Workshop #4
Loudspeaker Measurement Clinic

A live demonstration of speaker MLS testing was presented and many of the challenges in speaker design were discussed. Modern speaker building software and measurement techniques were demonstrated. Much of this PC-based technology is available to the DIY community at a very affordable price. This workshop was presented by Darren Kuzma. As the former speaker component systems manager at Parts Express, Inc., Darren was largely responsible for their very popular Reference components. This workshop was invaluable for any attendee contemplating building his or her own speaker system.

Speaker measurement graphs kindly supplied by Stereophile's John Atkinson were used at the beginning of the workshop as examples. There was considerable discussion of the implications of the loudspeaker's measured step response in regard to driver time alignment and type of crossover, and whether or not the loudspeaker was transient accurate. Of course, the question as to whether the phase response of a loudspeaker is audible (i.e., whether it is transient-accurate) popped up a few times during the discussions.