SUITABILITY OF HI-FI SOUND SYSTEMS IN MEASUREMENTS OF REVERBERATION TIME IN DOMESTIC MULTI-MEDIA ROOMS

Domestic multi-media rooms (e.g. home cinema rooms) are becoming a common and expected feature in affluent homes and for those of enthusiasts. Multi-media rooms are rooms dedicated to the reproduction of the combined audio and video experience. The scope encompasses dedicated home cinemas to gaming rooms. All have in common a large viewing screen (projector or TV) and a dedicated high fidelity (Hi-Fi) sound system including a set of directional high performance loudspeakers. For the satisfactory performance of audio-visual system installed in these rooms and to provide the aural experience expected, the acoustics design of the space is critical. This design involves the determination of the reverberation time at several stages in the development. In the home cinema industry concerned it is common the practice of using the installed sound system as the sound source in the measurement of the reverberation time of finished rooms1 .The rationale for this, is that the listener position(s), are quite clearly defined, as are the loudspeaker sources. However, this approach is not contemplated within the relevant international guidance given to measure reverberation time described in ISO 3382-2:20082 which requires exciting the room with a sound source that is as omnidirectional as possible.