MAT 242: Special Topics in Digital Multimedia: Audiophile
Engineering (Spring, 2007)
Contact
Instructor: Stephen Travis Pope
Office: South Hall 4340
Office hours: by appointment
TA: Alex Kouznetsov
Time/Place
Thursdays 12:00 - 1:50 PM
CREATE class room (Music 2215)
Downloads
Overview
This course will focus on the engineering and aesthetics of audiophile
sound recording and reproduction equipment and musical content. Students
will read articles from the research and commercial literature, will learn
the fundamentals of the design of audiophile-class components, and will
carry out several formal listening experiments. Grading will be on the
basis of written papers.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of acoustics and some familiarity with stereo equipment.
(No specific electronic or musical skills are assumed.) Upper-division
undergraduates are welcome with permission of the instructor.
Topics
- Principles of high fidelity sound reproduction
- Critical listening and audio system evaluation
- Audio components: electronics, transducers, and interconnects
- Room acoustics, design, and treatment
- Audiophile, pro-audio, and recording studio systems
- Audiophile recording techniques and equipment
- Digital audio formats and content distribution
- Multi-channel formats and surround sound
- System measurement, evaluation, and comparison
Text books
Required: Robert Harley, The Complete Guide to High-End Audio,
2nd edition, 1998, Acapella Publishing, ISBN 0-9640849-4-5
MAT 242 Reader (in 2 volumes) -- available at the UCSB Bookstore. See the
Reader Table of Contents
Recommended: F. Alton Everest, "The Master Handbook of Acoustics"
(TAB Books, 1994) and John L. Hood, "Audio Electronics" (Newnes Publ.,
1995)
Other readings will be taken from the Journal of the Audio Engineering
Society, Pro Audio Review, Stereophile Magazine, and other sources.
Course Schedule
Week 1: Principles of high fidelity sound reproduction
Critical listening and audio system evaluation
Week 2: Audio system measurement, evaluation, and comparison
Frequency and phase responses, types of coloration
and distortion
Week 3: Audio electronics -- source components
Analog and digital source chains
Week 4: Digital audio formats and content distribution
CD, DVD, SACD, digital broadcast, Internet
sound distribution
Multi-channel formats and surround sound
Week 5: Audio electronics -- amplification components
Preamplifiers, switchers, attenuators, power
amplifiers
Week 6: Audio electronics -- transducers and interconnects
Loudspeakers, enclosures, and crossovers
Cables and interconnects
Week 7: Room acoustics, design, and treatment
Acoustics of listening rooms, performance
spaces, and recording studios
Audio accessories and treatments
Week 8: Audiophile, pro-audio, and recording studio systems
Audiophile recording techniques and equipment
Week 9: Wrap-up, final listening session
Slides on line (as PDF files, 6 slides per page)
Web Links & Materials
