Sound System Design and Optimization, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 2 Summation

OVERVIEW

There are very few absolutes in life. There are so many things that we first see in absolute terms and later learn of more complexity. Like right and wrong. My right might be your wrong. Such terms require qualification and context. Well, here is one that we can be sure of as an absolute: one plus one equals two.

Not in audio.

summation n. addition, finding of total or sum; summing up sum n. & v. 1. total amount resulting from addition of items

Concise Oxford Dictionary

Audio waveforms can be summed electrically or acoustically. We would expect a simple case of addition when combining waveforms with matched amplitude over frequency content. That outcome is possible, but not guaranteed. There is a hidden parameter ...