Issue 122, July/August 2007 of Widescreen Review:• “Niles StageFront Loudspeaker System” By Danny Richelieu

• “Von Schweikert VR-4jr Full-Range Loudspeaker” By Peter Moncrieff

• “Kaleidescape System: New 1U Movie And Music Server” By Danny Richelieu

• “The 2007 Full-Range Loudspeaker Buyer’s Guide”

• “HDMI 1.3 101” By Joel Silver

• “Display Technologies — Part III: Plasma Displays” By Lancelot Braithwaite

• Over 50 Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, and DVD picture and sound quality reviews

• And more...

Since Widescreen Review decided to combine the July and August print magazine into one, we thought it only right thatwe give you something extra special in this month’s August newsletter. Besides Part 6 of John Dunlavy’s seven-part archivedloudspeaker design series of articles and our other regularly featured articles, we are including a number of DVD, HD DVD,and Blu-ray Disc reviews just like we do in the print magazine every month, as well as a product review of Monster’s AVL 300.

One thing I have noticed as I read through electronic newsletter after electronic newsletter is that they all basically say thesame thing. The same “news” is repeated over and over again in whatever online publication I happen to be reading at thetime. I hope you have found that Widescreen Review’s free monthly newsletter is different from all the others and that you areenjoying the new content that we bring to you each month.

Lastly, if you visit our Web site, and I hope you do, I think you’ll find we have made a few changes. Besides our new look,we have also added the Loudspeaker Buyer’s Guide. I look forward to your feedback.

3 Web Exclusive Disc Reviews

5 Monster AVL 300—Home Theatre And Lighting ControllerBy Danny Richelieu

8 Wife Acceptance ForumBy Tricia Spears

9 From The Archives: Loudspeaker Accuracy—How Room Acoustics And Loudspeaker Positioning Affect The Music, Part 6By John Dunlavy

WELCOME!

NOW AVAILABLEON NEWSSTANDS

ATTRACTIONS

Gary ReberEditor-In-Chief, Widescreen Review

WIDESCREEN REVIEW NEWSLETTER 14 1 JULY 2007 - www.WidescreenReview.com

July 2007 • Volume 2, Issue 14 • The Official FREE Newsletter Of Widescreen Review Magazine

WSRnewsletter14 7/23/07 2:34 PM Page 1

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EXCELLENT/Reference Quality...5GOOD/Sure To Please...4FAIR/Mediocre...3POOR/Disappointing...2UNACCEPTABLE/Not Recommended...1

The rating values apply to presentation (picture quality and sound quality) and to sourced critics’ reviews as a composite score (seeDiscography). Due to recent changes, some studios are no longer providing us with advance copies of their new releases. Please check our Web site at www.WidescreenReview.com for up-to-date reviews that may not be in the magazine.

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T h e R a t i n g V a l u e sRe

view

Sta

ffGaryReber...(GR)Editor-In-Chief & Publisher

DannyRichelieu...(DR)Managing Editor & Picture/Sound Quality Reviews

TriciaSpears...(TS)Staff Writer

JackKelley...(JK)Staff Writer, Research & Production Editor

Scor

es

C r i t i c s ’ C o m p o s i t e S c o r e F r o m W S R ‘ O g r a p h i e s

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D V D P i c t u r e / S o u n d Q u a l i t y S c o r e

B l u - r a y D i s c P i c t u r e / S o u n d Q u a l i t y S c o r e

H D D V D P i c t u r e / S o u n d Q u a l i t y S c o r e

This logo provides a graphical method of quickly determin-ing how active each loudspeaker is in a soundtrack. Red isfor aggressive, Green is for moderate, Yellow is for weak,and White means the channel is not used. From top left,

clockwise, the boxes represent the Left, Center, Right, Right Surround, CenterSurround, and Left Surround channels, and the small box in the center repre-sents the LFE channel.

DISC REVIEWS www.WidescreenReview.com

P4.0/S4.5

P4.0/S4.5

P4.0/S4.5

CRITICS’ COMPOSITE 2.5

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One never knows what he may find in the middleof a country dirt road, and God-fearin' Lazarus(Jackson) is no exception when he stumbles acrossthe badly beaten town tramp, Rae (Ricci). Not surewhat to do, he takes this scantily clad blonde back tohis home to mend her wounds and get some meat on

Black Snake Moan her bones. It is during her chain-monitored recoverythat he discovers her soul is in desperate need ofsaving and calls in reinforcements to force the devilfrom her. Black Snake Moan made its 2007 debut atthe Sundance Film Festival. Special features on bothversions include commentary with Writer/Director CraigBrewer; the 28-minute making-of featurette; two music-oriented featurettes, The Black Snake Moan in nine minutes,and Rooted In The Blues in almost 13 minutes; fivedeleted scenes with optional Brewer commentary; a photogallery; and previews, which are also shown upfront.JK

While the anamorphically enhanced 2.40:1 DVDdoes show good depth of field, with solid blacks andwell delineated shadows, details can be slightly softand edges can look pixilated. Colors look good, withwell-saturated, natural hues. Fleshtones are slightlytoo red, but only slightly, and contrast is balancedwell. Edge enhancement is very minor and does not

become a distraction. The H.264 AVC-encoded HDDVD and Blu-ray Disc both look fantastic, with deepblacks, good shadow delineation, and well-captureddetails. Colors are vibrant and realistic and skintonesare natural. Differences between the two high-defini-tion formats are negligible at best.DR

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack israther basic, with little in the way of phantom imagingaround the room. The front stage is adequate,though, for both music and effects. Dialogue general-ly sounds good, but it can be slightly boxy at times.The LFE channel is incorporated well when needed,and deep bass is present in the front full-range chan-nels at times as well, but it is rare. The HD DVD'sDolby Digital Plus encoding sounds slightly moredynamic and fluid than the Blu-ray Disc's DolbyDigital encoding, but both have the same mix as theDVD, as well as the same problems.DR WSR

Paramount Home Entertainment • Catalog Number 34619 (DVD); 13004 (Blu-ray Disc); 13003 (HD DVD) • R/2006/115 Minutes • Craig Brewer (Director) • Stars Samuel L. Jackson, ChristinaRicci, Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson, John Cothran, David Banner, Michael Raymond-James, Adriane Lenox, Kim Richards, Neimus K. Williams & Son House

Terwilliger Productions • Catalog Number 11930 (DVD); 12170 (HD DVD) • G/2005/73 Minutes • Brian J. Terwilliger (Director) • Featured aircraft (in order of appearance) include Pitts S-2B,North American SNJ-5, Pitts S-2B, North American p-51, Douglas A-26, Piper J-3, Douglas DC-3, Fleet 7B, Cessna 414, Cirrus VK-30 & Cessna 172

One Six Right

P4.0/S3.0

P3.5/S3.0

D O C U M E N T A R Y

Sit back and soar into the vast blue yonder, and learnabout the busiest general aviation airport in the world...theVan Nuys Airport in California. You will be amazed at thefacts learned from this documentary, like Van Nuys hasplanes taking off or landing every 45 seconds during theday, making it busier than England's Heathrow Airport.

