Patent ID: 7778427

Claim:
A phase compensation system for substantially correcting phase distortion of sound reproduced by at least one loudspeaker, the system comprising: a first combiner configured to receive left and right audio input signals and to combine the left and right audio input signals to form a combined audio input; a second combiner configured to receive the left and right audio input signals and to combine the left and right audio input signals to obtain difference information; an audio enhancer configured to enhance the difference information by at least modifying a frequency range of the difference information to create enhanced difference information; a low-pass shelving filter in communication with the combined audio input and configured to modify the combined audio input as a function of frequency over a first frequency range within the combined audio input to create a first frequency corrected signal, wherein the first frequency range is approximately 20 Hz to approximately 500 Hz; a high-pass shelving filter in communication with the combined audio input and configured to modify the combined audio input as a function of frequency over a second frequency range within the combined audio input to create a second frequency corrected signal, wherein the second frequency range is approximately 8 kHz to approximately 20 kHz; an all-pass filter in communication with the combined audio input and configured to shift the phase of the combined audio input to create a third frequency corrected signal so as to compensate for phase distortion of a loudspeaker, the all-pass filter being characterized by an increased phase response at a first frequency, a zero phase response at a second frequency higher than the first frequency, and a negative phase response at a third frequency higher than the second frequency; a third combiner configured to combine the first frequency corrected signal, the second frequency corrected signal, and the third frequency corrected signal to create a phase compensated signal; and a fourth combiner configured to: combine the left audio input signal, the difference information, the enhanced difference information, and the phase compensated signal to create a left audio output signal, and combine the right audio input signal, the difference information, the enhanced difference information, and the phase compensated signal to create a right audio output signal.