• Acoustic Panels
• Bass Traps
• Acoustic Foam Panels
• DIY Acoustic Panels
• Church Acoustics
• Studio Acoustics
• Home Theater Acoustics
• Restaurant Acoustics
• Acoustic Insulation
• Room Acoustic Treatments

The study of sound is interesting, because there are so many different answers to the question “What is good audio reproduction?” While some people prefer the absolute accuracy of a digital reproduction system, others prefer the warmth and character of vinyl recordings. Low-noise digital amplifiers are available, yet some prefer sound of fifty year old vacuum tube amplifiers. Even if a standard of audio reproduction could be agreed upon, each individual hears or perceives sound differently than everyone else. Even the room in which the sound is played has a strong impact upon the final result.

Engineers are used to hard facts and numbers. When they go shopping for an audio system, they often look at the specification sheets and compare the numbers. The facts are the facts, after all. One engineer, Dr. Amar Bose, often tells the story of how this strategy worked, or rather didn’t work, for him when he set out to buy his first real audio system. He says that after completed his engineering degree, he decided to reward himself with a good audio system. Being fresh out of engineering school, he compared the specifications of every brand he could find. Stated frequency responses, distortion levels, and every number that every company manufacturing audio equipment published.

Finally, he chose the audio equipment with the very best specifications and expected that he had the best available system. So confident was he that he decided to invite his friends and relatives to hear the system when he fired it up. He put on one of his favorite classical recordings, and the music began. He says it sounded horrific. The violins were screechy, bass disappeared, the music sounded flat and lifeless. In short, the stated specification had no bearing on the actual performance. As an engineer, he felt betrayed.

It turns out that each company uses different methods and different standards to make their measurements. Objective measurement of almost any piece of audio equipment will produce different results than those stated by the manufacturer, some worse than others. Dr. Bose vowed that he would not play that game with consumers, nor would he try to compete with the false numbers being put out by others. To this day, he refuses to publish detailed specification numbers for the audio equipment his company produces. Instead, he invites customers to simply listen and decide whether they like it or not.

That is really the best way to choose audio equipment. Listen to the equipment in your own home in the room where it will be kept. The numbers on a sheet of paper don’t matter, what matters is whether you, as the customer, enjoy the sound you are hearing. Bear in mind, though, that to give the audio equipment a fighting chance, you may need to prepare the room. The walls and configuration of the room actually changes the way sound reaches the ear of the listener no matter how accurately the audio equipment reproduces it. A bad room can ruin a good systems. Most room acoustics can be corrected with the use of room acoustic treatments, however. Bass traps can knock down excessive bass reverberations within the room. Acoustically absorptive wall panels can soften the harsh treble reinforcement that can occur as primary reflection bounce straight to the listener’s position.

Good audio reproduction is not about numbers, it is about the personal experience of listening to music in the comfort of your home.