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Article: A symphony's secret; making new concert halls sound better.
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- September 8, 1986
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1986 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A symphony's secret Making new concert halls sound better Why does music sound so sweet in Vienna? It's not the violinist or even the conductor--but the actual shape of the famous Grosser Musikvereinsaal built in 1870. Many modern concert halls may look elegant, but their sound quality doesn't come close to that of auditoriums built a century ago. That's the conclusion of an article by Jerry Rosen that appeared in the August issue of Mechanical Engineering.
The key to good acoustics is what sound engineers call "lateral reflections," which are the hallmark of older auditoriums such as the Symphony Hall in Boston and the Viennese music hall. These century-old ...