Toole - Sound reproduction: the acoustics and psychoacoustics of loudspeakers and rooms

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Third Edition explains the physical and perceptual processes that are involved in sound reproduction and demonstrates how to use the processes to create high-quality listening experiences in stereo and multichannel formats.

Understanding the principles of sound production is necessary to achieve the goals of sound reproduction in spaces ranging from recording control rooms and home listening rooms to large cinemas. This revision brings new science-based perspectives on the performance of loudspeakers, room acoustics, measurements and equalization, all of which need to be appropriately used to ensure the accurate delivery of music and movie sound tracks from creators to listeners.

The robust website (www.routledge.com/cw/toole) is the perfect companion to this necessary resource.

Floyd E. Toole was a research scientist at the National Research Council of Canada and, more recently, the corporate vice president of acoustical engineering at Harman International. Now retired, he is a consultant to Harman. He has received the Audio Engineering Society Silver and Gold Medal awards, and lifetime achievement awards from CEDIA and ALMA International. He is a Fellow of the AES, the Acoustical Society of America and CEDIA, and is in the Consumer Technology Hall of Fame.

Officers of the Technical Council include:

• Francis RumseyChair
• Juergen HerreVice Chair
• Michael KellyVice Chair
• Bob SchuleinVice Chair

Publications:

Handbook for Sound Engineers, Fifth Edition

(9780415842938)

Authored by Glen Ballou

Focal Press, April 1, 2015

Audio Production and Critical Listening, Second Edition

(9781138845947)

Authored by Jason Corey

Routledge, September 1, 2016

Recording Orchestra and Other Classical Music Ensembles

(9781138854536)

Authored by Richard King

Routledge, December 8, 2016

Third Edition

Floyd E. Toole

Third edition published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2018 Taylor & Francis

The right of Floyd E. Toole to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Focal Press 2008
Second edition published by Routledge 2013

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Toole, Floyd E., author.

Title: Sound reproduction : the acoustics and psychoacoustics of loudspeakers and rooms / Floyd Toole.

Description: Third edition. | New York ; London : Routledge, 2017.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017007635| ISBN 9781138921375 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138921368 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Loudspeakers. | Acoustical engineering. | SoundRecording and reproducingEquipment and supplies. | Psychoacoustics. | Recreation rooms.

Classification: LCC TK5983 .T66 2017 | DDC 621.382/84dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007635

ISBN: 978-1-138-92137-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-92136-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-68642-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Visit the companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/toole

Special thanks are due to the National Research Council of Canada and to Harman International Industries, Inc., who for 27 and 25 years respectively provided funding and facilities for my colleagues and me to investigate the physical and psychoacoustic factors involved in sound reproduction. That we were able to do public presentations of the research findings and to publish them is commendable. Harman engineering staff generously provided many of the measurements seen here. The numerous researchers around the world whose efforts have contributed to the science of audio and to the contents of this book have both my respect and my gratitude.

My thanks to Todd Welti and the late Brad Wood for their constructive criticism of the manuscript, and to my extremely supportive wife Noreen, who shared in the creative process on a daily basis.

I dedicate this book to my father, Harold Osman Toole, who set a high moral standard, taught me the skills to follow in his footsteps as a competent woodworker and handyman, and who insisted that I start life with a good education. He has been a wonderful father and friendand as this is written, he still is, at 104 years old.

This book is about science in audio, the acoustics and psychoacoustics of loudspeakers, rooms and their combined effects on what listeners hear. It contains many references to work done by researchers all over the world, but among them are references to work done by my research colleagues and me over the years. Consequently, in this introduction to the new edition, I will also introduce myself, my motivations, and my approach to examining aspects of audio.

The first edition of the book was clearly oriented to explaining the science underlying the acoustics and psychoacoustics of loudspeakers, rooms and the listeners who derive pleasure from the combinations. What was called the second edition was a labeling error associated with a change in publishers. The book was unchanged. This edition is substantially new. I have tried to adopt a more linear approach to explaining how the art, technology and science combine to create listening experiences and how we perceive them. Nevertheless, it is a long book with more information than most people need, so I anticipate that it will be read in pieces, dipping into it as appropriate for individual readers. For that reason, certain explanatory details are repeated for clarity.

Readers will find some thoughts that run contrary to conventional audio tradition because new scientific knowledge has superseded incomplete reasoning that provided the original foundations. Some audio folklore needs to be retired. This will not happen overnight, especially when the art is so intertwined with technology and science.

Audio is entertainment, but doing it well may require some homework. Understanding how it works may make the result even more pleasurable.

I was born in 1938 in Moncton, New Brunswick, in eastern Canada. I grew up as a hi-fi enthusiast through the eras of 78s, LPs, open-reel tape, cassettes, tube/valve electronics, and so on. At that time audio was a participatory hobby. My father was a consummate do-it-yourselfer, and I followed in his footsteps, building preamps and power amplifiersfrom scratch in the beginning, using a lot of war surplus parts, and later from Heath and Eico kits.