And when you hear the controller announce, “Clear toland on One Six Right,” you know you're safe, you knowyou're home. Special features include five featurettes:Flight at four minutes, The Joyride II in a minute, two-and-a-half minutes of Childhood Dreams, three minutes up inthe clouds in They Call 'Em Clouds, and less than twominutes in Old Helmet & Goggles; some historical photosand production stills; and three deleted scenes. In addi-tion to those, the HD DVD includes additional HD fea-tures: a three minute aerial footage featurette Into theClouds, The Joy Ride III, a one-and-a-half minute aerialstunt footage featurette, and Movie Montage a 13-minutemontage of footage from the film.JK

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD showsvibrant, well-balanced colors and natural contrast, withwell-rendered details and good shadow delineation.There are times in the interview segments where the sub-jects can look washed out, and generally all of them look

slightly too pink skinned. Edge enhancement is a majorproblem that can really butcher many scenes. Originalmaterial and photographs look very good in the MPEG-2-encoded HD DVD. Details are generally captured well,and the dimensionality of the images looks very natural.There are times when fine lines can show moiré artifacts,but it is not overly distracting.DR

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack generallysounds good, but the mix is typical of most documen-taries. Dialogue is recorded well for the most part, butthere are times when it can sound harsh and edgy. Musicis generally mixed into just the corner full-range channels,with little imaging between the front two channels and lit-tle contribution from the surround channels. The HDDVD's Dolby Digital Plus encoding provides the samemix and dialogue intelligibility, with slightly improveddynamics and fidelity over the DVD's encoding. Still,the soundtrack is limited.DR WSR

WSR SCORE 3.0

P4.5/S3.5

P4.0/S3.5

P4.5/S3.5

CRITICS’ COMPOSITE 3.5

D R A M A

Lionsgate • Catalog Number 21399 (DVD); 21403 (Blu-ray Disc) • PG-13/2007/100 Minutes • Tyler Perry (Director) • Stars Gabrielle Union, Idris Elba, Louis Gossett Jr., Tasha Smith, Malinda Williams & Gary Sturgis

Daddy’s Little Girls

P3.5/S3.0

P3.5/S3.5

CRITICS’ COMPOSITE 3.0

C O M E D Y D R A M A

Determined not to let his low-lifeex-wife Jennifer (Smith) get custody of his threedaughters, mechanic Monty (Elba) seeks help fromhoity-toity attorney Julia (Union). As Daddy's workinghard to get his Little Girls back home with him, Julialoosens up a bit and discovers that she's no betterthan him after all. Special features on the DVD andBlu-ray Disc include audio commentary with Director/Writer Tyler Perry, an extended scene, previews, and

three featurettes: Atlanta Aquarium: WorkingUnderwater (two minutes...so, don't blink), Tyler'sTeam: Cast & Characters (14 minutes), andIntroducing The McClain Sisters (four minutes).Additional features include the following featurettes:Touring The Sets (six minutes), Conducting Chaos:The Riot Scenes (seven minutes), and The OaklandCemetery (five minutes); 16 deleted scenes; two gagreels; and three uncut scenes.TS

The anamorphically enhanced 1.82:1 DVD canlook good with well-balanced contrast and natural-looking fleshtones, but shadow delineation is slightlylacking, which can mask details in the darker scenes.Details, on occasion, can be slightly soft, and colorsare slightly muted, especially greens. Some com-pression artifacts and moiré artifacts can be noticedfrom time to time, but edge enhancement is not over-ly distracting. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Dischas the requisite increase in resolution as afforded itby the high-definition format, but some details are still

soft and colors can be slightly muted. Shadow delin-eation is still underwhelming, and the image can lookrather flat at times. The image is not bad, but it doeshave its problems.DR

The Dolby® Digital Surround EX™ (althoughlabeled Dolby Digital on the packaging and menus)5.1-channel soundtrack has problems, with forward-sounding dialogue that also can be noticeably ADRproduced. The mix is uninspiring, with little surroundenvelopment and little in the way of atmosphericambiance. Music is mixed into the front left and rightchannels, but imaging across the front stage can belimited. The Blu-ray Disc includes a 7.1-channeluncompressed linear PCM encoding, which soundsnoticeably more refined than the Dolby Surround EXencoding that is also included on the disc. The mix isstill lacking, and the entire sonic character soundsrather thin. Dialogue can also sound fairly hard andedgy, and the center surround channels do not reallyadd much to the surround envelopment.DR WSR

WIDESCREEN REVIEW NEWSLETTER 14 3 JULY 2007 - www.WidescreenReview.com

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Jess (Hutcherson) has a toughlife for a grade schooler. He has two older sisters wholook down on him, and a younger sister that looks upto him, constantly (and annoyingly) by his side. Hisdad is less than understanding, and accepting, of hisartistic abilities. Plus he is picked on by the schoolbully...who just happens to be a girl. But a breath offresh air blows into his world in the form of Leslie(Robb), a pretty and free-spirited girl, that joins his

Walt Disney Home Entertainment • Catalog Number 52372 (DVD); 54248 (Blu-ray Disc) • PG/2006/95 Minutes • Gabor Csupo (Director) • Stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Robert Patrick, Bailee Madison & Zooey Deschanel

The Bridge To Terabithia

P4.0/S3.0

P4.0/S3.0

CRITICS’ COMPOSITE 3.0

F A N T A S Y A D V E N T U R Eelementary class, and becomes his next door neigh-bor. With her imaginative ways, she transports Jessaway from his daily life to a far-away fantasy landfound across The Bridge To Terabithia. Based onKatherine Paterson's Newberry Award-winning novel.Bonus features on both versions include two com-mentaries: the first with Director Gabor Csupo, WriterJeff Stockwell, and Producer Hal Lieberman, and thesecond with Actors Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophiaRobb and Producer Lauren Levine; two BackstageDisney featurettes: Behind The Book: The Themes OfBridge To Terabithia (15 minutes) and DigitalImagination: Bringing Terabithia To Life (six minutes);and the AnnaSophia Keep Your Mind Wide Openmusic video. The DVD includes previews, which are alsoshown upfront, while the BD adds a Movie Showcase.JK

With well-captured details and good color satura-tion, the anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 DVD looksvery good. Black levels are deep, and when com-bined with the very good shadow delineation it can

make for a very dimensional looking image. Fleshtoneslook very natural. Edge enhancement can be a problemat times, and pixel breakup can also be a distraction.Compression artifacts are also noticeable. The H.264AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc also shows deep blacksand very good shadow delineation, and with its slight-ly over-enhanced contrast it makes for a very dimen-sional-looking image. Fine details in close shots arecaptured well, but medium and long shots are slight-ly soft. Fleshtones have a slightly pinkish hue.DR

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack canbe exciting, with each of the available channels usedeffectively, but a hissing distortion can be heard attimes throughout the presentation, and dialogue cansound forward, both of which can be very distracting.The Blu-ray Disc's uncompressed linear PCM 5.1-channel soundtrack also has problems with the dia-logue and distortion in some of the canned effects.Dynamic range is limited, and a high-pitched hisscan be heard, but the mix is enveloping.DR WSR

Walt Disney • Catalog Number 53739 (DVD); 53674 (Blu-ray Disc) • R/2006/94 Minutes • Michael Katleman (Director) • Stars Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton & Jurgen Prochnow

Primeval

P3.0/S4.0

P4.5/S4.0

CRITICS’ COMPOSITE 2.0

T H R I L L E R

If you're ever in Africa anddecide to take a dip in a nearby river, use extremecaution. Extreme. You see, there's this Primeval croc,that goes by the name of Gustave, and he's hunting,and he's hungry. And, unfortunately, an American filmcrew has ventured into the remotest parts of Africa insearch of him, determined to stop this heart-stopping

killing machine. This tale, scary enough, is inspiredby true events. Special features on both versionsinclude commentary with Director Michael Katlemanand Visual Effects Supervisor Paul Lindden, threedeleted scenes with optional commentary, and thenine-and-a-half-minute Crocumentary: Bringing GustaveTo Life featurette. There are also up-front previews.The BD also has a Movie Showcase.JK/TS

