Newsletter

ASC’s Art Noxon at PAF

Creating a Spacious Sound Room (excerpt)

by Art Noxon

There is an area along the back wall, just in from the corner. It is about halfway between the speaker and the side wall. The reflection from this area causes a “wall wash.”

TubeTraps are placed along the sidewall so they intercept the wall wash reflection. The treble diffuser panel is rotated so only the wall wash is reflected to the listener.

The listener hears the direct signal at 10′, then hears the reflection from the curved cylindrical diffuser (#2 TubeTrap). The path difference is 10 – (16 +6 + 8) = 10 – 30 = -20 feet delayed, or about 20 milliseconds. Recall from last week that we want this reflection to be about 20 dB below the direct signal so that it is a spacious signal.

The diffuser panel is set toward the back wall. In this position, the TubeTrap absorbs the early reflection from the right speaker and crosstalk reflections from the left speaker. This maintains the pinpoint imaging and sound stage.

Early sidewall reflections are absorbed and replaced by late sidewall reflections all by the same set of sidewall TubeTraps. This technique creates quiet, very time-delayed side wall reflections: the acoustic signature of a wide, spacious room.

Click the links below to read archived newsletters that expand on the topic of spaciousness.

Spaciousness: 1 of 2
Spaciousness: 2 of 2
Spaciousness: The Final Frontier

Thanks for reading and watching!
~ASC Team