[Bob in St. Louis]

Yip. Been there. 
Good luck man.

[Letitroll98]

If we all sent a dollar he'd have the $10.  Then again if you all sent me $10 I could get what I want.  Maybe we could have a pool where we all send somewhere between 15% and 28% of our gross income and we could fix all the roads and feed the poor and....oh yeah, nevermind. 

[JeffB]

I tried out the ambiophonics app on the iPad.
The first thing I wondered about was there didn't seem to be any calibration.  Upon reading about miniAmbio there is a calibration step.

I only listened to one song with the ambiophonics app.
It seemed to add a bit of delay/echo that seemed a little off.  It really brought out the background ambience of the recording, made it louder, and pulled it forward in the mix.  It was like hearing a completely different mix of the song.  I did not think this new sound better in any way, just very different and a little bit wrong with the delay.  The drums also seemed to lose their snap.

The app did have some sliders to adjust, but I had no idea what to make of these adjustments.  I could tweak them and the sound would change a little, but I don't think this is something that should be done by ear.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I ran across an old email with some Ambio links in it.
THis should keep you busy for a while, even with cheapo computer speakers you're listening to right now.

Have fun kids:

=========================
My favorite here is #4
http://www.soundpimp.com/computer-audio-enhancer-demo/
 
Here's a couple dozen demos:
http://www.ambiophonics.org/Demos.html
 
This is neat too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJCuAlwgTCo

[ST]

I tried out the ambiophonics app on the iPad.
The first thing I wondered about was there didn't seem to be any calibration.  Upon reading about miniAmbio there is a calibration step.

I only listened to one song with the ambiophonics app.
It seemed to add a bit of delay/echo that seemed a little off.  It really brought out the background ambience of the recording, made it louder, and pulled it forward in the mix.  It was like hearing a completely different mix of the song.  I did not think this new sound better in any way, just very different and a little bit wrong with the delay.  The drums also seemed to lose their snap.

The app did have some sliders to adjust, but I had no idea what to make of these adjustments.  I could tweak them and the sound would change a little, but I don't think this is something that should be done by ear.

Hi Jeff,

Your description of Ambio experience suggests you may have used common pseudo stereo pop recording. I maybe wrong but drums sound more natural to the extend you will hear the drum skin resonance. I would recommend Sheffield Test CD to hear how a well recorded drum sound in Ambio vs Stereo.

I wasn't too successful using the Ipod apps, either.  If you are using two speakers then all you need to adjust just the two setting only. The default values are almost never ideal.  Something around 93 microseconds for the delay and 2.8 for the RACE (attenuation).  Center at 0 and frequency limited off. The most important thing is to turn off the sound card effect and the placement of L and R speakers should be around 20 to 30 degrees. I would recommend good classical live recordings as a test reference as they reproduce the right  sound stage width.  Album's like Tracy Chapman's throws the instruments all over the place and for first timers they may not like them. So far I find Linn recordings to be good even though I doubt they are truly stereo recording without panning.

Please watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p2PS8WDoTM which requires NO ambiophonics plugin. Turn off all sound-card effect and you have to move the speakers closer so that they are about 20 degrees apart from your head. I would appreciate to hear your feedback.

Meanwhile, if you have the Miniambio, please try watching a football match with two speakers. The being there feel is so much realistic compared to 5.1.

Cheers!.

[Schmye Bubbula]

Would a Macintosh user please download Ambiophonic Transcoder and tell me how you configured your Inputs & Outputs in System Preferences > Sound and in Ambiophonic Transcoder itself to get it to process whatever happens to be playing on your computer? (For example, a YouTube video in your web browser.)

– I installed the Soundflower 1.5.1 kext extension on my Mac, OS X 10.6.8.
– In my System Preferences > Sounds, I set "Soundflower (2 ch)" as my system Output.
– In AmbiophonicTranscoder, I set Input to "Soundflower (2 ch)."
– In AmbiophonicTranscoder, I set Output to "Java Sound Audio Engine" (the only choice).

I thought that would route whatever happened to be playing anywhere on my computer through Ambiophonic Transcoder to my computer speakers (or to Line Out if something plugged-in), but all I hear is silence.

