Can We Build a Mid-Side Speaker?

Sdílet
Vložit
  • čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
  • If you like this and other videos I do, please join this channel to get access to more videos, early access to videos as well as to be able to join my weekly zoom chats:
    / @daverat
    Also check out:
    www.soundymcsou...
    www.ratsoundsa...
    ratsound.com/d...
    www.ratsound.com/
    www.soundtools.com

Komentáře • 335

  • @PhilipMathieu
    @PhilipMathieu Před 2 měsíci +23

    I really appreciate these detailed, analog-focused descriptions. I know soundbars and Atmos setups do similar things via DSP, but it’s really helpful to see this illustrated from basic fundamentals.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +3

      Fun and yes, I also like the non processed path of purity and simplicity.

    • @dreammix9430
      @dreammix9430 Před 2 měsíci +3

      When i was 18 i worked add a recording studio here in Van Nuys California called Sound City. They had two electrodyne mixing boards and a very limited number of outboard devices. I think each Studio had two tektronix limiters and a coil which could be patched in to flip the phase of an input if needed. They also had two live Echo Chambers which were really cool. Even when they upgraded to Neve consoles they really didn't add any outboard equipment. And even with that limited equipment they had tons of gold records on the wall that were recorded in those Studios. Simple can work 🙂

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +3

      @dreammix9430 super cool and what an honor to work there!

    • @dreammix9430
      @dreammix9430 Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@DaveRat it really was. I'm very grateful for that experience

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      🤙👍🤙

  • @brucecullom868
    @brucecullom868 Před 2 měsíci +13

    Matthew Polk did this EXACT thing in the 80s with the Polk Audio SDA line of home audio loudspeakers. There was even an interconnect between the left and right speakers, and special instructions regarding what type of receivers or power amps could and could not be used (because of common grounds). The top of the line model from that series had eight 6 1/2" woofers and four dome tweeters on each side, placed into special groups just as you explained. He did it all at power amp level, and the crossovers in each speaker were four rack spaces tall. Those speakers are still revered by home audio folks today.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +6

      Very cool stuff and there are many interesting and adventurous implementations of creating spacious audio.
      I believe the Polk audio stuff was designed for use as stereo speakers placed in conventional locations and to enhance the stereo further using lots of speakers and processing and such.
      The reason I dived into this MS speaker adventure was that it requires no processing and uses four speakers and a very simple wiring technique and can achieve very cool and interesting sound from a single enclosure and some fairly inexpensive speakers.
      I made a second one and put in rechargeable batteries so it could operate off the wall or off of the batteries.
      Fun stuf

    • @mikemcconnell2794
      @mikemcconnell2794 Před 2 měsíci +2

      The SDA speakers had the tweeters side by side. The reason for that was to cancel out the left speaker in the right ear and visaversa. I found that design somewhere back in the 70s and built one. Pretty cool.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Very cool!

  • @fredygump5578
    @fredygump5578 Před 2 měsíci +21

    This is an interesting idea! I'm not an audio pro, but I keep coming back because I always learn something. Doing something new with speakers is always more interesting than the struggle to perfect the same ordinary speaker designs.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +7

      Awesome and thank you for hanging out and for commenting!

  • @antonykahil
    @antonykahil Před 2 měsíci +10

    This was interesting to watch, I grew up using the old KF730's. it was always interesting to see how they had side firing woofers and how they sumed up in the center to create a single mono sound. It's pretty cool to see how you can keep the stereo sound moving from one extreme to the other with it suming together nicely.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +5

      Very cool and side firing speakers producing low frequencies pretty much act almost identically to a forward firing speaker except they have the little advantage of slightly increased energy forward and rearward and slightly decreased energy off to the sides in the low frequency.

  • @L.Scott_Music
    @L.Scott_Music Před 2 měsíci +9

    The mid-side speaker already exists. It works very well. It is produced by Aspen Pittman Designs (currently run by his daughter after his passing) and is available on Sweetwater. The technology is called Centerpoint Stereo. The speaker is called the Spacestation v3 and the bigger unit the Spacestation XL. Keyboard players LOVE it, and it makes a great PA in small to mid-sized venues. And I have done great things with electric guitar.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +3

      Hmmm, that seems like a glorified sound bar. They say they have some patented 3d audio controllable front to back image control
      Not sure if that the same thing as the speaker in the vid that passively recreates Mid-Side with no processing, not 3d, and does not use any patented concepts, just simple logical wiring that works with just about any stereo amp enhances the stereo image

    • @L.Scott_Music
      @L.Scott_Music Před 2 měsíci +4

      @@DaveRat No, totally NOT a glorified sound bar. It takes in stereo and puts out mid/side for a stereo effect everywhere (not just the center between speakers). It's hard to believe without actually hearing it but it's extraordinary. There is a matrix and a speaker special made by Eminence set at 90 degrees from the front main speaker and tweeter.
      Many are skeptical until they actually hear it.

    • @ABandGeek
      @ABandGeek Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@DaveRat It has a front facing closed back speaker that gets fed L+R, and an open back speaker below it rotated 90 degrees that gets fed L-R. So very much a mid-side amp. They do sound quite stereo. Fender made a line of amps called SFX that used the design. It's been a while since I looked at the patent, but I think they also crossed-over the low frequencies to only be reproduced by the L+R speaker.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Cool and interesting! How does it address the out of polarity rear sound radiation of the side facing speaker to not be asymmetrically destructive with the forward facing speaker?
      With mid side recording, the symmetry is achieved by having 2 versions of the figure 8 mic signal of opposing polarity
      But with an open back speaker, you only have one version of that signal
      So while the fig 8 pattern can be created, unlike fig 8 where the forward mic is in polarity with the left signal on the left and in polarity with the right signal on the right, with a single version, you are face with a choice of the forward speaker being in polarity with left or the right.
      But perhaps that is where the patented processing comes in. Messing with freq dependant polarity ( which is actually phase and time shifts) could address some of those issues.
      That is why I used the sound bar reference, as sound bars tend to implement freq dependant processing ( delay and phase) to force the sound to sound wider.
      I see that as a vastly different approach than this speaker and mid side recording that use no processing, no delay, no phase shift. Just put polarity reversal.
      Mid side recording can be done with a y cable, a polarity rev cable and 3 inputs. And actually can be achieve totally passively and requires no processing.
      And interesting. Would be cool to hear the speaker and or know what they are actually doing to the signal.

    • @L.Scott_Music
      @L.Scott_Music Před 2 měsíci +3

      @@DaveRat I'm not an expert on the processing system. There is a single pot called "Width" and when you dial it all the way down the sound collapses to mono sounding from the front speakers. Dial it up it gets wide. Dial it too far up and it collapses some and doesn't sound so great. Some specific sources benefit from different settings, like single sources vs, a stereo track.
      I was able to get a huge guitar sound by running two mono signals into two mixer tracks the EQ'ing them slightly differently and panning them 50% + - L R.
      Many keyboard players say it's the best Leslie simulator speaker there is.
      There are some rare instances where a stereo mix (older recorded music) just hits the matrix wrong and sounds weak. However, the wide sound experience carries from room to room. It's wild. And kind of makes it the perfect party PA for a house. The music is ever present everywhere while guests can talk over it (it somehow doesn't interfere with talking like regular PAs do. )
      Anyway, I see you are very interested in the concept and thought you'd be interested in what work has been done before. IT isn't very widely known except that Fender licensed the technology for their acoustic guitar amplifier.

  • @FOHFILMS
    @FOHFILMS Před 2 měsíci +8

    This was actually done by a bluetooth speaker manufacturer named Riva some years ago! Look up Riva Turbo X and Riva S - they used a single front firing fullrange driver and two side firing fullrange drivers in combination with mid-side processing to create a sound field!

