Stereophonic Sound Reproduction in the Home

To achieve realism in a sound reproducing system three fundamental conditions must be satisfied, namely: first, the frequency range must be such as to include all the audible components of the various sounds to be reproduced; second, the volume range must be such as to permit noiseless and distortionless reproduction of the entire range of intensity associated with the sounds; third, the reverberation and spatial characteristic of the original sound must be preserved. This paper describes experiments and tests conducted over a period of a decade with the object of determining the factors which play a major role in establishing realism in reproduced sound under practical operating conditions in the home. The subjects investigated include the following: acoustic frequency preference; nonlinear distortion; stereophonic frequency preference; noise; localization (lateral and depth); reverberation.