Can you get anything else than "Java Sound Audio Engine" selectable in the audio output popup menu of Ambiophonic Transcoder? I feel like it would work if I could get "Internal Speakers" or "Headphones" (my line out) to appear in its audio output popup menu.

[dB Cooper]

Well, this topic doesn't belong in the Cheap and Cheerful HiFi circle unless someone can propose an ambio system under $400.  However where to put it is somewhat of a quandary.   Hi Rez?  Solid State?  The Lab?  Any suggestions?

Acoustics circle perhaps?
The design goal is nothing new; Polk had several speaker models a good while back that were intended to cancel out the crosstalk, the SDA series. They were reputed to work well- in a planar-sized "sweet spot". Interestingly, some headphone equipment is designed to do the exact opposite (Crossfeed). Pick your poison...

[JLM]

A friend is a Polk SDA fan (he's been buying/repairing vintage).  I've heard them a number of times at his place (a wide but shallow room).  The effect only applies in a very small (one person wide) central location and frankly seems exaggerated.

[Letitroll98]

Acoustics circle perhaps?

The thought was to let it die a natural death and forget about it.  And I think the downloads were free so nothing violated guidelines.  Kinda silly to move it three years later.

I've heard a few ambiophonic recordings over headphones and liked some of them, others not so much.  If there was a grand resurgence in the marketplace I would purchase a few, but as of now the titles are so limited it doesn't pique my interest much.

[ST]

The thought was to let it die a natural death and forget about it.  And I think the downloads were free so nothing violated guidelines.  Kinda silly to move it three years later.

I've heard a few ambiophonic recordings over headphones and liked some of them, others not so much.  If there was a grand resurgence in the marketplace I would purchase a few, but as of now the titles are so limited it doesn't pique my interest much.

Sorry to revive this old topic but Ambiophonics is not meant for  headphones listening. You are obviously confusing something else with Ambiophonics.  Furthermore,  there is no such thing as Ambiophonics recordings. Ambiophonics is a method to listen to your current stereo format.

You are confusing with something else.

[Letitroll98]

The thought was to let it die a natural death and forget about it.

It...just...won't...die...Jim. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Although I did enjoy listening to the links again.
 

[ST]

After more than one year and going through DAW approach the project is going in well.

A short video made with mobile phone showing the correct settings and how wrong setting produce undesirable effect.



https://youtu.be/G3veb7iw-Yw


And another short  audio recording of my system playing different genre.
https://youtu.be/su7face07JU

Regards.

[fredgarvin]

So, it seems like a decent DSP solution for a streaming setup?

[ST]

If you meant listening to streaming then you could use the VST plugins. The best solution is the virtual soundcard approach of  soundpimp. ( pardon the name, he was non native english speaker). There are a few products out there. one is Chrome based Aria3D which you try to stream.

[meathead18]

I am expecting delivery of my Gate tomorrow. They went back on sale for $33ish so I had to grab one.  am going to run the 3.5mm out to RCA's and hook them up to the analog inputs on my Harman Kardon HK3490.

I see the Gate has volume but it's not an amp nor is it a pre-amp so what is the volume function for?
What level should the volume be set at?
Is the volume control effecting the sound quality in a negative way?

Thanks!

[witchdoctor]

I am expecting delivery of my Gate tomorrow. They went back on sale for $33ish so I had to grab one.  am going to run the 3.5mm out to RCA's and hook them up to the analog inputs on my Harman Kardon HK3490.

I see the Gate has volume but it's not an amp nor is it a pre-amp so what is the volume function for?
What level should the volume be set at?
Is the volume control effecting the sound quality in a negative way?

Thanks!

If you are using the Play Fi app for streaming the volume control is for convenience. If I am listening to one Gate in one room I generally set the Gate volume at max and use the preamp remote to adjust the volume. But what if you are running two gates in two rooms at the same time? The volume let's adjust each unit conveniently from within the app. Once you adjust each units volume individually there is also a master volume control where you can control the two rooms in sync.

[Hipper]

I want to use a physical barrier approach to Ambiophonics and wonder if I could ask you some questions about this approach please.

