3 D Audio -Home Demo

[BlueChiaro]

Allow me to begin the description of my afternoon with David and Edgar by saying that I felt privileged to be there. David warmly welcomed me into his lovely home, and we headed right downstairs. Edgar had yet to arrive, so David allowed me to listen to his beautiful SF Elipsas playing both hi-res and standard res files through his laptop. I thoroughly enjoyed the sound with its excellent imaging and depth. It sounded mighty sweet!

Then, Edgar arrived...along with Fritz (the tripod mounted head) and quite an array of testing gear, wires, lasers, protractors, and the like. I'll be the first to admit that what I know about room acoustics can be written on the point of an Elipsa spike, so my goal was to be a sponge. After a lovely lunch and the pleasure of meeting David's wife, Lisa, we headed downstairs to get the room testing underway.

The first thing that I was shown was a wireless speaker about the size of a brick. David held it about 24" in front of me, and I listened...I said, "Is there sound coming from your Elipsas?" No, he said...everything you're hearing is from this little speaker. This was the classic case of words being unable to do the experience justice. This little 3x6 speaker had me hearing things ALL over the place...it was unbelievable. Needless to say, this was a great hook & I was ready to see what I could learn.

From some pictures David had forwarded, previously, Edgar strongly suspected that the seating position's proximity to the rear wall would be a reflection challenge, and the metrics surely confirmed that. A number of measurements were taken...distance to speakers (below), distance between speakers, test tone readings (below), and much, much more.



The comic highlight of the afternoon was when Edgar counted down in advance of a test tone for us to be silent, and at the moment the test reading began, my stomach let out a rumble which which could have challenged a JL sub...quite embarrassing & requiring a retest.

Anyhow, I won't steal David's story, so I'll allow him to describe what else took place, but I had a truly great time. Unfortunately, I had to leave shortly after things had gotten dialed in and we were actually listening to 3D music. But, I was there long enough to say...SPECTACULAR!! My brain, literally, had a hard time processing that ONLY two (I repeat, 2) speakers were producing sounds in the locations that I was hearing them. The width and depth of the soundstage was nothing short of miraculous...and Edgar assured us that some acoustical treatments to the room would only make the effect that much more dramatic.

A big THANK YOU to David for allowing me to be part of what was a VERY special day. I don't think there is a person on this forum who would not have been as stunned as we were at what we heard...it's as close to breaking the laws of physics as I can imagine. It was a true honor to experience Edgar's amazing 3D filter.

[Masterlu]

Very Cool... Tell us more...

[jdandy]

David.......I am thinking that for a 3D filter to be effectively applied in any home, that is if it were a commercially available component, the filter building process would require some sort of automated set up, perhaps similar to the manner that the MEN220 set up requires. The good professor will not be able to enter everyone's home for a personal set up. Clibration will have to be done by an owner for the 3D audio system to be commercially viable.

[BlueChiaro]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Very Cool... Tell us more...

As a measurement newbie, I learned a good deal about the frequency graphs which I never really understood, and it was interesting to see the reflection "noise" in the readings diminish with a little room treatment and repositioning of speakers/listening position. It gave me much to think about regarding room setup for when my new speakers arrive. We all read about how important the room is...and I know it's true, but seeing the empirical evidence and subsequent changes right before my eyes & ears surely brought it to greater light.

I'll briefly describe some of what I heard. Let's assume, first of all, that the speakers are at 11 & 1 o'clock. I'd hear singers, instruments, etc. at 2-3 o'clock. One track was simply flowing water, and it sounded as if it were flowing around you...freaky! I'm surely familiar with these types of experiences in 5.1 & 7.1, but in 2.0???!! And, one the coolest of things that Edgar said, today, was, "I can put the sweet spot anywhere you want it. It makes no difference where your speakers are." Can you imagine that? Granted, there are ideal locations & room configurations which will maximize the 3D effect...that's why he made suggestions for David regarding placement and listening position, but we still heard very impressive 3D images even with the very less than ideal reflections in the initial position. Of course, if you're not sending the signal through the filter, then you'd surely better worry about where your speakers are positioned, but the concept of MAKING a sweet spot was pretty mind boggling.

All in all, there's a little part of me that wants to question this from a purist standpoint; however, I then begin to think that there was probably a "purist" who, at one point, resisted power cords, upgraded tubes, $5K tone arms, etc. So, while I could, perhaps, see the concept of 3D audio bothering a "purist" of today, I would bet that twenty years from now, another step forward in two channel may "offend" the purist who finds 3D as tried and true...JMHO.

[BlueChiaro]

Originally Posted by jdandy

David.......I am thinking that for a 3D filter to be effectively applied in any home, that is if it were a commercially available component, the filter building process would require some sort of automated set up, perhaps similar to the manner that the MEN220 set up requires. The good professor will not be able to enter everyone's home for a personal set up. Clibration will have to be done by an owner for the 3D audio system to be commercially viable.

It surely wouldn't be a DIY (Do It Yourself) project, Dan, but we didn't discuss its commercial implementation. I do think it's reasonable to envision deployment by a trained dealer network, though.

[Masterlu]

Was Serge there also?

[BlueChiaro]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Was Serge there also?

No...he was unable to make it. Do you think I'd be writing about this if HE were there??

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by BlueChiaro

No...he was unable to make it. Do you think I'd be writing about this if HE were there??

[BlueChiaro]

A good word to describe the experience is immersive. Again, I didn't have the opportunity for an extended listening session, and I wasn't listening to recordings with which I was familiar, but you surely felt as though you were dropped into the middle of the performance. The sense of air around the instruments was superb, and the vibe of being IN the concert hall was almost tangible. While I had a similar feeling when listening to Wilson Alexandria X2s through ARC Ref gear, today's experience was more enveloping due to the 3D effect, albeit not as grand or dynamic.

[1KW]

Robert I'm glad you made it . You are one of the first audiophiles in the world to hear 3 D audio and nobody can ever take that away from you . Please continue to post comments so that hopefully between the two of us we can try and explain what we both saw and heard. Dan I asked Edgar about a box that did a self calibration. He said designing a box to do that is fairly simple. Preventing some overseas company in the East from stealing his million dollar software was the bigger issue. He has licensed the software to a company who is going to have multiple pairs of phased arrays in a center channel theater speaker. A camera built into the speaker will automatically read the location of the faces in the audience and move individual speaker pairs in the array into the optimum position. If that person moves there head the speaker will move with them. This technology will be showing up on tv sets, computers, hand held video games etc. By the way the little speaker array Robert mentioned was attached to the computer via blutooth. I'll post more on the creation of the filter and how it was installed on my computer tomorrow. The sad part is that my wife is not happy with the way the room is looking and I will probably end up not keeping it this way much longer. Anyone who wants to hear a demo pm me soon as the room will probably not stay this way much longer.