📖 Audio Glossary

Loudspeaker-Room Interaction

The combined effect of speaker placement and room geometry on the sound reaching the listener — the primary target of room correction.

What you hear is never just the speakers — it is the speakers PLUS the room. Below ~300 Hz, the room dominates: speaker placement near walls increases bass (boundary gain), room modes create peaks and nulls, and the listening position determines which modes you sit in. Above ~300 Hz, speaker directivity and room reflections share influence.

Room correction attempts to separate the speaker's anechoic response from the room's contribution and correct for the latter. But physical treatment (bass traps, absorption at reflection points) is always more effective than DSP correction because DSP cannot fix nulls (cancellations) — you cannot boost what has been acoustically cancelled.

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