment" is no better than anyone else's - It is a 1/4λ match perhaps but certainly not a true zero phase alignment. So to use the term to set themselves apart smacks of marketing mumbo-jumbo to me.

For decades, most every loudspeaker manufacturer has taken steps to match the subsystems for proper summing. Altec recommended a simple procedure to match the HF and LF drivers in the crossover region back in the 1960's and then revisited it with an application note (link below) in the 1980's. This phase matching is done for summing, to reduce the amount of destructive interference. The idea is to prevent two adjacent drivers from cancelling each other through their band of overlap, causing a spiked dip in response. A frequency response anomaly is what you'll hear if there is a problem with summing, not the time offset.


Previous Topic: akhilesh (or anyone else of course :-)
Next Topic: Still Can't Get A response On why Guitar Players know what sounds good.
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Mon Dec 23 04:08:33 CST 2024

Sponsoring Organizations

DIY Audio Projects
DIY Audio Projects
OddWatt Audio
OddWatt Audio
Pi Speakers
Pi Speakers
Prosound Shootout
Prosound Shootout
Miller Audio
Miller Audio
Tubes For Amps
TubesForAmps.com

Lone Star Audiofest