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD israther soft, with fine details difficult to make out. Oncereaching Africa, the color scheme becomes very hotin daytime scenes, and, in my opinion, the filmmakersoverdid it in this regard, as the imagery looks com-pletely unnatural. At night the colors are much morerealistic, but still slightly muted. Edge enhancement isnoticeable, but is not overly distracting. The H.264AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc is a marked improvement,with much greater detail and a somewhat more

believable color scheme. Black levels are deep andshadow delineation is good, making for an enjoyableexperience. Some of the computer generatedmoments can look noticeably different from liveaction, which can be a minor distraction.DR

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack canbe very lively, with each of the full-range channelsused often with good localization of effects aroundthe room. Dynamic range is good, and even in themost intense scenes subtle effects and low-level dia-logue can still be heard. Fidelity is not perfectly natu-ral, and there are times when the audio can soundrather digital and unrefined. The Blu-ray Disc'suncompressed linear PCM encoding is also enjoy-able, with an exciting mix and good overall fidelity.Dynamic range is rather impressive, but dialogue canoccasionally sound artificial and a hissing distortioncan be heard at times.DR WSR

Sony Pictures• Catalog Number 14850 (DVD); 19061 (Blu-ray Disc) • PG-13/2006/90 Minutes • Danny Pang & Oxide Pang (Director) • Stars Kristen Stewart, Dylan McDermott & Penelope Ann Miller

The Messengers

P4.0/S4.5

P4.0/S4.0

CRITICS’ COMPOSITE 2.0

H O R R O R

In The Messengers, Roy(McDermott) and Denise (Miller) move their familyfrom big city life Chicago to the quiet beauty of aNorth Dakota sunflower farm. But life turns anythingbut tranquil for teenaged daughter Jess (Stewart),

when she and her brother Ben (Evan & TheodoreTurner) are witness to disturbing visions that her par-ents aren't able to see. Special features on both versionsinclude: commentary with Kristen Stewart & Guests,the seven-part Exhuming The Messengers in 38 min-utes, and previews (which are also shown up front).TS

The stylized, anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1DVD exhibits a pleasing image with solid blacks andgood shadow delineation. Details can be slightlyunder-defined at times and contrast can be slightlytoo bright in the daytime. Colors are slightly under-saturated, which matches the story well. Edgeenhancement is noticeable, but generally only onhigh-contrast transitions. The H.264 AVC-encodedBlu-ray Disc shows well-captured details and main-tains the solid blacks and shadow delineation. The

imagery can look rather deep, and contrast seems tobe slightly more realistic in daytime scenes. Somecolor banding can be noticed at times, and occa-sionally scenes can look too digitized.DR

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack canbe very lively, with each of the full-range channelsincorporated to create a well-defined sonic landscape.Dialogue is well-recorded and played back. The LFEchannel is used well to help build suspense, anddeep bass is delivered in each of the available chan-nels. The mix is exciting, which helps move the storyalong well. The Blu-ray Disc's uncompressed linearPCM 5.1-channel encoding is enjoyable, with the excitingmix teamed with good dynamic range and articula-tion. Dialogue can sound slightly too forward, out ofplace with the rest of the front stage's sonics.DR WSR

www.WidescreenReview.com DISC REVIEWS

Previously reviewed in Issue 120 on DVD. Special features are thesame as on the DVD.The VC-1-encoded 2.38:1 Blu-ray Disc can look very good, with bold

colors and good resolution. Outdoor scenes can be overly contrasted at times, but notconsistently so, and some of the darker scenes can look artificially flat. In general, theimage is good, but not consistently so.DR

The uncompressed linear PCM 5.1-channel soundtrack features very good fidelity.There are moments where dialogue is too obviously ADR-produced. Phantom imagingis incorporated well around the room, which really brings life to the soundtrack.DR WSR

D R A M A Blood Diamond

Critics’ Composite 3.5

P3.5/S4.5

Warner Home Video • CatalogNumber 111767 • R/2006/143

Minutes • Edward Zwick (Director) •Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, JenniferConnelly, Djimon Hounsou, JimiMistry, Michael Sheen & Arnold

Vosloo

Previously reviewed in Issue 122 on DVD. Special features are thesame as on the DVD.

The highly stylized VC-1-encoded 1.78:1 Blu-ray Disc looks mutedand flat for the most part, and while details can be captured well, there are times whenthey are slightly soft. Edge enhancement can be seen in this release, but is not as dras-tic as in the DVD.DR

The Dolby® Digital Plus 5.1-channel soundtrack features good fidelity and a verylow noise floor, making for a believable experience. The mix is slightly lacking, though,with little use of the surround channels and a rather narrow front stage.DR WSR

T H R I L L E R Breach

Critics’ Composite 4.0

P3.5/S3.5

Universal Studios • Catalog Number61032405 • PG-13/2006/110

Minutes • Billy Ray (Director) •Stars Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe,

Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert,Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole,

Bruce Davison & Kathleen Quinlan

WIDESCREEN REVIEW NEWSLETTER 14 4 JULY 2007 - www.WidescreenReview.com

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Home Theatre And Lighting Controller

Introduction

As Monster® continues its evolution from a cablecompany to a complete home theatre solution provider,

they have released their first high-performance “universal”remote controller, sold under the sub-brand Monster CentralControl Systems—the AVL 300.

The AVL 300 is more than a typical universal remote, as itcan also control your home’s lighting, when paired withMonster’s IlluminEssence™ lighting system. Changing out yourhome’s light switches with these Z-Wave-powered in-wall dim-mers and switches (In-Wall Light Dimmer System 600—doesn’texactly roll off the tongue—and In-Wall Switch, both about $130)and adding plug-in dimmers and switches to lamps (LightStation Dimmer and Light Station Switch, $100) will link yourhome’s lights into a strong mesh network (for more informationon Z-Wave technology, visit http://www.z-wave.com).

Monster will be the first to admit that they needed help indesigning and building these switches and dimmers, so theywent to Leviton, the company that has been involved in lightingsince its inception in 1906. Monster’s IlluminEssence lightingsystem has been designed to be capable of even moreadvanced features beyond the AVL 300’s capability in regardsto remote monitoring and two-way broadcasting. Onboard mem-ory is included in the dimmers and switches, which can providemore advanced scene functionality directly from the switchesand dimmers to be accessed without the need for a remote.These features were not “live” as of press time, but Monster hasannounced plans to incorporate them in the future. Monster hasalso promised that software improvements are forthcoming toimprove the AVL 300’s functionality in regards to lighting (andA/V device control as well), and additional AVL 300 controllableZ-Wave-based devices will be arriving soon, including controlsfor window shades and ceiling fans.

And to ensure that their remote would be compatible with asmany products as possible, they partnered with Logitech, mak-ers of the popular Harmony universal remote controllers, har-nessing their huge database of IR remote codes for home enter-tainment equipment. Monster’s relatively easy-to-use PC and MacOS X-compatible setup software is also mainly from Logitech.

The AVL 300 sells for $500 and does not come with anyswitches or dimmers for controlling your lighting.

