I don't think the lobing you see in the 8kHz to 20kHz region has anything to do with the size of the woofers or baffle. The DeVore Orangutan 0/96 is another speaker with a lively cabinet and a very wide baffle, but you don't see any odd diagonal cuts through the off axis response.
Comb Filtering - Quick way to Tell
Hi Everyone,
Lots going on here, with this odd Golden Ear vs. Tekton debates. I personally don’t care, except there’s a lot of theory being bandied about as proof of the superiority or inferiority of a design. The arm-chair experts are really giving me a headache because my eyes can only roll back so much before my optic nerve gets kinked.
I have no interest in either brand, really, but let’s talk about it in practical terms.
Comb filtering happens when you have simultaneous arrivals of the same signal which are slightly out of time alignment. Really, any multi-way speaker has to deal with this, but arrays in particular. Much has been written and debated, but let’s boil it down to this:
Comb filtering affects what your ears hear in a particular location in space. The frequency response at location A can change rapidly a few inches away at B. In fact, we can use this in a process called interferometry to get very precise measurements of acoustic offsets.
The point?
If you are concerned about an array having comb filtering, move your head. That’s it. If it is a problem, small changes in your listening location will cause significant changes in the frequency response. Stand up, sit down. Is the frequency response changing much? is it pleasant or uncomfortable/weird sounding? Do this for any speaker. Listen at the center and both ends of the couch.
But please, listen realistically! Listening 1’ away to an array may yield vastly different results than at 9’ so it is important to understand the manufacturer’s design and intention, which is really true for all speakers.
Which speaker should you buy? The one you like the most. For heavens sake, listen to them and look at them.
We should also point out, as I alluded to elsewhere, there are lots of interesting ways to handle potential issues with comb filtering, so the idea that you can measure center to center differences, and diaphragm diameter alone will tell you what the speaker will sound like at the listening location is simply not enough information. Your head and ears however can do an excellent job of discerning these issues.
Lots going on here, with this odd Golden Ear vs. Tekton debates. I personally don’t care, except there’s a lot of theory being bandied about as proof of the superiority or inferiority of a design. The arm-chair experts are really giving me a headache because my eyes can only roll back so much before my optic nerve gets kinked.
I have no interest in either brand, really, but let’s talk about it in practical terms.
Comb filtering happens when you have simultaneous arrivals of the same signal which are slightly out of time alignment. Really, any multi-way speaker has to deal with this, but arrays in particular. Much has been written and debated, but let’s boil it down to this:
Comb filtering affects what your ears hear in a particular location in space. The frequency response at location A can change rapidly a few inches away at B. In fact, we can use this in a process called interferometry to get very precise measurements of acoustic offsets.
The point?
If you are concerned about an array having comb filtering, move your head. That’s it. If it is a problem, small changes in your listening location will cause significant changes in the frequency response. Stand up, sit down. Is the frequency response changing much? is it pleasant or uncomfortable/weird sounding? Do this for any speaker. Listen at the center and both ends of the couch.
But please, listen realistically! Listening 1’ away to an array may yield vastly different results than at 9’ so it is important to understand the manufacturer’s design and intention, which is really true for all speakers.
Which speaker should you buy? The one you like the most. For heavens sake, listen to them and look at them.
We should also point out, as I alluded to elsewhere, there are lots of interesting ways to handle potential issues with comb filtering, so the idea that you can measure center to center differences, and diaphragm diameter alone will tell you what the speaker will sound like at the listening location is simply not enough information. Your head and ears however can do an excellent job of discerning these issues.
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- 10 posts total
- 10 posts total