The default argument in favor of delay speakers appears to be level restoration. The default objections are timing issues and sonic perspective distortion.
This article attempts to explore some serious but often overlooked advantages of delay speakers beyond plain level restoration.
"Usually, the artist has signed off
on how much kick drum is in the recording
by that artist"
- Howard Page -
Every now and then, the giants that helped build and shape our industry, stick there neck out and plea for common sense. Howard Page's article about exorbitant subwoofer levels doesn't nearly receive enough attention even though it's more applicable than ever.
"It turns out that, within very generous tolerances, humans are insensitive to phase shifts. Under carefully contrived circumstances, special signals auditioned in anechoic conditions, or through headphones, people have heard slight differences. However, even these limited results have failed to provide clear evidence of a 'preference' for a lack of phase shift. When auditioned in real rooms, these differences disappear..."
Dr. Floyd Toole
This is a transcription of my 40-minute presentation on low frequency control during the 59th AES conference on sound reinforcement in Montreal. Needless to say that 40 minutes is barely enough time to scratch the surface on such an involved topic. I therefore decided to focus on establishing the need for low frequency control, something I felt I could do within 40 minutes, and not attempt to cover each intricacy of the various solutions at our disposal.
I start by briefly refreshing on summation to make sure everybody is on the same page. Next we’ll meet the player commonly referred to as a subwoofer. We’ll continue with establishing the need for low frequency control, the essence of this introduction and finally have a look at current typical solutions.
A while ago I was able to attend the very first Danley demo hosted by Firm4 in cooperation with RF Shows in this small corner of the world. Having read numerous animated threads at the ProSoundWeb forum about the distinguishing qualities of these products, I was very eager to finally experience Danley for myself. It was a very inspiring phenomenon, so much that I intended on doing my own production within two weeks time. Keep on reading for full disclosure on a very remarkable event. The premiere of Danley products in a theatrical production in The Netherlands.