[Audio Empire]

On Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:35:24 -0700, Scott wrote
(in article ):

On Jul 26, 11:48=A0am, Andrew Haley
wrote:
Audio Empire wrote:
the WAMM was Wilson's first speaker system, and no, it wasn't very
accurate. What it was, was one of the first (if not THE first)
speakers to be able to reproduce the power and dynamic range of a
full symphony orchestra.

I've heard this before, and it always strikes me as odd. =A0A full
symphony orchestra in a hall isn't very loud. =A0Reproducing the dynamic
range of a full symphony orchestra as heard from, say, Row J isn't
that hard. =A0I'm not talking about reproducing the levels as heard by
some poor musician sat in front of the brass section, which is
something you really wouldn't want to do at home anyway.

From the reference I could find [1], Marsh (1975) reported 95 dB at

Chicago's Orchestra Hall, and maybe the peak factor is 5-10 dB, giving
100-105 dB peak. =A0Olson (1967) reported peak SPLs of 100 dB. =A0Granted=
,
this might be a bit of a challenge at 25Hz, but according to the
spectral plots in that paper there's little energy at such low
frequencies.

Andrew.

[1] Fromwww.etymotic.com/publications/erl-0098-1999.pdf:

Marsh, R. C. (1975, August). Tweeters in the grass, alas. Chicago,
pp. 76-78.

Olson, H. F. (1967). Music, physics, and engineering. =A0New York: Dover

You make a very good point. It aint the SPLs that are difficult to
reproduce with orchestral music. But the *sense* of power you get from
a live orchestra is still something really hard to create with any
playback gear. Another note. You mentioned row J. Interestingly enough
in really good halls mid hall is just as loud as the front row. IME
the five rows are higly under rated when it comes to sound quality.
The issue isn't that the orchestra is too loud but that it is too
spread. For orchestral music I do like rows 7-12 best for that reason.
But for concertos I prefer rows 3-6 with the best view of the soloist.
I also prefer to sit as close as possible for solo and chamber works.


Tou are correct. It is NOT the SPL, it's the amount of AIR that a symphony in
full song can move that affects the listener's whole body. Most speaker
systems just don't pressurize the room in a convincing manner. The WAMM gave
one the "feeling" that there was an orchestra playing in the room that you
were listening in. It might not have been a very good sounding room (due to
the speakers' shortcomings), but it felt more "live" than most listening
environments. That's what big speakers bring to the party. I know a very old
man (in his 80's) who has a pair of Altec-Lansing speakers in his living
room. Each speaker has FOUR 15-inch A-L woofers in it, crossed over to the
ubiquitous Altec "500 Hz" treble Horn. Below 500 Hz, the system is amazing.
I've never heard such bass! the way those 8 15" woofers pressurize the room,
one can almost see the walls bulging! Of course, any illusion of reality is
destroyed the instant the treble horns come into play. They've always sounded
lousy (to me. Somebody else might like them and that's fine. I'm not trying
to be the arbiter of anyone's taste, here).