MartinLogan Dynamo 400, User Manual

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9
English
r
oom
a
CoustiCs
Your Room
This is an area that requires both a little background to understand
and some time and experimentation to attain the best performance
from your system. Your room is actually a component and an impor-
tant part of your system. This component is a large variable and can
dramatically add to or subtract from a great sonic experience.
All sound is composed of waves. Each frequency has its own
wave size, with the lower, or bass frequencies literally encompass-
ing from 10 feet to as much as 40 feet. Your room participates in
this wave experience like a swimming pool with waves reflecting
and becoming enhanced depending on the size and shape of the
room and the types of surfaces in the room.
Remember that your audio system can actually generate all of the
information required to recreate a sonic event in time, space, and
tonal balance. Acoustically, the role of an ideal room would be to
neither delete nor contribute to that information. However, nearly
every room does to some degree.
Terminology
Standing Waves
Sound coming from a speaker bounces around in a room until a
pattern emerges—this is called a standing wave. Typically, this is
only a problem with frequencies below 100Hz. When this hap-
pens different parts of your room experience either an excess or
a lack of bass.
Some people believe that having a room without parallel walls
will eliminate this effect. The truth is that non-parallel walls only
generate different standing wave patterns than those that occur in
rectangular rooms.
Usually, you can excite most of the standing waves in a room by
putting the subwoofer in a corner. Listening position determines
which standing waves you will experience. For instance, if you sit
in a corner you will hear most of the standing waves. This can be
an overpowering experience. Sitting next to a wall can also inten-
sify the levels of the standing waves that are experienced.
Resonant Surfaces and Objects
All of the surfaces and objects in your room are subject to the
frequencies generated by your system. Much like an instrument,
they will vibrate and "carry on" in syncopation with the music, and
may contribute in a negative way to the sound. Ringing, boomi-
ness, and even brightness can occur simply because surfaces and
objects are "singing along" with your speakers.
Resonant Cavities
Small alcoves or closet type areas in your room can be chambers
that create their own "standing waves" and can drum their own
"one note" sounds.