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +6

      Very cool and yes it can be done with processing and this concept is kind of the basis of all those sound bars out there.
      My goal was to build it with no processing so that it could work with any stereo signal and not have all that weird phasey sound that sound bars have and most processed versions seem to embrace

    • @nereusnereis4248
      @nereusnereis4248 Před 2 měsíci

      @@DaveRat take a look at line driver/receiver chips DRV134 but from THATS, they can be operated in a creative way that would be very convenient in a controllable stereo widening mid-side setup. I've always liked this idea for environmental background music in a space you can walk around in.

  • @Auxend
    @Auxend Před 2 měsíci +6

    You’re my spirit animal, Dave this is rad. Love watching you come up with stuff.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Awesome and thank you!!

    • @Dynamicz.140
      @Dynamicz.140 Před 2 měsíci +1

      for real he always has such an interesting take and then backs it up with his experiments

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Honored!

  • @dreammix9430
    @dreammix9430 Před 2 měsíci +2

    Dave you are such a huge inspiration for me and probably about 90% of the people who watch your Channel! I just want to thank you for continuing to teach us and share your knowledge

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      So cool and thank you! I really appreciate the positive input and it makes me really happy to know the info I share is appreciated!

  • @dansmoothback9644
    @dansmoothback9644 Před 2 měsíci

    Really neat kit! Good explanation of the concept too. I knew what mid-side meant in terms of mixing (e.g. mid-side eq in a DAW), but this gave me a whole new perspective on it. Good stuff!

  • @basroos_snafu
    @basroos_snafu Před 2 měsíci +2

    I'm already using this with a matrix, through 4 AUX busses and it works great. I could use 3 busses, but am using two stereo amps. So nice you've built this speaker box!

    • @anttikinnunen7904
      @anttikinnunen7904 Před 2 měsíci +2

      Have you experimented with speaker placements?

    • @basroos_snafu
      @basroos_snafu Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@anttikinnunen7904 I've tried a lot and ended up putting the mid speakers on top of the L and R (sides), this works well to widen or narrow the stereo image. I could use a true center speaker, but I'm not looking for surround effects, just enhancing the stereo image. Other things I've tried is rotating and letting the L and R speakers bounce off the walls with a slight delay to make it less direct, and placing the L and R speakers in line with my ears, like earphones and a true representation of how M+S is recorded. That was not very useful, because the direction of the sound changes in that case when putting in more or less side signals. Experimenting with vinyl records this way is amazing, by changing polarities and levels magic occurs and you can hear things isolated that would be impossible otherwise.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      👍🤙🤙

  • @kelvinfunkner
    @kelvinfunkner Před 2 měsíci +2

    WOW! I've recorded mid-side for years, but you're the only one I know of that could reverse engineer it to actually work in a speaker configuration! Always love your videos. Can't wait to see the next one!

  • @therealjustincase
    @therealjustincase Před 2 měsíci +3

    I remember doing this sometime in the early 80s after reading an article in an amateur radio magazine describing this technique. In addition, each of the side speakers included a 47 ohm or so wire wound pot connected as rheostat in series for adjusting volume and something like a 10 or so microfarad cap, also in series, for high-pass filtering and some additional phase shift.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +2

      Super cool and will try and do a vid with alternate wiring adventures

  • @Dey_Dey
    @Dey_Dey Před 11 měsíci +4

    This was a fun experiment to watch. I can definitely see myself in my older years when my boys are older just tinkering around trying different things. Love the video, can't wait to show some friends this.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 11 měsíci

      Cool cool Dey Dey!

  • @MrNicknayme
    @MrNicknayme Před 2 měsíci +3

    Looking forward to hearing more from this project

  • @toddleach1108
    @toddleach1108 Před 2 měsíci +3

    It would be really cool to take some multi-track stems and create a mixed song where you have one instrument panned full left, another full right, then one 20% left, another 20% right, and then something centered (mono). Then you could use that mixed track for your demonstrations.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +2

      Good idea I have some live recordings I could mess around with and do something fun like that with

  • @b.powell3480
    @b.powell3480 Před 2 měsíci +1

    I did this same thing, but only using one amp, and four speakers, which I can adjust with a single potentiometer and also can switch the added two speakers in or out with a simple switch. Works great!

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      👍🤙👍 Yes this only uses one stereo amplifier and I did do a switch that converts it to stereo or stereo Plus side speakers. And then I built another cabinet just like it so I could compare and created some other fun wiring that adds EQ to the side speakers as well as put in a amp with a subwoofer out and added a fifth speaker as a subwoofer on a modular removable rear plate.

  • @spacebwoy
    @spacebwoy Před 2 měsíci +7

    reminds me of the old quadraphonic setups.

  • @Acoustic_Theory
    @Acoustic_Theory Před 2 měsíci +1

    This reminds me of the Carver Sonic Holography technique, where he sold a box that would do cross-mixing of left/right channels where the cross-mixed signal would also be inverted. This type of psychoacoustics has intrigued me for a long time; I once saw a Bose soundbar about the size of a normal center channel speaker that created a credible left/right wide stereo effect and I have been interested in the idea of doing something similar in a bluetooth speaker to try to produce a more credible stereo effect from physically small speakers.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Super cool and yes I've seen many implementations and versions of this done for surround or with various forms of processing.
      I thought this simple straightforward approach that's based on MS recording would be a fun project and it worked well beyond what I expected it to do

  • @starman5754
    @starman5754 Před 2 měsíci +2

    This general idea has been a around a long time, historically wiring a single speaker in the center of the back deck of your car to the plus signals of both Left and Right speaker (the difference). Produced a pleasing "Side" only sound that made it almost sound like a third, sometimes ambient channel depending on source material.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Yes is numerous implementations of various wiring to create surround sound. Brian Eno and hafler and pretty much every soundbar that's ever been made.
      This particular version is based on a mid-side design radiating a wide stereo image from a single point or a single enclosure.
      The concept here was to explain how mid side works and also show people that using a simple stereo amplifier and some inexpensive off-the-shelf speakers they can make a super cool ultra wide stereo enclosure with some simple wiring.

    • @starman5754
      @starman5754 Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@DaveRat And great job, BTW. I enjoyed this episode a lot. As an aside, most people don't realize that stereo LP records are encoded Mid-Side (actually L+R and L-R) for mono compatibility....but mostly because it's just very cool!😎.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      👍🤙👍

  • @tylerkeeton17
    @tylerkeeton17 Před 2 měsíci +1

    such a freaking cool idea! Also the best description on M/S recording I've heard!😆 Definitley need to see more!

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Super cool and thank you

  • @Meatmallet
    @Meatmallet Před 2 měsíci +2

    Superb content, thanks. Also the lack of blinking really helps me focus on the information

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Do I not blink?

    • @Meatmallet
      @Meatmallet Před 2 měsíci

      @@DaveRat I'm not sure, you may have inadvertently edited out the blinks. Haha I was semi joking. I found myself wide eyed and unblinking also, and I was very immersed in the content, so no complaints!

    • @Meatmallet
      @Meatmallet Před 2 měsíci

      @@DaveRat I am exploring this information and doing some experimenting of my own with stereo guitar. I'd like a small but effective stereo guitar set up for my home practice space. So far I've relied on speaker separation and had no prior experience with this type of strategic phase cancelling

  • @davidfrancois2764
    @davidfrancois2764 Před 2 měsíci +2

    I made a speaker that is exactly what you did here exept using a dsp and using a center channel instead of a left and right , so thats 3 channels out of stereo ,
    Differential stereo out of the sides and mono from the front , so far it is the best speaker i have ever heard , it fills a room like nothing else does while still having a center channel to handle voices or foreground noises .

  • @rodrigobelinchon2982
    @rodrigobelinchon2982 Před 2 měsíci +3

    Dolby Pro Logic was a sort of mid side speaker system

  • @RA-II
    @RA-II Před 18 dny

    Dave it would be great to make that speaker into a kit!!

