Beolab 50

TheBeoLab50isaloudspeaker conceptfromBang&Olufsenthat givesthecustomeranunprecedented levelofcontrolofitsacoustic behaviourandperformance. Likethe ﬂagshipBeoLab90,theBeoLab50can bealteredbytheusertobehaveasifit werecompletelydiﬀerentloudspeakers fordiﬀerentlisteningsituations. ImaginethatyouhaveapairofBeoLab 50loudspeakers,perfectlypositioned inyourlisteningroom,withasingle chairinthecorrectlocation,asis showninFigure1.1. Yousitinthischair tolistentoarecording–tohear sparklinghighfrequenciesandatight, punchybassthatextendstothelowest audiblefrequencybandsalongwith theaccurateandpreciseplacementof theinstrumentswithinthespacein frontofyou(betterknownas“stereo imaging”).
Speaker Distance Compensation
Perceived location of left loudspeaker
Figure 1.1: The sound stage presented byBeoLab50’sforactivelisteningwhen sitting in the sweet spot with properly placedloudspeakers.
Now,imaginethatyouhavethesame loudspeakersinthesamepositionsin thesameroom,butyou’vemovedto thesofaasinFigure1.3(orperhaps you’restillinthesamechairasbefore asinFigure1.2)andyouprefertohear musicinthebackgroundwhileyou readabook. Inthiscase,thebass precisionandtheimagingofthe recordingisnotimportant–youjust wantacloudofsoundthatdoesnot distractyouwhileyouread. Usingyour controlleryousimplyswitchthe behaviouroftheBeoLab50’stodeliver
thisexperienceinstead.
Speaker Distance Compensation
Perceived location of left loudspeaker
Figure 1.2: The sound stage presented by BeoLab 50’s for passive listening whensittinginthesweetspot.
Thesetwoscenariosillustratethe primarylisteningmodesthatthe BeoLab50candeliver. We’llcallthe ﬁrstoneactivelistening–sinceyour primaryactivityistolistentothe recording. We’llcallthesecondone passivelistening,since,inthiscase, listeningtomusicissecondaryto anotheractivity(inourexample, reading)inastationarylistening positionorarea. Inordertobeableto dothis,therearemanydiﬀerent adjustableparametersinsidethe BeoLab50. Youcanchoosetoalter eachoftheseparametersindividually accordingtoyourpreferencesand listeningpositions–andthensavethe settingstoapresetforfutureuse.
1.1 Features
BeoLab50givesyouthepowerto makethesechangesusingalarge numberof“handles”–controllersthat letyouchangetheacoustical behaviouroftheloudspeaker. Among thesefeatures,therearetwothat standout:
• BeamWidthControl • ActiveRoomCompensation
Inadditiontothese,theBeoLab50has amanyotherparametersthatgiveyou awiderangeofcustomisation possibilitiessuchas:
• SpeakerDistance(for time-alignmentatthelistening position) • SpeakerLevel • BasicToneControls (Bass,Treble,FrequencyTilt, SoundEnhance) • SelectableSoundDesigns • 10-bandParametricEqualiser
Speaker Distance Compensation
Perceived location of left loudspeaker
Figure 1.3: The sound stage presented by BeoLab 50’s for passive listening whennotsittinginthesweetspot.
1.1.1 BeamWidthControl
Whenarecordingengineermakesa recordinginawell-designedstudio,he orsheissittingnotonlyina carefully-designedacousticalspace, butaveryspecialareawithinthat space. Inmanyrecordingstudios, thereisanareabehindthemixing consolewheretherearenoreﬂections fromthesidewallsarrivingjustafter thedirectsoundfromthe loudspeakers. Thisisaccomplished eitherbyputtingacoustically absorptivematerialsonthewallsto soakupthesoundsoitcannotreﬂect (asshowninFigure1.4),ortoangle thewallssothatthereﬂectionsare directedawayfromthelistening position(asshowninFigure1.5).
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"Reﬂection-free Zone"
Figure1.4:Onewaytoreducetheproblemofsidewallreﬂectionsistoabsorb thematthewallssothatthereisnoreﬂection. Thisisasolutionoftenusedin recording studios, however, it also results in an unnatural-sounding “dead” room.
"Reﬂection-free Zone"
Figure1.5: Analternativemethodtoreducetheproblemofsidewallreﬂections is to re-direct them away from the listeningposition,producinga“reﬂectionfree zone”. This method is often used inrecordingstudiosthatareinitiallydesigned with the help of an experienced acousticalconsultant.
Thisisdiﬀerentfromyourlivingroom whichhasnotbedesignedprimarilyas anacousticalspace. Ithassidewalls thatreﬂecttheenergyfromyour loudspeakersandsendthatsoundto youatthelisteningposition–a situationthatismorelikethatwhichis showninFigure1.6.
"Reﬂection-free Zone"
Figure 1.6: The direct sound (in red) from the loudspeakers is inﬂuenced by the reﬂections oﬀ the side walls (in grey).
Inordertogetthesameacoustical behaviourinyourlivingroomthatthe recordingengineerhad,wehaveto reducetheamountofenergythatis reﬂectedoﬀthesidewalls. Ifwedonot wanttochangetheroom,onewayto dothisistochangethebehaviourof theloudspeakerbyfocusingthebeam ofsoundsothatitstaysdirectedatthe listeningposition,butitsendsless energytothesides,towardsthewalls. ThisisoneoftheoptionsthatBeoLab 50givesyou–tomakethebeamof sounddirectedoutthefrontofthe loudspeakernarrowertoreducethe levelofsidewallreﬂections,sothatyou getamoreaccuraterepresentationof thesoundtherecordingengineer heardwhentherecordingwasmade. "Reﬂection-free Zone"
Figure 1.7: BeoLab 50 solves the problem of side wall reﬂections by reducingtheamountofacousticenergythat is radiated towards the side walls – so thereislessenergytoreﬂect.
However,ifyou’resharingyourmusic withfriendsorfamily,dependingon wherepeoplearesitting,thebeam maybetoonarrowtoensurethat everyonehasthesameexperience. In thiscase,itmaybedesirabletomake BeoLab50’ssoundbeamwider. Thisoptiontochangethepatternof theradiationofsoundfromtheBeoLab 50iscalledBeam Width Control.
1.1.2 ARC:ActiveRoom Compensation
In2002,Bang&Olufsenintroduced theBeoLab5whichincludedABC – Automatic Bass Calibration. Thiswasa systemthatusedamicrophoneto measuretheeﬀectsofthelistening room’sacousticalbehaviouronthe soundoftheloudspeaker,andthen
createdaﬁlterthatcompensatedfor thoseeﬀectsinthelowfrequency band. Asasimpleexample,ifyour roomtendedtoincreasetheapparent basslevel,thentheBeoLab5’swould reducetheirbasslevelbythesame amount. BeoLab90tookthisconcepttoanew levelwithitsActive Room CompensationorARC,andthatsystem isalsoavailableintheBeoLab50. Usinganexternalmicrophone (suppliedwiththeloudspeaker),you canmeasuretheeﬀectsofyourroom’s acousticalbehaviourindiﬀerentzones intheroomandsubsequentlyselect optimisedcompensationﬁltersfor diﬀerentsituations. Forexample,you cancustomiseaﬁlterforthesofa,and anotherforyourdiningarea. Incases whereyouaremovingbetweenthese locations,youcansimplyselecta combinationofbothﬁlterstocreatea singlecompensationﬁlterthat improvesthesoundexperienceinboth locations. TheBeoLab50alsooﬀersanother developmentinacousticalroom compensation: multichannel processing. Thismeansthatthe loudspeakersnotonly“see”eachother ashavinganeﬀectontheroom–but theyhelpeachothertocontrolthe room’sacousticalinﬂuence.
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ApplicationInformation
2.1 MenuNavigation
Figure2.1:Presstheleft-pointingarrowheadatthetopleftofthescreentoreturntothepreviousmenu.
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Figure2.2:Pressthe“...” iconinthetop righttoswitchtotheeditmodeforthe currentscreen.
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Figure2.3:Circularselectionbuttonsallowforoneitemfromthelisttobechosen.
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
...
Dining Table
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
...
Dining Table
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
Dining Table
+
Figure 2.4: Rounded square selection buttonsaretogglesthatallowformore thanitemfromthelisttobechosen.
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2.2 MenuMap
Beolab 50 Presets ... PRESETNAME PRESETNAME Volume / Mute
Beam Control Beam Width
Latency Mode Parametric EQ Loudness Frequency Tilt Sound Enhance Sound Designs Preset Number
ZONENAME ZONENAME +
Speaker Role Speaker Distance Speaker Level
Room Compensation Advanced RenameTone Controls +
PRESETNAME
Wireless PowerLink Automatic Power Link RCA S/P-DIF Optical USB Audio Inputs ...
Bass Treble Tone Controls
Beam Control
Room Compensation ...
Gain Offset
Listening Preset Detect Threshold
Max Input Voltage Control Volume Input Impedance Time-Out
INPUTNAME
About
Guide Network
Reset
Power Enhance Max Volume Default Volume
System
Automatic Update UTC Time Search for Update Submit Log Product information About
Speaker SPEAKERNAME Preset Input System SPEAKERNAME etc.
Advanced
Figure 2.5: Simpliﬁed and generalised navigational map for the BeoLab 50 interface when completed. Some items shown above are only visible when the menu is in edit mode which is entered by pressing the “...” icon at the top right of some menus. Also, not all parametersareavailableforallitems(e.g. diﬀerentinputshavediﬀerentoptions).
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Presets
3.1 WhatisaPreset?
Almostallparametersthatcanaﬀect theaudiocharacteristicsoftheBeoLab 50canbepre-programmedandsaved asapreset thatiseasilyandquickly selectablebytheenduser. Apreset containsawiderangeofcontrolsthat canbecustomisedtosuitboththe listener’spersonalpreferencesandhis orherlocationinthelisteningroom. Presetscaneitherbeselected manuallyusingtheBeoLab50 interfaceortheycanbeselected automaticallyasisexplainedin AutomatingPresetSelection.
3.2 Presetmanagement
3.2.1 SelectingaPreset
Thelistofcurrently-availablepresets areshowninthePresetSelectmenu, anexampleofwhichisshowninFigure 3.1. Fromthismenu,youcanmanually selectapresetbyclickingonitsicon asshown,oryoucanmovedeeperinto theEditPresetmenuasshownin Figure3.2.
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
+
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Figure 3.1: Select a Preset by pressing its icon on the right of the screen as shown. Thecurrently-selectedPresetis indicatedwithacheckmark.
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Figure 3.2: Press the three dots at the toprightofthescreentoentertheedit mode.
3.2.2 CreatingaPreset
Inordertocreateanewpreset,enter theeditmode(asshowninFigure3.2) andpressthe“+”iconinthePreset menu. Thiswillstartaprocesswhere youcannamethepresetandeditits parameters.
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
+
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Figure3.3: Pressthe“+”icontocreate a new preset. Note the check mark on the top right of the screen which indicates that we have entered the “edit” mode.
3.2.3 EditingaPreset
Toedittheparametersofanexisting preset,pressitsassociatediconafter youhaveenteredthepresetmenu’s editmode(bypressingthe‘...’ iconon thetoprightofthescreen).
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
+
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...
Figure3.4:Pressanywhereonapreset’s linetobegintoedititsparameters.
3.2.4 DeletingaPreset
Inordertodeleteapreset,enterthe presetmenu’seditmodeandswipeto theleftatanypositionintherow. This willrevealan“x”ontherightsideof thescreen. Pressingthe“x”willdelete thepreset.
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
+
Presets ...
Presets
Easy Chair
Party
Sofa Left
...Presets ... Figure 3.5: An example of deleting a preset. To delete the “Party” preset, swipetotheleftonitsrow. Thiswillreveal the “x” on the right of the screen. Pressthe“x”todeletethepreset.
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ControlParameters
4.1 BeamWidthControl
Thebeamofsoundthatisradiated fromtheBeoLab50canbeadjustedby selectingfromtwooptions:
• Narrow • Wide
Beam Control
Master
Distance
Level
Left
3.5 m
5.0 dB
Master
Distance
Level
Left
3.5 m
5.0 dB
Master Left
3.5 m
5.0 dB
Wide sound
... Beam Control
Wide sound
... Beam Control
Level
Wide sound
Figure 4.1: The Beam Control menu for the Master loudspeaker. To switch between the Master and the Slave loudspeaker, swipe the upper area of the screenleftandright.
Notethat,ifanActiveRoom Compensationzonehasbeencreated, andisappliedtothepresetyouare currentlyediting,thenanappropriate ﬁltersettingwillbecalculatedeach timeyouchangeBeamWidth. This calculationtakesapproximately20 secondstoperform,andisindicatedby aprogresswheel. Ifyouwishto auditiondiﬀerencesinBeamWidth morequickly,thiscanbedoneby disablingtheARCﬁlterforthepresetin theRoomCompensationmenu.
4.1.1 Narrow
Sitinthe“sweetspot”–alocationin yourlisteningroomthatisexactlythe
samedistancefromeachofyour BeoLab50’s,andwherethetwo loudspeakersarefacing(shownin Figure4.2). UsingyourBeoLab50 interface,settheBeamWidthControl to“Narrow”.
Figure4.2:A“perfect”loudspeakerconﬁgurationwithBeoLab50’s. Bothloudspeakersareaimedatthelisteningposition. The distance from the listening position to each loudspeaker is the same as the distance between the two loudspeakers. For more detailed information on loudspeaker conﬁguration, see Appendix 1: Recommendations for CriticalListening
Whilefacingapointlocatedatthe centrebetweenthetwoloudspeakers, play“Tom’sDiner”(recordedby SuzanneVegain1987forheralbum “SolitudeStanding”). Vega’svoice shouldappeartoﬂoatataposition betweenthetwoloudspeakers. Ifher voicedoesnotappeartobelocated exactlymid-waybetweenthetwo loudspeakers,itislikelythatyouare sittingslightlyclosertoone loudspeakerthantheother–inother words,toonesideofthesweetspot. Trymovingslightlyside-to-sideand payattentiontothelateralmovement ofVega’svoiceinspace. Thisabilityforapairofloudspeakersto delivertheillusionofasoundcoming fromalocationinspacebetweenthem iscalledphantom imagingorstereo imagingorsimplyimaging. Nowpayattentiontotheapparent distancetothevoice. IftheBeam WidthControloftheloudspeakersis setto“Narrow”mode,thevoicewill appeartoﬂoatingatadistance somewherebetweenyouandthe loudspeakers. Thisisillustratedin
Figure4.3.
tri
tri
tom
tom
tom
hh
voice
bongos
bk
bk bass
bass
gtr
synth pad at end
sax
snare
"choir""choir"
cow
synth fx around 2:20
shake
tri
tri
Figure 4.3: A map of the phantom imagelocationofthevoice(showninred) in Suzanne Vega’s recording of Tom’s Diner. BeamWidth: Narrow
ChangethetracktoJenniferWarnes’s recordingof“BirdonaWire”fromthe Album“FamousBlueRaincoat: The SongsofLeonardCohen”. Inthis recording,therearemanymore instrumentsandvoices,however,it shouldbeveryeasytolocatethe positionofeachofthosesourcesas comingfromsomewherebetweenthe twoloudspeakers. Apartialmapof theselocationsisshowninFigure4.4.
tri
tri
tom
tom
tom
hh
voice
bongos
bk
bk bass
bass
gtr
synth pad at end
sax
snare
"choir""choir"
cow
synth fx around 2:20
shake
tri
tri
Figure 4.4: A map of the phantom imagelocationsofinstrumentsandvoices inJenniferWarnes’srecordingofBirdon aWire. BeamWidth: Narrow.
BeoLab50isabletodeliversucha precisestereoimagingforactive listeningbecauseitisabletoreduce theamountofenergyinthereﬂections oﬀthesidewallsofyourlistening room. Thisgivesthesameresultatthe listeningpositionasifyouused acousticallyabsorptivematerialson
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yourwalls,orchangedthegeometryof yourlisteningroomtoavoidhaving ﬁrstreﬂectionsinthelisteningposition.
Figure4.5:Conceptualdrawingshowing thebeamwidthoftheNarrowBeam.
Youshouldnote,however,thatthere areside-eﬀectstousinganarrow beamwidth. Themostobviousmaybe inthelowfrequencybehaviourofyour BeoLab50’s. Generally,theoverall impressionwillbethatthebass contentis“tighter”orhasmore “punch”whentheBeoLab50isin narrowmode. However,thiseﬀectis alsodependentonthesettingof anotherparameterdescribedin LatencyMode.
Figure 4.6: Press the sector (or “pizza slice”) on the BeoLab 50 interface to changetheBeamWidthtoNarrow.
Asecondpotentialsideeﬀectisthe sensitivityofthesystemtoanincorrect listeningposition. Youmaynoticethat, innarrowmode,itiscriticalthatyou areseatedatexactlythecorrect listeningpositioninordertoachieve bothpreciseandaccuratestereo imaging. Smalldeviationsinlistening positionmayresultinnoticeable detrimentsinthespatial representationofyourrecordings.
