Someone please explain coloration to me again. *NM*

[dlsbobby]

[thylantyr]

Coloration Analogies;

* Don't eat yellow snow.
* Having a nice conversation with your girlfriend
and mother-in-law is babbling in the backround.
* Drinking diet Coke and eating a pork fat sandwich.

[curt_c]

What they do to old movies...

What my kids did to the walls of their rooms...

What happens to your cheeks when you fart in church while sitting next to your grilfriend...

OK, OK, I'm sorry,

If you mean in reference to speakers, it is a change in response magnitude at a given frequency from the relative flat response.

If you mean in regard to something else, please elaborate...

C

[killerkowalczyk]

I think the answer you are looking for are the ones im about to give you.

Coloration 1.....Cabinet coloration= when your speaker cabinets are not braced properly or dampened enough and they vibrate, therefore adding "coloration" or unwanted sound to the sound produced by your drivers. This is usually bad and people/companies try to control cabinet vibration as much as possible, however there was a post about a month ago of a commercial bookshelf sized speaker and its cabinet was specifically designed to vibrated and add to the audio spectrum.

Coloration 2..... Turing up the bass, mids or treble on you amplifier to obtain a sound that either sounds flat or exagerates sonic qualities you prefer (ex. some people like lots of bass so they tend to turn up the bass knob on there amps). Audiophiles like there speakers to sound as true to life as possible without touching the bass, or treble knob on there amps. I recently designed a speaker that sounded a bit bright in the mids so i turned up the bass, therefore I run my system with coloration.

I hope this answers your question(S) about coloration.

KILLER

[cjd]

Interestingly, I don't find an adequate answer (or at least a full answer) anywhere yet. So I'll attempt to lay out what it is in my mind. Rather simple really. And yet not at all simple.

Coloration: Any contribution of any components in the audio chain (since that IS what we're talking about) that introduce any type of change to the signal.

Go listen to a system made up of poly cones, compare it to a system with aluminum, paper...

It's not about specific deviations from flat frequency response necessarily (though that would certainly count). Poly cones sound very very different from aluminum cones. Why? A pair of speakers with flat response, one poly, one alu, and they don't actually sound quite the same.

Really, it's a great many things. You can't get away from it I think.

While Curt C alluded to film as coloration, it actually does relate if you imagine light - take a black and white film and project it using a red bulb - that's a (rather extreme) example of coloration of the type I think usually meant when we're talking audio. More subtly, different bulbs (particularly different types) DO have different output colors, even though they may all be called "white".

C

[wg_ski]

> Go listen to a system made up of poly cones,
> compare it to a system with aluminum,
> paper...

> It's not about specific deviations from flat
> frequency response necessarily (though that
> would certainly count). Poly cones sound
> very very different from aluminum cones.
> Why? A pair of speakers with flat response,
> one poly, one alu, and they don't actually
> sound quite the same.

Because it's really differences from an ideal *impulse* response that cause coloration. Two equally flat amplitude responses can have quite different energy storage characteristics. Differing harmonic distortion and dispersion patterns (which affect which objects in the room the sound bounces off of) also play a role in how something sounds.

[dlsbobby]

[dlsbobby]

> What they do to old movies...

> What my kids did to the walls of their
> rooms...

> What happens to your cheeks when you fart in
> church while sitting next to your
> grilfriend...

> OK, OK, I'm sorry,

> If you mean in reference to speakers, it is
> a change in response magnitude at a given
> frequency from the relative flat response.

> If you mean in regard to something else,
> please elaborate...

> C
..dimensional. Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor in your old age. :) Robert.

[dlsbobby]

> I think the answer you are looking for are
> the ones im about to give you.

> Coloration 1.....Cabinet coloration= when
> your speaker cabinets are not braced
> properly or dampened enough and they
> vibrate, therefore adding
> "coloration" or unwanted sound to
> the sound produced by your drivers. This is
> usually bad and people/companies try to
> control cabinet vibration as much as
> possible, however there was a post about a
> month ago of a commercial bookshelf sized
> speaker and its cabinet was specifically
> designed to vibrated and add to the audio
> spectrum.

> Coloration 2..... Turing up the bass, mids
> or treble on you amplifier to obtain a sound
> that either sounds flat or exagerates sonic
> qualities you prefer (ex. some people like
> lots of bass so they tend to turn up the
> bass knob on there amps). Audiophiles like
> there speakers to sound as true to life as
> possible without touching the bass, or
> treble knob on there amps. I recently
> designed a speaker that sounded a bit bright
> in the mids so i turned up the bass,
> therefore I run my system with coloration.

> I hope this answers your question(S) about
> coloration.

> KILLER

Killer, thanks for the good info. The light is going on. Robert.

[dlsbobby]

> Interestingly, I don't find an adequate
> answer (or at least a full answer) anywhere
> yet. So I'll attempt to lay out what it is
> in my mind. Rather simple really. And yet
> not at all simple.

> Coloration: Any contribution of any
> components in the audio chain (since that IS
> what we're talking about) that introduce any
> type of change to the signal.

> Go listen to a system made up of poly cones,
> compare it to a system with aluminum,
> paper...

> It's not about specific deviations from flat
> frequency response necessarily (though that
> would certainly count). Poly cones sound
> very very different from aluminum cones.
> Why? A pair of speakers with flat response,
> one poly, one alu, and they don't actually
> sound quite the same.

> Really, it's a great many things. You can't
> get away from it I think.

> While Curt C alluded to film as coloration,
> it actually does relate if you imagine light
> - take a black and white film and project it
> using a red bulb - that's a (rather extreme)
> example of coloration of the type I think
> usually meant when we're talking audio. More
> subtly, different bulbs (particularly
> different types) DO have different output
> colors, even though they may all be called
> "white".

> C

Thanks Cjd, I think I have the whole picture now. Robert.

[bangleiii]

BOSE!

[bangleiii]

"Because it's really differences from an ideal *impulse* response that cause coloration"

This is the best explanation of sound response,
this is mostly because music is really not sign waves.

[waynew]

> BOSE!

HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAAAAA. Good one.

I really wanted to give my two cents. I always liked this explanation....although all the others are excellent, this one really helped me the most...Here goes. The best example I know of to explain coloration is to listen to a Trumpet play middle C, and a Coronet play middle C (OR a Trombone and a Trumpet for a more extreme example). Even though they are at the same frequency, and very similar sized/shaped/etc, they sound different.