In the 40s Bell Labs' research into speech intelligibility established the critical range is (I think it was) 500 – 3500 Hz. Though telephone applications go down to about 200 hz.
Lower distortion is of course always better, but I was reading the HiFi Critic last night (editor Martin Colloms, the only audio mag worth reading) where re MP3s, comments were made that music warrants (of course) high bit rates or WAV files, but for voices - lower bit rates are ok.
I haven't had a HT system. Deep bass and explosive HT effects aside, music reproduction is demanding of a good system than home theatre. Many systems are used for both music and HT, but for me this isn't relevant, for a system to be used in a different room, only for home theatre. Few action movies, mostly drama and comedy.
Selecting tweeters (or mids) for this - how important is it to get the lowest distortion?
Maybe difficult to answer that question quantitatively, but the view expressed in HiFi Critic makes me think - not that much.
The pragmatic/ Devil's advocate view:
Admittedly on the telephone there is usually only one voice coming down the line, and the handset is next to our ears, but we can mostly hear the other person's voice fine, via a single (50c?) phone speaker.
So (as opposed to a full orchestra in flight, at the other end of the spectrum of audio demands) would eg $30-40 Vifa/ Seas level quality tweeters (and similar mids and bass) be more than up to the task of listening to drama at normal TV levels?
eg the Seas H1212 tweeter . .
Horses for courses?
Lower distortion is of course always better, but I was reading the HiFi Critic last night (editor Martin Colloms, the only audio mag worth reading) where re MP3s, comments were made that music warrants (of course) high bit rates or WAV files, but for voices - lower bit rates are ok.
I haven't had a HT system. Deep bass and explosive HT effects aside, music reproduction is demanding of a good system than home theatre. Many systems are used for both music and HT, but for me this isn't relevant, for a system to be used in a different room, only for home theatre. Few action movies, mostly drama and comedy.
Selecting tweeters (or mids) for this - how important is it to get the lowest distortion?
Maybe difficult to answer that question quantitatively, but the view expressed in HiFi Critic makes me think - not that much.
The pragmatic/ Devil's advocate view:
Admittedly on the telephone there is usually only one voice coming down the line, and the handset is next to our ears, but we can mostly hear the other person's voice fine, via a single (50c?) phone speaker.
So (as opposed to a full orchestra in flight, at the other end of the spectrum of audio demands) would eg $30-40 Vifa/ Seas level quality tweeters (and similar mids and bass) be more than up to the task of listening to drama at normal TV levels?
eg the Seas H1212 tweeter . .
Horses for courses?