Speakers are tested in Anechoic Chambers but most likely never will see them again and never be heard in one again. Room Acoustics is the achilles heel of every speaker designer as it is a constantly changing variable. The concept of traditional studio design has been to focus all the sound toward one listener: a one cubic foot sweet spot where the engineer/mixer sits. Everywhere else in the room the acoustics are far from perfect. The problem is the dichotomy between speaker design/testing and studio design. If speakers are designed for no echoes in an Anechoic Chamber, while studios are designed to focus many echoes, there exists an inherent disconnect.
Quite simply, if the design of studio space matches the design ethos of the speakers/transducers then the end result will ultimately be better. In essence, the phase linearity/coherency will approach 100% resulting in 100% intelligibility and comprehension. Time and again, acoustical experiments result in the same results that the electronics world has known for decades. Performance is directly related to phase linearity.
Like Speakers, Microphones are also tested in Anechoic Chambers, with the results showing polar graphs of sensitivity and pickup patterns in fixed steps of dB. We feel that studios, room acoustics and acoustical devices should also be tested and plotted similarly with at least a polar graph and control/sensitivity in steps of dB. In addition they should be rated with the most critical element of acoustics: Resolution.
Acoustic Resolution is measured in how many Non-Parallel Surfaces exist in every square foot. It is the cornerstone of Quantum Acoustics. And it’s very easy to calculate. Calculate the square footage of all wall and ceiling surfaces (excluding the floor as it generally needs to be flat) and divide by the number of Non-Parallel Surfaces. Example: a rectangular room 15D x 22W x 11H = 1144 sq. ft. Assuming three angles on the front wall, one on the Right Hand Wall, one on the Left Hand Wall, and three on the rear wall and two angled clouds. the total number of Non Parallel Surfaces = 10.
Non Parallel Surfaces per Sq. Foot (NPS/sq.ft) = 10 divided by 1144 = 0.0087. To be generous, we’ll round that up to o.01.
With that as a reference, this means there’s only 1/100 of a Non Parallel Surface in every square foot. This is very low resolution.
As with all science and in nature, higher resolution means higher performance. The real challenge was twofold. One, how to design with Extreme Resolution with no historical reference on cause and effect Two, how to create significantly more Non-Parallel Surfaces which were easy to build, effective acoustically and affordable enough to end up costing $1000/square inch. Thanks to materials science research and a great design team, we were able to create multiple ways to build, construct and manufacture devices with Extreme Acoustical Resolution ranging from 0.56 NPS to over 450. That means over 450 Non-Parallel Surfaces in every square foot of a ZR Acoustics® Device. That’s anywhere from 56 times to 45,000 times the resolution of Traditional Acoustics which is based in classical mechanics.
To our surprise, not only did performance dramatically improve (Life-Like Imaging, Wall-to-Wall Sweet Spots) but other, new delightful effects immediately appeared. Quarter Wave theory no longer applied. Clients were experiencing a “Free Field” acoustical effect, yet indoors. Frequency response was no longer variable, nor tied to volume. Low Frequencies remained consistent with Mid and High Frequencies at all volumes: no LF buildup in corners and no LF falloff at lower volumes. A massive, Spherical Image (Immersive) with Height, Width and Depth are audible the same Everywhere. The best part was that all these effects were repeatable and predictable in design and application.
As with all things unknown we went to the experts: the Golden Ears and the Physicists. Every Golden Ear had a different comment on how they had never heard so much space, dimension, and microdynamics. The Physicists all waited nearly 9 months before responding. Yet after this long period of radio silence, they all responded in the same week saying; very cool. You’re doing Quantum Acoustics. How did you figure it out?
Time and Time again from pros, scientists and real world data we come to the same conclusion:
Resolution and Geometry Trumps Mass & Density. Period.
