Audibility of distortion in horns!

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I should also add in point #2 above that the perception will be strongly dependent on the signal type as well as the level. Pure tones are notably more audible, but somewhat unrealistic. I would expect a steady tone to be far more audible than a temporary tone.

I also know that different musical sources have drastically different signal characteristics and this will clearly play a significant role in detectability. For example, lets say that we have a highly non-symmetric nonlinearity and a signal source that is also highly non-symmetric (Tracy Chapman has highly non-symmetric signals.) Switching the phase of the signal source will have two different levels of audibility - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
 
Lets not worry about "the jab" for now.

i would like to know what you considered a jab and it does concern me.

You state that "distortion is audible in horns", to which I agree. But that is a non-statement in that it doesn't say anything.
sorry that for you that statement isn't palatable or acceptable it's clear and simple enough and as far as i can tell is not ambiguous.

One could just as easily say "Distortion is audible in any loudspeaker as long as the signal is audible." which is also true.
as the conditional statement that it is.
one can also have a signal in a loudspeaker that contributes no audible distortion.which would also be true.

Its like say that "nothing is bluer than blue".
no but gradients of blue can exist.

Until you quantify the type of distortion and the levels of the signal we are talking about there simply is not any relevance to the distortion conversation.

The issues are:

1) linear versus nonlinear distortion
2) the signal level
3) the type of nonlinear distortion
4) the type of linear distortion

These all matter and the answer to audibility will be different for every one of them.
looks to me like your creating a gradient scale of "blues" here.
this is obfuscation of the original point.

So you see that just saying that "distortion" is audible, says nothing, until you quantify it.Like "nonlinear distortion is not audible from a horn at typical home listening levels" - this would be true.
conditional statement that really perturbs me.
i'll gladly expand on this later.

"At a high enough level nonlinear distortion will always be audible" - this would be true as well. "Linear distortion has the same audibility at all levels" - this would not be true based on the results that we have.
the "we" in this is not clearly defined could you clarify that please.

Or maybe "I can hear 1% THD in loudspeaker A, therefor I will be able to hear 1% THD in loudspeaker B" - this is not true. "Loudspeaker A has more THD than loudspeaker B and therefor it will sound better" - this is also not true. There is no valid scale of nonlinear distortion that has global applicability - each "form" of nonlinear distortion is different. There are forms of nonlinear distortion in electronics that are highly audible at .01% THD, but these forms virtually never occur in loudspeakers.

It is the nuances of the effects that matter and over simplification does not acknowledge these nuances.
i think some of this was hastily composed, so i don't know if i'm sure of what your saying here but i think the gist comes through
 
Pure tones are notably more audible, but somewhat unrealistic. I would expect a steady tone to be far more audible than a temporary tone.

so that i can ensure i am understanding this correctly:i take it that you mean pure tones make audible distortion much easier to perceive.

transients(which i consider akin to an impulse) like like a kick drum or snare tell me more about a horn whether low frequency or high than a steady state or long duration decaying signal like say a cymbal

- and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
amen
 
Each distortion has a best way to detect it. May I suggest you list known distortions and rate them so as to familiarise yourself with their importance..
linear, non linear is irrelevant and regardless of level it's "audible" that the only point!
..as this outdated way of approaching the issue won't lead you to a good speaker. Many a DIYer has had a headache over this one. All systems produce distortion, and it doesn't really matter.

Each distortion is inaudible below some level. Don't upset the balance if improving one will compromise another, because then one becomes audible.

The most common failure in speaker designs is probably one of balance.
 
I should also add in point #2 above that the perception will be strongly dependent on the signal type as well as the level. Pure tones are notably more audible, but somewhat unrealistic. I would expect a steady tone to be far more audible than a temporary tone.

IME 1/3 octave noise is the signal with which you will get highest audibility of nonlinear distortions, even low order like 2nd or 3rd harmonic.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/ever...tortion-new-listening-test-2.html#post4535595
 
I think it is quite difficult to have a rigorous definition of "a music signal", if we want to make something close to a scientific test. Beethoven's no.9 will probably give a different result on audibility than Tracy Chapman 😉.
Noise is not a steady state signal, I would guess, though it has a statistically rigorous definition.
 
It is impossible to find a single musical signal that represents all music.

Steady-state just means that the signal is "stationary" (stable statistics) and does not vary over time. Your brain can lock in on the sound and detect things that a signal like music would not allow.

One can certainly do "scientific" tests with music signals. Its done all the time.
 
Now we agree, noise is a stationary signal. Still I do not think it would be a steady-state signal.

Re "scientific tests" with music signals - IMO they are questionable and reflect just one and only test condition (HW used etc.) and are valid just for this specific test condition. If you make a test with a group of people in your listening room, the results of such test are not transferable.
 
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What you say is true of all scientific tests.

If you used bandlimited noise it would also only apply to that condition. Which is more real: some piece of music or noise?

According to your opinion no one could ever make a valid test of anything. So you don't buy any of the results from Toole? They all use a very unique room - not applicable to any other room?

We have a different definition of steady state I guess. It does not mean the signal is deterministic, just not time dependent.

To me it just sounds like you may want to throw out any test whose results you don't like as invalid by nit-picking them to death. Just like the global warming debates.

Good scientists take all available data and weigh it by its applicability and significance and come to the most rational conclusion that fits the available data. This process can never lead to "proof", but it does get you somewhere.
 
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At least the noise is a defined signal and the experiment is repeatable, contrary to pop music samples 🙂

In case we want to find thresholds of audibility, defined signals have to be used and hardware with lowest distortion has to be used. It is easy to speak about nonlinear distortion as non-issue if the speakers are distorting and music samples are undefined signals. With different speakers, different music and different listening level the result may be quite different. With sine tones, noises and good headphones we have at least some control above the experiment.
 
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