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When sociologists tell us America is a highly mobile society, they don't just mean we do lot of driving. What they mean is, we do a lot of moving. The good old three-generation family homestead, immortalized in nostalgia TV and literature, is a thing of the past. According to census information, almost 20% of America's population changes its address every year. Of course, it's usually a different 20% every year, but pulling up roots and moving---to a bigger house, a better neighborhood or a nicer city, not to mention a place where your employer decides to transfer you---is almost as…
For a 20dB noise level at the property line---the loudness of a whisper heard from 5'---your plot can be a more modest 40 acres in size. Are you starting to get the point? Unless you live on a country estate (or farm), open-window listening is just not very practical.
Note that the preceding figures are theoretical, hence approximate. The calculations are pretty accurate for a point source radiating into an open space, but actual sound attenuation with distance can vary by as much as 10dB depending on the lay of the land, its ground cover, and the facing direction of your window(s). For…
The pertinent figures here are easy to predict by means of the number 550, which is half the speed of sound at sea level (in feet per second), as well as half the distance traveled by a soundwave in one second. Dividing this figure by any room dimension gives the center frequency of that dimension's lowest-frequency standing wave. On the other hand, dividing 550 by any bass frequency will give the room dimension needed to fully support it.
Dividing 20Hz into 550 will show that opposite walls must be 27.5' apart to fully support that frequency. Dividing 12.8 into 550 will show that the…
While the traditional rectangular listening room might seem very boring by contemporary architectural design standards, it is this very simplicity of shape that makes its acoustical properties so eminently predictable. While this predictability is certainly no guarantee that you can just stick a pair of loudspeakers anywhere in the ideal room and get superb sound, it will guarantee that any system can be made to work at its best in that room, given adequate speaker-placement experimentation and proper treatment for wall reflections. But the pattern of reflections in a room with non-parallel…
If the basement is already finished when you buy the house, be prepared to unfinish it and do it all over again. Retrofitted basement partitions are purely cosmetic and are usually made of the cheapest materials obtainable. The typical wallboard is only slightly more substantial than corrugated cardboard, and will both flap and rattle, and the framing too will probably be minimally rigid. If you want finished exterior walls, use furring strips with sheetrock over them. Each exterior-wall sheet should have two additional support strips between its sides, irregularly spaced to stagger any…
Just remember that water always behaves like the human mind: It seeks the lowest possible level. If there is any surrounding land lower than the house's lot, a basement-level walkout (with no steps) is the best insurance against equipment damage due to flooding. If all the land around the house is higher than its ground floor, be forewarned: sooner or later, it will flood. In fact, any plain with a stream running through it is susceptible to flooding, even if it hasn't for 100 years, because flooding is how it got to be a plain in the first place. There's no point in worrying about such a…
Letters in response appeared in Vol.13 No.7, the July 1990 issue of Stereophile:
The quest for the perfect abode
Editor:
It was with great interest that I read J. Gordon Holt writing on the horrors of the quest for the perfect listening abode in Vol.13 No.4.
I have recently been upgrading my audio system and it has proven to be a most satisfying experience. But with improvement comes the endless search for optimal performance from one's equipment to further the experience of musical enjoyment.
I'm indebted to Stereophile for helping to steer the right course in…
More letters in response appeared in September 1990, Vol.13 No.9
Deep bass & small rooms
Editor: I started reading J. Gordon Holt's article "In Search of the Audio Abode" in the April issue but got hung up partway into it when he started talking about how low bass requires a large listening room. His 8' by 10' by 13' compact little room---he claims---"won't support deep bass worth a damn!"
Well, gee, Gordon, where have you been? Where is the editor? I thought that old wives' tale had been put to rest years ago. I realize that you people live at the other end of nowhere (…
Harmonics & octaves
Editor: Contrary to Mr. Holt's assertion (in "In Search of the Audio Abode" in the April 1990 issue) that harmonics occur at one-octave intervals, harmonics occur at integer multiples of the fundamental tone. Therefore, the second and fourth harmonics will occur at one and two octaves above the fundamental, but the third harmonic will occur at an octave and a fifth above the fundamental. I'm sure this was just an oversight.---D. Andrew Austin, Philadelphia, PA
Editor: Contrary to Mr. Holt's assertion (in "In Search of the Audio Abode" in the April 1990 issue) that harmonics occur at one-octave intervals, harmonics occur at integer multiples of the fundamental tone. Therefore, the second and fourth harmonics will occur at one and two octaves above the fundamental, but the third harmonic will occur at an octave and a fifth above the fundamental. I'm sure this was just an oversight.---D. Andrew Austin, Philadelphia, PA
Mr. Austin is, of course, correct. Regarding Mr. Koval's letter, a paper presented by David Clark at…
The concept of a loudspeaker with its own built-in amplification is an idea whose time should long since have come. Technically it makes a lot of sense, and in some parts of the world—not to mention professional circles—it's quite popular. But commercially, the idea has never really taken off in this country. And while the loudspeaker manufacturer should be in a better position to make the best amplifier choice, American audiophiles seem wedded to the idea of making their own amplifier/loudspeaker match.
The current popularity of subwoofers, however, may have inadvertently sown the seeds…