Driver Time Alignment © definiteAudio GmbH

Whitepaper:

Driver Time Alignment

definiteAudio GmbH
Peter-Vischer-Str.2
D-91056 Erlangen

Tel: 09131 – 758691

Fax: 09131 – 758691
e-Mail: info@definiteAudio.de
Web: http://www.definiteAudio.de
Umsatzsteueridentnummer: DE254963094
HRB 11085 Fürth

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Index
Index................................................................................................................................2
Preamble .........................................................................................................................3
Effects of incorrect Time Alignment .................................................................................3
Measuring Time Alignment ..............................................................................................4

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Preamble
Implementing the “The ‘Perfect’ XO for High End Stereo Systems” described in (1)
special care has to be taken of the speaker’s time alignment.

Effects of incorrect Time Alignment

To show the importance of time alignment let’s first revisit the 40th order Bessel filter
described in (1).

Figure 1: Bessel LP 40 th order with derived HP frequency response

Figure 2: Bessel LP 40th order with derived HP step response

The frequency response in figure 1 shows the perfect addition (blue curve at 0db) of the
LP (red) and its derived HP (green) frequency responses. In the time domain (figure 2)
the responses of both filters add to a perfect step (blue).

This perfect summation of the LP and HP only could take place if the drivers of the
speaker are time aligned, meaning the wavefront of both drivers reaches the ear of the
listener at the same time.

To show the effect of misalignment let’s assume the bass driver is about 10cm further
away from the listener than the mid driver. This is not very much but quite realistic for
normal HiFi systems. Assuming the speed of sound at about 343m/s the sound needs
0.3ms to propagate the 10cm misalignment. This means the wavefront of the bass
driver arrives at the listener’s position 0.3ms later than the wavefront of the mid.

Adding this delayed step response of the LP and the step response of the HP both
signals did no more sum up to a perfect step (figure 3 blue curve).

Figure 3: Addition of delayed LP and HP response

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Looking at the frequency response the whole dimension of this small misalignment gets
clear.

Figure 4: Effect of misalignment in the frequency domain

The 0.3ms time shift of the LP leads to a deep notch of -15db at the crossover point.
This very unpleasant notch only could be avoided by aligning the driver the way that the
wavefronts of both drivers reach the listener’s ear at the same time.

This necessary alignment could be achieved either by physically shifting the drivers of
the speaker against each other (in this example the bass has to be shifted 10cm
towards the listener) or by digitally delaying the signal transmitted by the mid driver.

Using a convolution engine like BruteFir delay either could be specified in the
configuration file of BruteFir or the coefficients of the filter could be shifted.

Measuring Time Alignment

Having understood the effect of time misalignment a method is needed to measure time
delay between the drivers of the speaker. For this measurement some material is
needed:

• A PC with a bi-directional soundcard (playback and record at the same time)

• A program which supports playback and recording at the same time
• A microphone with preamp connected to the soundcard
• A suitable test signal.

A PC with a bi-directional soundcard should be no problem. Any 44.1kHz soundcard

should be sufficient. For playback and parallel recording Audacity
(http://www.audacity.de) is a great and free of charge tool. For recording the test signal I
use a Behringer ECM8000 microphone
(http://www.behringer.com/ECM8000/index.cfm?lang=ENG) which also could be used
as measuring microphone for frequency responses. As microphone amplifier I use a
Behringer Ultravoice Digital VX2496
(http://www.behringer.com/VX2496/index.cfm?lang=ENG) with all effects off. This is a
quite cheap (100Euro) unit for microphone amplification with phantom voltage generator
and a digital S/PDIF output up to 96kHz!

To measure time delay a simple pulse should be the best suited. A tweeter would
transmit such a (dirac-) pulse quite well but with a bass driver such a low amplitude
response would be created that it could no more be measured exactly. Therefore a test
signal with a broader pulse seems to be better suited for this measurement. For
adjusting the bass/mid XO I use a signal consisting of a 1ms pulse. For higher XO
points a shorter signal is recommended.

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To measure the system each driver has to be measured separately. For measurement
BruteFir has to be in its place in front of the power amps and it has to be equipped with
the XO filters. Playing back the test signal BruteFir will convolve it with the transfer
function of the filter assigned to the driver you measure. Figure 5 gives an impression of
the signals reaching the driver after the test signal is convolved with the filters. Figures 5
and 6 show the response of the XO I use to drive my bass and my full range driver. The
XO is a 40th order Bessel XO described in (1) with a take over frequency of 180 Hz.

Figure 5: Response to the test signal

The light blue curve is the response of the HP, the dark blue curve the one of the LP. As
you see both responses are perfectly matched to each other. If this perfect match also
would be achieved at the listening position, time alignment of the speakers would be
perfect.

Running a two-way system like I do, four measurements two for the right speaker and
two for the left have to be taken. Running a three-way system six measurements will be
necessary. During the measurement only the driver being measured should be
connected to the amplifier. All other drivers should be disconnected to avoid accidental
measuring errors.

Now the microphone has to be placed exactly in the middle of the stereo triangle (where
the head of the listener will be). The microphone position has to be adjusted the way
that the distance from the front of the microphone to the center of the tweeters inside
the speakers is the same for the right and the left speaker.

Now Audacity should be started and the test signal loaded. The option “Multiplay” has to
be enabled to allow recording during playback. This could be done ´with the
File/Settings dialog. On the card deck “Audio I/O” the box “Multiplay” has to be checked.
Now the test signal can be played while the signal of the microphone will be recorded.
To perform level adjustment the measurement should be started with the highest
frequency driver first. Figure 6 shows two measurements (bass and full range
superimposed and zoomed) in one figure.

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Figure 6: Response of the pulse measurement

This looks somehow different than it should do! Despite this the information needed for
time alignment can be extracted. Let’s first take a look at the bass response. The main
peak is clearly visible and was marked with the red vertical line. The center of the full
range’s impulse response can be found in the middle of the two steep edges of the
response. This is marked by the blue vertical line. Time difference between the red- and
the blue line is the delay that has to be added to the full range driver. Figure 7 shows
the time aligned response of the full range driver (red curve).

Figure 7: Time aligned impulse response

The correction could be done easily in the BruteFir setup file by specifying a delay for
the full range driver. The delay measurements have to be done separately for the left
and the right speakers.

Despite of time alignment the measured waveform during playback of the impulse is not
as clean as it should be. One reason is the room which is included in this measurement
the other is the impulse response of the driver which in general is not ideal.

So there is much room for further improving the impulse response.

References

1. C.W. Oehlrich, “The ‘Perfect’ XO for High End Stereo Systems?!”, Feb. 2006.

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