Handbook of Sound System Design

Anyone interested in electronic sound reinforcement should have this book. The book introduces electrical fundamentals, & proceeds to acoustical fundamentals. The "Psychoacoustical Aspects" chapter is brief, dealing with the varying frequency response of the hearing system with changes in level, masking & critical bandwidth, echo perception & directional cues, besides concert hall requirements. High-frequency & low-frequency radiating systems are discussed, followed by special mid-frequency systems & "Dividing Networks-Component Matching." "System Architecture" is broad, including information on rational specification & functions with minimum distortion & noise. "System Intelligibility Criteria" is an important chapter. Included in the distributed & paging systems chapters are pew-back systems & information for all distributed systems. Artificial ambience systems (electronic reverberation & surround systems) information is current. The speech privacy & noise masking chapter provides the basics & engineering information for such systems. Chapters on high-level sound reproduction & theater sound reinforcement are "overviews" that may be expanded in the future. The final chapter concerns column loudspeakers & line arrays. All chapters are illustrated with understandable figures. There are also photographs & drawings of other manufacturers' products. Excellent chapter references are provided. Author of the Microphone Handbook, also published by ELAR, Eargle brings vision & experience to sound system engineering.