4.1.2 Wide
Asmentionedabove,whentheBeoLab 50’saresettoanarrowbeamwidth, theyaresomewhatunforgivingofa mis-placementofthelistening position. Thisisparticularlynoticeable whenyouarelisteningtorecordingsor movieswithfriendsandfamily. Consequently,inmoresocialor passivelisteningsituations,itislikely preferablethattheBeoLab50’shavea widerbeamwidth,moresimilarto BeoLab5loudspeakers. Althoughthis willlikelyresultinmoreenergyinthe sidewallreﬂections,italsoensuresthat thereisamoreequaldistributionof thedirectsoundacrossawider listeningareaintheroom.
Figure4.7:Conceptualdrawingshowing thebeamwidthoftheWideBeam.
Figure4.8: Pressthecurvedlineshown above to change the Beam Width to Wide(Front).
ThesideeﬀectsoftheWidebeam widtharedependentonthestrengthof thesidewallreﬂections,however,in manysituations,fourdiﬀerenteﬀects maybeaudible. Theﬁrstisthattheapparentdistance tothevarioussourcesinthestereo mixwillcollapseslightly,resultingin theperceptionthatthesourcesinthe recordingareroughlythesame distancefromthelisteningpositionas
theloudspeakersthemselves. This meansthat(relativetothenarrow mode)veryclosesourceswillmove furtherawayandveryfarsourceswill moveclosertothelisteningposition. Secondly,theapparentwidthofthe sourceswillbecomeslightlylargerwith lesspreciseleft-rightlocations. Youwill nothavepinpointlocationsasin narrowmode–imagingbecomes slightlymore“cloudy”or“fuzzy”. This isduetotheextraenergyreﬂectedoﬀ thesidewalls.
tri
tri
tom
tom
tom
hh
voice
bongos
bk
bk bass
bass
gtr
synth pad at end
sax
snare
"choir""choir"
cow
synth fx around 2:20
shake
tri
tri
Figure 4.9: A map of the phantom imagelocationofthevoice(showninred) in Suzanne Vega’s recording of Tom’s Diner. Beam Width: Wide. Compare to Figure4.3
tri
tri
tom
tom
tom
hh
voice
bongos
bk
bk bass
bass
gtr
synth pad at end
sax
snare
"choir""choir"
cow
synth fx around 2:20
shake
tri
tri
Figure4.10: Amapofthephantomimagelocationsofinstrumentsandvoices inJenniferWarnes’srecordingofBirdon aWire. BeamWidth: Wide. Compareto Figure4.4
Thirdly,theoveralltimbreortone colourofthesoundmaychangeasa resultofincreaseinﬂuenceofthe sidewallreﬂectionsatthelistening position.
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Finally,asmentionedabove,the overall“punch”ofthebasswillchange whencomparedtothenarrowmode.
4.1.3 Comment
Notethattheaboveillustrations connectingBeamWidthstolistener positionaremerelythat–illustrations. Itshouldalsobesaidthatchangingthe BeamWidthoftheBeoLab50has non-intuitiveconsequencesonthe perceivedsoundoftheloudspeakers. Forexample,theoverallsensationof “punch”inthebassmaybediﬀerent forthethreeBeamWidths,regardless ofyourlocationinthelisteningroom. Consequently,itmaybethatyou prefertheoverallsoundofaparticular BeamWidth,evenifyouarenotsitting “inthebeam”.
4.2 SpeakerDistance
TheSpeakerDistancecontrolisusedto ensurethatthetimesofarrivalofthe loudspeakers’signalsatthelistening positionarematched,despitetheir beingplacedatdiﬀerentdistances fromthelisteningposition. Thevalue displayedonthemenushouldbethe distancefromthelisteningpositionto eachloudspeaker. Theresultofthis alignmentisthatthecloser loudspeaker’ssignalisdelayedto matchthetimeofarrivalofthesound fromthemoredistantloudspeaker.
Notethat,sincetheListeningPosition canbediﬀerentfordiﬀerentPresets, thesedistancesmaynotnecessarilybe thesamefromPresettoPreset. Units Metres,Feet Range(m) 0.0–10.0 Range(ft) 0.0–30.0 Resolution 0.1 FactoryDefault 1.0m
4.2.1 AdjustingSpeaker Distancesformorethan onelisteningposition
Incaseswherethereismorethanone listenerpresent,theSpeakerDistances canbeoptimisedbymeasuringeach loudspeaker’spositionrelativetothe closestlisteningposition,asisshown inFigure4.12.
Figure 4.12: The Speaker Distance for each loudspeaker should be measured fromtherelevanttweeterforthegiven BeamDirectionstotheclosestlistening position.
AutomatedMeasurementof SpeakerDistance Thedistancefromthelisteningposition toeachBeoLab50canbemeasured automaticallyusingthemicrophone includedwiththeloudspeakers. Thisis donebypressingthemicrophoneicon atthebottomoftheBeamControl menu(showninFigure4.13)and followingtheinstructions. Beam Control
Master
Distance
Level
Left 3.5m
dB5.0
180 directional sound
... Beam Control
Master
Distance
Level
Left 3.5m
dB5.0
180 directional sound
... Beam Control
Master
Level
180 directional sound
Figure 4.13: Pressing the microphone icon in the Beam Control menu starts the Speaker Distance measurement procedure.
4.3 SpeakerLevel
ThesensitivityofanytwoBeoLab50’s hasbeencalibratedduringtheir creationtobewithin1dBofeachother atanythird-octavefrequencyband withintheirfrequencyrange.1 However,therearecaseswhere,due toplacementinthelisteningroom, roomacoustics,orthelistening positionrelativetotheloudspeakers, youmaywishtoﬁne-tunetherelative levelsofthetwoloudspeakers. This canbedonewiththeSpeakerLevel adjustment. ItisrecommendedthattheSpeaker Levelsshouldbeadjustedatthe listeningposition. Notethatthiscanbe performedeitherbeforeorafteran ActiveRoomCompensationproﬁlehas beencreated–theARCcompensates foranyadjustmentsautomatically. TheSpeakerLevelforeachBeoLab50 inthepairisadjustedfromtheBeam Controlmenu,showninFigure4.1.
4.4 SpeakerRole
TheBeoLab50iscreatedasapairof loudspeakers–one“master” loudspeakerwhichhastheconnection panelfortheinputsignalsandone “slave”loudspeaker. Sinceboththeleftandrightaudio channelsareinputtoyourmaster loudspeaker,thereisnophysicalway ofknowingwhichloudspeakerisonthe leftandwhichisontheright(compare Figures4.14and4.15asanexample). Asaresult,theinterfaceallowsyouto swaptheSpeakerRole,toensurethat thecorrectaudiochannelis reproducedbythecorrectloudspeaker. TheselectionofLeftorRightforthe MasterandSlaveloudspeakersisdone intheBeamControlmenu,shownin Figure4.1.
1Preliminaryspeciﬁcation. Subjecttochange.
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Slave (Left)
Master (Right)
Slave (Right)
Master (Left)
Figure 4.14: An example of a loudspeaker conﬁguration where the Masterloudspeakershouldbeassignedthe SpeakerRoleof“right”.
Master (Left)
Slave (Right)
Slave (Left)
Master (Right)
Master (Right)
Slave (Left)
Slave (Right)
Master (Left)
Figure 4.15: An example of a loudspeaker conﬁguration where the Masterloudspeakershouldbeassignedthe SpeakerRoleof“left”.
NotethataMaster/Slavepairof BeoLab50’scannotsharethesame SpeakerRole. Ifyouwishtosendthe sameaudiosignaloutofboth loudspeakers,thiswillhavetobe arrangedusingthesourcedevice.
4.5 ActiveRoom Compensation
Forageneralintroductiontothe eﬀectsofroomacousticsonthesound ofaloudspeaker,pleasereadAppendix 3: TheInﬂuenceofListeningRoom AcousticsonLoudspeakers Itshouldbenotedthattheacoustical behaviourofaroomcanchange considerablywhenwindowsordoors areopenedandclosed. Consequently, foroptimaltuning,itisrecommended thatARCproﬁlesbemadeforthese cases,particularlyifthischangeis madeoften(e.g. patiodoors).
4.5.1 CreatinganewARC Zone
AnewActiveRoomCompensation zonecanbecreatedbypressingthe “+”iconintheRoomCompensation Editmenu. (EntertheRoom CompensationEditmenubypressing thethreedotsatthetoprightofthe RoomCompensationSelectmenu.)
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
...
Dining Table
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
...
Dining Table
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
Dining Table
+
Figure 4.16: Press the “+” icon in the Room Compensation Edit menu to createanewARCzone.
Thiswillstartaprocedurewhereyou willbeguidedthroughtheprocessof positioningthemicrophoneindiﬀerent locationstooptimisedtheARCﬁlters. EachARCiscreatedusing measurementsmadeinthree microphonelocations,andamaximum of5diﬀerentARCZonescanbe created. Foradditionalguidance,pleasesee Appendix5: Microphoneplacement strategywhencreatingARCZones.
4.5.2 SelectinganARCZone
Itispossibletocreateupto5diﬀerent ActiveRoomCompensationZonesthat canberecalledeithermanually,or automaticallyaspartofaPreset. Inordertodisabletheactiveroom compensationﬁlters,simplyde-select theminthemenu.
Figure 4.17: An example of a listening space showing four diﬀerent overlappingARCzonesinred,blue,green,and yellow.
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
...
Dining Table
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
...
Dining Table
Room Compensation
Sweet Spot
Sofas
Entire Room
Dining Table
+
Figure 4.18: Selecting one or more ActiveRoomCompensationzonesaccordingtoyourlisteningarea(s)intheroom. Note that it is possible to select more thanonezonesimultaneously.
4.5.3 CombiningARCZones
UptothreeARCZonescanbeselected simultaneouslytocreateaﬁlterthat incorporatesthemeasurementsfrom theapplicableareasofthelistening room. Note,however,thataddinganextra zonetoacurrentonemaycompromise thequalityoftheaudiosignalinthe originalzone. Forexample,ifyouhave twoARCZones,oneforthe“Sweet Spot”andtheotherforthe“Dining Table”,addingtheDiningTablezoneto theSweetSpotzonewillreducethe qualityoftheARCﬁlteringinthesweet spotlocation. Thisisduetothefact thatsomeoftheﬁlteringrequiredto compensatefortheroom’sacoustical
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eﬀectsinthediningareamaynotbe requiredinthesweetspot. AlsonotethatchangingRoom Compensationzoneswillcausean approximately20-secondbreakinthe audiosignalastheBeoLab50 calculatesandupdatestheappropriate ﬁlters. Thisisnormal.
4.6 Volume
ThevolumeoftheBeoLab50is controllablefrom0to90instepsof1 dB.NotethatVolumeStep0isafull mute. Initsdefaultsettings,BeoLab50has beencalibratedtomatchthelevelof otherBang&Olufsenloudspeakersfor itsPowerLinkandWirelessPowerLink inputs. Tables7.1and7.3showthe outputleveloftheloudspeakerfor variousinputsandparameters. Notethat,althoughtheVolumecontrol oftheBeoLab50isdisabledforPower LinkandWirelessPowerLinksources,2 thevolumeofthesourceisduplicated ontheBeoLab50app. Thisisto ensurethatchangestoadiﬀerent sourcearematched. Forexample,sayyouhaveaBeoVision AvantconnectedtoPowerLinkinput andaCDplayerconnectedtothe S/P-DIFinputoftheBeoLab50. You startbylisteningtoaCDatahigh volumelevel,thenswitchtowatching thetelevisionnewsatalowlevel(set onthetelevision). Whenyouswitch backtolisteningtoCD,thevolumeof theBeoLab50willautomaticallyhave beenchangedtothelowsettingofthe television.
4.7 Mute
Pressingthemutebuttoninthecentre ofthevolumewheelreducesthe volumetoaﬁxedvalueof0.
Figure4.19:TheVolumecontrol(theexterior circle) and the Mute control (the iconinthecentreofthecircle).
Inordertounmutethesound,either pressthemutebuttonagain,oradjust thevolume. Notethat,ifthevolumesettingofthe BeoLab50washigherthanthestartup volumewhenmuted,thenthevolume settingafterunmutingwillbethesame asthestartupvolume.
4.8 ToneControls
TheToneControlsontheBeoLab50 consistoftraditionalBassandTreble controls. Theseareglobaladjustments thatareappliedtoallPresetsandto bothloudspeakerssimultaneously.
4.8.1 Treble
TheTrebleadjustmentallowsyouto changetherelativeamountof high-frequencysoundgloballyusinga high-shelvingﬁlterwithaﬁxed turnoverfrequencyof8kHzandaQof 0.707. Notethatthegainatthe turnoverfrequencyisonehalfthe maximumgainappliedbytheﬁlterin decibels. Forexample,whenthegain ofthecontrolleris-4dB,thegainat8 kHzis-2dB. TheTreblecontrolisappliedtoaglobal ﬁlterandthereforeisappliedtoall Presets. Itisalsoisindependentofthe settingsofotherequalisation controllersinthesystemsuchasthe FrequencyTilt,SoundEnhanceand ParametricEqualisercontrols. The rangeofthecontrollerisfrom-6.0dB to+6.0dBinstepsof0.5dB.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure4.20: MagnitudeResponses,Treblecontroller. Notethatthisﬁlterisapplied to both loudspeakers simultaneously.
4.8.2 Bass
TheBassadjustmentallowsyouto changetherelativeamountof low-frequencysoundgloballyusinga low-shelvingﬁlterwithaﬁxedturnover frequencyof120HzandaQof0.707. Thegainattheturnoverfrequencyis onehalfthemaximumchangeingain appliedbytheﬁlterindecibels. For example,whenthegainofthe controlleris+6dB,thegainat120Hz is+3dB. TheBasscontrolisaglobalﬁlterand thereforeisappliedtoallPresets. Itis alsoisindependentofthesettingsof otherequalisationcontrollersinthe systemsuchastheFrequencyTilt, SoundEnhanceandParametric Equalisercontrols. Therangeofthe controllerisfrom-6.0dBto+6.0dBin stepsof0.5dB.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.21: Magnitude Responses: Bass controller. Note that this ﬁlter is appliedtobothloudspeakerssimultaneously.
2Thisrestrictionismadetopreventincorrectcalibrationoflevelsinsurroundsoundconﬁgurations.
16
4.9 AdvancedControls
TheAdvancedControlssectiongives theuseranalmost-surgicalcontrol overthetimbralcharacteristicsofthe BeoLab50usingacombinationof legacyBang&Olufsenaudio processing,standardequalisationtools foundinprofessionalstudio equipment,andproprietaryprocessing availableonlyinthisloudspeaker. TheAdvancedControlsoftheBeoLab 50are
• LatencyMode • Loudness • FrequencyTilt • SoundEnhance • SoundDesign • ParametricEqualiser
Advanced
Latency Mode High
Flat
0
0
Parametric EQ
Loudness
Frequency Tilt
Sound Enhance
Sound Design
Default
Flat on-axis
Trigger
Preset#
Figure 4.22: The Advanced Controls menu.
4.9.1 LatencyMode
InordertocontroltheBeamWidthof thesoundradiatingfromtheBeoLab
50,acustomisedFiniteImpulse Response(FIR)audioﬁlterisselected foreachwooferandmidrangeto accompanythechangesresultingfrom themovingAcousticLensabovethe tweeter. Theseﬁltersareappliedto eachoftheDSP’s6audiooutput channelsforthosedrivers. However,in ordertocontroltheverylowfrequency bands,itisnecessaryforthewoofers’ FIRﬁlterstobeverylong. One implicationofthisisthatittakessome timebetweenthemomentanaudio signalenterstheinputofthe loudspeakerandthemomentitexits theloudspeakerassound. Thelowerin frequencytheBeamWidthControlis extended,thelongerthelatency(or delay)oftheloudspeaker. Thisultimatelymeansthatthereisa directrelationshipbetweentheoverall latencyoftheloudspeakerandits soundcharacteristics–especiallyin thelowfrequencybands. Oneexample ofthiseﬀectis: thelongerthelatency, the“tighter”thebass. However,thismaymeanthat,for somesourcesandprogrammaterials, thereisalossofsynchronisation. For example,initslongestlatencysetting, theloudspeakermaybetoolateto maintainlipsynchwithsome televisionsorsomemultiroom systems. Thisiswhythelatencyofthe loudspeakerisuser-selectablebetween twodiﬀerentsettings.
Auto IfyouareusingBeoLab50’switha currentBeoVisiontelevision3,thenthe LatencyModeshouldbesetto“Auto”. Thiswillallowthetelevisiontomanage thelatencymodeoftheloudspeakers automatically. Notethat,iftheLatencyModeissetto “Auto”andtheinputisneitherPower LinknorWirelessPowerLink,thenthe BeoLab50willdefaulttoaHigh LatencyModeof100ms.
