Surround Me with Sound

In the world of sound amplification  there are two separate universes.  The first is domestic hi-fi and the other is PA - public address.

In the domestic environment the nature and quality of the acoustic experience has really come on.  Quality and affordable domestic Hi-Fi is now well established, certainly beyond the very entry level kit.  The development of home theatre and surround sound has added a new dimension too.   Also this quality has been applied to the in-car sound systems ,especially given the very predictable acoustic environment.  Add to that developments like DAB radio, and what people hear at home and in the car, whether consciously or not, can be really good quality.  That represents a real challenge for PA which is more challenging, but where expectations can be set really high.

Amplifying music well at the higher volumes of PA is technically more difficult to get right.  It tends to be about getting the sound to travel well over distances, and so create a full wrap around, especially in the lower bass end of the sound.  This is especially so for larger venues and volumes.  Also, the acoustic properties of the space start to have a relatively stronger influence on the quality and projection of the sound.  The laws of physics are such that bigger speaker cones deliver and project a fuller, deeper and lower bass, and that's where the smaller speakers will always suffer, especially those little satellite speakers dotted around a venue.  That said high spec small speakers, 10", even 8" can be excellent  when combined with a dedicated but bigger bass speaker, which tends to b our approach.  So for lots of technical reasons amplified music can be missing that quality edge, unless the effort is invested to overcome those challenges.

Interestingly in lots of pubs, clubs and restaurant, the sound is often amplified in mono, rather than stereo.  This is to reflect the fact that speaker location can be less than optimal, and hence difficult to hear a stereo effect.  Much better to hear a combined and full sound in mono rather than just one half of a signal.  So the challenge for public address is to continually strive to create that domestic finesse and in larger spaces at higher volumes.