  • @IswanjanaHariAdi
    @IswanjanaHariAdi Před 2 měsíci +1

    Interesting experiment as usual, you are genius Dave. Looking forward into what comes next.

  • @joystickmusic
    @joystickmusic Před 2 měsíci +3

    Brian Eno had a description on is ambient records about hooking up a third speaker between the plusses of your amp. As a kid I did notice this speaker had one of the normal speakers as an in phase friend, so ended up having two of these in reversed polarity, similar to your setup, but spaced. It did bring up extra layers from Eno's On Land LP, for instance.
    Then I noticed my amp did not like it, so I ended up with two rear speakers, that both had left and right speakers in them, and a small slit between the drivers was the air output. So I added the signals acoustically, rather than electronically. I do not think I was ever satisfied all the time, but I have forever liked sound being dislocated from the speakers.
    40 years later, In theater, I often add Omniwave speakers, to pull the sound out of the main speakers. From what I learned as a kid, I just need some energy from the mid range to pull the voices to a virtual location between the speakers. I do not need them to be phase aligned so much, but time alignement is crucial.

    • @TMeier
      @TMeier Před 2 měsíci +1

      Was just going to comment about the Brian Eno method. You could probably recreate the third speaker with a phase-inverting matrix (rather than using the amp method, which halves the resistance). Would be an interesting comparison to hear it. The "Triphonic" Eno method might be easier to implement in a live environment as it only requires one additional speaker stack?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Very cool and interesting thank you

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +2

      There are a whole bunch of cool ways to wire the speakers for various versions of this.
      And ways to add capacitors and chokes to EQ, and all can be done passively.
      Actively opens up a whole infinite slew of other options.
      The stuff that I've been working on I wanted to make a speaker that sounds cool and runs off of standard stereo Bluetooth and creates a wide stereo image from a single speaker

    • @andyevans2336
      @andyevans2336 Před 2 měsíci

      This passive method was best illustrated by David Hafler’s pseudo surround plan from days gone by.

  • @scriptguru4669
    @scriptguru4669 Před 2 měsíci +1

    I made a dj plugin that does from Stereo to L-R | R-L on a pot, the results are surprising, some cases when the producer used an exciter it sounds like a low res mp3 mess, some cases it pulls out samples they couldn't be heard in normal playback and for most tracks it's the strongest bass cut I've ever known.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Super cool and interesting

  • @dupoirier5041
    @dupoirier5041 Před 14 dny

    Very cool !!
    Very cool test

  • @monkeymhn7
    @monkeymhn7 Před 2 měsíci +2

    This seems to be a variation on the poor man's surround scheme that I used back in the '80. The only difference is I would run the "surround/ out of polarity " speaker pair in series with anapprprat L pad then connect across left + and right + . This scheme worked well for my purposes but did necessitate using an amplifier with a common speaker ground. As a side note my mom had a Buick Regal where the factory " miss wired" the front speakers in the same manner as you did. When we got the fader set just right we ,in fact, did get the best stereo effect in the neighborhood.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Very cool and interesting about the Buick!

  • @stephendobson4764
    @stephendobson4764 Před 2 měsíci +1

    very good demo of a slightly complex thing like your vid on line arrays with the mini speakers. this has applications for club systems (for dance music) that want a sprinkle of a bigger stereo image across a big space at high SPL. Appriciate your vids.

  • @matthewknischewsky6757
    @matthewknischewsky6757 Před 2 měsíci +1

    "...work on ways to implement this live. I believe it can be done with a matrix..." This sounds like a good job for an Outline Newton! There are ways that a stereo signal can be routed, polarity reversed, eq'd and delayed that are a bit beyond what can be done in a typical console matrix that may benefit your experiments. I've read that Rat has some in the inventory.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Very cool and yeah hopefully I'll get a chance to test it out

  • @Edwin-van-der-Putten
    @Edwin-van-der-Putten Před 2 měsíci +1

    Again a very interesting video! Thanks, Dave! Love your work! 🙂

  • @MFKitten
    @MFKitten Před 2 měsíci +1

    YESSSS. I have been thinking of this idea for a while, so glad you're trying it out!

    • @MFKitten
      @MFKitten Před 2 měsíci +1

      My idea is very basic, just having the matrix/routing electronically, and having 3 speakers. Stereo pair for side, centre for mid.
      If you use balanced mode radiators you'll get super wide dispersion, and you can point the speakers away from one another, really filling a space.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      🤙👍🤙

  • @peekaboo4390
    @peekaboo4390 Před 2 měsíci +1

    I love recording in Mid side, acoustic guitars and overhead drums in particular.

  • @davidkent2804
    @davidkent2804 Před 2 měsíci +1

    So clever. It's obvious once you see it, but I've never seen it. Great!

  • @IrenESorius
    @IrenESorius Před 2 měsíci +2

    Cool project,, 👍‍‍😎👍‍‍
    Thanks Dave,, 💖🙏💖

  • @adamcoe
    @adamcoe Před 2 měsíci +1

    always appreciate your excellent nerdery Dave

  • @RedRavenRuler
    @RedRavenRuler Před 2 měsíci

    Fhis is absolutely awesome!!!!

  • @delarageaz
    @delarageaz Před 2 měsíci +1

    Really nice video, thank you !
    I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but Bang & Olufsen have a few mid/side bluetooth speakers in their range, like the Beolit 17, 20 and the Beosound Level and with the smartphone app you can indeed make them "project" sound closer or further away from the speaker and i think it's neat and better than the more typical stereo design on smaller portable speakers like these

    • @delarageaz
      @delarageaz Před 2 měsíci +1

      And yes these B&O speakers rely heavily on DSP to work but i think it's sexy that they can use a single (mono) amp for the two tweeters and still get some sort of stereo image out of it. They don't use any really fancy patented technology either in fact B&O doesn't brag about this tech, they don't pretend it's magical and will create a 3D like soundstage or whatever, they just say you can dial in the width of the sound in their app with a simple setting.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Interesting and those things look cool and would be fun to hear.
      They say they have 360° sound radiation and the width or closer and further adjustment is interesting.
      Often that is done with ambience or adding ambience or some sort of reverberation type thing.
      I don't see any information indicating the design is related to mid-side though.
      In fact I think the fact that it is 360° kind of prevents it from being a mid-side design.
      But yes very cool stuff I have a B&o turntable and they make beautiful and interesting gear

    • @delarageaz
      @delarageaz Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@DaveRat i learned about this mid / side thing by an engineer on the B&O facebook group, i own both of these speakers and it's quite funny how you can indeed make the sound larger or narrower even if the three tweeters of the Beolit 17 are wired to the same amplifier. The Beosound Level has two tweeter at it's extremities that plays the side channel while a center larger tweeter plays the mid. On the Beosound Level the effect is more pronounced, if you sit in front of it and play with the settings it truely make the sound goes really wide to just mono. And here again, the Beosound Level is only using a single amp for both tweeters which are wired out of phase.
      On both of these speakers, putting them to the widest setting does make the music a little weird cause it often deeps the vocals and make all the instruments that are panned left right or have been recorded in stereo, really loud. And if you put the setting all the way to the mid only it makes the sound very flat and hard panned instruments will almost disappear. It never fully isolate the mid or the side channel of course but i think it goes as far as 50%.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Very cool and interesting and thank you! Yes that sounds like what can be done with polarity and multiple speakers.
      Very cool

  • @Vuelterrueda
    @Vuelterrueda Před 2 měsíci +1

    I have used this exact wiring but placing each speaker in each corner of my listening space. For some recordings it made a phenomenal effect. At some point we were watching family videos that were filmed with a stereo capable camera while someone was called out in the video. The stereo enhancing was such that it fooled us into thinking the call occurred for real. The called person even got out of the room to search for the caller... until she also responded in the video, haha.
    I never thought of placing the four drivers in one single enclosure, now I have an urge to replicate your build.
    How do you think sound would change if the enclosure had separate airtight chambers for each driver?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Very cool and yes I've seen the surround sound type versions of this.
      As far as separate chambers, The main result would be a reduction in low frequency output as it would reduce the enclosure size. Since the surround sound speakers typically don't have much low end the forward-facing stereo speakers can use the entire box to get added low frequency. But if you have something that is low-end heavy to one side, The side firing speakers now have the entire enclosure to reproduce that low frequency.
      By segmenting it into smaller enclosures you either need to make the whole box bigger or sacrifice low frequency.
      I made another one of these and you can't really see it in the video but they're modular. The rear panel is removable and replaceable with a panel that has a fifth speaker that acts as a subwoofer.
      Also that rear module can be swapped out to make the speaker have a battery powered option.
      Those are super fun and they sound really cool

  • @Lu_Woods
    @Lu_Woods Před 2 měsíci +1

    I am reminded of the Groove Tubes SPX SpaceStation with two drivers face to face delivering the Side information.

