Multichannel home theater benefits require delivering direct sound to all listeners in the room.
Evidence
As most people would be about 2 m away from their loudspeakers when they are listening to them this means that in a normal domestic setting the reverberant field is the most dominant source of sound energy from the hifi, and not the direct sound. Therefore the quality of the reverberant field is an important aspect of the performance of any system which reproduces recorded music in the home. There is also an effect on speech intelligibility in a reverberant space as the direct sound is the major component of the sound which provides this. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1834 (
#contradicts, via linked claim)
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
Related
- In normal home listening the reverberant field dominates direct sound from speakers (similarity 0.87)
- Domestic hi-fi listening is dominated by reverberant rather than direct sound (similarity 0.86)
- Reverberation enhancement can transform a home theater into a concert hall seamlessly (similarity 0.83)
- Every channel in a multichannel setup must perform well as a solo monophonic source (similarity 0.81)
- Direct sound governs perceived quality in rooms, not room curves (similarity 0.81)
- A multichannel system need not compromise stereo quality (similarity 0.81)
- Loudspeakers and rooms function together as a single audible system (similarity 0.81)
- Specially designed rooms can feel anechoic while retaining reverberation and stable stereo imaging. (similarity 0.80)
- Reverberant field dominates home hi-fi listening from just 2 meters away (similarity 0.80)
- The listening room’s influence is suppressed during multichannel playback (similarity 0.80)
- Non-environment rooms suppress all but direct sound for clearer audio detail and imaging (similarity 0.80)
- Moving away from a source makes reverberant sound progressively dominate while it stays constant (similarity 0.79)
- Reverberant rooms make loudspeaker directivity important for sound quality (similarity 0.79)
- Wide-dispersion speakers plus room reflections create listener envelopment. (similarity 0.79)
- Home theater center channels are often inferior despite being the most important speaker (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Direct sound governs perceived quality in rooms, not room curves
#corroborates(0.90) - Every channel in a multichannel setup must perform well as a solo monophonic source
#expands(0.85) - Domestic hi-fi listening is dominated by reverberant rather than direct sound
#contradicts(0.85) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1834