High Toachievethehighestpossiblelevelof audioqualityfromtheBeoLab50,the internaldigitalprocessingmusttake 1/10thofasecondinordertocontrol thelow-frequencybehaviourofthe system. Thisisselectedbysettingthe LatencyModeto“High”,thus deliveringtheultimatepossiblesound qualityfromtheloudspeaker. However,therearecaseswheresucha longdelayintheloudspeakerwill resultinlossofsynchronisationwith otherdevicesinthesystemsuchas thevideo(lipsynch)orother loudspeakersinasurroundsystem. If youareexperiencingsuchproblems, thenthelowerlatencymodeshouldbe selected. ThelatencyoftheBeoLab50in“High” latencymodemeasuredusingan analogueinputis100ms.
Low Insomecases,aBeoLab50is connectedtoasystemthatrequiresa lowerlatency. Oneexampleofthisisa casewheretheloudspeakeris connectedtoanon-B&Otelevisionor surroundprocessor. Asecondexample isanon-B&Omultiroomsystemthat lackstheabilitytoadapttodiﬀerent loudspeakerlatenciesthroughoutthe network. Anotherexamplewouldbea multichannelloudspeakersetupwitha non-B&Osurroundprocessoranda mixtureofdiﬀerentloudspeakersinthe conﬁguration. Inthiscase,theoveralldelayofthe BeoLab50shouldbesetto“Low”to ensuresynchronisationwithother loudspeakersinthesystem. ThelatencyoftheBeoLab50in“Low” latencymodemeasuredusingan analogueinputis25ms.
3BeoPlayV1,BeoVision11,Avant,AvantNG,14,Horizon,Eclipse–orlater
17
EﬀectsofLatencyModeon BeamWidth
Frequency
Beam Width
Front SideSideBack Back
Figure 4.23: Conceptual plot showing therelationshipbetweenLatencyMode and a Narrow Beam Width over frequency. The black curve shows a High latency mode. The red curve shows a low latency mode. Note that the high frequency beam width is the same for both latency modes. Only the beam widthofthelowfrequencybandswiden forlowerlatencies.
4.9.2 Loudness
Sadly,humanhearingisimperfect. Oneoftheissuesthatweallsuﬀer fromisthatourperceptionofthe timbreor“tonecolour”ofasoundis notconstantwithlisteninglevel. We arelesssensitivetolowfrequencies whentheyareplayedatlowlistening levels. Inotherwords,ifyouare listeningtomusicatahighleveland youturndownthevolume,youwill noticethat,thelowerthevolume,the lessbassyoucanhear. Thisisalsotrue ofhighfrequencies,albeittoalesser extent. TheLoudnesssettinginyourBeoLab 50’scounteractsthiseﬀect. Asyou reducethevolume,thebassandtreble levelsareautomaticallyincreasedto compensateforyourreduced perceptionintheouterfrequency bands. Ifyoudonotwishthissettingenabled, LoudnessshouldbesettoOFF. NotethattheLoudnesstoggle (whetheritisonoroﬀ)isstoredwith thePreset,sodiﬀerentmodescan havediﬀerentsettings. Options On/Oﬀ Default On
10 100 1,000 10,000
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure4.24:Magnituderesponsesofthe loudnessfunctionatvarioussettingsof thevolumecontrol.
Notethat,whenconnectedtomost Bang&Olufsensources,theLoudness functionintheBeoLab50willbe disabledforthePowerLinkand WirelessPowerLinkinputs. Thisis becauseinthesecases,theLoudness functionisperformedbythesource ratherthantheloudspeaker.
4.9.3 FrequencyTilt
FrequencyTiltcanbeconsideredtobe acombinationofBassandTreble settingsinasingleparameter. When FrequencyTiltissettoalowvalue,the lowfrequencycontentofyouraudio signalisincreasedandthelevelofthe highfrequencycontentisreduced. IftheFrequencyTiltissettoahigh value,thentheoppositewillbetrue. TheFrequencyTiltfunctionwillhave noeﬀectontheaudiosignalatits middlesetting. NotethatFrequencyTiltcanhave diﬀerentsettingsfordiﬀerentPresets. Therangeofthecontrollerisfrom-6.0 dBto+6.0dBinstepsof0.5dB.As canbeseeninFigure4.25,acontroller settingof+6.0willresultina peak-to-peakmagnituderesponse deviationofapproximately6dB, howeverthemaximumdeviationfrom aﬂatresponseisonly3dB.
10 100 1,000 10,000 −4
−3
−2
−1
0
1
2
3
4
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure4.25: MagnitudeResponses,FrequencyTiltcontroller. Notethatthisﬁlter is applied to both loudspeakers simultaneously.Blackcurvesshowtheresultforpositiveslidervalues,redcurves shownegativeslidervalues.
4.9.4 SoundEnhance
TheSoundEnhancesettingissimilarto theFrequencyTiltsettinginthatit aﬀectsthelowandhighfrequency bandswithasingleslider. Increasing theSoundEnhancevaluewillincrease thelevelofthebassandtreblebands whilereducingthemidrange. DecreasingtheSoundEnhancevalue willhavetheoppositeeﬀectandwill enhancethemidrange. TheSoundEnhancesettingwillhave noeﬀectonthisaudiosignalatits middlesetting. NotethatSoundEnhancecanhave diﬀerentsettingsfordiﬀerentPresets. Therangeofthecontrollerisfrom-6.0 dBto+6.0dBinstepsof0.5dB.As canbeseeninFigure4.26,acontroller settingof+6.0willresultina peak-to-peakmagnituderesponse deviationofapproximately6dB, howeverthemaximumdeviationfrom aﬂatresponseisonly3dB.
18
10 100 1,000 10,000 −4
−3
−2
−1
0
1
2
3
4
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.26: Magnitude Responses, Sound Enhance controller. Note that this ﬁlter is applied to both loudspeakers simultaneously. Black curves show theresultforpositiveslidervalues,red curvesshownegativeslidervalues.
4.9.5 SoundDesign
Attheendofthedevelopmentprocess, allBang&Olufsenloudspeakersgo throughaﬁnaltuningprocesswhere theloudspeaker’stimbreisevaluated indiﬀerentlisteningenvironments. In ordertoachieveanoptimisedbalance betweentheon-axisfrequency responseandthethree-dimensional “powerresponse”,ﬁltersareincluded inthesignalpathtogivethe loudspeakeraﬁnalsound design. TheBeoLab50isnoexceptiontothis– asaresult,ithasacustom-tuned, factory-defaultsounddesignforevery combinationofbeamwidths,beam directions,andlatencymodes. However,theremaybesomespeciﬁc caseswherethistuningisnot applicable. Oneexampleofthisisa casewheretheBeoLab50isusedina listeningroomsuchasarecording studiowhereacousticalabsorptionhas beenappliedtothevarioussurfaces. Inthiscase,itmaybepreferableto usetheBeoLab50asa“studio monitor”styleofloudspeaker,where theoveralltuningisdesignedto deliveraﬂatmagnituderesponse whenmeasuredon-axistothe loudspeakerinafreeﬁeld. TheSoundDesigncontrolallowsyouto switchbetweenthesetwotunings. Itis currentlyplannedthatadditionalsound designswillbemadeavailablein futuresoftwarereleases.
4.9.6 ParametricEqualiser
For a general introduction to equalisation, please see Appendix 2: Introduction to Parametric Equalisers. Incaseswhereamoredetailedcontrol ofthefrequencyresponseofthe loudspeakerisneeded,a10-band parametricequaliserisavailable. This allowsyoutosculptthetimbral balanceoftheloudspeakerwithahigh degreeofprecision. Whenthegainsofalltenﬁltersinthe ParametricEqualiseraresetto0dB, theprocessingblockisautomatically disabled. Figure4.27isgivenasarough“map” offrequencyasreferencewhenusing theParametricEqualiser.
440.0 Hz
660.0 Hz
880.0 Hz
1320.0 Hz
220.0 Hz 261.6 Hz 330.0 Hz
110.0 Hz
165.0 Hz
55.0 Hz
55.0 Hz
Figure 4.27: Pitch vs. Fundamental frequencyforreferencepurposeswhen equalising.
BeoLab50’sParametricEQconsistsof onelow-shelvingﬁlter,one high-shelvingﬁlter,and8reciprocal peak-dip(orpeaking)ﬁlterswith diﬀerentfrequencyrangesaslistedin Table7.4. Eachﬁlterhasavariable Frequency,Gain,andQ. Thecentrefrequenciesofallﬁlters haverangeslimitedto5octavesin ordertooptimisetheirsignal-to-noise ratioswhileprovidingawiderangeof control. FrequenciesarelimitedtoISO 1/6thoctavecentresaslistedinTable 7.5. TheavailableQ’softheﬁltersare limitedtothevalueslistedinTable7.6.
Notethatallﬁltersareimplementedin series,andthatfrequenciesmay
overlapeachotherincaseswhere additionalgainisdesired. AllﬁltersintheParametricEQsection areimplementedasminimumphase ﬁlters. Inordertoensurephasematchingof thetwoloudspeakersandthereforeto maintainphantomimaging characteristics,identicalParametric Equaliserparametersareappliedto bothloudspeakerssimultaneously.
MagnitudeResponsePlots Low-ShelvingFilter TheBeoLab50ParametricEqualiser hasonelow-shelvingﬁlteravailable withafrequencyrangeof16.0Hzto 500.0HzandaQrangeof0.35to1. Thegainrangesfrom-6.0dBto+6.0 dBinstepsof0.5dB.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.28: Magnitude Responses, AdvancedEQ,low-shelvingﬁlter:Fc=100 Hz,Gainvariedfrom-6.0to+6.0dB,Q =1.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.29: Magnitude Responses, AdvancedEQ,low-shelvingﬁlter:Fcvaried from16to500Hz.,Gain=±6dB,Q= 1.
19
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.30: Magnitude Responses, AdvancedEQ,low-shelvingﬁlter:Fc=100 Hz,Gain=±6dB,Qvariedfrom0.35to 1.
PeakingFilters TheBeoLab50ParametricEqualiser haseightreciprocalpeak-dipor peakingﬁltersavailable. Allpeaking ﬁltershaveaQvaluethatrangesfrom 0.35to8.0wheretheQisbasedona bandwidthdeﬁnedbythehalf-gain points4. Thegainrangesfrom-6.0dB to+6.0dBinstepsof0.5dB.The peakingﬁltershavearangeof5 octaveswithdiﬀeringlimitsasfollows:
• Fourlow-frequencyﬁlterswitha rangeof16.0Hzto500.0Hz. • Threemid-frequencyﬁlterswith arangeof250.0Hzto8.0kHz. • Onehigh-frequencyﬁlterwitha rangeof2.0kHzto63.0kHz.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.31: Magnitude Responses, AdvancedEQ,Peakingﬁlter: Fc=100Hz, Gainvariedfrom-6.0to+6.0dB,Q=1.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.32: Magnitude Responses, Advanced EQ, Peaking ﬁlter: Examples of Fcvariedfrom16Hzto32kHzononeoctave centres, Gain = ±6 dB, Q = 1.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.33: Magnitude Responses, AdvancedEQ,Peakingﬁlters:Fc=100Hz, Gain=±6dB,Qvariedfrom0.35to8.
high-shelvingFilter TheBeoLab50ParametricEqualiser hasonehigh-shelvingﬁlteravailable withafrequencyrangeof500.0Hzto 16.0kHzandaQrangeof0.35to1. Thegainrangesfrom-6.0dBto+6.0 dBinstepsof0.5dB.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.34: Magnitude Responses, Advanced EQ, high-shelving ﬁlter: Fc = 1000 Hz, Gain varied from -6.0 to +6.0 dB,Q=1. Notethatthisﬁlterisapplied tobothloudspeakerssimultaneously.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.35: Magnitude Responses, Advanced EQ, high-shelving ﬁlter: Fc varied from 500Hz to 16 kHz, Gain = ±6 dB,Q=1.
10 100 1,000 10,000
−6
−4
−2
0
2
4
6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure 4.36: Magnitude Responses, Advanced EQ, high-shelving ﬁlter: Fc = 100 Hz, Gain = ±6 dB, Q varied from 0.35to1.
4.10 AutomatingPreset Selection
Itisnotnecessarytomanuallyselect PresetsusingtheBeoLab50app. Itis possible,instead,tohavePresets triggeredtobeselectedautomatically usingoneoftwopossibleexternal controls: BySpeakerGroup(ifyou haveaBang&Olufsentelevisionsuch asaBeoVision11orBeoVisionAvant) orBySource.
BySpeakerGroup IfyouhaveapairofBeoLab50’s connectedtoaBang&Olufsen televisionsuchasaBeoVision11or BeoVisionAvantasshowninFigure 4.37,thenitispossibleto automaticallytriggerpresetsin tandemwiththetelevision’sSpeaker Group. Thisselectionisdoneinthe SpeakerGroupmenusonthe television,whereyoucanselectthe 4For more information on this, please see “The Equivalence of Various Methods of Computing Biquad Coeﬃcients for Audio Parametric Equalizers” Robert Bristow-Johnson, Preprint3906,97thInternationalConventionoftheAudioEngineeringSociety,November1994
20
“SpeakerPreset”numberforthe BeoLab50asoneoftheparametersin theSpeakerGroup. SeetheBeoVision TechnicalAudioGuideformore informationaboutthis. Notethat,incaseswherea multichannelloudspeaker conﬁgurationincludesmorethanone pairofBeoLab50’sorBeoLab90’s connectedtoaBeoVisiontelevision,it willbenecessarytoensurethatthe Presetnumbersarethesameforall pairsofloudspeakersinthesystem, sincethetelevisionsendsoutonlyone SpeakerPresetnumberforall loudspeakersconnectedtoit.
BySource ImagineyouhaveapairofBeoLab 50’sconnectedtotwonon-B&O
sourcesasshowninFigure4.38.
• anAVSurroundProcessor connectedtotheRCALine inputs. Thedeviceisalso connectedtootherloudspeakers toformamultichannel (surround)conﬁgurationfor watchingmovies. • ahigh-resolutionaudioplayer connectedtotheS/P-DIFinput.
Inaddition,youhaveconﬁguredtwo PresetsinyourBeoLab50’s:
1. Optimisedformultichannel listeningwithalisteningzone thatencompassesmorethanone listeningposition(e.g. thewhole sofa). 2. Optimisedfor2.0Stereolistening
withonlyone“sweetspot”inthe centreofthesofa.
Inthissituation,youwanttheAV Surroundprocessortoautomatically selectPreset1andthehigh-resolution audioplayertoautomaticallyselect Preset2. Inthisway,thereisnoneed tomanuallychangeBeoLab50presets.
Mixedsystems Notethatispossibletotriggerbothby sourceandbySpeakerGroupinmixed systemssuchasthatshowninFigure 4.39. Inthiscase,theBeoVision televisioniscontrollingtheBeoLab50 presetwithinitsSpeakerGroup parameters. However,theBeoLab50 canalsohaveapresetthatis automaticallytriggeredbytheaudio playerconnectedviaS/P-DIF.
21
Audio Player
AV Surround Processor
Power Ampliﬁer
XLR
S/P-DIF
Audio Player S/P-DIF
Digital Power Link
Digital Power Link
Power Link
Digital Power Link
Power Link
Figure4.37: AnexampleofapairofBeoLab50’sconnectedtoaBeoVision11usingPowerLink.
Audio Player
AV Surround Processor
Power Ampliﬁer
RCA
S/P-DIF
Audio Player S/P-DIF
Digital Power Link
Digital Power Link
Power Link
Digital Power Link
Power Link
Figure 4.38: An example of a pair of BeoLab 50’s connected to two third-party sources: an AV Surround Processor using RCA and a separateaudioplayerusingS/P-DIF.Notethat,inthiscase,thelatencyoftheBeoLab50’smustbecarefullymanagedinthesetupof theloudspeakersandtheAVSurroundProcessorinordertoensurethatthemultichannelsystemisbehavingcorrectly.
Audio Player
AV Surround Processor
Power Ampliﬁer
XLR
S/P-DIF
Audio Player S/P-DIF
Digital Power Link
Digital Power Link
Power Link
Digital Power Link
Power Link
Figure4.39: AnexampleofapairofBeoLab50’sconnectedtooneB&OsourceusingPowerLinkandathird-partyaudioplayerusing S/P-DIF.
22
Inputs
Ascanbeseenontheconnectorpanel showninFigure5.5,theBeoLab50has atotalofsevendiﬀerentaudioinputs asfollows: Bang&OlufsenProprietary
• PowerLink(analogue) • WirelessPowerLink(digital) Digitalinputs
• S/P-DIF(or“coaxial”) • Optical • USBAudio Analogueinputs
• RCAPhono(or“unbalancedline”) Wirelessinputs
• WiSA Thetechnicalspeciﬁcationsforthese canbefoundinInputs. Itispossibletoenableanaudiosource connectedtoaninputeithermanually (viatheBeoLab50interface)or automatically,asdescribedbelow.
5.1 InputsSelection
5.1.1 AutomaticSelection
Inputs
Power Link S/P-DIF
RCA
Optical
USB-Audio
WPL / WiSA
Automatic
AUTOMATIC SENSE
MANUAL SENSE
... Inputs
Power Link S/P-DIF
RCA
Optical
USB-Audio
WPL / WiSA
Automatic
AUTOMATIC SENSE
MANUAL SENSE
...
