Audio speakers having upward firing drivers for reflected sound rendering

A speaker for transmitting sound waves to be reflected off an upper surface of a listening environment, comprising:

• a cabinet;
• a direct-firing driver within the cabinet and oriented to transmit sound along a horizontal axis substantially perpendicular to a front surface of the cabinet;
• an upward-firing driver oriented at an adjustable inclination angle of between 18 degrees to 22 degrees relative to the horizontal axis, wherein the inclination angle is changed in response to positional information;
• a virtual height filter circuit applying a frequency response curve to a signal transmitted to the upward-firing driver, wherein the frequency response curve is selected from among a plurality of frequency response curves corresponding to different virtual filter response parameters in response to positional information of the speaker in the listening environment;
• and
• a crossover circuit, the crossover circuit having a low-pass section configured to transmit low frequency signals below a threshold frequency to the direct-firing driver, and a high-pass section configured to transmit high frequency signals above the threshold frequency to the upward-firing driver, wherein the high-pass section comprises said virtual height filter.

A method for generating an audio scene from a speaker, the method comprising:

• receiving first and second audio signals;
• routing the first audio signal to a direct-firing driver of the speaker;
• routing the second audio signal to an upward-firing driver of the speaker;
• wherein the first and second audio signals are physically discrete signals representing direct and diffused audio content, respectively, and
• applying, by a virtual height filter circuit, a frequency response curve to a signal routed to the upward-firing driver, wherein the frequency response curve is selected from among a plurality of frequency response curves corresponding to different virtual filter response parameters in response to positional information of the speaker in the listening environment, wherein the selected frequency response curve compensates for height cues present in sound waves transmitted directly through the room by at least partially removing directional cues from the speaker location and at least partially inserting directional cues from the reflection point,
• the method further comprising applying a crossover function to the first and second audio signals, the crossover function having a low-pass process configured to transmit low frequency band signals to a direct-firing driver and a high-pass process configured to transmit high frequency band signals to the upward-firing driver, wherein a defined frequency threshold distinguishes the low and high frequency bands,
• wherein a high-pass section for applying the high-pass process comprises said virtual height filter.