Speaker Frequency Response and how it afffects your sound
Today, I’ll kickstart the new format with a sharing session on speaker frequency response sound systems and how I use it to conduct my test to quantify my findings for you. When we do a frequency response curve, what we usually do is to get the speaker to output a frequency signal and we measure it. But We don’t do it for just one frequency. We do it for a frequency range. And this is what we call a frequency sweep.
All these can sound very confusing and you might not want to care much about it. You want only one thing. If the frequency is recorded at x hz, you want to hear it reproduces at x hz. In a frequency response sweep, what I do is usually to broadcast a signal sweep from 20hz to 20khz. At a fixed volume at each frequency. When I record it, the ideal source, with the ideal amp, through an ideal speaker and in an ideal room, will produce a frequency response curve that looks completely flat. Without any boost or dips in the curve. That’s a great speaker. Capable of producing anything perfectly when you give it the right instruction.
But let me show you a sample curve of what we usually end up hearing. You’ll see all sorts of peaks and valleys. Most of these are going to be created by your room. Or mine in this case. It’s not ideal. We don’t live in a recording studio where everything is quiet. Our air conditioner is humming away. Our glass window is reflecting the high frequencies and muddling it up there. The corners are bouncing off the Low frequencies and allowing it to build up. The placement of the speaker and the size of the room creates waves that cancels some of the bass out. There are so factors that will cause a frequency response curve to look like the Himalayas rather than a nice Tibetan plateau.
So when I get round to comparing speakers or setups, always remember, I am comparing relative curves. I remove most of the variables, but I won’t be able to remove most of the factors that causes peaks and valleys. You just have to see everything in a relative manner. I don’t compare the curves that manufacturers put out. And I don’t have the equipment Nor environment to recreate those nice flat curves. I am just like you. An average consumer in a typical listening environment trying to get the most out of a system, to best enjoy our music. If you think that this works for you, do consider subscribing to my channel and we can start to explore wireless audio in a way that we Everyday consumers listen to music, which is in a living room or a bed room. Not in a recording studio, or a measurement room in a manufacturer’s lab.
I hope to have given you a little bit of insight on sound reproduction and how I do my work in producing my videos for you. Over the next 2 weeks or so, I would have completed a round of testing for most of Sonos’s newest 2020 offerings, including the Sonos arc, the sub gen 3 and the Sonos fives. Next up we will be moving to move exciting offerings from competitors and I hope to cover more exciting wireless audio offerings in the months to come. We live in exciting times and there is no other times I want to be in. The wireless audio world is growing and I invite you to join me in the journey to discover more great sounds! Take care and I’ll see you in my next video!