Gain Offset
Detection threshold
Max input voltage
Input impedance
Time-out
Figure5.1: TheInputSelectmenu.
SelectionPriority IftheBeoLab50issettoautomatically detectaninputsignal,thenitmaybe necessarytocustomisethe prioritisationofthesources. For example,ifyouhaveaCDplayer connectedtotheS/P-DIFinputanda turntableconnectedtotheRCAinput, andbothsourcesareplaying,this parameterallowsyoutodetermine whichsourceshould“win”andbe playedbytheBeoLab50. Thisprioritisationcanbepersonalised bychangingtheverticalorderofthe inputsonBeoLab50interfaceinthe InputSelectmenu(pressthe“...” icon atthetoprighttoentertheeditmode).
Inputs
Power Link S/P-DIF
RCA
Optical
USB-Audio
WPL / WiSA
Automatic
AUTOMATIC SENSE
MANUAL SENSE
... Inputs
Power Link S/P-DIF
RCA
Optical
USB-Audio
WPL / WiSA
Automatic
AUTOMATIC SENSE
MANUAL SENSE
...
Gain Offset
Detection threshold
Max input voltage
Input impedance
Time-out
Figure5.2:Thepriorityofautomaticallyselectedsourcescanbechangedbyrearrangingtheirorder.
5.1.2 ManualSelection
Theremaybecaseswhereyouprefer tomanuallyselectaninput. Inthis case,youcandragtheinputintothe “ManualSense”listatthebottomof theInputsmenuscreen. Inthiscase,a signalononeoftheseinputswillnot beautomaticallydetectedbythe BeoLab50andmustthereforebe switchedonandoﬀmanually. Notethatitispossibletomanually selectinputswithouttheinterface usingtheBeoRemote1remotecontrol. Foradescriptionofhowtodothis, includinginstructionsonsettingupthe BeoRemote1,pleaseseeSection20.
5.2 IndividualInput Parameters
Notethatnotallcontrolsareavailable forallinputs.
5.2.1 Re-naming
Itispossibletore-nametheinputs labelsintheBeoLab50interfaceby enteringtheeditmodeoftheInputs menu,selectinganinput,andthen press-and-holdthenameoftheinput atthetopofthescreen. Thispersonalisedname(i.e. “CD Player”or“Turntable”,forexample) willbedisplayedthroughoutthe
23
BeoLab50interface.
... RCA
Gain Offset 5 dB
-76 dBV
5 min.
50 kΩ
2.0 V
Detection threshold
Max input voltage
Input impedance
Time-out
Figure5.3:Renameaninputbypressing andholdingitsnameintheInputmenu
5.2.2 GainOﬀset
Youcanchangetherelativelevelsof theindividualinputsusingtheGain Oﬀset parameter. Forexample,ifyou haveaparticularsourcethathasa loweroutputlevelthantheothers,its GainOﬀsetcanbeincreaseto compensate,makingitappeartohave thesamelevelasyourotheraudio sources. Range -12to12dB Resolution 1dB FactoryDefault 0dB NotethattheGainOﬀsetparameteris notavailableforthePowerLinkand WirelessPowerLinkinputs.
5.2.3 DetectionThreshold
TheBeoLab50canbesetto automaticallyturnitselfonby detectingthepresenceofasignalon theRCAlineinput. However, dependingonyoursourceand/orthe styleofmusicyoutypicallylistento,it maybenecessarytomakethe detectionmoreorlesssensitive. This canbedoneusingtheDetection Thresholdcontrol. Forexample,ifyoulistentomusicwith alargedynamicrange,itmaybe necessarytolowertheDetection ThresholdtomaketheBeoLab50more sensitivetothepresenceofquiet signals. Conversely,ifyouhavean
audiosourcethathasahighernoise ﬂoor,itmaybenecessarytoincrease theDetectionThresholdinorderto maketheBeoLab50lesssensitive. Range -76to-46dBV Resolution 3dB FactoryDefault -76dBV SeeFigure5.4foragraphic representationofthethedetection thresholdrelativetothesignal strength. NotethattheDetectionThreshold parameterisnotavailableforthe PowerLinkinput,sincethe loudspeakerisautomaticallyturnedon andoﬀbythePowerLinksource. Notethat,fortheUSBAudio,S/P-DIF andOpticaldigitalinputs,the Auto-detectioncontrolisusedinstead oftheDetection Threshold.
5.2.4 Auto-detection
TheBeoLab50canbesetto automaticallyturnitselfonby detectingthepresenceofasignalon itsdigitalinputsbysettingthe Auto-detectiontoON.However,thisis slightlydiﬀerentfromthedetectionof analoguesignals,sincethedigital inputsaretriggeredbythepresenceof aanynon-zerosignalonthedigital audiostreamratherthanasignal aboveauser-deﬁnedlevel. Options On/Oﬀ FactoryDefault On NotethattheAuto-detection parameterisonlyavailablefortheUSB Audio,S/P-DIFandOpticalinputs. Notethat,fortheRCAanalogueinput, theDetection Thresholdcontrolisused insteadoftheAuto-detection.
5.2.5 MaximumInputVoltage
Diﬀerentaudiosourceshavediﬀerent maximumanalogueoutputlevels. Typically,amaximumlevelfroma line-levelRCAoutputis2.0VRMS, however,diﬀerentmanufacturers occasionallychoosetodeliverahigher outputlevelonsomemodels.
Inordertomaximisethe signal-to-noiseratioofyouraudio system,theBeoLab50givesyouthe optiontochangetheMaximumInput VoltageforthetheRCAlineinput. The datasheetforyouraudiosourceshould indicateitsmaximumoutputlevel. The valueintheBeoLab50interface shouldbesettomatchthisvalue. Ifthesourcehasahighermaximum outputlevelthanthatwhichissetin theBeoLab50interface,thismay causedistortionduetoclippingofthe signalattheloudspeaker’sinputs. Ifthesourcehasalowermaximum outputlevelthanthatwhichissetin theBeoLab50interface,thiswillcause yourmaximumoutputofthe loudspeakertobelower,andthe outputnoiseﬂoortobeincreased. Options 2.0,4.0,6.5VRMS FactoryDefault 2.0VRMS NotethattheMaximumInputVoltage parameterisonlyavailablefortheRCA lineinput.
5.2.6 Time-out
Incaseswheretheautomaticsignal detectionisusedtoturntheonBeoLab 50,theTime Out controlcanbeused todeterminethelengthoftimethe loudspeakercontinuestobepowered upaftertheaudiosignalhasstopped. Itmaybenecessarytoincreasethe lengthofthistimeifyoulistento musicwithanextremedynamicrange. Forexample,aquietpassageina pieceofmusicmaybebelowthe detectionthreshold. Ifthedurationof thatpassageislongerthantheTime Out value,thentheloudspeakerwillgo intostandbymodewhilethepieceis playing. Options 2,5,10,15,20Minutes FactoryDefault 15Minutes NotethattheTime-outfunctionisnot availableforthePowerLink,Wireless PowerLinkandWiSAinputs.
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Detection Threshold
BeoLab 90 turns ON
BeoLab 90 turns OFF
Time Out
Audio level at input
Time
Audio Signal
Figure5.4: The“DetectionThreshold”and“TimeOut”parameters
5.2.7 InputImpedance
IftheBeoLab50’sRCALineinputis connectedtoadevice’sheadphone outputthatusesaClass-Dampliﬁer, theremaybeinstanceswherethis causesthenoiseﬂoortoriseaudibly. Thisiscausedbytheinputimpedance oftheBeoLab50beingmuchhigher thanthatwhichisexpectedbythe headphoneampliﬁer’sdesigner. In ordertocorrectthisproblem,theinput impedanceoftheRCAinputcanbeset toalowvalueof50 Ω. However,iftheinputimpedanceofthe RCAinputissetto50 Ω anditis connectedtoadevice’sstandard low-impedancelineoutput,thismay haveadetrimentaleﬀectonthesignal. Forexample,themaximumpossible outputlevelwillbereduced. Insome cases,incorrectlysettingtheinput impedanceto50 Ω mayalsocause distortionoftheaudiosignal. Options 50 Ω,50kΩ FactoryDefault 50kΩ NotethattheInputImpedancecontrol isonlyavailablefortheRCAlineinput.
5.2.8 ControlVolumeof S/P-DIF(orOptical) inputusingPowerLink
Bang&Olufsenaudioproductsthatare abletosendtheaudiosignalonan S/P-DIFoutputadditionallysendthe volumesettingonthedataconnection includedinthePowerLinkcable. Thisis usedforvariousreasons. Oneprimary exampleofthisiscurrentcustomers whoconnectaBeoSound9000toa
pairofloudspeakerssuchasBeoLab 5’sorBeoLab50’sviaaS/P-DIFdigital connection. SincetheBeoSound9000 doesnotapplyvolumeregulationto theS/P-DIFoutput,thevolumesetting mustbesentseparatelyonthePower Linkcableandappliedtotheaudio signalinsidetheloudspeakerinstead. ThisparameterontheBeoLab50 allowscustomerstousethevolume controlofaBang&Olufsensource (sentviaaPowerLinkconnection)and applyittoanaudiosignalcominginto theBeoLab50viaitsS/P-DIFinput. Notethat,inorderforthisoptionto functionproperly,theS/P-DIFinput mustbeassignedahigherprioritythan thePowerLinkinputintheSelection Priority. Thisfunctionisalsoindependently availableforsignalsontheOptical input. WhenthevolumeoftheBeoLab50is controlledbyanexternalPowerLink source,thevolumewheelinthe BeoLab50interfaceisgreyedoutand willnotrespondtotouchcommands. It does,however,displaythevolume settingassignedtotheBeoLab50by thePowerLinkdatasignal. Options Enabled/Disabled FactoryDefault Disabled
5.2.9 USBVolumeenabled
WhentheBeoLab50isconnected usingUSBAudiotoanaudiosource, youhavetheoptionofusingthe source’svolumeasanexternalcontrol forthegainoftheloudspeaker. This
alsomeansthatthevolumeofthe BeoLab50(setbyitsremotecontrol) wouldbereﬂectedontheuser interfaceoftheaudiosourceor softwareplayer. However,thisexternalcontrolofthe BeoLab50maynotbedesirableinall situations. Forexample,itisveryeasy toinstantlychangethevolumeofa softwareaudioplayertomaximum, whichwillbesurprisinglyloudwitha BeoLab50ifthechangewas accidental. Italsomaybepreferableto settheBeoLab50toastatic(e.g. low) volumesettingandtohavean independentadjustmentonthesource device. Inthesecases,theUSBVolume EnabledshouldbesettoDisable. Options Enabled/Disabled FactoryDefault Disabled NotethattheUSBVolumecontrolis onlyavailablefortheUSBAudioinput.
5.3 ConnectionPanels
TheconnectionpanelsontheMaster andSlaveBeoLab50’sareslightly diﬀerentinthataudiosignalscanonly beconnectedtotheMaster loudspeaker. Theaudiosignal connectionsfromyoursourcedevices shouldbeconnectedtotheMaster loudspeaker. Theonlyaudioinputon theSlaveloudspeakeristheDPLor DigitalPowerLinkinput.
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OPTICAL
S/P-DIF
MIC / IR POWER LINK
LEFT RCA RIGHT
USB 5V    0.5 A
USB AUDIO
DPL DPL DPL / ETHERNET
USB 5V    0.5 A
DPL / ETHERNET
DPL DPL
Figure 5.5: Audio connection panel – Master loudspeaker. Analogue inputs are shown in blue. Digital audio connections are shown in red. Utility connectionsareshowninblack.
OPTICALLEFT XLR RIGHTMIC / IR POWER LINK
USB 5V    0.5 A
USB AUDIO
DPL DPL DPL / ETHERNET
USB 5V    0.5 A
DPL / ETHERNET
DPL DPL
Figure 5.6: Audio connection panel – Slave loudspeaker. Note that the only audio connectors on this loudspeaker arefortheDigitalPowerLinkconnection totheMasterloudspeaker.
Forspeciﬁcinformationregardingthe variousinputs,pleaseseeInputs.
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System
6.0.1 About
The“About”menuallowsaccessto informationregardingtheloudspeaker aswellastheaudiosignalitis currentlyplaying. Selectthe“Speaker Info”,andtheneitherthe“Input Signal”todisplaydetailedinformation abouttheinputaudiosignalor “Temperatures”todisplaythecurrent temperaturesoftheloudspeaker drivers.
6.0.2 MaxVolume
TheMax Volumecontrolallowsyouto determinethelimitofthevolume control. Range 0–90 Resolution 1dB FactoryDefault 90 NotethattheMaxVolumeparameteris notavailableforthePowerLinkand WirelessPowerLinkinputs.
6.0.3 StartupVolume
TheStartup Volumecontrolallowsyou todeterminethevolumelevelwhen
theBeoLab50wakesasaresultofa detectedsignal,orismanuallyturned on. Range 0–90 Resolution 1dB FactoryDefault 42 NotethattheStartup Volume parameterisnotavailableforthe PowerLinkandWirelessPowerLink inputs. AlsonotethattheStartup Volumemaybeoverriddenbythe volumecontrolfromPowerLink(if enabledforS/P-DIForOptical)oraUSB Audiovolumecontrol(ifenabled).
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Tables
7.1 LoudspeakerSensitivity
Input dBSPL “MaxInput”LevelSetting PowerLink 88.0 6.5Vrms(Fixed) RCA 88.0 6.5Vrms RCA 92.2 4.0Vrms RCA 98.2 2.0Vrms Table 7.1: Unweighted Sound Pressure Level (SPL) of the BeoLab 50 at 1 m in a free ﬁeld (200 Hz – 2 kHz). Input signal strength: 125 mV rms. Volume Step: 90. All other parameters settoFactoryDefaults.
Input Output USBAudio,S/P-DIF,Optical 92.3dBSPL WirelessPowerLink 92.3dBSPL WiSA TBD Table 7.2: Unweighted Sound Pressure Level (SPL) of the BeoLab50at1minafreeﬁeld(200Hz–2kHz). Inputsignal:-30.0 dB FS. Volume Step: 90. All other parameters set to Factory Defaults.
7.2 VolumeControl
VolumeStep Output 90 92.3dBSPL 89 91.3dBSPL 88 90.3dBSPL . . 51 53.3dBSPL 50 52.3dBSPL 49 51.3dBSPL . . 2 4.3dBSPL 1 3.3dBSPL 0 -∞dBSPL Table7.3: UnweightedSoundPressureLevel(SPL)oftheaudio signalfromaBeoLab50at1minafreeﬁeld(200Hz–2kHz). Inputsignal: -30.0dBFS.Notethatthesevaluesconsideronly the output level of the audio signal and assume that thermal protectionhasnotbeenengaged.
7.3 ParametricEqualiser
Type Range(Hz) Filters low-shelving 16.0–500.0 1 Peaking(LF) 16.0–500.0 4 Peaking(MF) 250.0–8.0 3 Peaking(HF) 2.0k–63.0k 1 high-shelving 500.0–16.0k 1 Table7.4: FrequencyrangesofParametricEQﬁlters.
Band Frequency(Hz) Ultrasonic 31.5k35.5k40k45k50k56k63k Treble 16k18k20k22.4k25k28k 8k9k10k11.2k12.5k14k 4k4.5k5k5.6k6.3k7.1k Midrange 2k2.24k2.5k2.8k3.15k3.55k 1k1.12k1.25k1.4k1.6k1.8k 500560630710800900 250280315355400450 125140160180200224 Bass 63.071.080.090.0100112 31.535.540.045.050.056.0 Infrasound 16.018.020.022.425.028.0 Table 7.5: ISO 1/6th octave-spaced centre frequencies (in Hz) ofParametricEQﬁlters. FrequencyBandsaregivenforapproximateinformationonly.
FilterType Qvalues low-shelving 0.35,0.5,0.7,1.0 Peaking 0.35,0.5,0.7,1.0,1.4, 2.0,2.8,4.0,5.6,8.0 high-shelving 0.35,0.5,0.7,1.0 Table7.6: AvailableQvaluesofParametricEQﬁlters.
