European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Tom  Iii ilium we it Lull i in a Wolfff Quot h i1l. Irett a a a Wai i saivc1 of amp a a a a a a a a a 1 Quot a. A. A a a a a a Quot a a a a a a a a. New York Fiew a your living room could be cluttered full of hard bore surfaces or something in Between. And in the future your loudspeakers May know just what Type of room they Are incoming soon a sound fit from speakers Hans Fantel new York times a proper matter of academic  though different in approach both the Canadian and danish projects share the same aim a to Lay the groundwork for what engineers Call an Quot intelligent Loudspeaker this Means a Loudspeaker Able to sense the acoustic environment in which it is placed interpret its character and respond accordingly. The effect would be optimal sound in a variety of Domestic settings. The idea is to avoid speakers that sound too thin shrill or Booty. The danish project is sponsored by Eureka a research organization of the. European Community. Aside from the technical University it involves two leading european audio companies a Kef electronics of England and bang amp Olufsen of Denmark. Both arc Well known to american audiophiles. Y. Quot the notion of intelligent machines is really nothing new a explains Laurie Fincham technical director at Kef. Quot it is inherent in computer technology. But it has never been applied to . / a. A a a. A a. A Fincham Points out that products that respond to surroundings arc already on the Market. Quot a car engine nowadays senses weather conditions travelling Speed Load gear ratio the slope of the Road and even the driving style of the person at the wheel. A computer interacts All these factors and adjusts the engine performance accordingly. What we Are trying to do is to introduce to loudspeakers this same principle of responsiveness to the operating environment. Quot oddly enough we still done to fully understand All the factors involved. We know it has to do with resonances arid reflections but we Haven to yet Analysed the details. But we know that most of us sound better singing in the  at Lyngby a Smalt town North of Copenhagen the technical University has just completed two and a half years of work building experimental facilities that it is hoped will provide the missing details. While the danish project seeks to isolate physical variables the Canadian experiments take a 1 somewhat different tack. They give greater pm Phasis to psycho acoustics a How the technical data relate to perceptual values. A we measure listener reactions under controlled conditions a says topic. The National a scarch Council located on the outskirts of Ottawa became involved in audio research largely at the urging of Paul s. Barton who Heads pub International a leading loud speaker manufacturer. Five audio companies along with the National research Council participate in the Canadian research. A a a a. A the emergence of  of coordinated research in audio Marks a turning Point for a fiercely individualistic Industry. But nobody con noted with these projects ventures to predict. How soon practical fruits will Ripe unofficially Industry experts suggest that the. First Quot intelligent loudspeakers will be sounding off by the Middle of the decade. To of May live in spacious splendor or a % / cramped studio apartment. Your. I taste May run to thick rugs and Over b. Stuffed sofas or minimalist furniture and hard surfaces. Whatever the Case the Loudspeaker designer has no clue to the. Acoustic quirks of your Home. Most speakers therefore arc designed for an average living room which has been arbitrarily defined by an International commission As 22 feet Long 13.5 text wide and 9.2 feet High. As a result a speaker that seems Fine in a dealers showroom May not sound nearly As Good in the Home. The same speaker sounds different in different rooms or even in different positions in the same room. But efforts Are now under Way to solve this problem. Research on How to get the Best possible fit Between Loudspeaker and listening room is being conducted at the technical University of Denmark and National research Institute of Canada a most of the music in the world is heard through electronic Means a observes Floyd e. Toole a physicist who Heads the Canadian pro. Jecus from an artistic and cultural viewpoint adequate music production therefore becomes in search of the perfect compact disc it.  does no to consider himself a a m fanatic about music even if he docs own some  albums and 2,500. V compact discs. But when he buys cd he expects them to live up to their original slogan a Quot perfect sound  no pops. No hisses. No scratches. That a Why Bisio a massive collection includes a credit slip Good for three albums from Columbia records. The slip arrived after he had purchased cd of barbra Streisand a first three records. Quot they were the worst sounding cd i Ever heard a said Bisio. A they were screechy and distorted. When she hit the High notes it just shattered your  discs arrived in the mid Lynos and pushed Lesout of stores. Since then Bisio and other collectors have spent Long hours keeping the pressure on record companies. Phil Cohen a Florida collector who owns Over 6,000 records bought the cd of Jinni Hendrix s elect tic lady land three times Blore he found a satisfactory copy. Background noise made some tracks on James Taylor so Sweet baby James virtually in listenable for another collector. Collectors blame cd problems on laziness and greed insisting records made from inferior tapes were rushed onto the Market and that songs were shortened or eliminated to fit albums on single discs. The record companies admit mistakes but say some problems were unavoidable in switching from los to cd. Ain the beginning at least for the people who were asked to handle it it took a Little bit More in Dershun Dingo technology than to just say a pull this tape and have it mastered a said Bill Levinson director of Catalon development at poly Gram records. A. Collectors and the companies Hope the worst is Over. Still hard feelings remain. Said poly ram a. Levinson Quot. Its a Tough Issue of balancing in Lor Malion and consumer needs. Sometimes the consumer thinks he deserves More than we can  a a a a ,. A. Hillelital1e. A associated press a sunday a March 24, 1991