Home theaters are not turnkey, plug-and-play systems, but with some careful planning installers can maximize clients’ experiences regardless of their budgets.
In a recent company newsletter Anthony Grimani of Grimani Systems cited some of his biggest home theater frustrations, and not surprisingly, smooth bass topped his list. Speaking from his vast experience as an expert acoustician, including collaborations with the Grammy Winning producer/engineer Keith Olsen whose credits include major artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Grateful Dead, Heart, Santana and Fleetwood Mac, as well as his executive roles with Dolby and Lucasfilm THX, Grimani states that “bumpy bass” with some frequencies louder than others is one of his top concerns when evaluating home theaters…
…“See, the problem is that bass sound waves are long. When they approach the same length as the room, the lower frequencies build up into very obvious sound peaks with slow decay. The sound gets muddy. Even if it’s loud, it lacks punch. Your client’s room dimensions and the placement of your subwoofers both play a huge role in this phenomenon,” Grimani explains in the newsletter. “Make sure the room proportions are those that avoid multiple buildups, and then carefully place and tune the subwoofer for the smoothest and tightest bass. This is easily accomplished by running the system with the sub on a dolly while you move it around the room measuring frequency response. Then place the sub where the response is smoothest and loudest with the best low-frequency extension.”
Going further, Grimani adds that using multiple subwoofers placed symmetrically across from one another can help to smoothen low-frequency performance. Moreover, he says the implementation of four subwoofers, with a sub in each corner is the best approach if possible.
Original Article:
Acoustical Experts Cite Home Theater’s Biggest Problems
Site: cepro.com
Author: Robert Archer
