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"HiFi" buzzwords for a simple engineer... [message #43151] Sat, 22 November 2003 06:21 Go to next message
Magnus is currently offline  Magnus
Messages: 32
Registered: May 2009
Baron
Fellow hornlovers,

when discussing speakers and such I often run into quite a bit of terminology describing sonic qualities which I am not too familiar with. If somebody says that there is a -6 dB/octave falloff above 10 kHz or 3% THD below 100 Hz at 100 dB/SPL or irritating phase cancellation due to comb-filter effects I know exactly what they mean. But when somebody says for example that a speaker is "bright" - now what is that?

And what about "imaging", "sound stage" and the like?

Thanks for any clarifications!
/Magnus

Re: "HiFi" buzzwords for a simple engineer... [message #43154 is a reply to message #43151] Sat, 22 November 2003 10:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
Messages: 4973
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (13th Degree)
ever hear a piano played in a room with all windows and a terrazzo tile floor? Thats "bright". Ever close your eyes at a classical concert and picture the clarinets on the left and horns on the right? Thats "imaging" Measuring a speaker to determine how good it sounds is like measuring the light spectrum coming off a rembrandt to see how good it looks.
Re: "HiFi" buzzwords for a simple engineer... [message #43156 is a reply to message #43154] Sat, 22 November 2003 10:51 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Tightwad is currently offline  Tightwad
Messages: 41
Registered: May 2009
Baron
"Measuring a speaker to determine how good it sounds is like measuring the light spectrum coming off a rembrandt to see how good it looks."

Bad analogy.

To the original point, the English language is pretty poorly equipped to describe sonic phenomena, so it borrows terms. Hence "bright", "dark", "muddy", "soundstage", etc.

Re: "HiFi" buzzwords for a simple engineer... [message #43157 is a reply to message #43156] Sat, 22 November 2003 11:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Manualblock is currently offline  Manualblock
Messages: 4973
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (13th Degree)
somehow I don't think that was what magnus was driving at. I think he kinda knew that.
Re: "HiFi" buzzwords for a simple engineer... [message #43158 is a reply to message #43157] Sat, 22 November 2003 12:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Magnus is currently offline  Magnus
Messages: 32
Registered: May 2009
Baron
Manualblock,

look I was not trying to say that sound perception by any means can be fully quantified just by a few technical parameters. I have played clarinet for years in both symfonic orchestras and jazz bands and yes, good music is nothing you read from a diagram, even if it is three dimensional. It is simply that I hear a lot of words that I do not know the correct meaning of (especially since my native language is Swedish and not English). If you, for example say that is sounds like sitting in a tin can I understand fully what you mean (looking at an FFT plot of this particular sound would probably tell me absolute nothing). But when somebody said "bright" or "good imaging" it was not obvious to me what that was referring to. Now that you have explained the terms I know better. Thanks for the clarification!

/Magnus

Re: "HiFi" buzzwords [message #43159 is a reply to message #43151] Sat, 22 November 2003 12:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Mike.e is currently offline  Mike.e
Messages: 471
Registered: May 2009
Illuminati (1st Degree)
I know ive had the same trouble,i hear that lowthers can have 'shout'

its annoying because 'bright' for one person ,may mean 'harsh ' for another.

I think that when people dont have freq response graphs,FFTs it becomes the only way to do it.

Theres no solid quantification.

'HIFI' magazines are bad for this..however they do test the DVD players to test signal - noise ratios-when its already very excessively good! haha.

Cheers

http://www.stereophile.com//reference/50/index2.html [message #43163 is a reply to message #43151] Sat, 22 November 2003 17:29 Go to previous message
newsjeff is currently offline  newsjeff
Messages: 55
Registered: May 2009
Baron
This may help. Or not.
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