SDA effect

Systems

ShinAce wrote: »

I read enchantment the first time.

he he.I guess I should proof read before hitting submit.

ShinAce

I remember the US army once built a crazy tetrahedron looking thing for fighter pilots. The original design was for 200+ full range speakers all around the test subject.

Can you imagine the processing involved to get it sound just right using speaker phase? Either that or you only play the one speaker you want for that direction.

reeltrouble1

what a bunch of geeks.

RT1

TroyD

Stereo is an effect as well, it's an illusion of reality...so, in that sense, if we want to get wrapped up in semantics, sure, it's an effect the same as stereo is an effect.

To answer the question though, no, I've never found SDA to sound anything but natural and have never found it to sound artificial or contrived.

BDT

madmax

I've heard the SDA effect on many SDA systems including mine so there is one for sure. However, when set up properly AND everything else is right the effect goes away completely and leaves you with pure soundstage. F1Nut had his set up in such a way that absolutely no evidence of an effect was observed. I think instead of calling it an effect maybe it should be called "non-optimized SDA artifact" which is what it is.

analog97

Wowee....lots of opinions about whether there is an SDA effect or not. To me, the question is moot. The SDA's are well-designed loudspeakers. There is, by definition, an "effect". Unplug the IC and compare. By subtraction, one "hears" the effect. So it exists (at least to me). I suggest we all put on our metaphysical tap-dancing shoes and re-think the basic question put forward in this thread. Maybe I'll put on one of my mono LP's and compare with and w/o the IC. Anyone venture a guess whether there will be an "effect"?

riker1384

I'm confused by the SDA effect. It says it eliminates crosstalk, but why is that a good thing? It might make for better phantom center images, but I don't think it should make for good overall stereo. The lack of crosstalk is part of what makes headphones sound unnatural.

That white paper seems to imply that the SDA speakers are designed to be used with binaural recordings (dummy-head microphones) rather than regular stereo. Has anyone tried listening to binaural recordings on SDAs? They aren't very common.

Face

Lasareath wrote: »

When you close your eyes you can pinpoint the location of the all the members in the band. It's an amazing effect. But, is it an effect?, I don't think so, I think it should be called "True Stereo" and that's it.
Sal

Sal, that effect is also possible without SDA's.

I've only heard two pairs of SDA's, your TL's and my 2B's, so my experience is limited. The only advantage I've noticed so far is that the soundstage can extend further past the speakers, in height and width.

Neskahi

Maybe it's not an "effect" but it does "create" and effect. But anyway. I'm thinkin it's almost a 4th dimension since we know it's artificially reproduced music but sounds so good.
There's definitely something more with SDA's or we wouldn't have such a following and there are so many high dollar speakers out there that already have a 3 dimensional effect of "stereo", by definition. Interesting insight by all that commented. Thanks.

heiney9

Face wrote: »

Sal, that effect is also possible without SDA's.

I've only heard two pairs of SDA's, your TL's and my 2B's, so my experience is limited. The only advantage I've noticed so far is that the soundstage can extends further past the speakers, in height and width.

Actually very few other conventional speakers if any can provide the soundstage and pinpoint accuracy of a proper;y set-up pair of SDA's.

Ribbon and electrostatic certainly can provide stunning imaging but as with any type of speaker system there are always trade offs.

I have never been able to get anything close the SDA experience with any other speaker. LSi's pale in comparison.

heiney9

Neskahi wrote: »

Maybe it's not an "effect" but it does "create" and effect. But anyway. I'm thinkin it's almost a 4th dimension since we know it's artificially reproduced music but sounds so good.
There's definitely something more with SDA's or we wouldn't have such a following and there are so many high dollar speakers out there that already have a 3 dimensional effect of "stereo", by definition. Interesting insight by all that commented. Thanks.

Nothing artificial about Stereo Dimensional Array. It's closer to the way we hear things in real life than practically any other speaker system.

Neskahi

Artificial only in that it's man-made. Poor choice of words on my part again. And you are
correct in saying in saying closer to real life sound. Why doesnt someone capitalize on this
technology today with a little marketing and a real product to do so?

dorokusai

Polk Audio IS and HAS been capitalizing on it with SDA Surround, which is the evolution of the original SDA concept. They currently have 3 marketed examples, Surround Bar, Surround Bar50(Much Better) and the Surround Bar 360(Amazing).

Neskahi

Would the Bar50 outperform 1C's sitting next to a large screen TV [2 channel]? Physical size aside.

heiney9

Neskahi wrote: »

Artificial only in that it's man-made. Poor choice of words on my part again. And you are
correct in saying in saying closer to real life sound. Why doesnt someone capitalize on this
technology today with a little marketing and a real product to do so?

I'll even refine my explanation further saying SDA is closer to the way we localize sound in real life. That's the key to eliminating cross talk.

dorokusai

It's not designed to sit next to a television, so no. The SB50 is more on par with the smaller SDA(SDA CRS for example) as there is inherently a size limitation vs the larger models(SDA1C +). That's just my opinion.

If you add the requisite subwoofer, I'd doubt you hear a difference between the two applications. I've never done a H2H but based on hearing almost every original SDA model, and the new stuff, I can make an educated guess. The SB50 does what the original SHOULD have done in the first place, which was add L&R SDA drivers.