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Features
8.1 Resonance-basedSound Design
Averylargepartofthesoundtuningof theBeoLab50,likemanyotherBang& Olufsenloudspeakers,isbasedon acousticalmeasurementsperformedat manylocationsaround,aboveand belowtheloudspeaker. Oneoftheimportantaspectsofthese measurementsistoﬁndthebehaviour oftheloudspeakerintime. For example,ifasoundissenttothe loudspeaker,andthenstopped suddenly,doestheloudspeakeralso stop,ordoesit“ring”atsome frequencies(inexactlythesameway thatabellringswhenstruck). Ringing inthetimeresponseofaloudspeaker isanindicationthatithasaresonance –afrequencyatwhichit“wants”to move. Thisresonancehasa detrimentaleﬀectontheoverallsound oftheloudspeaker,sinceit“smears” soundsintime. Forexample,ifyouhavealoudspeaker thathasanaturalresonanceat110Hz (twooctavesbelowa“ConcertA”,to musicians)thenitwillnaturallyringat thatnotewhenitis“hit”withan impulsivesignalsuchasakickdrum. If thesongthatthebandisplayingisnot inA(majororminor),butinB-Flat instead,thentherewillbea dissonancebetweenthenotesplayed mostofteninthesong,andthenote thatis“singingalong”withthekick drum. Thiscancontributetothe loudspeakersounding“muddy”(touse onlyoneword...). Thisiswhythemeasurement-based portionoftheﬁlteringofallcurrent Bang&Olufsenloudspeakersis primarilydesignedtocounteractthe naturalresonancesinthesystem. So, forexample,ifoneofthewoofersin theBeoLab50hasanaturalresonance at110Hz,thenthatresonanceis mirroredwithanequal,butopposite phasebehaviourintheDigitalSignal Processingengine. Thetotalresultof
theﬁlterintheDSPandthebehaviour ofthewooferisthatthereisno unwantedringingintheentiresystem. This,inturn,meansthatthe loudspeaker’sresponseiscontrolled notonlyinthefrequencydomainbutin thetimedomainaswell. Thisisonlypossiblewithanextensive setofmeasurementsofeach loudspeakerdriver’smechanicaland acousticalbehaviouranda custom-createdsetofﬁltersforit.
8.2 Phase-OptimisedFiltering
Likeallaudiodevices,inorderforthe BeoLab50todeliveritslevelofsound performance,ﬁltersareusedinthe DigitalSignalProcessing(DSP). Generally,anaudioﬁlterisadevice thatchangestheoverallresponseof thetheaudiosignal. Inthecaseof BeoLab50,theseareusedforvarious reasonssuchascontrollingthe relationshipbetweenthediﬀerent loudspeakerdrivers,actingas crossoverstodistributethecorrect signalstothetweeters,midrangesand woofers,andoptimisingtheoverall magnituderesponseofthetotal system. Anaudioﬁlterhasaneﬀectonthe behaviourofthesignal’smagnitude (howlouditisatagivenfrequency) and/oritsphase(atypeofmeasureof theamountoftimeittakesagiven frequencytogetthroughtheﬁlter). SincetheBeoLab50usesdigital insteadofanalogueﬁlters,weareable tochoosethecharacteristicsofeach ﬁlter’sphaseresponseindependently ofitsmagnituderesponse. For example,aﬁltercanbeimplemented tohavea“minimumphase”ora “linearphase”(thetwomostcommon responses)characteristic,regardlessof themagnituderesponseitisrequired todeliver. Thephaseresponseofeachﬁlterin BeoLab50’sprocessingchainhave beenindividuallytailoredaccordingto
itsparticularfunction. Forexample, someofthecrossoverﬁltershavebeen implementedaslinearphaseﬁlters. MostﬁltersintheActiveRoom Compensationalgorithmare implementedasminimumphaseﬁlters (sinceroomresonanceshavea minimumphasecharacteristic). The BeamWidthControlﬁltershave customisedphaseresponsesthatare dependentontheparticular frequency-dependendent characteristicsoftheindividual loudspeakerdriversthattheycontrol andarethereforeneitherminimum phasenorlinearphase.
8.3 AutomaticBass Linearisation(ABL)and ThermalProtection
AlmostallloudspeakersintheBang& Olufsenportfolio(includingBeoLab50) featureAutomaticBassLinearisationor “ABL”.Thisisanalgorithmthatwas patentedbyB&Oin1991andis custom-tunedforeachofourproducts. Itspurposeistoensurethat,whenthe physicallimitsofacomponentofthe loudspeakerarereached(forexample, awooferisapproachingitsmaximum excursion,orapowerampliﬁerisclose toclipping)theloudspeakereither preventsthatlimitfrombeingreached, orthetransitiontothatlimitis “softened”(dependingonthe componentinquestion). Inaddition,BeoLab50’sprocessing continuallymonitorstheindividual temperaturesofmanyinternal componentsincluding:
• Individualloudspeakerdriver magnets • PowerAmpliﬁermodules • DSPcircuitboards • PowerSupplycircuitboards Usingthisinformation,combinedwith thepowerthattheampliﬁersdeliverto theloudspeaker temperaturesofmanymore componentswithinBeoLab50are calculatedusingcustomisedthermal modelsoftheloudspeaker. Ifthetemperatureofacomponent insidetheloudspeakerapproachesits “thermallimit”(thetemperatureat whichitstopsworkingdueto overheating)thesignalprocessingof theBeoLab50adjuststhesignalsto protectthecomponent. Theexacttype ofadjustmentdependsonthe particularcomponentthatis approachingitslimits. Asasimple example,ifatweetervoicecoilis calculatedtobeapproachingitslimit, thenitsgainisreducedtoattemptto protectitfromdestruction. Itisimportanttostatethatthisdoes
not meanthattheBeoLab50is indestructible–butitdoesmakeit verydiﬃculttodestroy. Moreinformationcanbefoundin Appendix6: ABL-AdaptiveBass Linearisation.
8.4 ThermalCompression Compensation
BeoLab50’sprocessingincludes automaticcompensationforchangesin loudspeakerdriverresponseasaresult ofinternalchangesintemperature. Formoreanin-depthdiscussionofthis feature,pleasereadAppendix7: ThermalCompressionCompensation.
8.5 Production“Cloning”
EveryBeoLab50thatleavesthe productionlineismeasuredina custom-builtanechoicchamberto ensurethatitsperformancematches themasterreferenceloudspeaker. This automatedmeasurementisperformed usinganumberofmicrophoneswhere smalldiﬀerencesintheresponsesare foundandcustomcorrectionﬁltersare createdandloadedintotheDigital SignalProcessing. Thisensuresthat eachloudspeaker’sthird-octave smoothedresponsematchesthatof themasterreferenceloudspeaker within1dBbetween20Hzand20 kHz.1
1Notethatthesevalueshavenotyetbeenﬁnalised.
30
TechnicalSpeciﬁcations
9.1 TotalSystem
Note: Total System measurements performed with Sound Design set to “Flat on-axis” and Active Room Compensation disabled. FrequencyResponse XXHztoXXkHz(±1dB,1/3octavesmoothed) FrequencyRange XXHztoXXkHz(-10dB,ref. 200Hz-2kHz,unsmoothed) Sensitivity seeSection7.1 MaximumSPL XXdBSPL(C)@1m,on-axis SelfNoise(Digitalinput) XXdBSPL(C)@1m,on-axis SelfNoise(Analogueinput) XXdBSPL(C)@1m,on-axis
9.2 PreampliﬁerandProcessorSection
InordertosimplifycomparisonofBeoLab50’stechnicaldatatootherproducts,theinformationinthischapterhasbeendividedinto threesections:
• Preampliﬁer and Processor,equivalenttoasurroundprocessor,preamporreceiver • Power Ampliﬁers • Loudspeaker Drivers
Stereo Preamp
BeoLab 90
Power Amps Loudspeakers
Figure9.1: AblockdiagramoftheBeoLab50showingthecomparativesectionsintermsofcompetingdevices.
9.2.1 OverallSpeciﬁcations
Note: Hardware-only measurement. All ﬁlters and equalisation bypassed or removed from signal processing for measurements.
DigitalinputtoDACoutputs FrequencyResponse 0Hzto40kHz(+0dB,-1dB) FrequencyRange 0Hzto75kHz(+0dB,-3dB) THD+N 0.004%(997Hz,-1dBFS,22Hz–20kHz) DynamicRange 122dB(A)(997Hz,-60dBFS,20Hz–20kHz,AES17)
AnalogueinputtoDACoutputs FrequencyResponse TBD(+0dB,-1dB) FrequencyRange TBD(+0dB,-3dB) THD+N TBD(997Hz,-1dBFS,22Hz–20kHz) DynamicRange TBD(A)(997Hz,-60dBFS,20Hz–20kHz,AES17)
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9.2.2 Inputs AnalogueInputs Analogue-to-DigitalConverter NotethatthesameADCmodelisusedforallanalogueinputs. Model TexasInstrumentsPCM4220 SamplingRate 192kHz(ﬁxed) Resolution 24bits FrequencyResponse 10Hz–80kHz(+0dB,-0.2dB) FrequencyRange < 2Hz–85kHz(-3dB) DynamicRange(Typical) 122dB(A)(997Hz,-60dBFS) DynamicRange(Worst-case) 117dB(A)(997Hz,-60dBFS) THD+N 0.001%(997Hz,-1dBFS,22Hz–20kHz) ChannelSeparation 100dB(20Hzto20kHz) PassbandRipple ±0.001dB PowerLink Connector RJ45 InputImpedance 100kΩ AudioChannels 2 MaximumInputVoltage 6.5VRMS Features 5VcontrolvoltageforOn/Standby PowerLinkDatasupport Sensitivity 125mVRMSproduces88dBSPL(1m,on-axis,free-ﬁeld) RCALine InputImpedance 50 Ω ,50kΩ (Selectable) MaximumInputVoltage 2.0,4.0,6.5VRMS(Selectable)
DigitalInputs SamplingRateConverter NotethattheSRCisappliedtoalldigitalinputs. Model TexasInstrumentsSRC4392 Outputsamplingrate 192kHz(ﬁxed) Outputwordlength 24bits THD+N 0.000014%(f=997Hz,0dBFS,22Hz–40kHz,unweighted) DynamicRange 138dB(f=997Hz,-60dBFS,22Hz–40kHz,unweighted) PassbandRipple ±0.008dB
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S/P-DIF SupportedFormat LinearPCM Samplingrate Standardsamplingratesupto192kHz Wordlength 24bits OpticalConnector SupportedFormat LinearPCM Samplingrate Standardsamplingratesuptoandincluding96kHz Wordlength 24bits USBAudioConnector SupportedFormat LinearPCM Samplingrate Standardsamplingratesuptoandincluding192kHz Wordlength 24bits WirelessPowerLink SupportedFormat LinearPCM Samplingrate StandardWiSAsamplingratesuptoandincluding96kHz(48kHzstandard) Wordlength 24bits WiSA SupportedFormat LinearPCM Samplingrate StandardWiSAsamplingratesuptoandincluding96kHz Wordlength 24bits
9.2.3 DigitalSignalProcessor
Model AnalogDevicesADSP-21489 Number 2 InstructionRate 400MHz Samplingrate 192kHz(ﬁxed) Notes 32-bitﬂoatingpoint
9.2.4 DigitaltoAnalogueConverters
NotethatthesespeciﬁcationsincludetheanaloguestagesthatfollowtheDACoutputs. Model TexasInstruments/Burr-BrownPCM1798 AudioChannels 18 Samplingrate 192kHz(ﬁxed) Wordlength 24bits FrequencyResponse 0Hzto40kHz(+0dB,-1dB) FrequencyRange 0Hzto75kHz(+0dB,-3dB) THD+N 0.004%(997Hz,-1dBFS,22Hz–20kHz) DynamicRange 122dB(A)(997Hz,-60dBFS,20Hz–20kHz,AES17) ChannelSeparation 110dB(20Hz–20kHz,AES17) LevelLinearity ±1dB(at-120dBFS)
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9.3 PowerAmpliﬁers
Oneampliﬁerperloudspeakerdriver Model Bang&OlufsenICEpowerAM300-X PeakVoltage 50V PeakCurrent 20A PeakPower 780W(into3.2 Ω) FrequencyRange < 2Hz– > 100kHz(+0dB,-3dB) THD+N 0.02%(20Hz–20kHz,100mW-300W,4 Ω,AES17) Features DualLoop3-ICEpower’sthird-generationClass-Dtopology
9.4 LoudspeakerDrivers
9.4.1 Tweeter
Model TymphanyDX19TD07-08 Number 1 NominalImpedance 8 Ω EﬀectiveDiameter 19mm Features KFUmembrane Magneticﬂuid
9.4.2 Midranges
Model TymphanyT04-2C0041001 Number 3 NominalImpedance 4 Ω EﬀectiveDiameter 87mm Features Kevlarreinforcedpapermembrane
9.4.3 Woofers
Model TymphanyT04-2B0101001 Number 3 NominalImpedance 3 Ω EﬀectiveDiameter 211mm Features EICAWvoicecoilwire Rubbersurround
9.5 DigitalPowerLink
Technology AudioVideoBridge(AVB) SamplingRate 192kHz(ﬁxed) Bitdepth 24 Features IncludesproprietaryB&Odatachannelsforinter-loudspeakercommunication
34
FAQ
10.1 Multichannelsystem setup
Incaseswhereyouusemorethanone pairofBeoLab50’sinaconﬁguration, therearesomerecommendationsthat shouldbefollowedinordertofacilitate dailyuse.
10.1.1 Bang&Olufsen televisionassource
AsdescribedinSection4.10.0.1,a currentBang&Olufsentelevisioncan automaticallyswitchBeoLab50 PresetsaspartoftheSpeakerGroup function. However,itshouldbenoted thatagivenSpeakerGroupinthe televisionsendsonlyoneSpeaker PresetvalueonitsPowerLinkoutputs toallloudspeakersconnectedtothe television. Thismeansthatthepreset identiﬁcationnumbersinallBeoLab 50’smustmatchforagiven conﬁgurationcorrespondingtoa SpeakerGroupinthetelevision.
10.1.2 Third-partydeviceas source
Whenusingathird-partymultichannel deviceasasourceformorethanone pairofBeoLab50’s,eachMaster-Slave pairofloudspeakersshouldbe conﬁguredcorrectlyforagivensource. Theresultingparametersshouldbe savedtoaPresetthatisthentriggered bytheappropriateinput. SeeSection AutomatingPresetSelectionformore information.
10.2 DoesBeoLab50support DSD?
DSDandDSDoverPCM(DoP)arenot currentlysupportedbyBeoLab50. In ordertoplayDSDaudioﬁles,itis thereforenecessarytoconverttoPCM intheaudioplayerbeforesendingthe signaltotheloudspeakers.
Notethat,sincetheBeoLab50audio signalpathcontainsasigniﬁcant amountofdigitalsignalprocessing (DSP)whichisperformedonlinearPCM signals,aconversionofDSDtoPCMis requiredsomewhereintheaudio chain. Placingthisconversionprocess aheadoftheloudspeakers’inputs givestheusertheoptiontochoosehis orherpreferredﬁlterfortheprocess.
10.3 DoesBeoLab50support DXD?
DXDisnotcurrentlysupportedby BeoLab50,sinceitsdigitalinputswill notoperateatsamplingratesabove 216kHz. InordertoplayDXDﬁlesonthe BeoLab50,theaudiosignalwilleither havetobedownsampledto192kHz (maximum)orconvertedtoanalogue inadvanceofsendingthesignalsto theloudspeakers’inputs.
10.4 WhydoestheBeoLab50 sound“diﬀerent”whenI switchtowatching television?
SomefeaturesoftheBeoLab50are disabledwhentheyareconnectedto currentBang&Olufsensources. Thisis toensurethatsimilaraudioprocessing isnotperformedtwice. Thereare cases,however,wherealthoughtwo processesaresimilar,theyarenot identical. Forexample,itmaybethe casethatthebassortreble adjustmentsintheBeoLab50donot havethesamefrequencyresponsesas thoseintheaudiosource. Formore informationaboutthis,pleasesee Section12.1. Itmayalsobethecasethatthe adjustmentofsomeofthese processorsarediﬀerentinthe loudspeakersandthesource. For example,ifthebassisincreasedinthe loudspeakers,andthendisabled
becausethePowerLinkinputis chosen,therewillbearesultant changeintimbreoftheloudspeakers. Theremayalsobeinstanceswherea Bang&Olufsensourceautomatically changesthelatencymodeofthe BeoLab50’sinordertopreservelip syncorsynchronisationwithmultiroom systems. Thiswillalsohavea potentiallyaudibleeﬀectontheaudio qualityoftheloudspeakers.
