Section 4
Line-Source Speaker Use and Operation
The Radia Series line-source speakers in vertical applications
The R Series speakers contain planar-magnetic transducers that behave as line-source speakers distinctly
different from point-source speakers. Careful system design will exploit this characteristic for demanding
installations where highly specific and uniform sound coverage is required.
The primary characteristic of which the system designer must be aware is the radiation pattern of line-source
transducers that radiate sound from a seemingly infinite number of points. The perception is that sound is
being emitted by the speaker only from the point exactly perpendicular to the listener. The sound source
largely disappears when the listener, by moving beyond either end of the speaker, leaves a position at right
angles to the face of the speaker. Simultaneously, the dispersion across the narrow width of the speaker
approaches 180 degrees. The cylindrical wavefront propagated expands uniformly across the audience.
Installed vertically, the R Series speakers behave in their most conventional way, radiating sound from
below 60 Hz to 18.5 kHz (+/- 3 dB) with wide horizontal dispersion - making them ideal for 5.1, 7.2 or better
Home Theater and DVD Audio format playback. Used singly, the R Series speakers can address an audience
with unmatched intelligibility. Used in multiples around an audience they can broadcast multi-channel audio,
stereo, surround, or other matricies to an audience with maximum fidelity.
As noted previously, a significant characteristic of the line-source speaker is its ability to maintain an SPL over
distance that attenuates only half as much as a point-source speaker (horn, cone, dome, etc.) that is, at a rate
of -3 dB per doubling of distance. Because the line-source radiates sound as an expanding cylinder and not
as an expanding sphere, the -3 dB phenomenon may result from an absence of energy being radiated above
and below the ends of the speaker. The relative sensitivity of an 87dB line-source speaker measured beyond
4 meters is therefore greater than 90 dB/1w/1m. Relatively high SPLs at distance now does not mean excessive
SPL closer to the speaker. The cylindrical coverage of the R75, for example, minimizes lost acoustic and
amplifier power and unwanted sound energy beyond the immediate soundfield.
Using the directionality of The Radia Series allows unprecedented soundfield control. Extremely uniform
application of acoustic power will provide coverage and intelligibility unavailable from conventional speaker
systems. A demonstration is strongly suggested.
© Copyright 2003 Bohlender-Graebener Corp. All rights reserved. Products, features and specifications subject to change without notice.
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