Digital technology and acoustical accuracy in domestic music reproduction

Accuracy of spectral magnitude measurement is a generally accepted criterion of sound reproduction ability, but there is little correspondence between the conditions under which usual loudspeaker measurements are made and the realities of loudspeaker usage. It is also unclear whether specific programs are intended for field reproduction, in which the listening environment is cancelled, or source reproduction, from which the recording environment is absent. The achievement of either objective depends upon (1) the use of loudspeakers which meet certain directivity criteria and (2) new transmission systems which may be suitable applications of digital encoding. Loudspeaker measurements which employ digital signal processing may aid the design of such loudspeakers and transmission systems by allowing (1) acquisition of binaural data in actual room settings, (2) observation of the response of linear basilar membrane models to real sources, (3) extraction of useful interaural cross‐correlation data, and (4) sep...