MEgamer :
since air is a gas, and gases in a room are seen as fields.. you can realize this yourself by listening to the change in the sound when the room is in the 80-90 degree F temperature area , and then again in the 60-70 degree F temperature area.
the heat means the air atoms (and other molecules) are already bouncing around more rapidly
as the air cools down, the atoms are slower and move when asked by the soundwave more easier.
the difference is like trying to hammer a nail into wood, or trying to hammer a nail into a piece of metal.
heat can act like diffusion when the atoms moving rapidly attack and murder the soundwaves.. but they are also very stubborn to get in uniform and form the soundwave (which is why the soundwave can be destroyed by the air, to a small extent)
"heat can act like diffusion when the atoms moving rapidly attack and murder the soundwaves.. "
well not really it will only help the sound to mvoe faster, even though it is less dense, ther molevules are moving faster, so energy tranfer is quicker.
diffusion of sound in air is pretty much minimal, even wind.
yes, that is what i was saying about cold air.. the density can be confusing, and the person needs to remember that energy needs to transfer.
so to say what allows the energy to transfer faster (and what allows the energy to transfer slower) can be worth a temperature change in the room.
i wouldnt argue that any diffusion of sound in air is pretty minimal.. but i also wouldnt second-guess the power of the air pressure making the speakers attempts at pouring out soundwaves more dull.
if you think about it, midranges dont always move a whole lot... sometimes less than a millimeter.
more amplifier power can help, as well as more force from the magnet.
but there are speakers that play sounds as light as a feather, and keeping the pressure inside of the room like a sealed box is only going to cause some adverse affects to those speakers (and even distant soundwaves, as they lose some energy when they travel).
this example can be easily seen with a car subwoofer (and maybe a home theater system with enough subwoofer power).
when the windows are up, the pressure is high and the notes can be felt tighter.
but
if you open a window, the bass gets louder and the feeling of the notes grow loose.. even though, sometimes you can clearly tell the subwoofer has more freedom to jump from lows to highs.
i think the example of the freedom given should be enough to make taming some wild pressure on the list of 'to do' for a listening room.
that might mean getting speakers that are capable of performing in a pressurized space.
or
that might mean releasing the pressure to see what your speakers can do with the extra freedom.
if there is an air vent, this might prove to need some tweaking to offer a perfect blend of pressure that is not too much or too little.. making the speakers sound their best.
i wouldnt say it is absolutely necessary for the bouncing reflections to be calibrated for midranges and tweeters only.. because those speakers usually dont provide enough pressurizing of the room to begin with.
but how hot/cold the air is will make the soundwaves transfer to the air faster or slower, and it could help some 2-way owners.
as i live in the midwest, i can open a window just about any time of the year except the hot days of summer, to hear an improvement in the energy transfer.
hot stale air in the room isnt really friendly.
it is fatiguing to the person, and fatiguing to the audio.
you could calibrate your equalizer for hot or cold weather, then see the calibration get ruined because the air changed in the room.
like going from warm and stuffy to opening a window, i always hear an increase in the treble.
i've noticed that the reverb software that comes with the creative x-fi soundcards give the option to adjust for the different air temperatures.
if a person cant afford an air conditioner, maybe they can open the window at night and let the room fill up with cold air.. then close the windows at sunrise (or shortly after) and seal up the cold air for the remainder of the day.
i did this last year in the hot summer weather... but i didnt like how hot my computer was getting, and the quality of the air was still fatiguing.
i've spent the last 3-4 years in a house of some sort with 80+ degree temperature.. i dont necessarily need to go down to 72, but 74 would help.
there were times when my digital thermometer was saying 90's inside with windows blocking the sunlight.
tried a dehumidifier and that brought the temperature up into the 80's from the 70's .. brought it back and got an air conditioner.
the air conditioner doesnt remove the water half as much as the dehumidifier did.. and i would probably want both to try and achieve a really really comfortable living space.
but
i cant afford to get too selfish at the moment.
i tried to find the difference in weight between air and water vapor.
i think water vapor is more of a heavier solid than air, at least to say it is stubborn in terms of soundwave transfer.
and that water in the air isnt helping you breathe air, i'd want to get rid of it.
i've had nose bleeds in the past when it was dry.. but i wonder if it was really dry or if the water was boiled from the furnace.
seems like when my nose would bleed, the blood was like an envigorating splash of wet in a coincidentally 'dry' environment.
i wonder if it is the plug and play devices, or the lack of information as to how to calibrate something correctly, that is making a way with motivation of people.