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Page18

Monolith III User's Manual

Your Room

This is one of those areas that requires
a little background to understand and
some time and experimentation to
obtain the best performance from your
system.

Your room is actually a component and
an important part of your system. This
component is a very large variable and
can dramatically add to, or subtract
from, a great musical experience,
depending on how well you attend to it.

All sound is composed of waves. Each
note has its own wave size, with the
lower bass notes literally encompass-
ing from 10' to as much as 40'! Your
room participates in this wave experi-
ence like a 3 dimensional pool with
waves reflecting and becoming
enhanced depending on the size of the
room and the types of surfaces in the
room.

Remember, your audio system can
literally generate all of the information
required to recreate a musical event in
time, space, and tonal balance. The
purpose of your room, ideally, is to not
contribute to that information. However,
every room does contribute to the
sound and the better speaker manufac-
turers have designed their systems to
accommodate this phenomenon.

Let’s talk about a few important terms
before we begin.

Terminology

Standing Waves

Standing Waves. The parallel walls in your room will reinforce certain notes to

the point that they will sound louder than the rest of the audio spectrum
and cause “one note bass”, “boomy bass”, or “tubby bass”. For instance,
100Hz represents a 10' wavelength. Your room will reinforce that specific
frequency if one of the dominant dimensions is 10'. Large objects in the
room such as cabinetry or furniture can help to minimize this potential
problem. Some serious “audiophiles” will literally build a special room
with no parallel walls just to get away from this phenomenon.

Reflective Surfaces

Reflective Surfaces. The hard surfaces of your room, particularly if close to

your speaker system, will reflect those waves back into the room over and
over again, confusing the clarity and imaging of your system. The smaller
sound waves are mostly affected here and occur in the mid and high
frequencies. This is where voice and frequencies as high as the cymbals
can occur.

Near Field Reflections

Near Field Reflections. Those reflective surfaces of the room that are the

closest to your speaker system, particularly if they are hard surfaces, can
reflect the musical energy back into the room, confusing the imaging and
tonal balance of your system. Excessive brightness can result from this
condition and diffuse, ill defined imaging can easily occur if too many
surfaces near your speakers are hard and sharp in their relative angle to
your system.

Resonant Surfaces and Objects

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 contribute in a negative way to the music. Ringing, boominess, and
even brightness can occur simply because they are “singing along” with
your music.

Resonant Cavities

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.

Clap your hands. Can you hear an instant echo respond back ? You’ve
got near-field reflections. Stomp your foot on the floor. Can you hear a
“boom”? You’ve got standing waves or large panel resonances such as a
poorly supported wall. Put your head in a small cavity area and talk loudly.
Can you hear a booming? You’ve just experienced a cavity resonance.

Room Acoustics