THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME DOMAIN RESPONSE MUST READ
Speaker designers ignore or downplay the importance of TIME. Why?
A high end speaker should be as accurate as possible and that means it should not only be optimized with regard to frequency response but time response.
Back in the 70’s and around that time, speaker engineers thought that a perfect speaker would be one that had a flat response. This idea has waxed and waned in popularity over the years and even now there is no consensus.
What the speaker engineers forgot to consider is Time response.
The time reponse of a speaker is how fast it starts and stops. A perfect speaker would have a perfect time response of 0. Since this is not possible, we must get as close to it as possible. The problem is speakers engineers have neglected this aspect of the design and so speakers over the last 40 years have not improved in this respect.
Time is such an important aspect of the sound we hear. We not only hear tone but also time. The brain can detect time differences of only a few microseconds. Experiments have shown that the start of each note is what we use to determine what instrument is producing that sound.
We must ensure that our crossovers do not smear the time response because it will be heard by our ears. Time inaccuracy is why high end speakers do not sound like real instruments.
Diffraction from the cabinet can also cause time smear. We need spherical cabinets not square boxes. Tweeters need to be time aligned in order to ensure that when the woofer stops so does the tweeter. When the woofer starts, so must the tweeter. The woofer itself has to have a Qts of ZERO to prevent time smear. Ports must not be used or else you will get ringing.
We need to make it mandatory for speaker companies to publish the time response of all their speakers so that consumers can easily compare and decide exactly what they want. Some may actually prefer a speaker that has a poorer time response and that is fine. The problem is, we cant decide unless we know what we are buying can we?
Unfortunately, 90% of speakers on the market, even high end speakers have ports. And they are also made of cheap wood, even though there must be better materials by now. Some materials ring more than others.
So dont be deceived folks. If you want better speakers, you will probably have to make them yourself because speaker manufacturers dont care about sound quality. They spend millions of dollars on anechoic chambers all so that they can get a flat response but they spend zero effort on better time domain response. We are being duped.
Why focus on the motor alone? it can be also due to the input signal current, the mass of the driver etc
The cabinet also rings. yes crossover circuitry can also cause ringing. So how do you stop it? Do you have any answers? |
I explained that at the beginning of this topic. Time domain response is how fast the speaker responds.
Rubbish. The cabinet can sing along with the drive unit and smear the time no? That has nothing to do with motor assembly
The QTS is the Q of the driver. It is the total combined Q including electrical and mechanical.
It would mean that the woofer starts and stops when its told to. It woud not ring like a bell which when struck will continue to resonate.
Continuing with the bell analogy if you hold the bell when its struck it wont ring anymore. The speaker needs to start and stop exactly the same way the input signal does. Minimizing the time smear is a way to do this.
They ring when the air inside the wooden box vibrates at a certain frequency. However, like most things that vibrate, they unfortuntely do not stop immediately but can take time.
I have more than one speaker. But yes wood is used for one of them as a test cabinet. Wood would not be used for a reference design. I experiment with various types of technology. I use ports for the same reason everybody else does. In order to get more bass out of small cabinets. However I understand that this is a compromise and perfect speakers must not use them.
It is not enough to know how to tune or design a speaker in order to be a champion audiophile. Many speaker designers do not understand music. They obsess over measurements and dont know how to listen to their designs. This results in a poor outcome. So this should be a lesson to you. You thought you could tune my speakers without even seeing them. Custom tuning involves every aspect including the room. You had no idea what room I have you didnt even ask. Do you have a device to measure the polar response because that is also important. |
@timlub feel free to correct me if you think I do not have a correct funamental understanding |
This is also a false accusation. I have designed speakers. But just as all speaker designers will not reveal their secrets, why should I? If you have spent years tuning a speaker why should you give away all your hardwork? Does Fritz tell us the values of the caps he uses in his designs so that others can copy his work? I dont think so. I have worked hard to be a champion and I will not help my competitors gain an advantage and put my status at risk. |
Likewise. You misled me into thinking a design would be forthcoming, even giving me a deadline yet you then pulled out at the last minute after hours of discussion. Perhaps you realized that meeting the requirements of such a perfect audiophile like me was far more difficult than you first thought.
Of course they dont know what theyre doing. A speaker is supposed to reproduce the signal you give it. Yet all high end speakers sound and even measure differently. They cant all be right can they
Its not just about getting them to know how wrong they are. Its about getting them to design speakers correctly. Audiophiles spend millions of dollars on high end speakers. It is a multi million dollar industry. We deserve better quality. So I deserve my speakers to be accurate not only in tone but also in time. Until that happens we are stuck and the only solution is to make and tune our own speakers. Which is what you obviously realized when you did the SNR1. Do not buy fritz though. They are not very good.
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There are many sources of ringing within the speaker. The cabinet can ring, the driver can ring, the crossover parts can ring. We need to stop all ringing wherever it occurs. It needs to be able to reproduce a square wave |
And how does that disprove my point? He does not publish his circuits online does he? So why should I reveal all my secrets? Every designer can only reveal so much.
Just take the damn thing out and use an active crossover.
How would that change anything? A scoffer like you would not believe me even if I did state what I listen to. |
Thankyou for your support. |
The differences between speakers are small but exaggerated in order to gain an advantage. Secrets are few and far between. How would you know what design aspects are being kept secret if they are secret?
Some of the ways you could improve a speaker are obvious though. You could use thick braced HDF rather than thin unbraced MDF. It would only add a couple of hundred dollars at most to the cost yet the speaker manufacturers will not do it unless you pay tens of thousands of dollars for their top models. Custom tuning is another thing that is better than mass production. Those Fritz speakers you mention are mass produced. Their only unique selling point is their stupid series crossover. Whereas I would just take the damn thing out and go active anyway. Funny how if series crossovers are so wonderful only Fritz can successfully implement them dont you think? Its incumbent on the speaker companies to make improvements, not me. If these commercial speakers are so good, why were you forced to make your own? For exactly the same reasons I have mentioned. You wanted something customized and at a less exorbitant price. |
