Patent ID: 8139797

Claim:
An audio system including a plurality of channels including a left channel, a right channel and a surround channel intended to be radiated in a predetermined positional relationship to a listener, comprising: a listening area comprising a plurality of listening spaces; a first directional local audio device comprising at least two radiating elements forming a first directional array radiating sound waves that destructively interfere less in a first of said listening spaces than the sound waves destructively interfere in another of said listening spaces, the first directional audio device at a fixed location in said first of said listening spaces, close to a head of the listener, for radiating first sound waves corresponding to a first of said channels; a second directional array at a given position within said first listening space on the opposite side of the head of the user relative to the position of the first directional array, wherein the second directional array in use is local to the head of a user located in said first listening space for radiating second sound waves corresponding to components of a second of said channels, wherein said second directional array comprises a plurality of acoustic drivers being positioned and arranged to radiate said second sound waves so that the second sound waves interfere less destructively in said first listening space than the second sound waves destructively interfere in an adjacent listening space, the second directional array being disposed at a position which in use is local to the head of a user located in said adjacent listening space and on the same side of the head of the user in the adjacent listening space as the first array is relative to the user in the first listening space; and a nondirectional audio device, positioned inside said listening area and outside said first and adjacent listening spaces, distant from said first and adjacent listening spaces, for radiating sound waves corresponding to components of at least one of said channels.