Psychoacoustics in speaker design

When designing loudspeakers do designers take into account psychoacoustic impacts of the reproduced sound? And how?

[gerry]

Paul, Can't wait to read your new book! Gerry

[GertSterner]

I think there is a clear distinction between making an experience of "being in the room of the recording" versus "getting the musicians in your listening room". Past and present. Some like to "hear it as it was" with the acoustic of the recording room and placement of the musicians. Others like to "hear it as if it was now and here" with the P.A. system volume, physical presence and energy. Some like a mix.

[graxjpg]

Brainwave entrainment is my favorite phenomenon of psycho/neuro/musicology. The way our physical brains latch onto signals and derive our states of being from our perception, and the mechanics/semantics of music as a language are endlessly fascinating to me.

[scottmackey]

Thanks for the explanation on psychoacoustics, Paul! You are spot on regarding we all hope to hear what we believe are live artists in our listening space. So excited about your speakers coming out and, of course, your new book as well!

[hugobloemers]

Psychoacoustics, I did not even know that was a thing, apart from when I play Pink Floyd.

[FeeLtheHertZ]

Surprised there isn't a Bose comment, so just here to fix that for ya.

No but seriously this is awesome, cool to see Paul tackling this so genuinely and transparently. No pun intended. It's a real, serious concept that makes a huge, realistic difference.

[justanotheryoutubeuser]

I agree, a big portion of 3d image is speakers dependent. BUT electronics also plays a part by separating instruments. Have some treatments on the room too. It helps tremendously as reflections will ruin the image.

Just start by pulling the speakers 3ft out the front wall and go from there. Play with toe in, placement and have fun with it.

[knaw]

The question is excellent. I would like to support my comment with the biological investigation of our hearing, 40 years of being HiFi enthusiast (if not audiophile - maybe yes) and meetings with few famous Danish speaker designers - Dali and Dynaudio manufacture.
First biology. Not many from us consider, that our brain needs some time to 'understand' the sound which is mechanical energy reaching our tympanum. That energy is an air pressure changing according to molecules' misplacement in the environment. That energy is transferring (simplifying the process) into the nerve impulses which are forwarded to the right part of our brain to be read by comparing with our former experience. The experience we build during our life. And, what is important, the experience is build based on the music we hear by specific HiFi equipment. It means also that changing equipment we usually need time to train our brain to understand the new information as the same as was before. I call this process 'equipment must warm-up'. Funny enough. So, no snake oil in the warming-up cable process. By the way - the entire hearing process from the moment the music touches tympanum to be accepted by our brain takes a fraction of second. It means that it happened not immediately. Interesting. So be aware if they say 'our cables are fast'. Relax.
My experience. I bought a few times a new HiFi set or HiFi upgrade element and my very first impression was devastating. It is no improvement I had expected! Wait. After some time my old staff seemed to me odd and not as good as the new one. After some time - think about it.
Professionals as Paul. They say that it is possible to evaluate speakers just looking at the graphs from technical tests. I remember very well the moment I showed this kind of results to the main speaker developer in Danish manufacturer Dali Speakers. Graphs were taken from a highly respectable Hi-Fi magazine - the test compared 4 or 5 similar huge speakers from different manufactures. We looked through all these graphs - frequency response, impedance, phase shift, impulse response, etc. He said suddenly - these speakers are not good. Why? - I asked. The impedance shift in low frequencies is audible, resonates for some frequencies as well, high frequencies are too much elevated (about +3dB), etc. What was the surprise? These bad speakers were the test winner! He just smiled.

[thisisnev]

If we're honest, psychoacoustics plays a bigger part in our listening experiences than we realise.

[ThinkingBetter]

Loudness is the one psychoacoustics parameter that high-end audio sadly choose to ignore. The loudness function was popular decades ago and greatly enhances the music perception at low volumes. If you always play at concert level, you don’t need loudness. But many of us don’t have the volume knob statically fixed on such level.

[charlesferguson]

That's a really cool idea. The book and CD!

[doylewayne]

cant wait Paul. i just hope its 99% tru... :-))

[donalddeorio]

Read a lot by Dr. Floyd e Tloole on acoustics and psycho acoustics. There's alot involved in how we hear one of the reasons I chose Infinity Interlude speakers. Toole worked for Harmon when they and the Intermezzo line were developed

[robineur]

@Paul: Will I have to buy a SACD player in order to play the disc that comes with your new book?

[m.r.]

Following a TBI + abnormalities I can categorically explain this concept (sort of) volume needs to be at 120 dB with your choice of 🎶. Hertz is a no 🤯 as low deep base sounds and feels good - all to change brainwave activity range; this is wickedly complex stuff. You’re on the right track now try pumping the volume up as your results will be interesting ✌🏽🇦🇺

[FOH]

All things being equal ...
the key to this 3d holographic result is removing objects in the vicinity of the loudspeakers to assure that wavelaunch is experienced by the listener intact, ... and without relective disruptions within the initial critical mSecs to destroy the sonic illusion so carefully captured in the material.

Secondarily, assuring absolute symmetrical continuity Left-to-Right from the loudspeaker relative to the boundaries behind and to the side. This retains relative time/phase linearity to the reflected field.
ETC measurements will flesh out detrimental objects within the space in front of the listener.

[jeremyr]

I’m lookin forward to that book Paul 👍

[clydeblair]

Audiophiles can be psychos alright, off their axis for sure.

[TheMaestro]

Hello Paul correct me if I am wrong but a major part of getting that holographic illusion is how far you can bring your speakers out from the back wall. This is a problem with most listening rooms unless you have separate room just for listening. Is there a certain distance you recommend?

[Raymondey]

SACD? Could you include some alternative download link in your book? I would buy it, but I don't use CD's anymore