A comment on D. K. Jones’ paper ‘Design of a medium-sized music auditorium’ with respect to signal strength of violins and the Haas precedence effect
✍ Scribed by E.L. Harkness
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1974
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 49 KB
- Volume
- 7
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0003-682X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
I refer to a paper entitled 'Design of a Medium-sized Music Auditorium' by D. K. Jones, published in Applied Acoustics, 5 (2)(1972)pp. 83-90. The paper is commendable as a detailed case study and I have no argument with Mr Jones' design decisions.
However, some statements in that paper warrant comment. 1. Mr Jones stated that 'The weakest section of an orchestra is the string section...'. I venture to suggest that the woodwind section of an orchestra is the weakest in terms of intensity level t and slowness in rise of onset characteristics. 2 2. Mr Jones stated that 'If column loudspeakers are placed at roof level at the front of the stage they will be slightly further from the individual members of the audience than is the lecturer and the Haas precedence effect will ensure that the sound appears to come fro.m the lecturer and not the loudspeakers'. I have no argument with the decision to place the column loudspeakers at ceiling level, but suggesting that the Haas effect might occur under conditions of having the secondary source above the speaker is questionable as, I understand, Somerville et al. 3 showed that 'the precedence effect investigated by Haas for the horizontal plane does not apply to the vertical plane...'.