  • @salossi
    @salossi Před 2 měsíci +1

    It's a good idea and an interesting project. But I would probably try it out differently:
    Each normal speaker chassis has some kind of an almost fig 8 pattern, with some non-balance, caused by the magnet, cage and cone shape. So if you'd mount two identical speakers with their cones facing towards each other and wire them so, that they will be "out of pohase" (actually: IN phase, cause they are pointing in two different directions) - you will get a "perfectish" speaker for your S-signal... If you combine this "S-speaker" (mounted sideways) with a third speaker, that is centered and sends out the M-signal, you'll get a proper MS-speaker arrangement. Now you can use a 2Ch poweramp, and send L-R to the side chassis and L+R (mono signal) to the center OR you use a MS-recording, and directly send the S signal to the side chassis and the M to the center... No idea, how this would sound, but it would be a proper MS-speaker setup then, analog to a MS-microphon arrangement.
    The problem might be the big difference between microphones and speaker: Speaker need to transmit POWER, so they need to move air... So for getting a proper result with low frequencies, you'll need large systems that can move a lot of air... But anyway, this would be another very interesting project...

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Hmmm, I believe there may be a flaw to that concept. A mid side recording is 2 mics recorded but to creat mid- side you actually use 3 channels.
      Forward, fig 8 in and fig 8 out.
      To playback mid side you also need 3 channels
      One side speaker need signal with the fig 8 left in polarity and fig 8 right out of polarity. The other side speaker needs the fig 8 right in polarity and fig left out of polarity.
      The design you described is missing a channel that is needed .

    • @salossi
      @salossi Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@DaveRat Nope, you're wrong.
      A MS recording contains 2 channels, mid and side signal. If you want to transfer it into a standard L-R stereosignal, of course, you need to add and subtract the side signal to/from the mid. This is what's usually happening within these MS-mixing matrixes.
      But if you'd have a proper MS speaker system, with one speaker having a proper fig8 pattern and being oriented 90°, this speaker could transmit the pure S-signal. In addition with a center speaker, carrying the M signal, this all should add up (acoustically) to a proper stereo information.
      This setup would only require 2 channels and a two channel amplifier; one for the M and one for the S signal.
      Cheers, Salossi

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Interesting, ok, yes, that makes sense.

  • @OnwiththeAction
    @OnwiththeAction Před 2 měsíci +1

    Huughes Research made a processor to do the same thing. Hughes AK-100 SRS Sound Retrieval System

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Interesting unit. Seems to be a quite different adventure as it uses processing to emulate spaciousness using 2 speakers, but interesting none the less. Here is what I found on it:
      The Hughes AK-100 Sound Retrieval System (SRS) was first developed in the early 80’s by Arnold Klayman to create an immersive 3D sound field using only two speakers by using the process known as ‘head-related transfer functions’. This process creates a more spacious ambience within the stereo field, producing strong special cues for different instruments in an audio mix.

  • @Xas08
    @Xas08 Před 2 měsíci +1

    This is amazing. Thanks for sharing

  • @guyjohnson16-44.1
    @guyjohnson16-44.1 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Arrgh, just lost a longish post due to internet dropping off. About adding a L+ and R+ speaker to the rear at a party in a wood. Sounded great whichever way I was pointed. Blew one person's mind... but it *was* a party.
    At my home studio setup, right in the middle, I have two small monitors wired to the L and R (the L to the right-most small box and vice versa) with the levels much lower than the main L&R...Lovely tight centre, and still sounds wide.
    Tried out of polarity on one of these two centre boxes which gives some odd perspectives! Maybe a delay on both of these... hmmm........ (I like rows of dots)

  • @kropjesla01
    @kropjesla01 Před 2 měsíci +1

    that is really interesting! thank you for sharing this!

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Super cool and thank you

  • @TokkanFX
    @TokkanFX Před 2 měsíci

    Nice and great enclosure design.

  • @littlegandhi1199
    @littlegandhi1199 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Very neat stuff indeed!

  • @genevievewalsh497
    @genevievewalsh497 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Hi Dave,
    In the future video, would we be able to take a look at how to optimize your four speakers setup? I'd love to dive deeper into what's actually happening in the amp when you "cross-load" the channels like this. Maybe even investigate with some oscilloscopes or impedance meters.
    When playing back mono audio, my assumption is that the amp is only loaded by the main L and R speakers since the voltage between the positive terminals of the two channels is zero. Would that mean for any regular stereo track, any mid information in the waveform wouldn't contribute to the load and we would only have to calculate what happens in the side scenario?
    My main concern is with impulses, timing, and frequency response. How do these properties differ from the conventional LR to when the amp is cross-loaded with the L-R/R-L speakers?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Yes I will try and do another video on it and show some other cool wiring techniques.
      As far as the amp is concerned the left speaker loads the left channel with 8 ohms and the right speaker loads the right channel with 8 ohms.
      And the side speakers which are two 8 ohm speakers in series do the exact same thing as running an amp bridge mono into 16 ohms.
      And if you look up bridge mono or look at any of my videos I did on bridge mono, running bridge mono into 16 ohms is the same as running stereo into 8 ohms.
      So with an 8 ohm load on each channel and bridged mono into 16 ohms the amp season equivalent of 4 ohms per channel.

  • @dgsviolin
    @dgsviolin Před 2 měsíci +1

    This looks and sounds awesome! Could this be made active easily? I can imagine this paired with a smaller sub to make a more immersive take on the column PA systems that could also be very portable and easy to set-up/tear down.

  • @ivanmaskov
    @ivanmaskov Před 2 měsíci +1

    Finally i always wanted to do that 😁

  • @anthonyanzalone
    @anthonyanzalone Před 11 měsíci +2

    Always innovating. Love it.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 11 měsíci

      🤙🤙 Anthony!

  • @audioquest1
    @audioquest1 Před 2 měsíci +2

    Cool Dave, very nice idee.

  • @azurousrain
    @azurousrain Před 2 měsíci +1

    Just made this setup in Ableton using groups and the stock Utility plugin. Effect Group -> (Normal), (Wide group) -> (normal phase), (utility with phase inverse and swapped channels).
    Sounds to me like it's exactly what the width control of what the utility plugin and many others actually do, but it's interesting to be able to have the extra control over the channels and be able to process the wide vs normal signal and also to know what it's doing.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +3

      I built this speaker so that a normal stereo Bluetooth signal or any stereo signal could be used and recreated by a relatively small speaker and create a wide stereo image.
      I believe there's advantages to doing it acoustically using multiple speakers versus trying to synthesize it by altering the signals and running them into a standard stereo speaker setup.
      This setup adds clarity and dimension without creating that phasey sound that happens when you try and create it with signals and run it through a standard speaker pair.
      Another example that sounds phasey and undesirable to me are all of those TV sound bars that are trying to do a similar thing.

