When traveling to different time zones, we need to correct our time-keeping tools in order to align our activities to the local standard time. Very simple.

Likewise in sound reinforcement systems, we often encounter multiple sources of misalignment, albeit in much smaller time increments. The importance of these misalignments is often subject to debate, but with the advent of a wide variety of very good digital processing products, correcting such anomalies is no longer out of reach for most of us. Further, the presence of affordable, accurate time-based measurement systems (SMAART, TEF, etc.) means that it is by no means impractical to clearly determine the presence of multiple arrivals from a sound system.

Almost all sources of misalignment are based on the physical positioning of various transducers in relation to one another, to their surrounding physical boundaries, and to sound sources. The only place where there are no appreciable time-based alignment problems (other than phase response) is in a sound system’s electrical signal path. The electrons that constitute electrical signals utilized in audio systems travel at close to the speed of light, and even when there are great variations in cable length or multiple stages of audio processing, the degree of leading or lagging across the audio spectrum is not perceptible to human hearing. Digital processing does present potential for misalignment, but it is rare that DSP is employed for selected single channels of audio.

Thus we focus on the transducers used for inputs and outputs when discussing misalignment. Although there is a potential for microphones (or mic technique) to be just as much a culprit as loudspeakers, traditionally we have not had the means to treat separate inputs nearly as easily as we do the outputs feeding into the loudspeakers. The recent introduction of digital mixing consoles for sound reinforcement will certainly change this, but for now, the primary focus of misalignment remains on the "tail end" of our reinforcement systems.