Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms [Paperback]

Floyd Toole (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240520092 | ISBN-13: 978-0240520094 | Publication Date: July 25, 2008 | Edition: 1

Floyd Toole, a leading expert in the field of sound reproduction, explains how to design the best possible listening experience for recording control rooms and home entertainment systems. This comprehensive work considers the whole sound reproduction chain from multi channel audio configurations and the loudspeaker/room system to acoustics and psychoacoustics and the evaluation process.

Part 1 shows the reader how to create the best listening experience, offering practical approaches to the sound reproduction chain. Parts 2 and 3 are an in-depth consideration of acoustics and psychoacoustics - the science behind Part 1.

* How to design a great audio system - for a home entertainment system or a professional recording control room
* Offers a comprehensive look at the sound reproduction chain offering practical advice and helpful graphics throughout
* Learn from a leading expert in sound reproduction - Floyd Toole provides essential knowledge in a highly readable and entertaining style

Product Details

• Paperback: 568 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (July 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240520092
• ISBN-13: 978-0240520094
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #411,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A long overdue summary, August 5, 2008

By 

Siegfried Linkwitz "loudspeaker designer" (Corte Madera, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms (Paperback)

In this book Floyd Toole summarizes and explains conclusions from a lifelong involvement with audio. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in factual information about loudspeakers and listening rooms, about measurements, listening observations and their practical implications. It is lucidly written in easy to understand language, extensively illustrated and referenced. It deals with the reproduction of sound - which existed in a space - inside another space. My only regret is that the potential of 2-channel playback in doing so has not been fully explored. This is understandable because the conventional box loudspeaker with its frequency dependent directivity index has been used for almost all of the observations that are discussed. In fact, the particular interaction of a box loudspeaker with the listening room makes it more difficult for our ear/brain perceptual apparatus to hear the recording venue's space and acoustics, provided that such information has been captured in the recording process. Floyd focuses on multiple loudspeaker surround sound. He considers this approach to spatial sound reproduction as much more rewarding and he provides extensive practical information for that. The book is very comprehensive and in my opinion a "must-read" for loudspeaker designers, recording and mastering engineers, room-acoustic consultants, audio reviewers and audiophiles. The book is about theory and praxis. It debunks much of the BS that seems to have permeated the audio industry and many of its customers.
Enjoy!

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have book..., September 9, 2008

By 

Paul Scarpelli "Rocco Vaselino" (Ivins, UT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms (Paperback)

Dr. Toole, with whom I worked at Harman for years, showed me this book in person at CEDIA last week, and I was quite impressed. I have not read the book in detail yet, but I have been recommending it to everyone I work with at Triad Speakers. Floyd is a wealth of practical and technical knowledge, and he communicates well to academics as well as hobbyists. He debunks myths, and has the ability to cut through the crap to what really matters. He and I have both ranted for years on the importance of the room in presenting accurate sound reproduction, and that overlooked concept will be more strongly promoted with the introduction of this book.

As good as the book appears at first glance, it stands out even more due to the paucity of printed material on the subject of speakers and rooms. The few books available are either incomplete, antiquated, or in the case of Everest, geared more toward pro sound.

This is the seminal speaker book and all us tweaks should buy it both to advance our education and because Floyd's a great guy and deserves to make a buck! Floyd, if you're reading this, I have always appreciated your contributions to our otherwise amateurish industry.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Summary of the research, January 7, 2009

By 

Kevin Haskins "Kevin Haskins" (Port Angeles, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms (Paperback)

This book is excellent for anyone designing loudspeakers. It is a very nice summary of the available research and Toole does a good job of making it readable. He also does a good job of summarizing things for those who need/want to skim right to the meat. I'd encourage you to read it all of course. ;-)

The only shortcomings are more in the nature of the limitations of research. They don't give us definitive answers to many questions but that is just the nature of the beast. There is a lot of emphasis on multichannel reproduction but most of the research is applicable to any type of playback method. As mentioned above, there is not a great deal of emphasis on individual loudspeaker design choices, outside of pointing toward desirable objective characteristics of good designs. It is also a very readable summary of the information for those who are not engineers. There isn't any math necessary and you can skim over the dry areas and still get to the meat of the subject quickly.

I'd consider this necessary reading material for anyone serious about reproducing high-quality audio in small spaces (home audio sized rooms). If I were an editor of a review magazine, I'd make it required reading for anyone performing loudspeaker reviews. This isn't going to resolve the long-standing debate between objectivist/subjectivist issues but it is great reading for those on both sides of that divide.