Sound Reproduction

by Floyd Toole

Sound The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Third Edition explains the physical and perceptual processes that are involved in sound reproduction and demonstrates how to use the processes to create high-quality listening experiences in stereo and multichannel formats. Understanding the principles of sound production is necessary to achieve the goals of sound reproduction in spaces ranging from recording control rooms and home listening rooms to large cinemas. This revision brings new science-based perspectives on the performance of loudspeakers, room acoustics, measurements and equalization, all of which need to be appropriately used to ensure the accurate delivery of music and movie sound tracks from creators to listeners. The robust website (www.routledge.com/cw/toole) is the perfect companion to this necessary resource.

Genres: Music, Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Technology

514 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in good loudspeakers. Toole was one of the pioneers in bringing the scientific method to the realm of audio. He had a long career studying how to correlate microphone measurements of speakers with what we actually hear and prefer. His book busts many myths that continue to propagate in the audiophile community, so if you're getting ready to splurge on home audio equipment, this book could save you a lot of money! Don't get me wrong; a high-quality home audio system following the "Toole way" is expensive, but surprisingly (or not), price is not a reliable indicator of quality, and Toole demonstrates persuasively what is important and what is not.

The book is not technical, and it is aimed primarily at consumers looking to build awesome home theaters and stereos. That means he does not really go into loudspeaker design principles, acoustics, or engineering considerations, contrary to what I think the title implies. Also, the focus on home audio sometimes detracts from the general principles. One example is his discussion of bass management in rooms. While he acknowledges that bass traps work for smoothing out the bass response, he has a bias against using them in homes mostly because they can be big and ugly. But because of this, he doesn't really discuss bass trapping in any detail, making it unclear if that's the best solution in cases where room aesthetics don't matter as much (like in mixing studios, for example).

So to sum up, if you're planning to spend anything more than a couple hundred dollars on speakers and home audio, this book should be part of your budget. Even though it looks like a textbook, it is a nontechnical review of decades of interesting audio research that has a lot of really practical conclusions. I also refer the reader to a recorded talk that Toole gave a few years ago summarizing the main points in book, found here: https://youtu.be/zrpUDuUtxPM.

[Mihai Cosareanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main thing I liked about this book is that it kind of connects the world of subjective evaluations (using double-blind subjective tests) to the world of scientific measurements, and explains why some measurements matter, and why some don't. I appreciate Floyd's approach and the book is filled with reference to scientific papers.

At the same time, the book feels a bit repetitive and a bit too long. I enjoyed going through the first half, but somehow I lost motivation afterwards.

Overall - a great contribution to understanding loudspeakers and their interactions with rooms.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a definitive collection of academic research on these topics.

This is the second edition of the book which is actually the same as the first edition of the book with a different publisher. I strongly recommend seeking out the so-called third edition of the book because it contains many updates and clarifications based on feedback from the earlier addition. And if you haven’t purchased it yet, seek out the publication date for the fourth edition which should be published in 2025 and contain extensive updates from the available academic literature and extensive clarifications based on reader questions over the past decade.

[Daniel Bastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive source for the science behind sound and its optimal reproduction in home theater environments.