    • @azurousrain
      @azurousrain Před 2 měsíci

      @@DaveRat Yeah, I'm keen to try and make a physical speaker as well. Very cool concept and a great use of the mid-side concept. I was just having fun messing around with it as a mixing tool with that Ableton setup, definitely does add a lot of phaseyness but I am keen to experiment more with it. In my test before I filtered out the lows starting at about 500hz in the wide group to add only a little bit of the effect for extra space and it sounded alright on a first listen. Love your work Dave :)

    • @Flenz
      @Flenz Před 2 měsíci

      You can switch Abletons Utility from Width, to Mid/Side Mode by right clicking on the width knob and choosing it✌️

  • @raymondshear871
    @raymondshear871 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Lovely options. 👍

  • @warpigs330
    @warpigs330 Před 2 měsíci +3

    What are the speakers and amplifier you are using for these kind of things? I would love a go-to speaker and amp for DIY stuff like this.

  • @jimpemberton
    @jimpemberton Před 2 měsíci +2

    Amazing concept, Dave! If you come up with a kit, I'm in.

    • @78tag
      @78tag Před 2 měsíci +2

      Wound this be a one source speaker for a home sound system ?

    • @jimpemberton
      @jimpemberton Před 2 měsíci +2

      @@78tag I think it could be, and one that might sound great.

    • @78tag
      @78tag Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@jimpemberton I'm afraid I would have to find room for one. All of the audio from my computer and the TV runs through my sound mixer so I could stop running everything through my PA speakers with a cabinet like that.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +2

      It sounds really cool, works really well for a center TV speaker with or without left right speakers.
      Also, pointing it into a corner or a wall sounds super cool as the reflected sound fils the room and gives almost a surround sound vibe

  • @1mustanggtrb
    @1mustanggtrb Před 2 měsíci +1

    Excellent video not sure that I fully understand. But very interesting! One question what amp and speakers are you using?

  • @TrickZ666
    @TrickZ666 Před 2 měsíci +1

    this man is such a damn legend..

  • @ikepowell
    @ikepowell Před 2 měsíci +1

    This has really got me thinking!
    If we were to wire up a PA system following your diagram, a speaker received the same signal from both + terminals, I agree cancels out but would that cause any damage? The driver to over exert, amps not discharging properly etc?
    Could we archive the same thing by wiring up a PA as we normally would, then adjusting the polarity in a system controller/amp’s DSP?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Connecting of speaker between the two hot terminals of an amplifier is also known as bridge mono. You can do a CZcams search on that or look at other videos that I did on the subject.
      If the amp is sent the same signal to both channels nothing comes out of the speaker.
      If you send something different to both channels like an equal and opposite signal then you get twice the voltage out of the amplifier.
      As far as loading down the amplifier each channel sees one half of the load impedance.
      So if you wire an 8 ohm speaker across the two hots of an amplifier then each channel sees four ohms.
      Some amplifiers are actually built with each channel being two channels in bridge mode. This is done because bridge mode more efficiently uses the power supply of the amplifier and allows creating higher voltages therefore reducing the amount of loss in speaker cables.
      The downside of bridge mode is that it lowers the impedance of the amp sees and running bridge mono into four ohms loads each channel down to 2 ohms which may be thermally or electronically less than ideal for some amplifiers.
      On the other hand some amplifiers can run impedances well below a single ohm.

  • @TrueLies23
    @TrueLies23 Před měsícem

    You gotta hear polk's SDA speakers if theyre still set up at the Mossimo HQ in California. Crosstalk cancellation gives a freakishly wide stereo image

  • @SteeveBjornson
    @SteeveBjornson Před 2 měsíci

    The processing for this would be fairly straightforward to build with an ARM chip (daisy seed for example) and a few codec chips.

  • @3xarch
    @3xarch Před 2 měsíci +1

    reminds me of brian eno's ambient speaker set up he recommended for ambient 1! mono speaker behind listener with only side channel

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Yes similar concept. Michael for this was the package The setup into a single speaker to create a wide stereo image. Similar to what TV sound bars do but sounds better and not all phase weird sounding like those sound bars are

  • @duncan-rmi
    @duncan-rmi Před 2 měsíci +1

    I have for decades espoused a mono+ambient approach to 'stereo' listening, based on breaking the sweet-spot paradigm. in the mid 80s I worked on a tv soap that switched to stereo, & we tried quite hard to get the broadcaster- the whole national network- to adopt M-S instead of left-right stereo.
    imagine you are shooting a two-shot at a table, one actor either side of the centre line. you pan them left & right. then you cut to the reverse angle, & pan them the opposite way.
    distracting, isn't it? which is why we don't do it in the cinema.
    in fact, we recorded everything M-S anyway, with a small schoeps figure-8 fastened to the usual 416 or 816. [on location, individual radio mics went on a mono track, & we'd have to fake the boom into stereo because the VTRs didn't have enough tracks.]
    the idea was that you'd "put the viewer in the room with the actors" using the ambience, but keep all the main dialogue in the centre, where the screen is. pretty much what happened in most cinemas too, at least until surround caught on.
    so we lost that battle. but there's no reason why an m-s matrix couldn't be installed on most hifi systems, to drive a centre speaker & something like a small array of surround speakers dotted about the place & with some wired out-of-polarity.
    kind of like hafler in reverse..... remember that brian eno diagram on one of his ambient albums? the same trick that a lot of hifi companies used for faking quad, back when that was the thing.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Super cool and yes you get it! And this has been implemented in many different ways over the years by different people and companies. And I thought this cool simple speaker that allows anyone to build it themselves would be a fun project and a chance to help explain MS recording

  • @slevengrungus
    @slevengrungus Před 2 měsíci +1

    I love mid side tricks, my favorite way to mess with audio. This had me click real fast

  • @anthonplake
    @anthonplake Před 2 měsíci +1

    This video has inspired me to ask you to do a deep dive into the spatial/immersive PA system world

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      I will ponder that.

    • @martinmarasco4403
      @martinmarasco4403 Před 2 měsíci +1

      For veterans like Rat, it must be a little annoying that it's called immersive sound. It's just as much a marketing issue as it is a processing issue, a lot!. I think that before taking the step towards such systems, sound engineers should be more concerned with acoustics. If you've mastered acoustics, it's the next level.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Ha, yeah, The adventure of surrounding people with sound is a challenging one because any energy spent on pulling focus away from me band or artist strictly has less than ideal results.
      Money and time and technology spent on increasing sound system complexity so that various sounds can be put in various places for a period of radiate from various locations is often better spent on improving the quality of a simple system to cover the venue better with a higher quality sound.
      That is not to say that systems like L-Isa Don't have value and offer assets, but they can easily be more distraction and detrimental to the sound.
      My biggest reservation about L-isa, is been having multiple small clusters may offer flexibility and where the sound radiates from but it lacks the clarity and power of 2 giant long line arrays. In order to get an L-isa system to match the power and clarity of a stereo rig and also offer the advantages radiating sounds from various locations, pretty much need the entire stereo rig you would have had anyways and they need to add a bunch of smaller clusters as well which is an expensive and considerable undertaking.

  • @Zack-Hates-Youtube
    @Zack-Hates-Youtube Před 2 měsíci +5

    Half way through I'm thinking I saw this video before...

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +3

      Yes as a member you've seen it!
      I just released it public

  • @johng2409
    @johng2409 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Fantastic

  • @FVDaudio
    @FVDaudio Před 2 měsíci +1

    Q Sound... Some kind of virtual stereo to me is like MS equation but with a HPF from lows up to the mids at center summing and after that polarity reversal of the one side.

  • @zachvalenti
    @zachvalenti Před 2 měsíci

    Came for RE20 repairs, staying for this badassery!