My dedicated room is 4.2m x 3.86m x 2.4m with speakers and chair positioned using ‘The Thirds’ set up which makes them 1.5m from my ears and just over 1.5m apart. The room is very well acoustically treated with lots of bass traps and panels. I use one panel close to the outside of each speaker to prevent side wall reflections. This gives me a pretty strong central image and sound up to the speakers but not beyond them. I listen mostly to studio recorded pop which mostly sounds very good, and occasional classical, which sounds OK but could be better!

I’ve read about Ambiophonics but most of the papers concern RACE. I’ve also read Floyd Toole’s thoughts on the phantom image amongst other things.

My idea was not to use one central panel going up to my nose to prevent crosstalk but to use one panel on the inside of each speaker, carefully placed so that I still hear the direct sound but not the crosstalk.

My questions are:

1. In my circumstances, notably my prevention of side wall reflections, is it necessary to move the speakers closer together as you normally recommend?

2. What frequency range should the absorbent panel cover? You mention in one of your papers that for ambiophonic purposes nothing much goes on below 400Hz, whilst I understand BACCH doesn’t do anything below 94Hz.

3. Is there any loss of loudness when preventing crosstalk?

[rollo]

  Contact Ralph Glasgow the inventor of Ambiophonics.


charles

[ST]

I want to use a physical barrier approach to Ambiophonics and wonder if I could ask you some questions about this approach please.

My dedicated room is 4.2m x 3.86m x 2.4m with speakers and chair positioned using ‘The Thirds’ set up which makes them 1.5m from my ears and just over 1.5m apart. The room is very well acoustically treated with lots of bass traps and panels. I use one panel close to the outside of each speaker to prevent side wall reflections. This gives me a pretty strong central image and sound up to the speakers but not beyond them. I listen mostly to studio recorded pop which mostly sounds very good, and occasional classical, which sounds OK but could be better!

I’ve read about Ambiophonics but most of the papers concern RACE. I’ve also read Floyd Toole’s thoughts on the phantom image amongst other things.

My idea was not to use one central panel going up to my nose to prevent crosstalk but to use one panel on the inside of each speaker, carefully placed so that I still hear the direct sound but not the crosstalk.

My questions are:

1. In my circumstances, notably my prevention of side wall reflections, is it necessary to move the speakers closer together as you normally recommend?

2. What frequency range should the absorbent panel cover? You mention in one of your papers that for ambiophonic purposes nothing much goes on below 400Hz, whilst I understand BACCH doesn’t do anything below 94Hz.

3. Is there any loss of loudness when preventing crosstalk?

1. In my circumstances, notably my prevention of side wall reflections, is it necessary to move the speakers closer together as you normally recommend?

You can use crosstalk cancellation (XTC) without moving the speakers but you will get very little 3D effect. It will be like listening to headphones but with no binaural like sound. Our ear's pinna role for directional finding is most sensitive at the 30 degree angle. At that position it is hard, even with XTC, to prevent our ears from localize the speakers. IMO, if you listen to mainly pop/studio recordings, maybe start at the standard stereo 60 degrees setup and do your own cancellation with a DAW or use one of the plugin. The $10 plugin works best because they provide a setting for 60 degrees speakers.

IME, doing your own XTC with pingpong effect is far more effective for studio recording and rock type music. Alternative, BACCH is designed to word for angle speakers and multiple sweet spots. Irrespective, where you seat BACCH can create the effect for all listeners at the same time using their head tracking XTC.

 

2. What frequency range should the absorbent panel cover? You mention in one of your papers that for ambiophonic purposes nothing much goes on below 400Hz, whilst I understand BACCH doesn’t do anything below 94Hz.

It doesnt matter as XTC meant to prevent the opposite sound from reaching other ear. You cannot localize low frequencies anyway.

3.

Is there any loss of loudness when preventing crosstalk?

[/quote]


Theoretically, you lose 3dB which you can increase with your volume control.


The best way to get XTC done correctly is to start at 60 degrees and use one the $10 plugin and start at very minimum and barely audible XTC. As you progress, you can move the speaker closer incrementally and adjust the setting. Our ears sometime react negatively to sudden changes.



Ralph can be contacted glasgal@ambiophonics.org.