What is the best air density for sound quality.

[jaydnul]

Because obviously too much density gives terrible sound quality, like in water. So is the answer simply the density of our lower atmosphere because that is where our ears evolved? Or has this been tested and found to be a specific density?

 

[Enthalpy]

Sound propagates very well in water, far better than in air. War ships rely on this.

 

[nasu]

Because obviously too much density gives terrible sound quality, like in water.

It's not so obvious. What experiment do you have in mind when you say this?
Listening to music with your head under water?

 

[jaydnul]

Sorry, i mean according to OUR ears. In general. I mean you wouldn't prefer to listen to a stereo underwater would you? sounds muffled

 

[nasu]

Yes, according to our ears, but it's important how do you transfer the sound from water to ears. It usually goes from water to the air in the ear channel. This interface is a major factor.
And the ear membrane is supposed to work in air.

If you send the sound with an underwater transducer and and receive it with a hydrophone, you may have very good quality sound (little distortion, if the devices are good).
So it's more a problem of receiver not matching the medium. Of course, part of the problem is due to the density difference between water and air so you are right, on some level.

 

[mfb]

Every air pressure which allows you to live in should work. With air, you get the same pressure everywhere in your ear and no sudden density drops where they are not intended.

 

[CWatters]

Greate idea for a new hifi product. Once the market is saturated with gold plated Oxygen free homeopathic audio cables perhaps you could sell a special extractor fan that "slightly reduces/increases the air pressure in your house to optimise listening quality" :-)

http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/590awsi

So, how does lower air density affect a loudspeaker's high-frequency behavior?

Primarily, it lowers the efficiency of any pistonic diaphragm. According to the third edition of Martin Colloms's High Performance Loudspeakers (Pentech Press, 1985), the reference efficiency of a pistonic diaphragm (p.27) is directly proportional to the air density and inversely proportional to the square of the moving mass, which includes that of the drive-unit (diaphragm and coil) and the reactive mass of the air load on its diaphragm. The effect of the air density will therefore depend on the drive-unit's design: if it has a high-mass diaphragm, any changes in the air load due to the lower density will be negligible, and the change in efficiency will be directly related to the change in air density. Continues...