---  The Magic in 2-Channel Sound  ---  The Importance of Directivity  ---

The Importance of Directivity in Loudspeakers

John Watkinson FAES

"In the light of a modern understanding of the human auditory system and how it interacts with sound sources in reverberant environments, the legacy loudspeaker is now a completely discredited device, requiring for professional purposes heavy acoustic treatment of the listening space because of its own shortcomings, when the ear itself demands no such treatment. Alternative approaches to directivity in state-of-the-art speaker designs will be discussed and demonstrated, and the reasons behind the resulting dramatic increase in realism and freedom from sweet spots will be explained."

Sound Track (126 minutes, 59.1 MB, 64 kbps mp3, mono) of the talk given by John Watkinson after the REPRODUCED SOUND 2015 Conference Dinner. 

 

Front: Robert Walker (BBC ret.), David Gilfillan (Gilfillan Soundwork), Glenn Leembruggen (Acoustic Directions)

EAG Chairman Keith Holland (University of Southampton) reads a funny poem about left channel mono

John Watkinson speaks about what is wrong with legacy loudspeakers

Omni-directional loudspeakers in the horizontal plane. Forward facing woofer, upward facing mid, downward facing tweeter with dispersion cone in front of it. Line level, constant voltage crossovers, equalization and chip power amps (LM3886) built into wooden top (my guess).	Onne of the many publications by John Watkinson. My 1998 edition talks about the importance of directivity control.

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