Aesthetics

The AVL 300 has a “candy bar” shape, or in other words, it’s(roughly) a 2- x 0.75- x 8-inch box. The back of the remote has

gentle curves across the width in the middle of the remote andbehind the LCD. The curve across the middle is in a perfect place forresting your index finger (holding it with either the left or right hand),and puts the most accessed buttons (fast forward/reverse, play,pause, record, volume, channel, guide, etc.) within thumb-pressingdistance. The remote has a soft, almost rubberized feel to it that isvery comfortable. Overall, the remote is easy to hold and is laid outwell.

The remote includes 43 hard buttons, plus another eight buttonsthat correspond to rows on the LCD screen. Tilting the remote auto-matically turns on the AVL 300’s backlight (a feature that can bedefeated in the settings), which is very effective in making every but-ton visible in the dark.

When I first received an AVL 300 for review, there were problemswith the way it charged, as the metal leads that connect the remoteto the charger did not seem to make a clean connection. I assumedthis was a design flaw, but recently a new firmware version wasreleased that seems to have fixed the problems I had with chargingthe remote, and it wasn’t a hardware design flaw after all—very goodnews.

Installation

Before beginning an on-screen (the remote’s screen) tutorial, youmust charge the remote; the very basic installation/user manual doesnot provide a suggestion for the length of time it should be charged,but you might as well wait until it is full (it took about an hour for me).The remote’s 1.25- x 1.5-inch LCD screen has a battery charge levelindicator in the top right-hand corner. After charging, the remote’s

Monster® AVL 300

Danny Richelieu

OmniLink

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

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Monster AVL 300EQUIPMENT REVIEW .

short tutorial helps in familiarizing the layout of the remote and thelocations of key buttons.

The Internet-enabled setup guide (a CD-ROM is included with theAVL 300, containing both the PC and Mac OS X versions of the soft-ware) is fairly easy to use and very intuitive. After setting up a loginand password (both for protecting your codes and accessing onlinehelp and firmware updates), you link the remote and OmniLink RF-to-IR converter and IR blaster to each other. The OmniLink box—whichis included with the AVL 300—allows you to control components thatare housed behind a door or even in another room, even if they donot have an RF emitter built in (most components are limited to the“line-of-sight” limited IR). But the OmniLink is not just an RF to IRbridge, it also houses 65 percent of the commands that are found inthe AVL 300 itself, meaning it stores the IR codes for the AV compo-nents that are connected to it, so it can manage the state of thedevices internally to minimize conflicts and to create a more robustmulti-room system. The AVL 300 also comes with four ControlLink™ IRemitter dongles that each have emitters for two components. And,when coupled with the OmniLink, the AVL 300 has an RF range of upto 130 feet, making it one of the most powerful RF remotes on themarket today.

The AVL 300 can be mated with up to six OmniLinks, and up tosix AVL 300s can be configured into the same network. This isincredible flexibility to find in a hand-held remote control system, withthe ability to truly provide whole-house control.

Giving the AVL 300’s Remote Assistant (the controller’s built-inhelp) as much trouble as I could, I started having problems pairingthe OmniLink to the system, but it was relatively easy to get myselfout of trouble when the Assistant failed. Monster includes a CustomerService department phone number on the AVL 300’s packaging ifyou need additional help, as well as help sections on the www.mon-stercentral.com Web site and directly within the Monster CentralControl setup and installation software.

After telling the software what equipment is in the room by select-ing from their impressive list of manufacturers and typing in themodel numbers or names, you can set up Activities (macros thatautomatically tune the TV, pre-amp or receiver, and any other devicesto the correct inputs and power states) and add lighting scenes (ifyou have installed any IlluminEssence lighting controls). The setupsystem is very easy to follow and understand, holding your handthrough the entire process. It isn’t the most powerful ofinstallation/setup programs that I have used, but it is functional.

Next you can add the IlluminEssence lighting dimmers andswitches and set up Lighting Scenes. These allow you to set the lev-els and on/off states of all the connected lights with the press of abutton. With dimmers, you can set the percentage light level youwould like for the light, and with both the dimmers and switches youcan set whether the light is on or off, creating a very dramatic—aswell as affordable and easy—controlled lighting system in your home.

After setting the remote and lights up, a process that took abouttwo hours, including the time it took to install the in-wall dimmers(remember to shut off the power), almost everything worked perfectly.The lights were all easy to control, and the activities worked well. Thecommands were a little bit slow in delivery, but the lag time can beadjusted if you go back to the component page in the installationsoftware. The remote can control a large number of components—Igave up after adding 31 bogus devices.

The AVL 300 did not properly control my ADA preamp with the“Best possible remote codes” that it automatically selected, so I hadto program in the individual codes from the remote by hand. Thisprocess was very easy, although it could get slightly cumbersome.Going to the Modify Settings page in the installation software, thenselecting the component you want to modify brings you to a pagewith 13 options for changing the device’s settings, including renam-

ing the device, adjustinginputs, adjusting remotedelays, and learninginfrared command codes.Going to the “learning”page brings up a list of theRecommended andOptional Commands, witha box on the bottom of thepage that allows the userto add New Commandsthat are not in either of thetwo lists. For my proces-sor, there were many com-mands that I use often thatwere not in the lists, andadding them was an easyprocess. With the remoteconnected to the computer via the provided USB cable, you simplyhold the component’s original remote about two inches from the bot-tom edge of the AVL 300 (where an IR receiver is located) and pressthe button you want it to learn. New Commands can only be learnedone at a time, which can make the process cumbersome if there aremany codes you want to teach it.

Also in the Device Options page is the option “Customize theDevice Mode,” where you can edit the commands that are accessi-ble by pressing 37 of the hard buttons on the remote, as well as thecommands that can be associated with the eight hard buttons thatflank the LCD screen, four on each side. As many “pages” of com-mands (eight or four—depending on the AVL 300’s settings—com-mands are on a page) can be stored as needed, and the Page Leftand Page Right buttons below the LCD on the remote make navigat-ing through the pages easy. This customization is very helpful, andthe easy-to-read labels on the LCD screen make it painless for any-one to use the device’s remote commands without needing additionalcoaching.

From the installation software you can also change the LCDscreen’s background image (using any properly sized JPG image onyour computer) and add a JPG slide show that can be played on theremote’s screen (although the screen will still turn off when inactive,as it always does, even with the slide show running).

Lighting

When combined with IlluminEssence lighting dimmers and switch-es, the AVL 300 becomes a very powerful device. A large number of

GeneralIncluded: AVL 300, OmniLink (RF to IR converter), 4 IR emitters (forcontrolling up to 8 components), USB cable, Charging cradle,Installation software CD, User manual

LCD Screen: 1.25 x 1.5 inchesHard buttons: 51Backlight: Full controller, motion sensitive

Dimensions (WHD In Inches): 2 x 0.75 x 8Weight (In Pounds): 4.85Price: $499.95

Manufactured In China By:Monster Cable, LLC455 Valley DriveBrisbane, CA 94005Phone: 415 840 2000Fax: 415 468 0311www.monstercentral.com

SPECIFICATIONS

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lights can be controlled by the system (I stopped at 50), and beingcontrolled by Z-Wave technology, the lights can be turned on, turnedoff, or dimmed from anywhere in the house. Each lighting switch ordimmer (plug-in or in-wall) acts as a “node” for the mesh network,meaning the controller’s range expands as you add more switches anddimmers, making it possible to easily cover an entire house if needed.

The AVL 300 did exactly what it was supposed to do in conjunc-tion with the dimmers and switches, and the simple setup and instal-lation gave me full-house lighting control within hours without theneed of a custom installer. This is definitely a “must have” for that do-it-yourselfer who wants whole-house lighting control.

