In the time domain, the first arrival of sound is seen as a large spike and it corresponds to the sound signal coming directly from the loudspeaker. A few milliseconds later, copies of the direct sound signal arrive after they have been reflected and modified by the room (walls, ceiling, floor, furniture, etc.). Because these reflected copies arrive so close to the direct sound, the brain blends everything together and this results in audible artifacts such as smearing of transients, ringing, and comb filtering. The result is muddy sound. MultEQ filters are specifically designed to address these time domain problems and concentrate most of the signal energy in the direct sound. In the graph on the right hand side, the reflections have been dramatically reduced and the first spike is narrower and stronger thus allowing pure sound from the loudspeaker to arrive at each seat.

(Right: To view graphs, click on the red circles)