[Skiman]

I'm hoping to get Danny himself to respond to this. My AV123 LS9 speakers will be arriving before long, and I have been considering getting a used Perpetual Technology P1A. I spoke with Kyle at AV123, and he said that they will be developing SOCS for the LS9. I should add that the LS9s will be integrated into my home theater that was designed by Rives Audio, and is fully treated. The LS9s will be used both in stereo and multichannel. So, my question is: will the LS9 speaker benefit from SOCS? I auditioned them at last year's RMAF, and immediately ordered a pair. I did enjoy chatting with Danny and Mark Shifter at the time.

[Danny Richie]

Configuring the SOCS system for an LS-9 is not possible.

[Skiman]

Interesting! Thanks for the quick reply Danny. Guess Kyle at AV123 needs to know this.

[downhill]

Danny, would it be possible to elaborate why this is?  I know at one time you mentioned that the LS series wouldn't benefit from SOCS but I wasn't aware that it wasn't possible.

[Danny Richie]

SOCS requires a gated 1 meter measurement to get a reference output level for each speaker with no room related effects.

A line source like the LS-6 and LS-9 can't be measured at 1 meter (that is way to close) nor can they be easily measured without room reflections or interactions. You could do it with a very large anechoic chamber but then that wouldn't represent the true in room output as you will always have floor reflections as a fixed given for any room.

Ceiling reflections vary with distance from room to room as well so what ceiling height would you try to correct for.

SCOS also can't distinguish between direct speaker output and a reflection since it is all amplitude based. That is why it requires a reflection free output.

SOCS also requires a near field measurement of the woofer output and summation of the port output to get a low end roll off. This works fairly well on a small speaker or single woofer speaker. However, as you increase the length of the line and drivers start coupling, you get quite a bit more low end gain than you would for a single woofer.

Fair more important than the low end roll off or extension of the bottom end is the room response, and this can vary from each room. SOCS can't be configured to deal with changing variables. This is why the LS series speakers have a variable bass management system that allows one to tailer the low end output level as per their room.

There is no way to make it work and really no need for it either.