Near Field V/s Far Field Speakers
- Thread starter as3ix
- Start date
High frequencies disperse differently from lower frequencies. (High frequencies spread less than low frequencies) And its mainly the high frequencies that are responsible for "stereo image", clarity, presence etc.
So near fields will have design that takes this into account - so that the high frequencies diffuse and sound natural to your ears when you are sitting close by.
Far field designs will take into account that you are sitting farther away - and hence (InMyOpionion) doesn't require as much design considerations.
So near fields will have design that takes this into account - so that the high frequencies diffuse and sound natural to your ears when you are sitting close by.
Far field designs will take into account that you are sitting farther away - and hence (InMyOpionion) doesn't require as much design considerations.
This is a nice technical explanation earlier posted by Denom on 11th June 2012 in the thread BS vs FS.
The near field of a speaker is the region close to a speaker cone, where the sound pressure and acoustic particle velocity are not in phase. In this region the sound field does not decrease by 6 dB each time the distance from the source is increased (as it does in the far field). The near field is limited to a distance from the source equal to about 4 times the radius of the piston (speaker cone). So the smaller the speaker driver, the shorter the Near Field and likewise the larger the speaker driver, the longer the Near Field. Since the pressure fluctuates wildly in a complicated manner in the Near Field, it is forbidden to listen to any speaker in the Near Field.
The far field of a source begins where the near field ends, and extends to infinity. Note that the transition from near to far field is gradual in the transition region. In the far field, the direct field radiated by most speakers will decay at the rate of 6 dB each time the distance from the source is doubled. It is always important to listen to a speaker well into the Far Field.
The above is only explained to clarify that the terms Near Field & Far Field are physics terms and not marketing terms invented by salesmen to classify small, medium or large speaker monitors. Since small speakers have small drivers thus a very short Near Field, it is possible to listen to them in the far field which is actually pretty close to the speaker. Whilst a speaker with an 18 inch driver will have a Near Field of almost 3 feet. The closest you can get to it is atleast more than 4 or 5 feet away to be in the Far Field.
I have been searching the web for weeks for more information on Denoms post without success. The interesting information I have easily been able to find is
A nearfield loudspeaker monitor is small enough to sit in close proximity to the recording/mix/mastering engineer, so that most of its sound travels directly to the listener, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from the room). Since the nearfield loudspeaker monitor is located close to the listener, this direct sound plays at relatively low SPL and thus prevents a strong reverberant field from building up in the room. But in normal recording studios, nearfield loudspeaker monitors unfortunately end up very close to the mixing console, thus resulting in a lot of sound reflections emanating off the mixing console and interfering with the direct sound, causing huge compromises in the quality of the sound that reaches the listener. Since the sound of a nearfield loudspeaker monitor is largely independent of the room, it does provide a respectable easy monitoring solution in studio control rooms that may not be very well designed acoustically.
A farfield loudspeaker monitor is large enough to put out higher SPL to the recording/mix/mastering engineer, when placed further away from the mixing console to reduce reflections emanating off the mixing console. However since the higher SPL from a farfield monitor reflects more intensely off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from the room), the room has to be acoustically designed as close to perfection as possible so that the farfield monitors are able to accurately deliver the whole truth about the audio signal, which is being processed. Farfield loudspeaker monitors provide a brilliant monitoring solution in well designed studio control rooms and can put out stunning accurate reproduction when properly calibrated to the room they are installed in.
Any recommendations on where I should look for more information on the above post of Denom? It would be nice to study that physics a bit more in detail
A nearfield loudspeaker monitor is small enough to sit in close proximity to the recording/mix/mastering engineer, so that most of its sound travels directly to the listener, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from the room). Since the nearfield loudspeaker monitor is located close to the listener, this direct sound plays at relatively low SPL and thus prevents a strong reverberant field from building up in the room. But in normal recording studios, nearfield loudspeaker monitors unfortunately end up very close to the mixing console, thus resulting in a lot of sound reflections emanating off the mixing console and interfering with the direct sound, causing huge compromises in the quality of the sound that reaches the listener. Since the sound of a nearfield loudspeaker monitor is largely independent of the room, it does provide a respectable easy monitoring solution in studio control rooms that may not be very well designed acoustically.
A farfield loudspeaker monitor is large enough to put out higher SPL to the recording/mix/mastering engineer, when placed further away from the mixing console to reduce reflections emanating off the mixing console. However since the higher SPL from a farfield monitor reflects more intensely off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from the room), the room has to be acoustically designed as close to perfection as possible so that the farfield monitors are able to accurately deliver the whole truth about the audio signal, which is being processed. Farfield loudspeaker monitors provide a brilliant monitoring solution in well designed studio control rooms and can put out stunning accurate reproduction when properly calibrated to the room they are installed in.
Any recommendations on where I should look for more information on the above post of Denom? It would be nice to study that physics a bit more in detail
That information mainly refers to studio loudspeaker monitoring systems
The information you are looking for is highly academic and is mostly available from paid websites. There is very little information availble for free on that subject and it takes days of searching with various search terms and keyword options to find them.
You can check the below links if the can be of any help
http://www.extra.research.philips.com/hera/people/aarts/RMA_papers/aar09pu5.pdf
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-06032004-123749/unrestricted/Collins_Thesis.pdf
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