The HomePod Is a Mono Speaker

[kirkmc]

An Apple "pundit" actually criticize me for calling the HomePod a mono speaker. 

 

He said: “Anyone who calls HomePod a “mono speaker” does not understand elemental basics of sound reproduction.”

 

I wrote about why the HomePod is a mono speaker, and I'm amazed that I actually had to do this:

 

https://kirkville.com/the-homepod-is-a-mono-speaker/

[wgscott]

Yes, you are right.  The whole idea behind stereo speakers is you have two identical speakers with a significant separation between them (where "speaker" can be any array of drivers, as you say).  The separation part here is of critical importance, as is having two identical sources, so that the soundwaves emitted from each can interfere with one another and create a stereo image.  (For this to work, the input channels have to differ a little bit as well -- two identical channels will produce a mono output, even with two speakers).  Ideally, the separation between the speakers should be similar to the listening position distance.

 

I think some of the single-unit speakers, like the B&W Zeppelin, attempt to do stereo through a combination of off-axis driver orientation and DSP, but in that case what is really going on is that they are trying to mimic genuine speaker separation.  If the homepod does that, too, it might be attempting to mimic stereo playback, but that is at best a stretch (especially given its cylindrical symmetry).

[Ralf11]

Home pods are stereo for fleas in front of them, likely cockroaches too

[tmtomh]

Doesn't Apple allow you to use a 2nd HomePod in a two-HomePod array that will enable them to function like stereo speakers? IMHO that's a pretty definitive indication that HomePod is mono - there'd be no need for a two-speaker stereo mode if the HomePod were in and of itself stereo (or if Apple even just claimed it were stereo).

 

Also, while anything it possible, it would seem unlikely that a speaker with an odd number of tweeters would be a stereo speaker. As noted above, you certainly can use a 7-speaker array to try to simulate some kind of soundstage, but it's not stereo unless L channel material is being sent to some, and only some, of the drivers while R channel material is being sent to others.

I believe it might be accurate to say that the HomePod is a "mono speaker with spatial processing built in" or something like that; but that;'s still not a stereo speaker system. If the L and R channel signals are combined prior to reaching the drivers, it's not a stereo speaker.

[kirkmc]

Yes, you can combine two HomePods into a stereo pair. R and L channels are not separate; you can test with any R/L testing audio (or early Beatles track in stereo).

 

And I think it's an odd number of tweeters so there can be an even number of microphones; they alternate around the bottom. The six microphones are for Siri, and for the HomePod's DSP (so it can detect proximate surfaces). 

[tmtomh]

Ironically, Dilger writes, "Anyone who calls HomePod a 'mono speaker' does not understand elemental basics of sound reproduction." It would appear he's a bit overconfident in his own understanding of the basics of sound reproduction.

[wgscott]

My conventional two-channel stereo has the additional merit of not being an electronic eavesdropping device.

[kirkmc]

I have that feature turned off, on all my Apple devices. As I have Alexa turned off on my Sonos devices. 

[Ralf11]

3 hours ago, wgscott said:

My conventional two-channel stereo has the additional merit of not being an electronic eavesdropping device.

 

... as far as you know...