Component Activities And Lighting Scenes

The AVL 300 includes the ability to set Component Activities ormacros for turning on and off specific components in your house withthe single push of a button. You can set up Activities for things likeWatch A DVD, Watch TV, Listen To A CD, or whatever else you mightwant to do, and you can program the remote to automatically turn onthe correct components and switch to the correct inputs for any ofthe devices in your home. The Component Activities worked very wellfor me, and I didn’t run into a single problem after properly settingthem up.

The AVL 300 can also control Lighting Scenes, which will turn on,turn off, or dim to a preset brightness percentage any of the lightsthat the remote is controlling with the press of a single button. Youcan also tie these Lighting Scenes to Component Activities to adjustall of the components and lights for a given activity with the press ofa single button. In my house, I set the Watch A DVD Activity to turnon the TV, preamp, and amplifier, switch to the correct input on theTV and preamp, and then turn off all of the lights in the theatre, whilebringing the lights in the kitchen to 30 percent brightness and turningoff the rest, all with the touch of one button. And it worked flawlessly.

Conclusions

The AVL 300 is a fantastic universal remote that can provide com-plete control for all of the A/V devices in your home, as well as all ofthe lights. It is very easy to operate and set up, and doesn’t havemany hiccups in its operation. The button layout is well mapped, andit is a very comfortable remote to hold. It is easily customized, andwith its huge database of remote codes, adding new devices to thecontroller is a simple, straightforward process. Even when the remotecodes it suggests do not work, adding the correct codes is relativelypain free.

The price is a little high ($499.95 without any lighting dimmers orswitches) for a universal remote without a touch-screen LCD inter-face, but it is one of the only hand-held devices available that canperform lighting control. The build quality is generally solid, but theprotruding Select button in the middle of the remote does seemslightly flimsy, and could pop off if the AVL 300 is not properly handled.

Overall, this is a great product that will make your home theatreexperience more enjoyable. If you want to add universal control to yourcomponents, and lighting control to your house, the AVL 300 is defi-nitely worth an audition.

And to make things even better, the AVL-300 is having a $399.95factory special pricing during summer 2007 (yeah, right now). WSR

AVL 300 In Charging Cradle

Monster AVL 300EQUIPMENT REVIEW .

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WSRnewsletter14 7/23/07 1:36 PM Page 7

Just another day in Paradise. As I sit here Under The Tuscan Sunlooking out at hillsides filled with vineyards, I’m feeling a tiny bitguilty that I’m not at work. But only a tiny bit. In an attempt to easesome of the guilt, I thought I’d get started on my column.

Here in a beautiful villa just outside of Greve, Italy, with my hus-band, son, and a group of my nearest and dearest friends, it’s easyto forget about home theatre land back home...sort of. There are nobig flat panels hanging on the walls, no in-walls, no on-walls, and noloudspeakers outside where I’m sitting. The only television in theplace is a 24-inch CRT Sinudyne (what the heck is that?!), and foraudio we have some old Sony mini system. There is some beautifulmusic playing inside, however (which could sound a little better,admittedly), the windows are open, and the tunes are making theirway out here. Life just doesn’t get much better than this.

Before I left home I went on a little field trip. I drove out to CostaMesa, California to visit with Mike Sisco of Customworks, Inc. Mikeopened his store in 2002, and he says that business is booming. Hetold me something about his clientele, though, that I think many ofyou will find quite surprising, if not disturbing. He said that the major-ity of his customers care more about appearance than performancewhen it comes to home theatre. And I’m pretty sure his customersaren’t all women. But hey, this is The OC we’re talking about, afterall.

The purpose of my visit was to check out the Artcoustic™

Loudspeakers that Mike has on display in his demo room. I firstlearned about Artcoustic of Denmark when John Caldwell of St. JohnGroup and Peter Hoagland paid a visit to Widescreen Review.Among the things they brought with them was Artcoustic’s 2007 full-line brochure. Fascinated by what I was looking at on paper, I decid-ed that I just had to see—and hear—what these loudspeakers hadto offer.

Customworks is located in a large industrial block of businesses,next to Orange County’s John Wayne airport. And I do mean, rightnext to it. I didn’t go upstairs where the various offices are located,but downstairs, next to the reception area, is a small demo room withthe Artcoustic loudspeakers on display. Mike had them already in“Play” mode when I arrived, and they were sounding quite impres-sive indeed. But what really got me excited was the way they looked.Not only do these loudspeakers pack a lot of performance, they offerthe best of both worlds—performance and appearance! At first Ididn’t realize I was even looking at loudspeakers. On each side ofthe flat screen TV hanging on the wall was a loudspeaker, which, inactuality, looked like a pair of beautiful paintings, and below the tele-vision was a white subwoofer. The loudspeakers come standard ineither white, black, or grey grill cloths and as their catalog shows,there is a large selection of artwork available that can be substitutedfor the solid color grill cloths. Additionally, if a customer has afavorite picture or photo they would like to use instead of one in theArtcoustic catalog, this is available as an option at no extra cost.Just think, you could change the looks of your loudspeakers to goalong with whatever season it happens to be. ‘Tis the season? Putup a wintry Christmas scene. Relatives in town? Throw up one of thefamily photos. Or if you happen to be in a plain kind of mood,exchange your paintings for the solid color grills that are includedalong with the custom options.

Besides loudspeakers and subwoofers, Artcoustic also makes astylish, contemporary storage cabinet that Customworks also had ondisplay. And their Media Wall is an innovative new product that isdesigned to hide flat screen and loudspeaker cables, available in astandard black or white finish.

Mike wanted to show me the system set up in a house he hadrecently completed. So off we went to the home of Ryan Heuser, oneof the co-founders of Paul Frank Industries. You know, creators ofthat cute little monkey Julius that you see on so many articles ofclothing these days.

This was the first job that Mike had completed with Artcousticloudspeakers where he actually installed them directly into the wall,rather than hanging them on the wall. With the standard white clothsthat Ryan chose to go along with the rest of his very modern décorand the flush look of the frame, this was a very different and impres-sive look.

Of course, I had to be nosy and take a good look around thewhole house. Inside the closet in the exercise room, Mike hadinstalled all of the audio/video equipment, hiding it out of sight...avery nice touch for sure! And outside, after crossing over a bridgeunder which swam a group of beautiful koi, there was a backyardworthy of some serious entertaining. The outdoor system is sure tobe a hit at any party.

I’m feeling a little less guilty now, and I think I’ll take a walk withthe group up to the winery above us. But before I go, I just want tomention one more thing. While I was going through airport securities,sitting in lounges, and looking at people using their laptops on theplane, something hit me. With all this constant talk about the battlingHD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats and the comparison to the VHSand Betamax days, I thought of another parallel. Macs vs. PCs. Iwas witnessing people using both. Some people prefer Macs, othersprefer PCs. Guess what? There’s room in this world for both. Maybeit’ll just have to be the same for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Ciao! WSR

Wish the woman in your life would show alittle more empathy, or at least a tiny bit ofenthusiasm, when it comes to your passionfor home theatre? If so, send her my way,tricia@widescreenreview.com, and I’ll behappy to try and clear up any questions orconcerns that she may have (in a languagethat she’ll even be able to understand).

Wife AssistanceForum

Tricia Spears

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or multichannel system match those of a“live performance” with acceptable realism,when listening to accurately recorded musicor movies.

But even the most accurate audiophilesystems are always dependent upon roomacoustics and proper placement of theloudspeakers within the room, relative to theroom boundaries (walls, doors, etc.) and theprimary listening position, if truly accuratereproduction and stereo imaging betweentwo loudspeakers are to be achieved.

