Basic question about sound.

Posted by Chris Jensen [IP: 32.97.92.1] on May 25, 1999 at 15:56:33
Using Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows 95):

In Reply to: Basic question about sound. posted by Gary Gibbs on May 24, 1999 at 10:58:24:

oops. You are correct, because the pressure differentials of sound waves are very small compared to atmospheric pressure (deltaPmax is on the order of 20 Pa for very loud sounds, and Patm is 10^5 Pa) you are allowed to use the wave equations and superpostion and all that fun stuff. I also agree with your point about higher frequencies being more sensitive to differences in distance from the driver to the ear (because their wavelength is small, only 1.7 cm for 20 kHz). This brings up some troublesome thoughts about your typical loudspeaker. If your speakers are not phase correct, all hope is lost for flat amplitude response across the band in the sweet spot (or anywhere else). Even if they are phase correct, the speakers need to be precisely even with each other, and the listener's head must be straight forward (or turned slightly if your ears aren't even on your head, like mine :P) and the speakers should not be toed in or out, and should be a suitable distance away from the listening spot such that the sound is propagating as an approximate plane wave (can you tell I've been browsing the acoustics books at our library?).
Gah! makes me want to take my speakers back and buy some headphones!

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