35
Setup“TipsandTricks”
SettingSpeakerLevels AlthoughitispossibletosetSpeaker LevelsusinganSPLmeter,thiscan,in somecases,beimprovedbymaking smallﬁnaladjustments“byear”while listeningtomusicinstead. Whilesitting inthepreferredlocation,playatrack withasolidcentrephantomimage (“Tom’sDiner”bySuzanneVegaisa goodchoice)andadjustoneofthe SpeakerLevelvaluestoplacethe centreimageinthecorrectlocation. Thisshouldbedoneafter theSpeaker Distanceshavebeenadjusted. ARCvs. BeamWidthandBeam Direction TheActiveRoomCompensation algorithmcalculatesacustomﬁlterfor theBeamWidth,BeamDirection,and LatencyModeofthepreset. When editingapreset,itiswisetoturnoﬀ theARCﬁlterswhileswitchingbetween diﬀerentBeamWidths,Beam Directions,andLatencyModesinorder toavoidwaitingforthiscalculationto beperformed. Whentheappropriate settingshavebeenchosen,thengo backtoyourARCsetupandenablethe ﬁlters. iOSsettingsduringsetup Insomecases,particularlywhen makingARCmeasurements,itmaybe helpfultochangetheSettingsofyour iOSdevicetoensurethatitdoesnot “sleep”,sincethiscancauseittolose communicationwiththeBeoLab50’s SpeakerDistancesforlarger listeningareas WhenmeasuringtheSpeaker Distancesforlargerlisteningareas (withmorethanoneperson),itis sometimesbettertomeasurethe distancefromagivenloudspeakerto theclosestlistener. Thisisparticularly trueinmultichannelsystems. Fora“PartyMode”wherethereisno singlelisteningposition(eitherdueto thesizeofthecrowd,orthefactthat thelistenersaremovingthroughout
thespace),itisusuallybettertoset theSpeakerDistancesandSpeaker Levelstothematchingvalue(e.g. 1.0 mand0.0dB). Multichannelsystemswithmore than2BeoLab50’s Incaseswheretwoormorepairsof BeoLab50’sareusedinamultichannel system,thencareshouldbetakento ensurethatthePresetnumbersforthe diﬀerentpairsofloudspeakersmatch appropriately. Thisisbecausethe BeoVisiontelevisionsendsonlyone SpeakerPresetvaluetoallPowerLink andWirelessPowerLinkoutputs. BackgroundnoiseduringARC measurements Itisimportanttoensurethatthereis aslittleextraneousnoiseaspossible duringtheARCmeasurement procedure. Thisincludesturningoﬀair conditioningsystemsorperformingthe measurementsduringlow-traﬃchours, wherepossible. ARCﬁltercalculationtime WhencreatinganARCﬁlterthatuses themeasurementsfrommorethan ARCZone,itisadvisabletowaituntil theﬁrstcalculationisdonebefore includingthesecondZone.
36
Troubleshooting
12.1 Somefeaturesinthe BeoLab50interfaceare disabled
WhenconnectedtomanyBang& OlufsensourcesviaPowerLinkor WirelessPowerLink,somefeaturesin theBeoLab50maybedisabled. Thisis toavoiderrorssuchasmis-calibration ofthevolumesettingwithother loudspeakersinasurround conﬁgurationorduplicationof processing(e.g. turninguptheBass controllertwice: onceinthesource andonceintheloudspeaker).
12.2 LipSyncproblems
WhenusedwithanolderBang& Olufsentelevision(BeoSystem3-based orearlier)orathird-partytelevision, theLatencyModeoftheBeoLab50is notautomaticallycontrolledbythe source. Consequently,theLatency Modeshouldbesetto“Low”toensure synchronisationwiththevideosignal. Thiscanbedonemanuallyusingthe interface(seesection4.9.1),orsetas thedefaultforthepresettriggeredby theaudioinputconnectedtothe television.
12.3 Echoproblems
12.3.1 Multiroomaudio systems
WhenaBeoLab50isusedwitha third-partymultiroomsystem,the loudspeaker’sLatencyModeshouldbe setto“Low”inordertoreducethe delaytimeoftheBeoLab50toa minimum. IftheLatencyModeissetto “High”andifitisimpossibletoadjust theexpectedloudspeakerlatencyin themultiroomsystem,thenthe BeoLab50’slatencywillbehigh enoughthattheyappeartoproducean audibleechorelativetoother loudspeakersinthesystem.
12.3.2 SurroundProcessors
WhenaBeoLab50isusedwithan olderBang&Olufsensurround processor(suchastheBeoSystem3or earlierdevices)orathird-party surroundprocessor,theloudspeaker’s LatencyModeshouldbesetto“Low”in ordertoreducethedelaytimeofthe BeoLab50toaminimum. Ifthe LatencyModeissetto“High”andifit isimpossibletoadjusttheexpected loudspeakerlatencyinthesurround processor,thentheBeoLab50’s latencywillbehighenoughthatthey appeartoproduceanaudibleecho relativetootherloudspeakersinthe system. Itmaybepossibleto“trick”some surroundprocessorsintocompensating forBeoLab50’slatencyinHigh LatencyModebyadding34.3m(112.5 feet)totheiractualdistancefromthe listeningposition. Thisvalue correspondstoa100mslatency. WhenusedinLowLatencyMode,8.6 m(28.1feet)shouldbeaddedtothe actualdistancefromthelistening position. Thisvaluecorrespondstoan 25mslatency.
12.4 Loudspeakersdon’tturn onautomatically
IftheBeoLab50’saresettorecognise theWirelessPowerLink/WiSAinput, thenallcabledinputsaredisabled. Ifacabledsourceisnotinthelistof signalssetforauto-detectionas describedinAuto-detection,thenitwill notautomaticallyturnonthe loudspeakers. ItispossiblethattheDetection Threshold,describedinDetection Threshold,issettotoohighavalueto detectthesignal.
12.5 Loudspeakersnever shutoﬀ
12.5.1 Analoguesources
AdjusttheDetectionThresholdhigher asdescribedinDetectionThresholdto ahighervaluetopreventitfrom detectingnoiseontheinputcable.
12.5.2 Digitalsources S/P-DIFandOptical Ensurethatthesignalonthedigital connectioneithershutsdown,or transmitsa“digitalblack”signal. The BeoLab50detectsanynon-zerosignal onthesedigitalinputsandwillturnon automaticallyasaresult.
12.6 TheBeoLab50interface doesn’twork
EnsurethattheDigitalPowerLink cablebetweentheMasterandSlave loudspeakersisconnected. Ensurethattheloudspeakersandthe deviceareconnectedtothesame network.
12.7 Loudspeakersare distorting
TheMaximumInputLevelasdescribed inMaximumInputVoltagemaybeset totoolowavaluetobecompatible withtheaudiosource.
12.8 Loudspeakersarenoisy/ tooquiet
Ifthesourcehasavariableoutput level,thenthebeststrategyforgain managementistoincreasethe source’soutputleveltomaximumand usethevolumecontroloftheBeoLab 50’s. Thiswillensurethelowest possiblenoiseﬂooroftheoverall system. Itisalsoimportanttoensurethatthe
37
MaximumInputLevelasdescribedin MaximumInputVoltageissettothe correctvalueforthesourcedevice. Usingtoohighasettingwillresultinan elevatednoiseﬂoor. SeeInputImpedanceonInput Impedance
12.9 USBAudionotworking
TheUSBAudioinputwillonlyaccept PCMsignalsupto192kHz. IfyoursourceisoutputtingDoP(also knownasDSDoverPCM)orPCM signalsathighersamplingrates(e.g. DXDat384kHz)therewillbenoaudio outputfromtheloudspeaker.
12.10 S/P-DIFinputnot working
TheS/P-DIFinputwillonlyacceptPCM signalsupto192kHz. IfyoursourceisoutputtingDoP(also knownasDSDoverPCM)orPCM signalsathighersamplingrates(e.g. DXDat384kHz)therewillbenoaudio outputfromtheloudspeaker. IfthevolumecontroloftheS/P-DIF
inputusingPowerLinkhasbeen enabled,thenitisimportanttosetthe priorityoftheS/P-DIFinputhigherthan thatofthePowerLink. Ifthisisnot done,thenthePowerLinksignalwill overridetheS/P-DIFinputandthe latterwillnotbeheard.
12.11 Opticalinputnot working
NotethattheOpticalinputwillnot acceptsamplingratesabove96kHz duetounreliabilityofanopticaldigital audioconnectionathighersampling rates. IfthevolumecontroloftheOptical inputusingPowerLinkhasbeen enabled,thenitisimportanttosetthe priorityoftheOpticalinputhigherthan thatofthePowerLink. Ifthisisnot done,thenthePowerLinksignalwill overridetheOpticalinputandthe latterwillnotbeheard.
12.12 Automaticswitchingof inputsnotbehavingas expected
IfyouareusingtheAutomaticinput selection,theremaybecaseswhere
theloudspeakerdoesnotbehaveas youwouldintuitivelyexpectduetothe Timeoutparameterofthecurrently selectedsource. Thisisbestexplained bygivingexamples. Takethecasewhereyouareplaying audiofromtwosources,aCDplayer connectedtotheS/P-DIFinputanda turntableconnectedtotheRCAinput (viaanRIAApreampliﬁer),andletus assumethattheS/P-DIFinputhasa higherselectionprioritythantheRCA input. Inthiscase,theloudspeakers willplaytheCDsignal. Ifyouthen pressSTOPontheCDplayer,the loudspeakerswillnotswitchtothe signalontheRCAinput(theturntable) untiltheS/P-DIFinput’stimeout durationhaspassed. (SeeSection 5.2.6foradetaileddescriptionofthe Time-outparameter.) Thisbehaviourwouldalsobetrueif youwereﬁrstplayingasignalonthe CDplayer,youpressSTOP,andthen youstartplayingasignalonthe turntable. Again,untiltheS/P-DIF input’stime-outdurationhaspassed, thesignalontheRCAinput(fromthe turntable)willnotbeautomatically selectedbytheBeoLab50.
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Appendix1: RecommendationsforCriticalListening
13.1 Loudspeaker Conﬁguration
TheBeoLab50providesyouwithan extremelywiderangeofparameters thatcanbeusedtoadjustthetimbral andspatialpresentationofyour recordingsforvariouslisteningrooms, loudspeakerplacementsandlistening positions. However,itisalwaysbestto startwithanoptimalconﬁgurationin yourlisteningroom. Firstconsidertherelationshipbetween theloudspeakersandthelistening positionitself. Thetwoloudspeakers andthelisteningpositionshouldbethe threecornersofanequilateraltriangle. Thismeansthatthedistancefrom eachloudspeakertothelistening positionshouldbethesameasthe distancebetweeneachloudspeaker. Thisalsomeansthattheloudspeakers willbe30◦ awayfromthefront,centre location,directlyinfrontofthe listeningposition. Secondly,thetwoloudspeakersshould be“toed-in”by30◦. Thismeansthat theyshouldbeslightlyrotatedsothat theyarebothfacingthelistening position. ThisisshowninFigure13.1. "Reﬂection-free Zone"
Figure 13.1: A “perfect” loudspeaker conﬁguration with BeoLab 50’s. Both loudspeakersareaimedatthelistening position. The distance from the listening position to each loudspeaker is the same as the distance between the two loudspeakers.
Ifpossible,theheightofthelistening chairshouldbesetsothatthe
listener’searsarelevelwiththecentre oftheverticalbeam,showninFigure ??. Thispointis108.6cmabovethe ﬂoor. Thenextconsiderationissymmetry withinyourlisteningroom. Itis commonlyrecognisedthatthebest stereoimagingwillbeachievedifthe listeningconﬁguration(thetriangle formedwiththelistenerandthetwo loudspeakers)isplacedinleft–right centreoftheroom. Therefore,theside wallswillbothbethesamedistance fromthelisteningposition,andthe loudspeakerswillhavethesame distancetoitsadjacentwalls. Thisisto saythatthedistancefromtheleft loudspeakertotheleftwallisthesame asthedistancebetweentheright loudspeakerandtherightwall. The distancetothefrontwall(behindthe loudspeakers)shouldbethesamefor bothloudspeakers,butcertainlydoes nothavetobethesameasthe distancetothesidewalls.
Figure 13.2: An optimal placement for the loudspeakers with respect to adjacent walls. Note that the distance between each loudspeaker and its closestsidewallareidentical, andthatthe distances from the loudspeakers to the frontwallarealsomatched.
Figure13.3: Anless-optimalplacement fortheloudspeakerswithrespecttoadjacent walls. Note that the distances from the loudspeakers to the front wall arematched,however,thedistancebetweeneachloudspeakeranditsclosest sidewallarenotidentical.
Figure13.4: Anotherexampleofalessoptimal placement for the loudspeakers with respect to adjacent walls. The distances from the loudspeakers to the front wall are matched, however, the right loudspeaker and lacks a side wall nearby.
Figure13.5:Anexampleofaworst-case placementofloudspeakerswithrespect tothelisteningroom. Notwodistances betweenaloudspeakerandanadjacent wallmatcheachother.
Itshouldbenotedthattheprimary
39
casualtyofpoorloudspeaker placementinalisteningroomwillbe thespatialrepresentationofyour recordings. Theprecisionandaccuracy ofthestereoimaging,aswellasthe sensationofenvelopmentfromthe recordingwillbeadverselyaﬀectedby earlyreﬂectionpatternsthatarenot matchedforthetwoloudspeakers. Thisproblemisminimisedbyusing BeoLab50’snarrowbeamwidth, however,eventhismodecanbeneﬁt fromcorrectloudspeakerplacementin theroom. Finally,itisrecommendable(but certainlynotrequired)thatthe loudspeakersbepositionedaminimum of1mfromtheclosestwalls. The ActiveRoomCompensationalgorithm willcompensateforchangesinthe BeoLab50’stimbralresponsecaused byadjacentboundaries. However, placingtheloudspeakersslightly distantfromreﬂectivesurfaceswill reducetheseboundaryeﬀects,and thereforealsoreducetheamountof compensationthatisrequiredbythe ARCﬁlters.
13.2 ListeningRoom Acoustics
TheBeoLab50hastwofeaturesthat canovercomesomedetrimental eﬀectsofthelisteningroom’s acousticalbehaviour(BeamWidth ControlandActiveRoom Compensation). However,thesoundof anyloudspeakercanbeoptimisedby improvingtheroom’sacoustics. Oneofthemainacousticalproblemsin listeningroomsisthatofroommodes orresonances. Theseoccurbecause theroombehavesverymuchlikean organpipe,naturally“singing”at speciﬁcfrequenciesthatare determinedbythedimensionsofthe room. Withoutcorrectacoustical treatment,theseresonancesare almostunavoidable. Itispreferredto ensurethattheresonancesinthe room’sthreedimensions(length, width,andheight)donotoverlapeach
other. Thismeansthatthebetter listeningroomshavecomplex relationshipsbetweenthesethree dimensions. Forexample,a“worst case”foralisteningroomwouldbea cube,whereallthreedimensionsare identical,thusallresonanceshavethe samefrequencies. Anext-worstcaseis onewhereadimensionisamultipleof another,forexample,aroomthatis 9mx6mx3m. Inabestcase,the ratiosoftheroom’sdimensionswould havenon-simplevalues(e.g. 1: 2.16: 2.96–so,asanexample,3mx6.48m x8.88m).1 Asecondissueinmanylisteningrooms isthatofhard,reﬂectivesurfaces– particularlyinlocationswherethe soundfromtheloudspeakerisdirectly reﬂectedtothelisteningposition. Therearetwowaystoalleviatethis problem: absorptionanddiﬀusion. In ordertoabsorbasoundwavesothatit doesnotreﬂectoﬀasurface,an absorptivematerialsuchasﬁbreglass insulationoracousticalfoammustbe placedonthesurface,orinthepath takenbythereﬂection. Areﬂectioncan bediﬀusedbymakingthereﬂective surfaceirregular. Forexample,placing abookcaseatthepointofreﬂection willhelpasadiﬀusorifthebooksare arrangedinrandomheightsand depths. Finally,itiswisetoabsorbthesound wavesthatwouldbereﬂectedoﬀthe ﬂoor(e.g. withcarpetorarug)and ceiling(usingabsorptiveceilingtiles). Thiswillalsohelptoreducetheoverall reverberationtimeoftheroom.
13.3 SourceDevices
Whenconnectinganaudiosourceto theBeoLab50,therearesomebasic, generalrulesthatshouldbefollowedin ordertogettheoptimalperformance fromyoursystem. Notethattheseare generalrules–sothereareexceptions.
• Ifpossible,thesourceshouldbe connectedtotheBeoLab50 usingadigitalaudioconnection.
• Ifthesourcedevicehasavolume controlitshouldbedisabledand theBeoLab50’svolumecontrol shouldbeusedinstead • Ifthesourcehastwoanalogue outputs: onevolume-regulated andtheotherataﬁxedlevel,the ﬁxed-leveloutputshouldbeused • Ifyouareconnectingasource usingaline-levelanalogueinput, checkthesourcedevice’s datasheettoﬁnditsmaximum outputlevelandsetthevalue appropriatelyontheBeoLab50 (SeeMaximumInputVoltage). If themaximumoutputofyour deviceisgreaterthanthe BeoLab50’smaximumpossible setting(6.5VRMS)thenitis recommendablethatthesource device’soutputlevelisreducedif possible,eitherwithinitsown settingsorusinganexternal attenuator. Table13.1andFigure 13.6showthenecessary attenuationtoreducevarious voltagelevelsto6.5VRMS.
MaxOutput Attenuation 7.0VRMS -0.64dB 9.0VRMS -2.83dB 11.0VRMS -4.57dB 13.0VRMS -6.02dB Table 13.1: Examples of minimum attenuation required to externally converttheMaximumOutputLevelsfroma sourcedeviceto6.5VRMSattheinput oftheBeoLab50.
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Figure 13.6: The minimum attenuation required to apply to a source with a given Maximum Output level to reduce it to 6.5 V rms in order to prevent clippingtheBeoLab50analogueinputs.
1See“Roomdimensionsforsmalllisteningrooms”byDr. TrevorCoxforagoodintroductiontothistopic.
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13.4 Cablerecommendations
Thereareinnumerablebeliefsand opinions,bothfoundedandunfounded, regardingcablesusedforconnecting audiodevices. Thefollowingisasmall setofrecommendationsthatarebased oncommonpracticesforwiring professionalaudiosystemssuchasare foundinrecordingandmastering studios. Decisionsregardingthe speciﬁcthebrandorconstructionof thecablesusedforconnectingBeoLab 50arelefttothereader’spreferences.