  • @carlubambi5541
    @carlubambi5541 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Thank you

  • @senmicman6272
    @senmicman6272 Před 2 měsíci +2

    Didn’t Polk Audio try to do something like this back in the 80s?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +3

      This is a fairly simple wiring and there have been many dives into this over the years. Hafler, Eno and others have done versions of various wiring to create surround or augmented stereo from stereo signals. Often putting speakers in the rear of the room
      Just about every TV sound bar does some sort of electronic version that usually sounds like phasey crap.
      I wanted to specifically focus on a simple mid-side implementation such that a single speaker can would offer clear wide stereo without that phasey sound of a sound bar.
      I have some other cool wiring methods and added a little subwoofer speaker to the box as well.

  • @anttikinnunen7904
    @anttikinnunen7904 Před 2 měsíci +2

    I've been thinking this for a week and how to make it work - and now saw this! I thought I'd need a DSP for experiments, but just wiring does the trick.
    I'll need to try this with four active monitor, I guess the wiring works with line outs ad well.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      There are a bunch of other cool wiring methods that give more control and options

  • @johndough8115
    @johndough8115 Před 2 měsíci +1

    The Widest 3D Sound-field Ive ever experienced, came from my EPI 100v speakers (using the model with the upgraded plastic-bezel tweeter version). It seems the Tweeters Inverted cone (concave vs convex), causes the sounds to extend much further to the opposing sides, than a standard dome tweeter. That, and likely because of its high-energy nature, due to its more powerful magnets + more powerful voice coils. I had them about 8 feet apart, and you could walk almost within 1foot of the extreme left, and still get a perfect stereo image from both channels.. without Any notable drop-off in the stereo sound. The sound also extended back into the room at least 15 feet deep... before any drop off in the sound field was noted.
    They sound best, on the floor, and closest to a wall... despite being a little bigger than Bookshelf speakers. You can be standing, sitting, or laying down... and you still wont have any notable vertical drop-off issues. Thats how absolutely amazing their spread is. In addition, their accuracy is Audiophile grade. They will produce almost zero distortion... even at high volume levels... allowing you to hear NEW things in the music, that you have spend over 2 decades enjoying. For example... finally understanding lyrics that the singer was singing... that you never could make out on any other speakers / headphones (due to the vocals being semi-distorted with the musical instruments... and inferior drivers that are unable to maintain a flawless sonic reproduction, leading to Muddy Blending from micro-distortions).
    You can find them fairly cheap, used. Or.. you can buy from one of the former employees, that sells them hand-made.. at his website: "humanspeakers" dot com
    This attempt at a wide field, might be workable for concert PA speakers... but on a small scale, I hear virtually no differences. Furthermore... you dont typically need a +30 foot sound field in a standard apartment / living room. A lot of people are listening in much smaller room sizes.
    BOSE used a trick to get an extended sound field.. using dirt cheap low-fidelity drivers, by using multiple drivers facing different directions. I personally despise Bose, as their drivers are Inferior Garbage, that have no business representing themselves as "Audiophile" grade speakers.
    Interestingly enough... another very wide stereo soundstage speaker that I experienced when I was like 15 yrs old (Im 50 now), was at a friends house. I asked him where the sound was coming from... and he pointed to these Octagon shaped coffee tables. I believe the top-most area of each octagonal side... had the vents for sound to exit through them... and the sounds filled the entire room, in a very 3D way. I dont know what the make / model was... and or what drivers they used in them. All I can say, is that they really dont make speakers anywhere near as good as the late 70s era speakers. These low power ECO drivers.. dont have enough cone control, and exhibit a lot of micro-distortions, as well as have a very poor stereo imaging spread.
    And while many praise expensive Planer drivers for their sonic accuracy... they seem to have some of the most Directional of sounds, with the most NARROW of sound-fields. You have to sit in the perfect position, else the stereo effect drops off Dramatically. I could never deal with that. Id rather have the wide spread of my EPIs, with "slightly" less fidelity... to get a much better overall sonic 3d experience.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Super interesting thank you

  • @RemyRAD
    @RemyRAD Před 2 měsíci +1

    Well I am enjoying listening to you talk about MS Technique. For, microphone recording. For later mix, decoding. And all that you can do with a, MS matrix decoder. You are very knowledgeable.
    But have you not realized yet. That your very nice control room monitor speakers. They sound quite nice. They've never really sounded, correct. But there's nothing wrong. Everything is connected, appropriately. Even if it has one fundamental flaw.
    What you haven't realized yet. Most people haven't. Because they have tests they can perform. To maintain their correct. And I am wrong. But I am not wrong. I am absolutely 100%, correct. And what the hell am I talking about?
    Both your left and right channel speakers are in phase together. But they are both in Negative Absolute Polarity. While everybody thinks they got it wired for Positive. And they have a test to prove that. Nope! The test is correct. The execution is all wrong.
    Yes that is correct. Everybody gets the concept right. Everybody gets connected wrong. So what precisely is happening? These are well-designed speakers. By very competent electrical engineers and acoustic engineers. And so everybody can't be wrong. Yes but they are. And I and one other company can prove it.
    What everybody thinks they have wired correctly. Demonstrates 100% phase accuracy from input to output. Too bad that's wrong. Why is it wrong?
    Here's why that's wrong. If everything is in phase input to output. And that bass drum downbeat hits. Which way should your speakers be moving?
    That's exactly right. Protruding out toward you. The listener. Out the front of the speakers. Yeah that's right. That's not what your speakers are doing. No. You got that wrong.
    Though your speakers are in negative absolute polarity. Because on the bass drum downbeat. And everything being in phase from input to output. Your speakers. Will be mimicking. The motion of the diaphragms. Of the Microphones. They forgot to include the microphones in their equations. They gave the microphones, no thought. At what are the diaphragms doing? When a sound pressure sores. Smacks of those diaphragms. It pushes them inwards. That's what your speakers are doing. That's Backwards. That's Inverted, Negative Absolute capillary.
    So you need only. Reverse the connections to both of your speakers. Just flip them both. Make the positive the negative. And the negative the positive. On both. That will force your speakers to be in Absolute Positive Polarity. Now protruding out toward you. Where they were never doing that before. Unless of course? You purchase the speakers from the one company that also figured this out. And that would be the JBL, James B. Lansing Speaker Co. Of Los Angeles, California. They also figured out what was going on. They indicated there Polarity, backwards to everybody else. So when you miss wire your speakers according to your user manuals. JBL speakers will already be in the correct Absolute Positive Polarity.
    And it was back in 1978. I stumbled upon what was going on here. With my pair of, Altec Lansing 604's. And my brand-new pair of JBL 4311's. Which sounded great in my Control Room. Because mine 604's just didn't quite sound right. And nothing I could do to make them sound right. Until I found them in the Opposite Polarity to that of my JBL's.
    Now wait just a minute here? Both of these speakers are designed by the same guy only a couple of years apart. But they are both out of phase to each other? Hmmm? What the hell is going on here, I wondered?
    So I can turn on both pairs of mine monitor speakers. One at a time or both at the same time. And when I turn them both on at the same time. They are out of phase to each other. So I rewire my JBL's. To match my Altec Lansing 604's. Now they both sound better while on. But when I listen to the JBL''s alone now. They don't sound so good! What the hell?
    So I switch the JBL's, back. And I rewire the Altec Lansing 604's now. To match the JBL. And OH MY GOD! Now my Altec Lansing 604's sound a lot better! Holy crap! What the hell?
    And I had stumbled upon something. That I find one of the most significant, Acoustic Anomalies. That ever was. Absolute Speaker Polarity. I don't think anybody understands it.. Except JBL. Because all other speaker manufacturers around the world. Do it backwards.. And all designed by Electrical Engineers and Acoustic Engineers. That are all taught this wrong. It's incredibly Mindless! That nobody has been able to properly, think this through. It's so anomalous. Everybody is stupid together. Therefore they must be right. And that's a Cult. Because audio doesn't work that way. All you have to do is listen. But most people don't know what they are listening to? What they are listening for? How it's, supposed to sound? They have no idea. Not a clue. Even though they have college degrees that say they're supposed to. So many are frauds. They don't know what the hell they are listening to? I do. I had to.
    I had to because, decades ago. I became one of those Studio Fixers. Because somebody has to be able to do it. Electrical and acoustic engineers don't know how to do it. They have college degrees! Their brains, positively switch off. They can do it wrong because that would be stupid. So everybody does it wrong together. Therefore it makes it right.
    Yeah no. That's not how it works. You have to include the microphones in your equation. You have to know what the diaphragms are doing. You don't want your speakers mimicking the motion of the microphone diaphragms. Then your speakers are sucking away from you. In front of you. Causing all sorts of Anomalous, phase cancellation and resonant room frequency peaks. It's a mess sounding. I can't tell what the hell I'm working with trying to listen to it that way. And I refuse to. I need my Monitor Speakers in Absolute Positive Polarity, together and in phase.
    Because too many dummies don't understand the difference between Phase and Polarity. They are conceptually the same. They are significantly different.. In the land of Pro Audio. But most people don't pro Audio. Not even those with college degrees in the subject. Because they don't know what the hell they are listening to? Or how it should sound? Because they listen with their eyes. They listen with their textbook formulas. They listen with their mathematical equations.
    And to the best of my knowledge. None of those, aforementioned items. Can listen to, evaluate, anything. They are inanimate. They are not alive. They do not breathe. They do not pump blood.. They are inanimate. They hear nothing. They think nothing. They evaluate, nothing. They can simply read out numbers. Because it's not alive. It's inanimate.. It's a piece of test equipment. It has no life, of its own. It's inanimate. That means not animated. Not moving. Not living. And can evaluate, nothing. Decide upon, nothing. And so I don't know what's wrong with college grads? I are not one. I teach the college professors. What they need to know. Many have come to me, directly. And said teach me what you know. I only have a college degree in this.
    Some of us are from the trenches of Pro Audio. I go back to the beginning of high fidelity in 1970. When I truly got started. So it's been a while.. And I am now fully retired. I miss what I used to do. I don't care for the rock 'n' roll music of today. It's garbage. It's bullshit. I want to hear musicians play. And sing. Without the help of a computer. That rips off the general public. With a fraud.
    I like Reel People, musicians and singers, alike.
    RemyRAD

