measurement

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Review: SpectraCal CalMan5 Calibration Software and DPG-2000 Pattern Generator

The latest CalMan software offers a host of improvements, making it easier and faster to use.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted October 22, 2012
The CalMan software has become a de facto standard among the TV reviewer elite. Using a pattern generator and a measurement device, we can learn most of what we need to know about a TV in just a few minutes.
Among professional calibrators, use of the software is even more widespread, since it allows the printout of elaborate graphs and charts in a custom report for customers, showing them what their calibration money paid for.
With CalMan 5, SpectraCal has upped the awesomeness.

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Reel Audio: The Klipsch Tapes on CD

Speaker pioneer Paul Klipsch’s original stereo recordings are now on CD — and they’re amazing.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted July 4, 2012
Back in the mid-1950s, there weren’t a whole lot of stereo recordings available. How, then, could an audio engineer evaluate the equipment he was designing? For Paul Klipsch, founder of Klipsch Speakers, the answer was to make his own recordings.

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Subwoofers: Separating the Best From the Rest

The easy way to tell who’s serious about building subs
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted June 8, 2012
- 2
I was testing some subwoofers the other day when something wonderful dawned on me. I realized that at long last, we have an easy way to separate the serious subwoofer manufacturers from the not-so-serious.

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Test Tracks: Your Most Important Audio Tool

Making your own demo CD should be your first step in evaluating audio gear.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted May 25, 2012
- 1
If I were forced to choose between the $20K worth of audio test gear I own or the demo CD that cost me probably 20 cents to make, I’d take the latter without hesitation. Test gear is great for telling me how well an audio product is engineered. But when I want to find out what an audio product does — i.e., how a listener will perceive its sound — the demo CD is a much better tool.

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Behind the Screen: PSB at the NRC

A visit to Canada’s National Research Council with PSB Speakers’ Paul Barton
- By Al Griffin
- Posted May 24, 2012
Ever wonder why there are so many great Canadian speaker companies? Here’s one reason: government intervention. Canada’s government-sponsored National Research Council, which, among other things, facilitates research in the fields of speaker measurement, signal processing, and noise control, has proven to be a breeding ground for speaker design.

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Review: Datacolor Spyder 4TV HD

DIY calibration for those who might not trust their eyes.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted May 7, 2012
Somewhere between a simple setup disc and a full professional calibration is the Spyder from Datacolor.
Consisting of a small colorimeter you attach to your TV, some software, and a Blu-ray (or DVD) with test patterns, the package claims to let you “calibrate” (their word) your own TV.

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Why I Hate Sharing My Picture Settings

No, I won’t show you mine, and I don’t want to see yours.
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted May 4, 2012
- 2
One of the most common requests I get by email, and in comments on reviews, is to share what picture settings I’ve used to achieve the best image.
To put it bluntly: no. This isn’t because my settings are some big secret, it’s because I honestly believe sharing them is a bad idea, and I’d be doing more harm than good.
And once I list the reasons why, you may even agree with me.

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The Schroeder Frequency: A Show and Tell, Part 2

Why God says audiophiles are wrong about bass
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 7, 2012
- 1
In part 1 of this article, we discussed the Schroeder frequency — a frequency above which your listening room works primarily as a sound reflector and diffuser, and below which your room works primarily as a resonator.

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The Schroeder Frequency: A Show and Tell, Part 1

A key aspect of sound that too many enthusiasts and manufacturers ignore
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 5, 2012
You have at least two listening rooms. Even if you live in a studio apartment, you have at least two listening rooms. Well, in a sense. Every listening room is, in essence, two listening rooms when you look at it from the perspective of sound.

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Crossovers: A Show and Tell

Read this and you'll be able to figure out how the guts of any speaker work
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted February 15, 2012
- 2
One of the best weekends of my life involved a train trip to visit a new, out-of-state girlfriend. I barely remember my time with her, but I vividly remember what I read on the way: Vance Dickason’s Loudspeaker Design Cookbook.

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Bite-Sized Ear Protection: dBLogic SPL Meter

A stocking stuffer for the IEM aficionado
- By Michael Berk
- Posted December 9, 2011
Volume-limiting earbud outfit dBLogic introduced an interesting little product this past year: a miniature SPL meter ($49.95, dblogic.com), suitable for hanging on a keychain.

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Dispersion: A Show and Tell

This oft-overlooked spec can make the difference between a good speaker and a bad one.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted November 28, 2011
- 9
We tend to think of speakers as devices that blast sound at us. But they actually blast sound in every direction, and that’s a good thing. In fact, if they don’t blast sound in every direction, it can be a problem.
A speaker's characteristic sound projection pattern, broad or narrow, is referred to as "dispersion."

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