13.4.1 Analoguecables
Inordertoensurethatthenoiseﬂoor ofanaloguesourcesisaslowas possible,thefollowingguidelinesare recommended: Usecableswithgoodshielding(or screening)toreduceRF(Radio Frequency)interferenceontheaudio signalsfromexternalsources. Avoidgroundloopswhenconnecting audiodevicestoeachother. Inordertoreducemagneticinductance ofinterference(typically50Hzor60 Hz“hum”)frompowercablesonthe audioinputs,itisalsogoodpracticeto physicallyseparatesignalcablesand mainscablesasmuchaspossible. In caseswherethesecablesmustcross eachother,itisrecommendedthat theycrossata90◦ angle. Forathoroughguidetoinstallationof high-endaudioequipment,“Audio SystemsDesignandInstallation”by PhilipGiddingsishighlyrecommended. Althoughthisisbookintendedfor installationofaudiodevicesin recordingandmasteringstudios,the practicesandrecommendations detailedthereinarealsoapplicableto consumer-levelaudioequipment.
13.4.2 Opticalcables
Itisrecommendedthathigh-quality opticalcablesareusedfortheBeoLab 50,particularlyforlongercableruns.
Thisisduetothefactthatthereis attenuation(dimmingorlossoflight intensity)oftheopticalsignalonthe plasticorglassﬁbreinthecable. This attenuationisproportional(indB)to thelengthofthecable. Therefore,in ordertoensurethattheoptical receiverontheBeoLab50hasan adequatesignalatitsinput,thelight attenuationonthecableshouldbe minimisedeitherbyusingshortcables orhigh-qualityopticalﬁbre. Traditionally,manypeoplehave claimedthatopticaldigitalsignalsare lessreliablethanelectricalconnections (suchastheAES/EBUandS/P-DIF protocols)duetohigherlevelsofjitter causedbythelimitationsoftherise andfalltimeoftheLEDinthe transmitter. TheBeoLab50usesa very-high-qualitysamplingrate converteratitsinputforalldigital signalswhichattenuatesthejitterof incomingsources,therebyreducing thisconcernconsiderably.
13.4.3 S/P-DIFcables
WhenconnectingasourcetoBeoLab 50’sS/P-DIFinput,itisrecommended thatacablewitha75 Ω impedanceis used. Thiswillensurethatthereareno reﬂectionsofthesignalonthecable whichmayincreasethelevelofjitterat theinputoftheBeoLab50. Notethat thisrecommendationisparticularly trueforlongercableruns. Itshould, however,bestatedthatthesampling rateconverteratthedigitalinputsof theBeoLab50isveryeﬀectiveat attenuatingjitterartefactscaused eitherbythesignalsourceorproblems inthecabling.
13.5 ACmainscables
Itishighlyrecommendedthatan additionaldeviceusedtoﬁltertheAC powerfromthemains(sometimes calledan“audiophilemainsﬁlter”or “powerpuriﬁer”,forexample)not be usedwiththeBeoLab50. Thisis becausetheinternalpowersupplyof theBeoLab50hasacustom-designed
ﬁlterthatreducesnoiseonitsAC mainsinput. Thisﬁlterhasbeen optimisedforthetime-variantcurrent demandsoftheBeoLab50,makinga genericexternalﬁlterredundant(at best)ordetrimental(atworst)tothe performanceoftheloudspeaker. Similarly,itisunnecessarytousea so-called“exotic”or“audiophile” mainscablefortheBeoLab50.
41
Appendix2: IntroductiontoParametricEqualisers
Almostallsoundsystemsoﬀerbass andtrebleadjustmentsforthesound– thesearebasicallycoarseversionsofa moregeneraltoolcalledanequaliser thatisoftenusedinrecordingstudios. Onceuponatime,ifyoumadea long-distancephonecall,therewasan actualphysicalconnectionmade betweenthewirerunningoutofyour telephoneandthetelephoneatthe otherendoftheline. Thiscausedabig probleminsignalqualitybecausealot ofhigh-frequencycomponentsofthe signalwouldgetattenuatedalongthe wayduetolossesinthewiring. Consequently,boostercircuitswere madetohelpmaketherelativelevels ofthevariousfrequenciesmoreequal. Asaresult,thesecircuitsbecame knownasequalisers. Nowadays,of course,wedon’tneedtouse equaliserstoﬁxthequalityof long-distancephonecalls(mostly becausethecommunicationpathsuse digitalencodinginsteadofanalogue transmission),butwedousethemto customisetherelativebalanceof variousfrequenciesinanaudiosignal. Thishappensmostofteninarecording studio,butequaliserscanbeagreat personalisationtoolinaplayback systeminthehome. Thetwomainreasonsforusing equalisationinaplaybacksystemsuch astheBeoLab50’sarepersonal preferenceandcompensationforthe eﬀectsofthelisteningroom’s acousticalbehaviour. Equalisersaretypicallycomprisedofa collectionofﬁlters,eachofwhichhas upto4“handles”or“parameters”that canbemanipulatedbytheuser. These parametersare
• FilterType • Gain • CentreFrequency • Q
14.1 FilterType
TheFilter Typewillletyoudecidethe relativelevelsofsignalsatfrequencies withinthebandthatyou’reaﬀecting. Althoughthereareupto7diﬀerent typesofﬁltersthatcanbefoundin professionalparametricequalisers,the BeoLab50containsthethree most-usedofthese:
• low-shelvingFilter • high-shelvingFilter • PeakingFilter
14.1.1 low-shelvingFilter
Intheory,alow-shelving Filter aﬀects gainofallfrequenciesbelowthecentre frequencybythesameamount. In reality,thereisabandaroundthe centrefrequencywheretheﬁlter transitionsbetweenagainof0dB(no changeinthesignal)andthegainof theaﬀectedfrequencyband.
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Figure 14.1: Example of a low-shelving ﬁlter with a positive gain. Frequencies below approximately 80 Hz have been aﬀected.
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Figure 14.2: Example of a low-shelving ﬁlterwithanegativegain. Frequencies below approximately 80 Hz have been aﬀected.
Notethatthelow-shelvingﬁltersused intheBeoLab50deﬁnethecentre frequencyasbeingthefrequency wherethegainisonehalfthe maximum(orminimum)gainofthe ﬁlter. Forexample,inFigure14.1,the gainoftheﬁlteris6dB.Thecentre frequencyisthefrequencywherethe gainisone-halfthisvalueor3dB, whichcanbefoundat80Hz. Somecareshouldbetakenwhenusing low-shelvingﬁlterssincetheiraﬀected frequencybandsextendto0HzorDC. Thiscancauseasystemtobepushed beyonditslimitsinextremelylow frequencybandsthatareoflittle-to-no consequencetotheaudiosignal. Note, however,thatthisislessofaconcern fortheBeoLab50,sinceitisprotected againstsuchabuse.
14.1.2 high-shelvingFilter
Intheory,ahigh-shelving Filter aﬀects gainofallfrequenciesabovethe centrefrequencybythesameamount. Inreality,thereisabandaroundthe centrefrequencywheretheﬁlter transitionsbetweenagainof0dB(no changeinthesignal)andthegainof theaﬀectedfrequencyband.
42
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Figure14.3: Exampleofahigh-shelving ﬁlter with a positive gain. Frequencies above approximately 8 kHz have been aﬀected.
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Figure14.4: Exampleofahigh-shelving ﬁlterwithanegativegain. Frequencies above approximately 8 kHz have been aﬀected.
Notethatthehigh-shelvingﬁltersused intheBeoLab50deﬁnethecentre frequencyasbeingthefrequency wherethegainisonehalfthe maximum(orminimum)gainofthe ﬁlter. Forexample,inFigure14.4,the gainoftheﬁlteris-6dB.Thecentre frequencyisthefrequencywherethe gainisone-halfthisvalueor-3dB, whichcanbefoundat8kHz. Somecareshouldbetakenwhenusing high-shelvingﬁlterssincetheir aﬀectedfrequencybandscanextend beyondtheaudiblefrequencyrange. Thiscancauseasystemtobepushed beyonditslimitsinextremelyhigh frequencybandsthatareoflittle-to-no consequencetotheaudiosignal.
14.1.3 PeakingFilter
Apeaking ﬁlter isusedforamorelocal adjustmentofafrequencyband. Inthis case,thecentrefrequencyoftheﬁlter
isaﬀectedmost(itwillhavetheGain oftheﬁlterappliedtoit)andadjacent frequenciesoneithersideareaﬀected lessandlessasyoumovefurther away. Forexample,Figure14.5shows theresponseofapeakingﬁlterwitha centrefrequencyof1kHzandgainsof 6dB(theblackcurve)and-6dB(the redcurve). Ascanbeseenthere,the maximumeﬀecthappensat1kHzand frequencybandstoeithersideare aﬀectedless.
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Figure14.5: Exampleoftwopeakingﬁlters. Theblackcurveshowsaﬁlterwith apositivegain,theredcurveshowsthe reciprocal with a negative gain. The centrefrequencyofthisﬁlteris1kHz.
YoumaynoticeinFigure14.5thatthe blackandredcurvesaresymmetrical– inotherwords,theyareidentical exceptinpolarityofthegain. Thisisa particulartypeofpeakingﬁltercalleda reciprocal peak/dip ﬁlter –so-called becausethesetwoﬁlters,placedin series,canbeusedtocanceleach other’seﬀectsonthesignal. NotethatBeoLab50usesreciprocal peak/dipﬁlters.
14.2 Gain
Ifyouneedtomakeallfrequenciesin youraudiosignallouder,thenyoujust needtoincreasethevolume. However, ifyouwanttobealittlemoreselective andmakesomefrequencybands louder(orquieter)andleaveother bandsunchanged,thenyou’llneedan equaliser. So,oneoftheimportant questionstoaskis“howmuchlouder?” or“howmuchquieter?” Theanswerto
thisquestionisthegainoftheﬁlter– thisistheamountbywhichissignalis increasedordecreasedinlevel. Thegainofanequaliserﬁlterisalmost alwaysgivenindecibelsordB1.Thisis ascalebasedonlogarithmicchanges inlevel. Luckily,it’snotnecessaryto understandlogarithmsinordertohave anintuitivefeelfordecibels. Thereare reallyjustthreethingstoremember:
• againof0dBisthesameas saying“nochange” • positivedecibelvaluesare louder,negativedecibelvalues arequieter • Addingapproximately6dBtothe gainisthesameassaying“two timesthelevel”. (Therefore, subtracting6dBishalfthelevel.)
14.3 CentreFrequency
So,thenextquestiontoansweris “whichfrequencybandsdoyouwant toaﬀect?” Thisispartiallydeﬁnedby thecentre frequencyorFcoftheﬁlter. Thisisavaluethatismeasuredinthe numberofcyclespersecond2,labelled Hertz orHz. Generally,ifyouwanttoincrease(or reduce)thelevelofthebass,thenyou shouldsetthecentrefrequencytoa lowvalue(roughlyspeaking,below 125Hz). Ifyouwanttochangethe levelofthehighfrequencies,thenyou shouldsetthecentrefrequencytoa highvalue(say,above8kHz).
14.4 Q
Inalloftheaboveﬁltertypes,there aretransitionbands–frequencyareas wheretheﬁlter’sgainischangingfrom 0dBtothedesiredgain. Changingthe ﬁlter’sQ3 allowsyoutoaltertheshape ofthistransition. ThelowertheQ,the smootherthetransition. Inboththe caseoftheshelvingﬁltersandthe peakingﬁlter,thismeansthatawider
1The“B”isacapitalbecauseit’snamedafterAlexanderGrahamBell. 2Thisisliterallythenumberoftimesaloudspeakerdriverwillmoveinandoutoftheloudspeakercabinetpersecond. 3Notethat,althoughtheterm“Q”isusedthroughoutthismanualandtheBeoLab50interfaceforbothpeakingandshelvingﬁlters,thisisincorrect. Tobetechnicallycorrect, theterm“S”(orshelfslope)shouldbeusedforshelvingﬁlters.
43
bandoffrequencieswillbeaﬀected. Thiscanbeseenintheexamplesin Figures14.6and14.7.
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Figure 14.6: Example of two lowshelving ﬁlters. The black curve shows a ﬁlter with a Q of 0.35, the red curve showstheaﬁlterwithaQof1. Forboth ﬁlters,thecentrefrequencyis1kHzand thegainis+6dB.
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Figure14.7: Exampleoftwopeakingﬁlters. Theblackcurveshowsaﬁlterwith a Q of 0.35, the red curve shows the a ﬁlter with a Q of 8. For both ﬁlters, the centre frequency is 1 kHz and the gain is+6dB.
ItshouldbeexplainedthattheQ parametercancauseashelvingﬁlter toslightlydiﬀerentlythanapeaking ﬁlter. WhentheQofashelvingﬁlter exceedsavalueof1,thegainofthe ﬁlterwill“overshoot”itslimits. For example,ascanbeseeninFigure14.8, aﬁlterwithagainof6dBandaQof8 willactuallyhaveagainofover10dB andwillattenuatebymorethan4dB. Thisover-andundershootingofthe ﬁlter’smagnituderesponseisthe reasontheQofthehigh-shelvingand low-shelvingﬁltersintheBeoLab50’s parametricequaliserhavebeenlimited toamaximumvalueof1.
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Figure14.8:Exampleoflow-shelvingﬁlterswithaQofmorethan1. Theblack curveshowsaﬁlterwithaQof1forreference,theredcurvesshowstheaﬁlter with Q’s of 2, 4, and 8. The centre frequencyofthisﬁlteris1kHzandthegain is+6dB.
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Appendix3: TheInﬂuenceofListeningRoomAcousticsonLoudspeakers
Aroomcomprisedoflargeﬂat reﬂectivesurfaceswithlittleacoustical absorptionhasaverydiﬀerent acousticalbehaviourfromarecording ormasteringstudiowheretheﬁnal decisionsaboutvariousaspectsofa recordingaremade. Consequently, thismusthaveaneﬀectonalistener’s perceptionofarecordingplayed throughapair(assumingstereo reproduction)ofloudspeakersinthat room. Theinitialquestiontobeasked is“what,exactly,aretheexpected eﬀectsoftheroom’sacoustical behaviourinsuchacase?” Thesecond is“iftheroomhastoomuchofan eﬀect,howcanIimprovethesituation (e.g. byaddingabsorptionorchanging thephysicalconﬁgurationofthe systemintheroom)?” Thethird,and possiblyﬁnalquestionis“howcana loudspeakercompensate(oratleast account)fortheseeﬀects?” Theeﬀectaroom’sacoustical behaviourhasonaloudspeaker’s soundcan,atasimplelevel,be consideredunderthreegeneral headings:
• EarlyReﬂections • RoomModes • Reverberation
15.1 EarlyReﬂections
Earlyreﬂections,fromsidewallsand theﬂoorandceiling,haveaninﬂuence onboththetimbre(tonecolour)and thespatialcharacteristicsofastereo reproductionsystem. Wewillonly discussthetimbraleﬀectsinthis article.
Figure15.1: Thesoundarrivingatalistenerfromaloudspeakerinaroomwith only one wall. Note that the sound arrives from two directions – the ﬁrst is directly from the loudspeaker (in red). Thesecondisa“ﬁrstreﬂection”oﬀthe wall(inblue).
Let’sstartbyassumingthatyouhave aloudspeakerthathasamagnitude responsethatisperfectlyﬂat–atleast from20Hzto20kHz. Wewillalso assumethatithasthatresponse regardlessofwhichdirectionyou measureitin–inotherwords,it’sa perfectlyomnidirectionalloudspeaker. Thequestionis,“whateﬀectdoesthe wallreﬂectionhaveonthemeasured responseoftheloudspeaker?” Verygenerallyspeaking,theansweris thatyouwillgetahigherlevelatsome frequencies(becausethedirectsound andthereﬂectionaddconstructively andreinforceeachother)andyouwill getalowerlevelatotherfrequencies (becausethedirectsoundandthe reﬂectionworkagainsteachotherand “canceleachotherout”). Whatis potentiallyinterestingisthatthe frequenciesthataddandthe frequenciesthatcancelalternateas yougoupthefrequencyrange. Sothe totalresultlookslikeacomb(asina combthatyouusetocombyourhair, if,unlikeme,youhavehairtocomb). Forexample,takealookatFigure15.2.
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Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure15.2: Distancetoloudspeaker= 2m. Distancetowall=1m. Wallisperfectly reﬂective and the loudspeaker is perfectly omnidirectional. The red line isthemagnituderesponseofthedirect sound. The blue line is the magnitude response of the reﬂected sound. The blacklineisthemagnituderesponseof thecombination.
