Wilson Audio WATCH Dog Subwoofer Series-2 - Manual (Page 17)

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Note: The following section presents conceptual and practical information
on room acoustics. These concepts for two-channel audio become even more
important when dealing with multi-channel audio or home theater. The presence
of two or more speakers in a room only increases the amount of setup difficul-
ties and speaker interactions. Careful study of the room acoustics principles
herein, followed by evaluating your own room configuration, will result in a
marked improvement in the performance of your multi-channel system.
Section 2.0 - Room Reflections
There are three commonly encountered room reflection problems: slap-echo,
standing waves, and comb filter effects.
Slap Echo
Probably the most obnoxious form of reflection is called “slap echo.” In slap
echo, primarily mid-range and high frequency sounds reflect off of two parallel hard
surfaces. The sound literally reverberates back and forth until it is finally dissipated
over time. You can test for slap echo in any room by clapping your hands sharply in
the middle of the room and listening for the characteristic sound of the echo in the
mid-range. Slap echo destroys the sound quality of a stereo system primarily in two
ways:
• Adding harshness to the upper mid-range and treble through
energy time storage.
• Destroying the delicate phase relationships which help to establish
sound stage and image localization cue.
Nonparallel walls do not support slap echo, but rather allow the sound to dif-
fuse.
Slap echo is a common acoustical problem in typical domestic listening rooms
because most of these rooms have walls of a hard, reflective nature, occasionally
I n Yo u r R o o m