WILSON AUDIO WATCH SURROUND, Owner'S Manual

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W I L S O N A U D I O S P E C I A L T I E S , I N C .
3-1
I
N
Y
O U R
R
O O M
S
ECTION
3.0 R
OOM
R
EFLECTIONS
There are 3 commonly encountered room reflection problems, slap-echo, standing
waves, and comb filter effects.
S
LAP
-E
CHO
Probably the most obnoxious form of reflection is the slap echo. In slap echo, pri-
marily mid-range and high frequency sounds reflect off of two parallel hard surfaces. The
sound literally reverberates back and forth until it is finally dissipated over time. You can
test for slap echo in any room by clapping your hands sharply in the middle of the room and
listening for the characteristic sound of the echo in the mid-range. Slap echo destroys the
sound quality of a stereo system primarily in two ways:
• Adding harshness to the upper mid-range and treble through
energy time storage.
• Destroying the delicate phase relationships which help to establish
sound stage and image localization clues.
Note: The following section presents important information on room acoustics. These im-
portant concepts for two channel audio become even more important when dealing with
multichannel audio or home theater. The presence of more than two speakers in a room only
increase the amount of setup difficulties and speaker interactions. By studying carefully the
concepts presented and then evaluating your own room configuration, you will hear marked
improvement in the performance of your multichannel system.