Youcanseethat,attheverylowend, thereﬂectionbooststhelevelofthe loudspeakerbyaapproximately5dB (oralmosttwotimesthelevel)atthe listeningposition. However,asyougo upinfrequency,thetotalleveldropsto about15dBlessbeforeitstartsrising again. Asyougoupinfrequency,the levelgoesupanddown. This alternationactuallyhappensata regularfrequencyspacing(e.g. anotch atmultiplesof200Hz)butitdoesn’t lookregularbecausetheX-axisofthe plotislogarithmic(whichbetter representshowweheardiﬀerencesin frequency). Whathappensifwemovethewall furtheraway? Well,twothingswill happen. Theﬁrstisthatthereﬂection willbequieter,sothepeaksand notcheswon’tbeaspronounced. The secondisthatthespacingofthepeaks andnotchesinfrequencywillget closertogether. Inotherwords,the eﬀectstartsatalowerfrequency. Forexample,takealookatFigure15.3.
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10 100 1,000 10,000 −20
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Gain (dB)
Figure15.3: Distancetoloudspeaker= 2m. Distancetowall=3m. Wallisperfectly reﬂective and the loudspeaker is perfectly omnidirectional. The red line isthemagnituderesponseofthedirect sound. The blue line is the magnitude response of the reﬂected sound. The blacklineisthemagnituderesponseof thecombination.
Conversely,ifwemovethewallcloser, wedotheopposite(theproblemgets worse,butatahigherfrequency),as canbeseeninFigure15.4.
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Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure15.4: Distancetoloudspeaker= 2m. Distancetowall=0.25m. Wallis perfectlyreﬂectiveandtheloudspeaker is perfectly omnidirectional. The red line is the magnitude response of the direct sound. The blue line is the magnituderesponseofthereﬂectedsound. The black line is the magnitude responseofthecombination.
So,ifyouhavearoomwithonlyone wallwhichisperfectlyreﬂective,and youhaveaperfectlyomnidirectional loudspeaker,thenyoucanseethat yourbestoptionistoeitherputthe loudspeaker(andyourself)veryfaror veryclosetothewall. Thatwaythe artefactscausedbythereﬂectionare eithertooquiettodoanydamage,or haveaneﬀectthatstartsattoohigha frequencyforyoutocare. Thenagain, mostroomhavemorethanonewall, thewallsarenotperfectlyreﬂective, andtheloudspeakerisnotperfectly omnidirectional.
So,whathappensinthecasewhere theloudspeakerismoredirectionalor youhavesomeabsorption(better knownas“fuzzystuﬀ”)onyourwalls? Well,eitherofthesecaseswillhave basicallythesameeﬀectinmostcases sinceloudspeakersaretypicallymore directionalathighfrequencies–soyou getlesshighenddirectedtowardsthe wall. Alternatively,fuzzystuﬀtendsto soakuphighfrequencies. So,ineither ofthesetwocases,you’llgetlesshigh endinthereﬂection. Let’ssimulate thisbyputtingalowpassﬁlteronthe reﬂection,asshowninFigure15.5, 15.6and15.7whichhaveidentical distancesasthesimulationsinFigures 15.2,15.3,and15.4–forcomparison.
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Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure15.5: Distancetoloudspeaker= 2m. Distancetowall=1m. Wallisabsorptiveand/ortheloudspeakerisdirectional at high frequencies. The red line isthemagnituderesponseofthedirect sound. The blue line is the magnitude response of the reﬂected sound. The blacklineisthemagnituderesponseof thecombination.
10 100 1,000 10,000 −20
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0
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure15.6: Distancetoloudspeaker= 2 m. Distance to wall = 3 m. Wall is absorptive and/or the loudspeakers is directional at high frequencies. The red line is the magnitude response of the direct sound. The blue line is the magnitude response of the reﬂected sound. The black line is the magnitude responseofthecombination.
10 100 1,000 10,000 −20
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Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Figure15.7: Distancetoloudspeaker= 2 m. Distance to wall = 0.25 m. Wall is absorptive and/or the loudspeaker is directionalathighfrequencies. Thered lineisthemagnituderesponseofthedirect sound. The blue line is the magnituderesponseofthereﬂectedsound. The black line is the magnitude responseofthecombination.
Whatyoucanseeinallthreeofthe previousplotsisthat,asthehigh frequencycontentofthereﬂection disappears,thereislessandlesseﬀect onthetotal. Thebottomplotis basicallyaproofoftheage-oldruleof thumbthatsaysthat,ifyouputa loudspeakernexttoawall,you’llget morebassthanifit’sfartherfromthe wall. Sincethereisnotmuchhigh frequencyenergyradiatedfromthe rearofmostloudspeakers,Figure15.7 isaprettygoodgeneralrepresentation ofwhathappenswhenaloudspeakeris placedclosetoawall. Ofcourse,the exactbehaviourofthedirectivityofthe loudspeakerwillbediﬀerent–butthe generalshapeofthetotalcurvewillbe prettysimilartowhatyouseethere. So,theendconclusionofallofthisis that,inordertoreduceundesirable artefactscausedbyawallreﬂection, youcandoanycombinationofthe following:
• movetheloudspeakerveryclose tothewall • movetheloudspeakerfarther frontthewall • sitveryclosetothewall • sitfartherawayfromthewall • putabsorptiononthewall
However,thereisoneinteresting eﬀectthatsitsontopofallofthis– thatisthefactthatwhatyou’llseeina
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measurementwithamicrophoneisnot necessarilyrepresentativeofwhat you’llhear. Thisisbecausea microphonedoesnothavetwoears. Also,thedirectionthereﬂectioncomes fromwillchangehowyouperceiveit. A sidewallreﬂectionsoundsdiﬀerent fromaﬂoorreﬂection. Thisisbecause youhavetwoears–oneoneachside ofyourhead. Yourbrainusesthe sidewallreﬂections(or,moreprecisely, howtheyrelatetothedirectsound)to determine,inpart,howfarawaya soundsourceis. Also,since,inthe caseofsidewallreﬂections,yourtwo earsgettwodiﬀerentdelaytimeson thereﬂection(usually),yougettwo diﬀerentcomb-ﬁlterpatterns,where thepeaksinoneearcanbeusedtoﬁll inthenotchesintheotherearandvice versa. Whenthereﬂectioncomesfrom theﬂoororceiling,yourtwoearsget thesameartefacts(sinceyourtwo earsarethesamedistancetotheﬂoor, probably). Consequently,it’seasily noticeable(andit’sbeenprovenusing science!) thataﬂoororceiling reﬂectionhasabiggertimbraleﬀect onaloudspeakerthanalateral(or sideways)reﬂection.
15.2 RoomModes
Roommodesareacompletelydiﬀerent beast–althoughtheyexistbecauseof reﬂections. Ifyoupluckaguitarstring, youmakeadeﬂectioninthestringthat movesoutwardsuntilithitstheendsof thestring. Itthenbouncesbackdown thestring,bouncesagain,etc. etc. As thewavebouncesbackandforth,it settlesintoatotalresultwhereitlooks likethestringisjustbouncingupand downlikeaskippingrope. Thelonger thestring,thelowerthenote,because ittakeslongerforthewavetobounce backandforthonthestring. Youcan alsolowerthenotebyloweringthe tensionofthestring,sincethiswillslow downthespeedofthewavemoving backandforthonit. Thelastwayto lowerthenoteistomakethestring heavier(e.g. bymakingitthicker)– sinceaheavierstringisharderto
move,thewavemovessloweronit. Theairinapipebehavesexactlythe sameway. Ifyou“pluck”theairinthe middleofapipe(say,byclappingour hands,orcoughing,ormakingany noiseatall)thenthesoundwave travelsalongthepipeuntilithitsthe end. Whethertheendofthepipeis cappedornot,thewavewillbounce backandtravelbackthroughthepipe intheoppositedirectionfromwhence itcame.1 Asthewavebouncesback andforthoﬀhetwoendsofthepipe,it alsosettlesdown(justliketheguitar string)intosomethingcalleda “standingwave”. Thisisthepipe’s equivalentoftheskippingrope behaviourinthestring. Theresultis thatthepipewill“resonate”orringat anote. Thelongerthepipe,thelower thenotebecausethespeedofthe soundwavemovinginairinthepipe staysthesame,butthelongerthe pipe,thelongerittakesforthewaveto bouncebackandforth. Thisisbasically howallwoodwindinstrumentswork. What’sinterestingisthat,intermsof resonance,aroomisbasicallyabig pipe. Ifyou“pluck”theairintheroom (say,bymakingsoundwitha loudspeaker)thesoundwavewillmove downtheroom,bounceoﬀthewall,go backthroughtheroom,bounceofthe oppositewall,etc. etc. (Ofcourse, otherthingsarehappening,butwe’ll ignorethose.) Thiseﬀectismost obviousonagraphbyputtingsome soundinaroomandstopping suddenly. Insteadofactuallystopping, youcanseetheroom“ringing” (exactlyinthesamewaythatabell ringswhenit’sbeenhit)atafrequency thatgraduallydecaysastimegoesby. However,it’simportanttoremember thatthisringingisalwayshappening– evenwhilethesoundisplaying. So,for example,akickdrum“thump”comes outofthespeakerwhich“plucks”the roommodeanditrings,whilethe musiccontinueson.
Time (sec)
Figure 15.8: The concept of the eﬀect ofaroommodeandActiveRoomCompensation. See the associated text for anexplanation.
Figure15.8showstheconceptofthe eﬀectofaroommodeandhowit’s dealtwithbyActiveRoom Compensation. Thesoundcomingout oftheloudspeakerisshownonthetop plot,inblack. Theresponseofthe loudspeakerandasingleroommodeis shownbelow,inred. Youcanseethere thattheroommodekeeps“ringing”at onefrequencyafterthesoundfromthe loudspeakerstops. Therearetwoaudibleeﬀectsofthis. Theﬁrstisthat,ifyourmusiccontains thefrequencythattheroomwantsto resonateat,thenthatnotewillsound louder. Whenyouhearpeopletalkof “unevenbass”ora“one-note-bass” eﬀect,oneoftheﬁrstsuspectsto blameisaprominentroommode. Thesecondisthat,sincethemodeis ringingalongwiththemusic,the overalleﬀectwillbemuddiness. Thisis particularlytruewhenonebassnote causestheroommodetostartringing, andthiscontinueswhenthenextbass noteisplaying. Forexample,ifyour roomroomringsonaC#,andthebass playsaC#followedbyaD–thenthe roomwillcontinuetoatC#,conﬂicting withtheDandresultingin“mud”. This isalsotrueifthekickdrumtriggersthe roommode,soyouhaveakickdrum “plucking”theroomringingonaC#all throughthetrack. Ifthetuneisinthe keyofF,thenthiswillnotbepretty.2 Inorderfortheloudspeakerto compensatefortheeﬀectoftheroom mode,ithastonotonlyproducethe 1Whetherthepipeisclosed(capped)oropenonlydeterminesthecharacteristicofthereﬂection–therewillbeareﬂectioneitherway. 2Doasearchfor“tritone”or“diabolusinmusica”.
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signalitshould(showninblack)butit mustalsoproduceasignalthat counter-actstheringingintheroom mode. Thisisshowninthelowerplot inblue. Ascanbeseenthere(most easilyintheringingafterthesignal hasstopped),theloudspeaker’s compensationsignal(thebluecurve)is themirrorimageoftheroom’s “misbehaviour”(inred). Ifyouadd thesetwocurvestogether,theresultis thattheycanceleachotherout,and theresultistheblackcurve. Ifyouwouldliketocalculatea predictionofwhereyou’llhavea problemwitharoommode,youcan usethefollowingequation:
• metricversion: frequency=172/(lengthinm) • imperialversion: frequency=558/(lengthinfeet)
Thiscalculationwillproducethe fundamentalfrequencyoftheroom modeinHzforthedimensionofthe roomrepresentedby“length”. Your mostaudiblemodalproblemswillbeat thefrequenciescalculatedusingeither oftheequationsabove,andmultiples ofthem(e.g. 2timestheresult,3 timestheresult,andsoon). So,forexample,ifyourroomis5m wide,yourworst-casemodes(forthe room’swidth)willbeat172/5=34.4 Hz,aswellas68.8Hz,103.2Hzandso on. Rememberthatthesearejust predictions–butthey’llcomepretty close. Youshouldalsorememberthat thisassumesthatyouhavecompletely immovablewallsandnoabsorption–if thisisnottrue,thentheseverityofthe actualproblemwillvaryaccordingly. Sadly,thereisnotmuchyoucando aboutroommodes. Therearewaysto managethem,including,butnot exclusivetothefollowingstrategies:
• makesurethatthethree dimensionsofyourlistening roomarenotrelatedtoeach otherwithsimpleratios • putupmembraneabsorbersor slotabsorbersthataretunedto
themodalfrequencies • placeyourloudspeakerinanode –alocationinaroomwhereit doesnotcoupletoaproblematic mode(however,notethatone mode’snodeisanothermode’s antinode) • sitinanode–alocationina roomwhereyoudonotcoupleto aproblematicmode(seewarning above) • useroomcorrectionDSPsoftware suchasARCintheBeoLab50
15.3 Reverberation
Reverberationiswhatyouhearwhen youclapyourhandsinabigcathedral. It’sthecollectionofalotofreﬂections bouncingfromeverywhereasyougo throughtime. Whenyouﬁrstclapyour hands,yougetacoupleofreﬂections thatcomeinseparatedenoughintime thattheygettheirownlabel–“early reﬂections”. Afterthat,thereareso manyreﬂectionscomingfromsomany directions,andsodenselypacked togetherintime,thatwecan’t separatethem,sowejustcallthem “reverberation”or“reverb”(although you’lloftenhearpeoplecallit“echo” whichisthewrongwordtouseforthis. Reverbiswhatyougetwhenyouhave alotofreﬂectivesurfacesinyourroom –butsinceit’ssoirregularintimeand space,itjustmakesawashofsound ratherthanaweirdcomb-ﬁltereﬀect likewesawwithasinglereﬂection. So, althoughitmakesthings“cloudy”–it’s morelikehavingafogonyourglasses insteadofascratch,orasoft-focus eﬀectonakitschyphotographofa ﬁeldofﬂowers.
15.4 Solutions
Aswe’veseen,ifyourlisteningroomis normal,youhaveatleastthesethree basicacousticproblemstodealwith. Eachproblemhasadiﬀerentsolution... Theﬁrstsolutionhasalreadybeen startedforyou. Asisexplainedinthe
sectiononSoundDesign,theﬁnal tuningofeveryBang&Olufsen loudspeaker(includingtheBeoLab50) isvoicedinatleastfourroomswith verydiﬀerentacousticalbehaviours rangingfromavery“dead”livingroom withlotsofabsorptiveanddiﬀusive surfacestoalargerandvery“live” spacewithaminimalisticdecorating, andlargeﬂatsurfaces. Oncewehave asinglesounddesignthatisbasedon thecommonelementsthoserooms, wetesttheloudspeakersinmore roomstoensurethatthey’llbehave wellunderallconditions. ThesecondsolutionisBeoLab50’s ActiveRoomCompensationwhichwill correcttheeﬀectsofboundaries (walls)androommodesonthetimbre oftheloudspeakeratthelistening position(s). Usingmeasurementsofthe characteristicsoftheloudspeakerat thelisteningpositions,theARC algorithmthencreatesaﬁlterthatis usedto“undo”theseeﬀects. For example,iftheloudspeakeriscloseto awall(whichwillgenerallyresultina boostedbass)thentheﬁlterwill reducethebasssymmetrically. Similarly,ringingcausedbyroom modeswillbeactivelycancelledby bothBeoLab50’s. Thatway,thelossin theﬁlterandthegainduetotheroom willcanceleachother. Thethirdsolutionisuniquetothe BeoLab50–BeamWidthControl. This allowsyoutocustomisetherelative levelsofthedirectsoundandthe reﬂectedsoundatthelistening position. Theresultofthisisthat,even ifyouhaveacousticallyreﬂectiveside walls,theBeoLab50canstilldeliver anaccurateandpreciserepresentation ofthespatialpresentationofyour stereorecordings.
15.5 Conclusions
Ofcourse,thissectiondoesnotcover everythingthereistoknowaboutroom acoustics. And,ofcourse,youcan’t expectaloudspeakertosoundexactly thesameineveryroom. Ifthatwere true,therewouldbenosuchthingasa
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“good”concerthall. Aroom’s acousticalbehaviouraﬀectsthesound ofallsoundsourcesintheroom. On theotherhand,humansalsohavean amazingabilitytoadapt–inother wordsyou“getusedto”the characteristicsofyourlisteningroom. However,thereisnodebatethat,due tomanyissues(theﬁrsttwothatcome tomindarefrequencyrangeand directivity)twodiﬀerentloudspeakers willbehavediﬀerentlyfromeachother intwodiﬀerentrooms. Inotherwords, ifyoulistentoloudspeaker“A”and loudspeaker“B”inashowroomofa shop,youmightpreferloudspeaker“A” –butifyoutookthemhome,youmight preferloudspeaker“B”.Thiswouldnot besurprising,sincewhatyouhearis notonlytheloudspeakerbutthe loudspeaker“ﬁltered”bythelistening room. Thisisexactlywhy,evenwith automatedroomcompensation algorithms,someﬁnetuningmaybe necessarytoachieveasoundthatbest

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