Soundstage Audio

[Figure 1]

A Soundstage 3D series tower loudspeaker images identically to live concert or a live event, providing the most involving, realistic listening experience possible for either music or home theater.

The drivers mounted in the rear of the soundstage 3D series speakers, working in tandem with a carefully engineered crossover topology, create a three dimensional acoustic effect that takes the listening experience from the dark ages of basic stereo into a startling new era of 3 dimensional sound." [Figure 1]

Every other traditional speaker is designed to create a shallow stereo, typically limited to the space between them. This is the sound that most are used to, where a vocalist is locked between the musicians and you might be able to pinpoint their locations across a horizontal plane. Soundstage 3D speakers are not intended to image this way because an actual live performance does not create this acoustic effect and is not perceived by the brain in this manner. [Figure 2]

Figure 2

Direct vs Reflect Sound

[Figure 3]

[Figure 4]

	Unrealistic and confined to the width and depth of the speakers		Movies and music are reproduced as if on a stage before you, even beyond room limitations.

Try to remember any live performance where you could close your eyes and pinpoint performers' locations exactly in space and separate from each other. Never does a band or orchestra stand shoulder to shoulder across the width of the stage. They are not only more spread out but also layered, where one performer might be situated behind or adjacent to the next. A Soundstage 3D series tower can recreate this effect but a conventional, forward-firing speaker cannot. Its lack of reflected sound makes this impossible. A forward-firing speaker will create the flatter, holographic imaging which is not only unrealistic but also undesirable, an unnatural artifact of stereo sound.

One of the best ways to appreciate our technology is by understanding how we hear. Research proved that in a live musical environment, approximately 30% of what we hear is direct sound while 70% is reflected from walls, ceilings and floors and only reaches our ears a few milliseconds after the direct sound. Soundstage engineers recognized that a speaker capable of recreating the correct direct to reflected ratio would therefore reproduce sound with far greater realism and faithfulness to the original instrument and environment.
[Figure 3]

The reflected sound creates the effect of spaciousness and helps us determine the dimensions of our room and what we hear. You do not have to be a speaker expert to appreciate or understand this but this example may help clarify the point further.

You do not have to have your eyes open to know if you are standing in closet or in a stadium, you can tell the size of your surroundings by how your voice will sound. The reflected sound reaches you quicker in a small environment like a closet so your brain tells you that based on what you’re hearing, you’re in small area. In a stadium where the reflected sound takes longer to reach you, your brain tells you that based on what you’re hearing, you’re in a large environment. [Figure 4]

Our data showed that a conventional speaker had opposite ratios of direct to reflected sound, or 70% direct and 30% reflected. Such a speaker could only create the two dimensional stereo effect but could not mimic a live performance because it’s effect lacked the extra dimension of depth.

The drivers mounted in the rear of the soundstage 3D series speakers, working in tandem with a carefully engineered crossover topology, accurately creates this ratio. We concluded that a rigid, rounded cabinet with specially designed drivers would be the right technology to pursue, immersing the listener in a natural Soundstage. This signaled the dawn of 3D series technology, taking the listening experience from the dark ages of basic stereo into a startling new era of 3 dimensional sound.