The IMP Arrives
"Andrew Haley" wrote in message
...
What does this theory predict that conventional psychoacoustics does
not? In other words, is it possible to design an experiment which
would show whether the IMP is a superior theory to others?
Andrew.
Sure. Just violate any of the three ingredients of the model. If a speaker
puts out all direct sound, as most do even today, then the majority of the
high freqs will be heard from the actual speakers only, limiting the depth
impression and spaciousness. If the speakers are mis-positioned, as in
placed too close to one or more reflecting surfaces, the model will collapse
to a clustering of sources near those reflections, leading to stretched
soloists and a hole in the middle. We have noticed these effects for a long
time now, but not realized what causes them. Finally, if the surfaces around
the speakers have been padded with a lot of sound absorbing material, the
back and side reflections will be greatly diminished in the high
frequencies, leading once again to a smaller soundstage with less depth.
I hope to demonstrate these effects with some AB testing if and when I can
get a few comparison speakers. Also note that these effects diminish with
increasing room size. Large room acoustics tend to swamp a lot of these
spatial effects of the playback system and also the acoustic signature of
the recording (the concert hall acoustic, if any was recorded).
Gary Eickmeier
|