Indeed, to achieve accurate imaging, it isabsolutely necessary that the front stereoloudspeakers (or for that matter, the sideand back wall stereo pairs) be located pre-cisely equidistant and equiangularly fromthe listener. Otherwise, “center stage”sounds will be heard as being either “off-center” or “diffuse.” Anyone who claims oth-erwise has never heard a pair of truly accu-rate loudspeakers properly set up within agood listening room.

For example, a mismatch of only about 1dB in amplitude between a pair of stereoloudspeakers can shift the apparent loca-tion of a “center stage” sound by about 10degrees.

For those possessing a “sound levelmeter,” such as those available from RadioShack, etc., a source of mono broadbandnoise (an FM tuner tuned off-station) can beused to assist in accurately locating loud-speakers. When a stereo pair of loudspeak-ers are located precisely equidistant andequiangular from the listening position, anearly 3 dB rise in amplitude will beobserved within the space of a few inches.When this is achieved, excellent imagingshould be heard from a pair of accurate,well-matched loudspeakers.

Our human hearing process is trulyamazing with respect to the range of acousti-cal properties it can discern, quantify, ana-lyze, and determine to be satisfying orannoying. Although not everyone is born

This is the sixth article in a series on thetopic “Loudspeaker Accuracy” that I havewritten for Widescreen Review as a guesteditorialist. In this article, I will cover roomacoustics and loudspeaker positioning with-in the room.

Introduction

A lot of popular misconceptions existconcerning listening rooms, the properplacement of loudspeakers with respect toroom boundaries (walls), and the overallbest listening position within a room. Manyan audiophile have fallen prey to such mis-conceptions and friendly (but poor) advice,only to end sadder but wiser by the experi-ence. Indeed, a listening room with goodacoustics is usually a blessing and a sourceof continuing enjoyment for any seriousaudiophile. By contrast, a listening roomwith poor acoustics can represent a stress-inducing challenge, requiring a combinationof patience, understanding, ingenuity,resourcefulness, and a lot of perspiration.

Likewise, poor placement of loudspeak-ers within the listening room can seriouslydegrade the sound quality and imaging ofeven the most accurate loudspeakers.

A good start to understanding your listen-ing room is to examine how the hearingprocess works, how various attributes of alistening room (size, shape, resonancemodes, sound-absorbing surfaces, etc.)affect its sound qualities, and how differentloudspeaker locations within the room cansignificantly alter the perceived realism ofwell-recorded music, reproduced by anaccurate audiophile system.

What And How We Hear

Those audiophiles blessed with reason-ably good hearing and relevant listeningexperience are usually able to discernwhether sounds reproduced by their stereo

with or retains near-perfect hearing, most ofus possess a level of hearing acuity thatpermits us to readily determine the qualityand realism of music being reproduced byan audiophile system. Several differentattributes and features of our hearing pro-vide us with an ability to evaluate whetherour audio system sounds realistic, good,pleasant, etc. The more important of theseattributes are:

1. Frequency Response (SpectralBalance)

Those audiophiles whose hearing (ampli-tude response) is reasonably good over theentire audio range generally possess a bet-ter ability to discern whether their audio sys-tem exhibits a good “spectral balance.”However, despite the popular notion thatmost people can hear musical sounds up toabout 20 kHz, the truth is that less thanabout one-fourth to one-third of America’spopulation can hear sound (of reasonableamplitude) above about 10 kHz. Basedupon recent surveys, many young peoplewho regularly listen to rock music at SPLsexceeding 105 dB possess a usable fre-quency response limited at the high-end toabout 7 kHz—a truly sad commentaryregarding our present culture. (Indeed, ithas been estimated that less than about 10percent of the total population can actuallydiscern sound at frequencies up to 20 kHz.)

Generally speaking, most experiencedaudiophiles can discern an audible differ-ence between a loudspeaker with a (plus orminus) ±1 dB amplitude vs frequencyresponse (using time-aligned drivers and afirst-order crossover network) and one witha ±3 dB response when listening to audio-phile-quality recordings within a reasonablygood listening environment.

2. Transient Response (FusionTime)

Whether a sound reflected from the walls,floor, or ceiling of a listening room is “heard”by a listener as an “echo,” an alteration in

Loudspeaker AccuracyHow Room Acoustics And Loudspeaker PositioningAffect The Music — Part 6J O H N D U N L A V Y

FROM The Archives

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spectral balance, or as a blurring of musicaltransients is related to what is called the“fusion time” of our hearing process. Fusiontime is the separation in time between twoshort duration pulses, measured in millisec-onds, for which the sound is no longer per-ceived as a single “pulse,” but as two sepa-rate pulses. This may range from a short 4milliseconds (4/1,000 of a second) to aslong as 15 milliseconds, depending uponthe hearing acuity of the individual. Generally,this corresponds to a delay between anygiven direct and reflected path of fromabout 4.5 to 17 feet (or 4 to 15 milliseconds).

If the reflected component of any transienttype sound arrives within this fusion time, itwill usually be perceived as either a blurringof musical transients (perhaps, turning a “tic”sound into a “toc,” or a drum “snap” into a“boom”), or an alteration in spectral balanceif the music contains mostly “sustained”notes such as organ sounds. However, if thedelay between direct and reflected soundssubstantially exceeds the fusion time, theeffect is more likely to be perceived as tran-sients becoming “separate tics” or organnotes acquiring a short delayed echo. Eitherway, reflected sounds frequently result in anunacceptable degradation in sound qualityand must be dealt with by covering or treat-ing offending wall, ceiling, or floor surfaceswith materials that exhibit appropriateacoustical absorption properties.

3. Sensitivity (Low Level Threshold)To begin, imagine a room of arbitrary size

with stereo loudspeakers at one end and alistener at the opposite end. In addition tothe “direct path” sound, the listener hearssound energy reflected from the wall sur-faces behind the loudspeakers, the two sidewalls, the ceiling, the floor, and the wallbehind the listener. Each of these “reflectedsounds” arrives at the listener’s ears with atime delay related to the length of the pathtaken by the sound, traveling at a velocity ofabout 1,140 feet per second (approximately13.7 inches during each 1/1,000 of a sec-ond).

In a home theatre, ideally the principalviewing and listening position would be equi-distant from all five (or six if your system sup-ports a center back surround channel) loud-speakers, and at equal angles relative to thelistener.

Depending upon the delay times encoun-tered by the reflected sounds, and whetherthe original sound consisted largely of con-tinuous tones (organ notes) or of transients(plucked strings, etc.), the listener may per-ceive the combination of the direct andreflected sounds as being either pleasant(adding ambiance) or distracting (smearingcomplex transients). The perceived spectralbalance of a loudspeaker may also be audi-

bly modified by reflected sounds, if theyadd to and or subtract from the directsound, in a manner that creates peaks andvalleys in the frequency response curve thatspan more than about one-third of anoctave. This is because reflected soundsproduce partial cancellations (nulls) at thosefrequencies where they are “out of phase”with the direct signal, and enhancements(peaks) at those frequencies where they are“in phase” with the direct signal.

The Shape Of A RoomAnd Its RespectiveLength, Width, AndHeight Dimensions

It is equally important that the length,width, and height dimensions of a room bedifferent from each other by certain ratiosthat tend to prevent the resonances thatoccur between parallel walls (and the floorand ceiling) from mutually enhancing eachother. Some of the more popular ratios arediscussed later in this article. For example,it should be relatively easy to understandthat a room in the shape of a cube wouldrepresent the worst possible listening condi-tion, because a sound radiated into theroom would tend to be subject to reinforce-ment and cancellation at the same set offrequencies, as a result of the similar pathlengths of the reflected sounds. A square-shaped room (identical length and width) isthe second worst shape.

