As we know, the web is a limitless depository of knowledge. Accessible to all both as consumers and as authors. However therein lies the problem. Anyone can publish their opinion on a subject. However some opinions are more worth listening to than others. When it comes to loudspeaker design one such opinion is that of Vance Dickason, the author of the newly updated Loudspeaker Design cookbook.
In spite of the easy access of the internet, if you want to engage with a subject deeply, there’s really no substitute for a book. The first edition of the Cookbook was self-published by Vance in 1977 and this latest incarnation, the 8th edition, builds on those foundations. While loudspeaker design is a mature technology, some things haven’t really changed since the 30s. The new content in this edition, the first update in over a decade, brings things bang up to date with discussion of Dolby Atmos, room measurement and speaker calibration, and studio monitors. Three new chapters will be of particular interest to engineers who use loudspeakers as opposed to the engineers who design them - Studio Monitors, Room Measurement Equipment and Room Correction Solutions, and Hybrid Loudspeakers.
The chapter on room measurement equipment and room correction solutions offers an overview of this rapidly evolving area, covering hardware such as the Trinnov and Dirac Live systems as well as software such as Smaart and Fuzzmeasure. The chapter on Hybrid loudspeakers offers a wealth of detail on the LCD8, a three way speaker designed by Vance, which uses a hybrid approach of an active bass element with a passive two-way design, the advantage of which is that it combines the strengths of both by making the LF element active and avoiding the need for large value components in a passive crossover . A specific case study like this is illuminating for the non-designer in a way that gives context for the really detailed content in the first chapters.
The chapter on Studio Monitors is of obvious interest to studio engineers, preceded as it is by chapters on car audio and home theatre systems. The Loudspeaker Cookbook succeeds in contextualising the common and distinctive elements of each in an engaging, easy to read way.
Highly recommended, it’s an unashamedly technical read, very detailed (nearly 400 pages) and at over £100 is priced like the reference book it is. But if you want to design and build speakers, or just get some really top quality information on why speakers are built the way they are, this is the book you need.
Production-Expert readers can click on the Learn More box below for a special 20% discount on LDC8