September is Trade Show Season
RPG® will be well represented at both CEDIA and the AES.

CEDIA
Dr. D'Antonio will be presenting two courses this year entitled:
NEW!: Minimizing Acoustic Distortion In Home Theaters - Level: 300
Session: Wednesday, 1:30 - 3:00 pm
Instructor: Dr. Peter D'Antonio, RPG Diffuser Systems, Inc.
This course will present a systemic approach to home theater acoustic design in which the room dimensions, and locations for loudspeakers, listener, and acoustic treatments are optimized. The effects of Modal Coupling, Speaker- Boundary Interference, Comb Filtering, Sound Absorption, and Sound Diffusion will be examined. The course will also explore the performance of two current surround speaker types; dipole surrounds and matching monopoles in an International Telecommunications Union configuration.
Prerequisite Knowledge: A minimum of two years field experience in home theater design or installation desired. Previous attendance of 200 and / or 300 level Home Theater Acoustics focused courses essential. Theoretic material.

NEW!: Computer Modeling And Auralization Of Home Theaters - Level: 400
Session: Wednesday, 9:30 - 11:00 am
Instructor: Dr. Peter D'Antonio, RPG Diffuser Systems, Inc.
As the processing power of desktop computers continues to increase, complex modeling tasks are becoming possible. We are now able to predict the acoustical performance of various room designs and treatments and actually listen to the room before it is built. Although this computer modeling of acoustic performance, known as "auralization," is a relatively new tool, it has been used with success in the development of performance spaces. Acousticians are now beginning to apply auralization techniques in the design of smaller critical listening rooms, such as recording studios and home theaters. This course will review the necessary steps required to go from a 3D room model to acoustical prediction and auralization of a virtual home theater.
Prerequisite Knowledge: A minimum of two years field experience in home theater design or installation desired. Previous attendance of 200 and / or 300 level Home Theater Acoustics focused courses essential. Developed computer skills with some computer based measurement experience helpful. Theoretic material.

Audio Engineering Society (AES)
RPG will be very busy this year at AES:
Exhibits:
If you plan to attend the AES this year, please visit our booth number 366
This year Dr. D'Antonio will be describing our new products and demonstrating our TEC Award Nominated Room Optimizer™ and also CATT Acoustics.

Dr. D'Antonio will be chairing the AES SC-04-02 Committee on the Characterization of Acoustical Materials on Sunday September 26, 1999 at 9 AM in the Jacob Javits Convention Center Meeting Room 1. Dr. D'Antonio will discuss the Draft AES-ID4-xxx information document on a proposed diffusion coefficient standard.

Dr. D'Antonio will present a paper entitled Optimized Planar and Curved Diffsorbors — Trevor Cox, University of Salford, Salford, UK; and Peter D'Antonio, RPG Diffusor Systems Inc., Upper Marboro, MD, USA. The paper will be presented in Session D: ROOM ACOUSTICS, Friday, September 24, 1999, Chair: James A. Angus, University of York, York, UK. The session starts at 2:00 PM.

Dr. D'Antonio will also participate in AES Workshop W12: INNOVATIVE ACOUSTICS FOR RECORDING on Sunday, September 26, 2:00 PM. Chaired by Troy Jensen, Altel Systems, Brewster, NY, USA, the participants will be: John Storyk, The Walter-Storyk Design Group, New York, NY, USA; Dr. Peter D'Antonio, RPG Diffusor Systems, Upper Marlboro, MD, USA, Bob Hodas, Acoustic Analysis, Berkeley, CA, with more to be announced. A sequel to an immensely popular workshop, this session will tackle how to use existing rooms and structures to help obtain superb ambience for recording. Several recent hit CDs by a variety of performing artists have been recorded in some very untraditional "studios." In this workshop, experts in the field of acoustics, acoustic modification, and music production will discuss how almost any space can be made into a workable production space.

Diffuse Seminars
RPG® is now offering regular educational seminars for acousticians, sound contractors, home theater system integrators, architects, and other specifying consultants to apprise the industry of our research, new products, application assistance, and an introduction to RPG®'s new Room Optimizer™, Shape Optimizer, and CATT Acoustics software. The press is also welcome.

The August seminar was a full house. Here are some of the photos indicating how acoustics can be fun.


We will have a break in September due to the trade show activity. The October Diffuse Seminar will be held on October 21-22, 1999. The seminar is full. The November seminar will be held November 18-19, 1999. If you are interested please e-mail at info@rpginc.com, contact your local rep or call RPG at 301-249-0044. There will be a holiday break in December and we will resume in Y2K.

Room Optimizer™
RPG®’s Room Optimizer™ has been nominated for a Mix Magazine TEC Award for new software. We are very proud of this honor and encourage our friends and users to support the program with your ballot in the August issue.

The Room Optimizer™ is the first automated program that determines the optimum location for loudspeakers, listener, and acoustical surface treatment material. It accomplishes this by coupling a geometrical acoustics image model with an intelligent search engine to simultaneously minimize the speaker-boundary interference and the modal response.

Also of note: The Room Optimizer™ has been reduced in price to $99.99, so don’t delay, find out what proper location of your loudspeakers and listening position can mean to the sound in your room.

A review in Mix Magazine (June 1999) by Chris Pelonis describes the benefits of the first automated listener and loudspeaker placement program: “Retailing at $99.99, RPG®’s Room Optimizer™ is a highly useful tool for acoustically orienting a listening environment.”