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      It's pretty easy to demonstrate that absolute polarity is extremely difficult to hear if audible at all by pressing the polarity reverse switch on a mixing console.
      Some people claim it's very important and other people claim it's irrelevant.
      But one thing is for sure, as long as the speakers aren't severely flawed, Even if polarity is audible it's only a tiny tiny aspect in the overall sound

  • @mange586
    @mange586 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Great video, what if I want a mono speaker instead of left and right. Can I just sum left and right in this passive matrix or will that destroy the side feed? Also.. can I make this matrix in a dlr connector box and feed amplifiers instead of speakers? Is it possible to make a passive xlr MS matrix box. Left and right in and mid plus side out?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Yeah that could be done, And I thought about exploring that angle, you could build a passive resistive voltage divider network to derive the mono center speaker signal and run that into a mono amp into the mono center speaker
      And then run the stereo signal into a stereo amp and wire it with the two side speakers in series as I show in the video, across the two hots of the stereo amp.

  • @rogerandchristianbrown5553
    @rogerandchristianbrown5553 Před 2 měsíci +1

    This is exciting stuff

  • @runglerhz5590
    @runglerhz5590 Před 2 měsíci +1

    This in some parts reminds me of the Hafler-matrix fake quad stuff.

  • @ViestursBalodis
    @ViestursBalodis Před 28 dny +1

    Done couple of times, honestly I hate one ear been “sucked out” other “in”. I prefer just two fig 8 in various angles. And what concerns speakers there was a guy Aspen Pittman. Interesting.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 28 dny +1

      This wiring does not suck one ear in and the other out. It just adds more of the left signal to the left and more right signal to the right increasing the width of the image.
      Unlike 2 fig 8 speakers where there is significant LF cancellation, this is full range and adds the increased stereo image

    • @ViestursBalodis
      @ViestursBalodis Před 28 dny +1

      @@DaveRat sorry about that ear it was about MS mics technique in recording . not about speaker. thanks for sharing !

  • @kevinpetit9886
    @kevinpetit9886 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Great Video. 😃👍♥️

  • @thomascordery7951
    @thomascordery7951 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Short answer: yes, it's been done, though not in the interesting way shown here. A true implementation has all the speakers in one location, analagous to an MS mic setup. In fact, a single side speaker with a figure eight polar pattern could be mounted immediately above the mid speaker, or it could be implemented with two speakers back to back and wired out of phase.
    The resulting sound field may not be what an audiophile looks for, possibly because it relies on reflections in the space to establish the stereo field. This is different from a traditional stereo pair where it's the listener's position relative to the speakers that defines the field. The limitation of traditional stereo is there's only one ideal seating position, and the further one places one's ears from that location, the worse the stereo balance becomes.
    To visualize how an MS speaker array creates a stereo field and why it relies on room acoustics, think of that MS array in a wide open field. There are no walls bouncing the sound about to give the complex mix of L-R, R-L and L+R that gives the impression of various sounds coming from different directions. The only close reflecting surface in that scenario is the ground, so the reflections from each of the three channels will tend to be away from both the speaker array and the listener.
    Where the MS speaker concept may have some value is in an indoor setting with an audience spread over a wide area. With a conventional stereo mix, only a relatively small fraction of listeners will be near the ideal listening area while others are too far from either the left or right speakers, and so will miss much of the distant channel relative to the near one.
    This is why most live music mixes are presented in mono. In this application, a mid-side speaker arrangement gives some sense of space beyond the simple mono mix, while still presenting each listener with each channel at an equal level.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Very cool and I mixed live bands for nearly 40 years, I have mixed some of the largest shows in the world and own a company that rents gear for concerts. I can honestly say that most live shows are not mixed in mono.
      Though shows are also not mixed in the old school beginner type simple stereo where instruments were panned hard to one side or the other.
      Not unlike recordings, live shows are mixed with a wide variety of sound field widths and methods that is as diverse as one can imagine.
      At a recent show in an outdoor dance tent, multiple flown speaker clusters were deployed towards the back of the tent and fed stereo differential signals and it worked quite well. The added stereo surround image was quite enjoyable.
      The goal of this project was to have a single relatively small speaker enclosure and be able to present a wide stereo field.
      I tried multiple locations with it like center of wall which sounds quite good, but also pointing it at the wall which drastically increases the reflections and stereo field presented was fun. Pointing it into the corner of a room increase the low end quite a bit and filled the room with a wonderful stereo sound.
      Go to another video or two on some other wiring configurations and more about the build aspect of it as well.
      Cool and thank you for commenting and the info!

  • @il_moe
    @il_moe Před 2 měsíci

    Lou at 1-Sound has a M-S speaker that has a similar design (developed with Mario?). Also, I wanna be your friend too..ahah

  • @klauschristensen5845
    @klauschristensen5845 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Wouldn't 3 speakers be enough?
    Left side speaker: Left signal (L) and out of phase right signal (øR)
    Right side speaker: Right signal (R) and out of phase left signal (øL)
    Mid speaker: Left signal (L) and right signal (R)
    ???

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      You can use 2 speakers as well. Mono and a left minus right open back pointed sideways..
      It's not as easy to derive the mono signal though using just wiring on a stereo amp

  • @littlegandhi1199
    @littlegandhi1199 Před 2 měsíci +1

    For home enthusiasts I am sure this could be done on the fly with EQAPO!

