[LAU] ambidec: number of speakers and sound card configurations

[fons at kokkinizita.net]

On Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 05:35:03PM -0700, Niels Mayer wrote:

> One question I forgot to ask regarding layout of an ambisonic system.
> 
> Rather than deal with all the trouble of routing audio and placing
> speakers at the periphery of the listening area, is it possible to
> employ a concept similar to the
> Eigenmike ( http://www.mhacoustics.com/mh_acoustics/Eigenmike_microphone_array.html
> ) but instead have an "EigenSpeaker"  with 24 small full-range
> speakers mounted on the surface of a sphere in the center of a large
> room? Such a configuration would be easier to setup, because all the
> connections and DSP/processing/amplifiers/speakers could be kept in a
> central area. The question, is it possible to have a torus shaped
> sweet spot for the audience surrounding the "EigenSpeaker" ?

Such speakers do exist, Ircam in Paris has done quite some research
on them. They are based on AMB theory, but they do not provide AMB
playback - what you get is a speaker that can generate multiple
steerable beams. It's used in acoustic measurements to excite just
part of a space, and in EA music to simulate the directivity of real
instruments.

Ciao,

-- 
FA

There are three of them, and Alleline.