MartinLogan The Quest Speaker System user manual Room Acoustics, Your Room, Terminology

Room Acoustics

Your Room

This is one of those areas that requires both a little background to understand and some time and experi- mentation to obtain the best performance from your system.

Your room is actually a component and an important part of your system. This component is a very large variable and can dramatically add to, or subtract from, a great musical experience.

All sound is composed of waves. Each note has its own wave size, with the lower bass notes literally encompass- ing from 10' to as much as 40'! Your room participates in

this wave experience like a 3 dimensional pool with waves reflecting and becoming enhanced depending on the size of the room and the types of surfaces in the room.

Remember, your audio system can literally generate all of the information required to recreate a musical event in time, space, and tonal balance. The purpose of your room, ideally, is to not contribute to that information. However, every room does contribute to the sound and the better speaker manufacturers have designed their systems to accommodate this phenomenon.

Let’s talk about a few important terms before we begin.

Terminology

Standing Waves. The parallel walls in your room will reinforce certain notes to the point that they will sound louder than the rest of the audio spectrum and cause “one note bass”, “boomy bass”, or “tubby bass”. For instance, 100Hz represents a 10' wave- length. Your room will reinforce that specific fre- quency if one of the dominant dimensions is 10'. Large objects in the room such as cabinetry or furniture can help to minimize this potential problem. Some serious “audiophiles” will literally build a special room with no parallel walls just to get away from this phenomenon.

Reflective Surfaces (near-field reflections). The hard surfaces of your room, particularly if close to your speaker system, will reflect those waves back into the room over and over again, confusing the clarity and imaging of your system. The smaller sound waves are mostly effected here and occur in the mid and high frequencies. This is where voice and frequencies as high as the cymbals can occur.

Resonant Surfaces and Objects. All of the surfaces and objects in your room are subject to the frequen- cies generated by your system. Much like an instrument, they will vibrate and “carry on” in syncopation with the music and contribute in a negative way to the music. Ringing, boominess, and even brightness can occur simply because they are “singing along” with your music.

Resonant Cavities. Small alcoves or closet type areas in your room can be chambers that create their own “standing waves” and can drum their own “one note” sounds.

Clap your hands. Can you hear an instant echo respond back? You’ve got near-field reflections. Stomp your foot on the floor. Can you hear a “boom”? You’ve got standing waves or large panel resonances such as a poorly supported wall. Put your head in a small cavity area and talk loudly. Can you hear a booming? You’ve just experienced a cavity resonance.

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