  • @hoobsgroove
    @hoobsgroove Před 2 měsíci +3

    how does it affect it because you put the speakers on the side, surely that's 90° out of phase to the front speaker?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Hmmm, pointing a speaker sideways does not alter its polarity or phase.
      If the speaker is not mounted in an enclosure then pointing it sideways will give you a null where you have cancellation between the front and the back.
      If the speaker is mounted in an enclosure and you only hear the front of the speaker, then it doesn't matter which way it points, The speaker is in polarity in all directions.
      Exceptions to this rule are open back speakers and flat panel speakers that the back is not sealed.
      So for this enclosure since all the backs are together inside the box and all the fronts point outside of the box, All the speakers are in polarity no matter which way they point
      Unless if they are wired out of polarity in which case they would be out of polarity no matter which way they point

    • @hoobsgroove
      @hoobsgroove Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@DaveRat yes but having a speaker behind at 180°, does I thought 90° does as well

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      If you take a speaker that's in a box and in polarity and point it forward, and measure the sound it will be in polarity in front behind above and below.
      If you take a speaker in a box and point it backwards that is in polarity, it will also be in polarity in front behind above and below and off to the sides.
      Polarity is a 180° or 0° polarity has no 90° shift. It's all or nothing Yes or no in or out.
      Phase is a frequency dependent shift.
      Here's a video on monitors versus main PA polarity and I believe I cover the direction that speakers are pointed in it.
      czcams.com/video/d_3NOvt-gNg/video.htmlsi=xDXCqNqAWVzSv0rm

  • @MikeGervasi
    @MikeGervasi Před 2 měsíci +1

    Great idea. Impossible for us to hear remotely though.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      I may be able figure out a way to offer some interesting audio comparisons ove CZcams. Will work on that soon.

  • @adamrourke1586
    @adamrourke1586 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Isn't there a fender acoustic amp that is M/S? One forward facing driver with a closed back and another just below and perpendicular for the sides.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Yeah that's what people are posting and sounds interesting

  • @user-zm7up6eb8l
    @user-zm7up6eb8l Před 12 dny

    What do you think about dipole loudspeaker? Can it add more enhance stereo image in room? What do you think about linkwitz loudspeakers?

  • @DavidtheSwarfer
    @DavidtheSwarfer Před 2 měsíci +1

    shouldn't there be physical separation inside the box as well, so the L and R speakers do not move the L-R and R-L speakers? and even L/R baffle as well?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      I thought about that and actually no physical separation improves The low frequencies.
      This is because the side speakers don't have very much low end with a stereo signal that has fairly mono low frequencies.
      This means the entire enclosure can be used for the low end of the stereo speakers.
      But if low end is panned hard left or right then All the low end comes out of one of the side speakers and one of the forward speakers and reverse polarity out of the other side speaker. This in effect gives all of the enclosure to one speaker creating a deep low end.
      If you had four separate enclosures then all of the speakers would have their own tiny enclosure so you would have to either make the speaker bigger or suffer less low frequency overall.
      This speaker is actually modular and the back panel comes off and I made a second back panel that has a little subwoofer in it that also uses the same enclosure. And that sounds really cool with even more low end

  • @yo3429
    @yo3429 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Dave, I guess you need to record the figure 8 with two seperate mics, cause the switched figure 8 of a single mic only has on output with both signals coherent in one cable, so no way to split this signal. With two mics and seperate signals it will work. Or am I wrong?!

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      To do mid-side the figure eight is just a single mic.
      Figure 8 Mic is just split to two channels.
      One channel has the figure 8 mic in polarity panned hard one way and the other channel has the figure 8 mic out of polarity panned hard the other way.
      And the directional mic is panned center.

    • @yo3429
      @yo3429 Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@DaveRat OK, thanks. Now I get it, you use 2 channels panned and use the polarity differences then. 1 Mic saved but some 2 speakers more needed. right?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Read some of the other comments there are setups where people are doing mid side playback with just two speakers

  • @soundman1402
    @soundman1402 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Cool stuff. I feel like you could make this simpler, and with three speakers. You have your single mid speaker, then Ldiff, and Rdiff. Wiring: L and R amp + and - go to the + / - of the mid speaker to sum the two parts; then, Rdiff and Ldiff are wired in series (- to +) between L+ and R+ on the amp, producing the difference between L and R to the mid.
    Do you have a CNC machine to cut these enclosures?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 11 měsíci +2

      Yes, have a CNC.
      I was aiming to do this using a standard stereo input and or stereo amp without any processing such that it can be plugged into any normal stereo output.
      To do the three speakers, the challenge is getting the mono signal for the center speaker without processing.

    • @soundman1402
      @soundman1402 Před 11 měsíci

      @@DaveRat yes, but wouldn't you get that by running the + of both L and R amp channels to the center speaker? Hmm, I guess that doesn't quite remove the side signals, though... not unless they're quite out of polarity.

  • @mvwoon
    @mvwoon Před 11 měsíci

    2:56 could introduce channel 3 a little bit? I got the figure eight. Pretty exciting!

  • @willboswell_
    @willboswell_ Před 2 měsíci +1

    sick

  • @thewingedpoet8658
    @thewingedpoet8658 Před 2 měsíci

    Hey Dave!
    Anyway we can get some stereo reference tracks with that speaker statem in both configurations? It'd be really cool to get down and dirty on analyzing what the summation does!

  • @mvwoon
    @mvwoon Před 11 měsíci

    13:30 Awesome!

  • @almightytreegod
    @almightytreegod Před 2 měsíci +1

    So is this what they do in sound bars for home theater setups (with maybe some additional techniques as well I assume)?
    And what was that first song btw?

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      There may be some soundbars out there that do something similar but from what I've heard most of them have numerous speakers in them and they try and do beam steering. Things like send the signal with a slightly different delay to various speakers such that it shoots the sound off to the side or off-center or center. This has the advantage of putting different sounds in different places but it has a disadvantage of sounding kind of weird and phasey as well.

    • @almightytreegod
      @almightytreegod Před 2 měsíci

      @@DaveRat oh ok. Cool, thanks! What about that song? Sounded good

  • @nh18343
    @nh18343 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Do the amplifier output channel grounds need to be at the same potential? Some amps float the negative terminals and cant be tied together.

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      It should work with most stereo amps. Except if the amp has transformer outputs and they are fully isolated, that may not work

  • @LotchMuziq
    @LotchMuziq Před 2 měsíci +1

    Hi dave, I hope all is well. Dont know if u remember last year u sold me the outter shell panels for a sennheiser md441-U because one side of the mics leather panels was ripped off . You sent me both of the panels, but I only needed one side, so i sent back the other side to you . I hope u received it.
    BUT ANY WAYS...
    I refurbished a pair of yamaha ns10s, and the woofers r very thin, and moisture is starting to affect the woofer, making them soft. Unfortunately, one side of the woofer ripped, and i had to repaired it..
    My question is .. is there any kind of waterproof spray that u can recommend that i can use for that woofer since the woofer is made outta sum kind of paper?
    Im using a dehumidifier in my studio now. But i would like to add sum protection on the woofers since they are very old

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      It may slightly change the sound but any coating willl do that anyway. We use lacquer spray paint as it's quite liquid and absorbs into the paper rather than coating it and it will add waterproofing and some rigidity back into the cone

    • @LotchMuziq
      @LotchMuziq Před 2 měsíci

      Thank u so much

  • @NiddNetworks
    @NiddNetworks Před 2 měsíci

    They're intriguing little drivers Dave... Are they off your stock shelf, or did you buy some little units to play with?

  • @jeff68
    @jeff68 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Are you going to be at Infocomm? thanks for all your interesting videos

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci +1

      Yes headed to infocom Thurs

    • @jeff68
      @jeff68 Před 2 měsíci +1

      @@DaveRat I was there as well. Would have liked to have met you. Thanks for your videos and response

    • @DaveRat
      @DaveRat  Před 2 měsíci

      Yes I'll try and be better about posting when I go to trade shows and I like to meet fellow sound humans!