Indeed, certain optimum ratios of length-to-width-to-height do exist and can yieldoutstanding results if the user has the luxuryof choosing them for a “customized” listen-ing room. Likewise, optimum locations existfor the loudspeakers and the listening posi-tion within a room. However, if the dimen-sions of an existing listening room are lessthan optimum, it is possible to lessen thebad effects of troublesome reflections bycarefully choosing locations for the loud-speakers and for the primary listening posi-tion within the room.

Another means for diminishing the effectsof undesirable reflections is by coveringreflective areas along walls, the ceiling, andthe floor with proper amounts of efficientsound absorbing materials and/or time/fre-quency dispersive (diffusion) materials.

Some of the important aspects and crite-ria regarding listening rooms and loud-speaker placement that should be under-stood and appreciated by the seriousaudiophile are:

1. An acoustically-dead, reflection-free room does not provide the bestlistening environment.

A room devoid of acoustical reflections(referred to as being anechoic) usually does

not sound “natural” because our subcon-scious “visual assessment” of the room con-flicts with our aural assessment, basedupon what we hear. Thus, music repro-duced within a truly reflection-free roomwould tend to sound good in total darknessbut unnatural with the lights on (usingrecordings containing good hall ambiance).However, few rooms exhibit anechoicresponse below about 200 Hz, because ofthe inefficiency of most absorbing materialsat lower frequencies, leaving typical “ane-choic” rooms sounding somewhat bassheavy.

2. The positioning of “good loud-speakers” tends to be more criticalwith respect to location within thelistening room.

The effect of room reflections is usuallymuch more pronounced with accurate loud-speakers than with loudspeakers whosecurve of amplitude versus frequency alreadycontains a number of peaks and valleys.When the peaks and valleys of the roomresponse are superimposed on the responseof accurate loudspeakers, the degradationin response is much more evident than whenthe effect of the room is combined with the“jagged” response of poor loudspeakers.This effect is especially evident as the loca-tion of an accurate loudspeaker is changedfrom one position to another within a room.

3. “Good loudspeakers” can onlyprovide their full potential for achiev-ing an accurate soundstage at care-fully selected listening positionswithin a room.

It is true that accurate loudspeakers willusually provide a better and more believablesoundstage than poorly designed or poorlymatched pairs of loudspeakers, regardlessof their location within a room. However,loudspeakers with radiation lobes pointingeverywhere may generate a diffuse sound-stage that seems more stable, thoughimprecise, than that of accurate loudspeak-ers whose imaging might appear to shiftstrongly as the listening position is varied.But properly positioned, usually symmetricalwith respect to side walls and the listeninglocation, an accurate and well-matched pairof loudspeakers can provide an incrediblylifelike and stable soundstage that poorlydesigned loudspeakers with a diffuse char-acteristic can never even approach.

4. The height of the loudspeaker(its acoustical center) above thefloor is important to achieving a life-like spectral balance and ambiance.

The hearing of most humans is reason-ably acute with respect to discerning therelative height of a sound source above thefloor. The hearing process basically usestwo separate mechanisms in determining

FROM The Archives

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height:• the spectral shift of certain frequencies

caused by interference between the directsound from the source and the reflectedsound off the floor and/or ceiling, and,

• the spectral processing that takesplace within the pinna (outer ear).

The existence of this spectral shift andprocessing became quite apparent with theadvent of home theatre systems and theiruse of three front channel loudspeakers.Many early home theatre systems placedthe front left/right channel loudspeakers withtheir center at ear height but with the centerchannel loudspeaker on the floor beneaththe screen. But it was soon discovered thatas someone walked across the movie stagewhile talking, the spectral balance of theirvoice changed markedly as the soundsource shifted from the front left or rightchannel loudspeaker to the center channelloudspeaker. As a consequence, most highquality home theatre systems now configureall three front channel loudspeakers at thesame height above the floor. However, foran audiophile system, it is always best tolocate the phase center (acoustical center)of both loudspeakers at “ear height” abovethe floor (usually about 33 to 37 incheswhen seated in a chair of average height).

5. Floor coverings and ceiling tex-ture are important considerations.

The presence of the floor provides a sub-stantial boost in low-end bass for loud-speakers with a woofer or subwoofer locat-ed near the floor. This occurs because a“mirror image” of the woofer appears in thefloor, providing a near doubling of the soundlevel. For this reason, it is important to coverthe floor, when possible, with a heavy woolrug (preceded by a thick layer of woolunderfelt). Natural sheep’s wool has beenfound to be one of the best of all sound-absorbing materials.

This treatment of the floor will also improvethe quality of the upper bass and lower mid-range reproduction by reducing the level ofthese frequencies to one more consistentwith that of higher frequencies, where therelatively narrow vertical dispersion of mostloudspeakers prevents much of the radiatedpower from bouncing off the floor, except atlonger distances where the vertical anglebecomes small.

The usually greater distance from theceiling to the radiating portions of a loud-speaker provides a longer path length tothe listener than reflections from the floor,resulting in a perception similar to that of areflection from a side wall. In small roomswith a low ceiling, however, reflections fromthe ceiling can result in a harsh sound or anunpleasant alteration in spectral balance.

Ample evidence exists for favoring a ceil-

ing with reasonably large (at least 2-inch by6-inch), rough-hewn wood beams runningperpendicular to the path from the loud-speaker to the listener. Such beams breakup and disperse the sound energy in a waythat is perceived to be pleasant to most lis-teners. As an alternative, commerciallyavailable dispersive panels can be placedat and near the principal reflection area onthe ceiling, with a similar result.

6. Live-End/Dead-End room treatment

The concept of a “Live-End/Dead-End”listening room for stereo reproduction hasbeen around for more than a decade and isgenerally attributed to the well-known DonDavis. Its success in improving the soundquality of most rooms is attested to by itslongevity among knowledgeable audio-philes. Basically, it involves treating a sec-tion of the wall behind either the loudspeak-ers or the listening position with an efficienttype of acoustical absorbing material toreduce what are often called “slap echo”effects. Properly done, a fairly dramaticimprovement in room acoustics can beachieved by eliminating these “ricochet”sounds, caused by sound reflecting back-and-forth between the two parallel walls.Competent research has shown that a 4-footwide by 7-foot high sheet of 3- to 4-inch-thick acoustical foam (now available inblack or decorator colors) placed on thewall immediately behind the listener canoften turn a problem room into an audiopleasure palace, given such seating limita-tions. By absorbing a large portion of thesound that would normally be reflected fromthe back wall, a “standing wave” betweenthe wall and the listener (alternate additionand cancellation between the direct andreflected wave components) is almost elimi-nated. Such standing waves produce thepeaks and valleys in frequency responsethat can destroy the quality of an otherwiseexcellent system.

The optimum positioning of the listenerrelative to the back wall would be to positionthe listener out from the back wall by atleast 5 feet or more, to place the reflectivesound beyond the fusion-time of the humanhearing process. This arrangement is idealfor multichannel discrete music and hometheatre listening, in which every loudspeak-er position is equidistant from the prime lis-tener seated in the “sweet spot.”

