Dr. Floyd Toole: An Oral History 2 - A/B Tests | Bass | Athena | Brains, Rooms, Hearing and Listening

2024-07-19

This week, host Jorden Guth continues his conversation with Dr. Floyd Toole, exploring the origins of the Athena project at Canada’s NRC, the reasons for and details of his move to Harman International, some of the most misunderstood aspects of his research, the origins of his legendary book Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, his legacy, and the music that moves him. Closing credits music: “Longitude” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships Sources: “Canada’s NRC: A Forthcomi...

This week, host Jorden Guth continues his conversation with Dr. Floyd Toole, exploring the origins of the Athena project at Canada’s NRC, the reasons for and details of his move to Harman International, some of the most misunderstood aspects of his research, the origins of his legendary book Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, his legacy, and the music that moves him.

Closing credits music: “Longitude” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships

Sources:

“Canada’s NRC: A Forthcoming Look at Its Role in the Advancement of Canadian Loudspeaker Design” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1849-canadas-nrc-a-forthcoming-look-at-its-role-in-the-advancement-of-canadian-loudspeaker-design

“The Loudspeaker Class of ’74: A Canadian Reunion” by Doug Schneider: https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/1866-the-loudspeaker-class-of-74-a-canadian-reunion

“Floyd Toole, NRC, SoundStage!—Filming of Our Upcoming Documentary” by the soundstagenetwork on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k8ykCTEOhZI?si=BfcmIAWg1s6BKyQm

Chapters:
00:00:00 Announcement
00:00:28 Introductions
00:01:19 The limits of A/B testing
00:04:59 Why you have to measure everything
00:15:42 All about that bass
00:18:40 Athena, assemble!
00:23:47 How our brains make sense of rooms
00:27:28 “Emahoy” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships
00:28:45 Working with the CBC
00:31:14 How hearing loss impacts judgment
00:37:48 Another fateful phone call
00:41:20 L.A. is no place to live
00:44:02 The hint of a corporate target
00:46:22 Herding engineers
00:51:13 Listening tests at Harman
00:53:22 Publishing the Harman research
00:55:55 A feature, not a bugbear
00:58:47 “Horse Latitudes” by Rowan Hudson's Passing Ships
01:00:10 Evolution or revolution?
01:02:35 The two-sub solution
01:07:54 The birth of Sound Reproduction
01:11:05 Rewriting the book
01:13:42 Unanswered questions and Dr. Toole’s legacy
01:45:59 The music that moves Dr. Toole