Wayne's crossover design seminar alone was well worth the nineteen-hundred-mile round trip. I learned why my crossovers were not working! Thank you, Wayne, for not holding back your hard-earned knowledge from the rest of the world!

Then at the very end of the day Saturday, I went up to Wayne's room (it hadn't been open when I stopped by earlier). He had the 7 Pi's playing in the corner. The sound was very natural and enjoyable. And the 7 Pi's had this rare quality (which I happen to think is more than just a neat party trick ): When you were no longer able to hear their direct sound (say you were around the corner or something), they still had natural tonal balance! That means the reverberant field is tonally correct, which is extremely rare in reproduced sound; but a given in live, unamplified sound. A well-executed full-range corner horn is among the few formats that can get the reverberant field right.

By the way, David Martinelli's woodwork on that pair of 7 Pi's was exquisite. They were finished in the most beautiful French walnut I've ever seen. Slobbbbber!

Wayne, I got the itch. Got it bad. Could you e-mail me a set of plans for the 7 Pi??

Thank you sir!

Duke

Thanks for validation of the 7 Pi's sound from around the bend!

With a really good system, you can sit in the sweet spot and close your eyes and it can fool you into thinking real, live performers are there. But from around a corner, or even the next room, it's pretty obvious whether it's live or Memorex. This is because "around the bend", all you can possibly hear is the reverberant field, and very few speakers generate a tonally correct reverberant field because their directional characteristics change with frequency. A good corner horn is among the rare exceptions - it radiates into a 90-degree angle up and down the spectrum. Of course, live music also sounds correct from the next room. The speakers I peddle, Sound Lab's big faceted-curved electrostats, are among the other approaches that create a tonally correct reverberant field.

I only listened to the 7 Pi's for a few minutes, but I would predict that they'd be extremely relaxing to listen to long-term. The tonal balance was good, and having the reverberant field sound like the direct sound contributes to long-term listening enjoyment. When there is a significant discrepancy between the first-arrival sound and the reverberant sound, the ear/brain system has to work harder to integrate these two tonally disparate events, and the eventual result can be listening fatigue.

Enjoyed your taking the time to explain microphone/singer proximity effects to me at the show!

Best wishes,

Duke

I was thinking about you the next day, during the trip home. I remembered that you came up to me after the seminar, and I invited you up to my room. When you were there, things were hectic and I didn't get a chance to visit with you very much, and I'm sorry. I wish you had been able to "hang out" with some of us around the tables that evening.

Let's do it next time, OK? In the meantime, I've sent your plans so check your mail.