7. The location of doors, alcoves,and windows within the room areoften very important.

Doors, alcoves, and windows along thewalls of a room can significantly alter thespectrum of the sound reflected from thewall area involved. Large glass windows leftuncovered can be a source of harsh-sound-

ing reflections, worthy of being avoided. Theoptimum approach would be to create yourmultichannel music and home theatre spacein a room without windows or alcoves.

8. The angle subtended by theloudspeakers from the listeningposition should exceed about 60degrees (the distance from the lis-tening position to each loudspeakershould be less than the distanceseparating the loudspeakers).

With well-recorded music and highlyaccurate loudspeakers (closely matched asa pair), separation angles of as much as100 degrees (or more) can be used withoutany degradation of the center image forcenter stage vocals or instruments. In fact,experience has shown that wide separa-tions can be used to provide an even morerealistic, accurate, and stable soundstagethan that achievable with closer spacing.This presumes that the recording wasrecorded with a wide soundstage and moni-tored as such. In this regard, a pair of pre-cisely-matched loudspeakers in a good lis-tening room can easily rival the quality, widesoundstage, and pinpoint imaging of thebest available stereo headphones—but,with a visceral impact unavailable withheadphones. Imagine duplicating such arealistic soundstage within a four-wallspace, thus creating a seamless three-dimensional soundfield.

9. The symmetry of the listeningroom and the location of loudspeak-ers within it are very important forbest stereo and soundfield imaging.

Accurate stereo imaging (created by apair of perfectly-matched loudspeakersalong each wall of a home theatre system)that remains stable throughout the audiospectrum requires that the listener “hear”reflected sound from all directions with anequal time delay. This can only be achievedin a symmetrical room, with the loudspeak-ers and the principal listening position locat-ed in a symmetrical configuration withrespect to the walls. It is especially impor-tant that each pair of loudspeakers be locat-ed at exactly equal distances from the “pri-mary” or “center” listening position, if opti-mum imaging and a strong phantom centerimage are to be achieved in a “holosonic™”configuration (in which each side wall per-fectly reproduces stereo phantom imaging).This is because our hearing process evalu-ates and determines the location (directionof arrival) of a sound on the basis of the rel-ative time-of-arrival and the relative ampli-tude of the sound as it is heard simultane-ously by both ears.

For truly optimal imaging, it is also bestfor the location of drapes, windows, etc. onboth side walls to be arranged in a symmet-

FROM The Archives

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rical manner.10. For stereo applications alone,

loudspeakers should be locatedalong a wall facing the shortestdimension of the room for the mostaccurate reproduction of bass.

One of the longest running myths in theaudiophile industry that certainly needs tobe set straight is that loudspeakers shouldalways radiate along the longest dimensionof the listening room for optimized stereoreproduction (not home theatre which opti-mally requires a different approach).

11. It is usually best if the distanceof a loudspeaker from the side walldoes not equal the distance to theback wall.

If a loudspeaker is located equidistantfrom both the side and back walls, the dis-tance being measured from the center ofthe front surface to the relevant reflectionpoint on the wall, a symmetrical cavity isformed. This may create enhancements ofas much as 6 dB at some frequencies,resulting in a degradation of perceivedsound quality, especially in the upper bassand lower midrange. Best overall responseis usually obtained when the distance of theloudspeaker from the side wall is either larg-er or smaller than the distance of the loud-speaker from the back wall. This will preventreinforcements of peaks and valleys fromoccurring at the same set of frequencies,thereby smoothing the overall frequencyresponse of the system. For a typical roomof average size, for example, 8 feet high, 13feet wide, and 20 feet long, and a listeningdistance of from 8 to 12 feet, a good start-ing point would be a distance between theloudspeakers and the back wall of approxi-mately 3 feet (36 inches) and a distance tothe side walls of about 4 feet (48 Inches).

After listening for several minutes to avariety of music at these distances, eithershorten or lengthen the distance to the backor the side walls by about 6 inches anddetermine whether or not the change madean improvement in the overall spectral bal-ance. Patient experimentation with differentdistances will usually be necessary beforethe optimum distances to the back and sidewalls are discovered.

12. The resonant frequencies asso-ciated with the length, width, andheight of the listening room, and thelocation of the loudspeakers withinthe room tend to dominate our per-ception of sound quality, especiallyat bass frequencies, and imply theexistence of optimum ratios for roomdimensions and the best location forloudspeakers within a room.

In reality, the loudspeaker and the listen-ing room are components that interact with

each other as members of the same systemIn fact, it is usually the resonant frequencyof the room that dominates the lowest fre-quency that a full-range audiophile loud-speaker can reproduce. But that lowest fre-quency can vary substantially from one partof the room to another because of thestanding waves that are always present.These standing waves set up a pattern ofmodes at each frequency above resonance,consisting of minimum and maximum levelsof amplitude, much like hills and valleys areportrayed on a topographical map. And eachdimension of the room (its length, width,and height) produces standing waves withcorresponding resonant frequencies andmodes (and their harmonics). Therefore,locating an “optimum” position for loud-speakers within a room requires first a defi-nition of what optimum implies—maximumlow bass extension, smoothest overall bassresponse, widest stereo soundstage withbest imaging, etc. No one location in a roomis likely to be capable of fulfilling all suchdefinitions of optimum—a compromise isalmost always necessary.

The lowest natural resonant frequency ofa room is called its “fundamental resonance.”The fundamental resonance occurs at thatfrequency for which the length (or longestdimension) of the room is equal to one halfof a wavelength. A half-wavelength, expressedin feet, is found by dividing 567 by the fre-quency in Hertz (based on air at a tempera-ture of 70 degrees Fahrenheit with averageatmospheric pressure and humidity).

Conversely, since wavelength and fre-quency are inversely related, the fundamen-tal resonance of a room (in Hertz) may bedetermined by dividing 567 by its length infeet. Thus, a room with a length of 20 feethas a fundamental resonance equal to567÷20, or approximately 28 Hz. If the roomhas a width of 13 feet, another resonanceoccurs at about 44 Hz. A ceiling height of 8feet implies a third resonance at about 71 Hz.Harmonic resonances and anti-resonances

occur at higher frequencies, being whole-number multiples of each of the fundamen-tal frequencies.

At each fundamental bass resonance of aroom, a maximum Sound Pressure Level(SPL) occurs near the center of the twowalls perpendicular to the relevant dimen-sion (length or width). Minimum SPLs, corre-sponding to each of these maximums, arelocated in the geometric center of the room.Therefore, the center of a room with respectto the front and back walls tends to be thepoorest listening position if maximum low-end bass is desired. That is why it is desir-able to offset an otherwise symmetrical mul-tichannel music or home theatre systemwithin the room.

Because no two rooms are ever exactlyalike, the only way to achieve optimal sys-tem performance is to experiment with loud-speaker positioning. The above is meant toserve as a practical guide, for no guaranteecan be given that yields an optimum resultin all situations, or with respect to all typesof loudspeakers and/or all possible loca-tions of loudspeakers within the room. ��

________________________________________About John Dunlavy

John Dunlavy, MAES, FIREE, etc., is a well-known and highly-respected engineer and scien-tist with a number of patents to his credit, and 40years at the forefront of audio innovation. John’sspecial interest is loudspeaker accuracy, a notionhe’s been working on and talking about fordecades. Agree or disagree with him, we can alllearn something valuable about the world of audioreproduction, sitting at John’s knee. That’s why I’veinvited him to pen this Guest Editorial column forthe next several months to provide us all a “shortcourse” in acoustics and audio reproduction. I’mlooking forward to it, as I look forward (as always)to your comments.

Gary Reber, Editor-In-Chief, Widescreen Review

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