Review of Loudspeakers For Music Recording and Reproduction, January 19, 2008
This review is from: Loudspeakers: For music recording and reproduction (Hardcover)
"Loudspeakers For Music Recording and Reproduction" is simply excellent. Philip Newell and Keith Holland have produced a comprehensive book that discusses many issues that are not covered in other books.
Whilst giving insights into the behaviour of loudspeaker transducers and systems, it also gives an understanding of the broader issues that underpin the design of loudspeaker systems and the qualities of the sound that they produce. The book is sufficiently comprehensive and detailed to be deemed a reference text, but it is written in such a readable way that it gives the reader an excellent grasp of the complex processes that govern how electrical energy is converted to sound at the listeners ears.
Newell and Holland deal with parameters that are directly associated with loudspeaker systems; amplifiers, cables, transducers, crossovers, enclosures, location relative to room boundaries, room acoustics and some psycho-acoustics.
This is not a cookbook giving design instructions or equations; this information can be found in many other texts and technical papers. The book's strength is its discussion of the technical factors that affect the quality of sound heard by the listener; this information is not readily found is such depth. It gives the reader a good handle on the things that really matter in the electro-acoustic and acoustic domains of sound reproduction.
Newell and Holland have conducted extensive research over the years into loudspeaker responses and room acoustics and have an excellent ability to bust audio myths with technical arguments that are grounded in real world application. They are regular presenters at academic and professional conferences, and this book contains a great deal of their work.
Noteworthy is the extensive discussion on their recent research on the audibility of phase delay and loss of modulation at low frequencies due to the loudspeaker's low frequency alignment and room acoustic properties.
I whole-heartedly endorse this book, and recommend it both to serious scholars of loudspeaker systems and to others who desire an enjoyable read about state of the art thinking about loudspeaker reproduction.
It is certainly part of my library.
Glenn Leembruggen
Principal
Acoustic Directions
Consultants in Acoustics Australia











Saluti
F.C.