Major changes coming to my reference theater

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Over the last several months I have been working with my speaker designer to figure out how to simplify my system and reduce the power consumption of the room. So after many months of looking and listening to some of his custom designs we decided to go another route.

I asked him about getting the designs for the old IMAX speakers built by JBL based on Sonic Associates original plans and giving them a 21st century update. He loved the idea. I chose this particular speaker because it was a point source design, it was time aligned for a much larger area than commercial speakers currently on the market at any price, and because it dispersion pattern was wide and even over a very large area, without spraying the walls and ceiling with a lot of reflections. This speaker was also designed from the ground up for mounting in a baffle wall, so no need for any compensation in the bass as a result of baffle loading.

The speakers look like this;

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=41758&stc=1&d=1252530013

He will also be building 10 new surround speakers based on a similar design. The midrange and tweeter will be coaxial just like the screen speakers, but will instead include a 10" woofer underneath the coaxial array instead of surrounding it like the screen speakers do. The coaxial mid/tweet design for the surround will be much smaller than the screen speakers to keep the size of the speaker small and light.

All of the speakers will be DSP controlled. The front speakers will be tri-amped with one VERY powerful high quality amp driving the 4 10" woofers, and two amps driving the mid and the tweeter. The surround speakers will be bi-amped - one amp driving the woofer, and one amp driving both the mid and tweeter.

There are more details on the speakers system, but that has still to be worked out.

The second big change will be the screen and front baffle. Now that Digital Projection has come out with a corrective lense for 3D on a curved screen, I have decided to go constant height 2:40:1 curved screen with auto masking. This means my current baffle wall must now rebuilt to accommodate a curve screen. The benefit of this is now most of the light from the screen, and most of the sound from the front speakers will be directed towards the seats.

The look will be similar to this as this is where I got the idea in the first place.

https://5611b3a7-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/hollywoodtheatres/cineramadome/Cinerama-Google-2.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cr2vg8-1u3w7kSzvx-dFA_BGtR_ssoBlGDGCPqFgdCu5ErJUfqJLNQJsdeN3D9wFil26 Bd9OjZRHUltSRAPDaiMN50F0thut5p7TiUCl3LOhwq0Z7ppxPd t8cKS7ilBQQ7JD2q3V-jWv3pnBGCJQWzLDVRigytwZPV91A7tBNWPMppO-qwEhFk9tu7Q6omSPY95y2PPhQO3kVV3Gq9_4IM4lae1iI7VP-RUp8bbSIiCcTh0ua7SZrfS92KG7cSRU7yLisKx&attredirects=0

As a frequent visitor to this theater, I have always love the look and the sound system is a complete knock of the ballpark.

Since the theater is going to be completely torn up, I decided to change the theme of the theater to a more water and ocean based looking interior.

I am really excited about this change, and I will give more detail as things get off the ground. We are still in the planning stages as this is going to be a complicated change. However my designer and I believe this will simplify my system, and make it sound twice as good, and increase the power efficiency of the room by incorporating some newer power saving technology.

[Feanor]

Keep us updated. Sounds mind-bogglingly impressive.

[E-Stat]

So after many months of looking and listening to some of his custom designs we decided to go another route.
Cool, T.

You're gonna hafta' post some pics this time! :)

[Mr Peabody]

I know pretty much nothing about projectors so this question might show it, how can you have a curved screen without causing some type of visual distortion?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I know pretty much nothing about projectors so this question might show it, how can you have a curved screen without causing some type of visual distortion?

Easy...you get a lense that compensates for the curve in 2D, and another that compensates for the curve in 3D. One lense is built into the projector, the other is mounted on a mechanical system that allows it to slide in front of the other when it detects a 3D signal. It is all automated based on signal detection.

This technology has been around for more than a decade and has been used by the constant height guys to get 2:40:1 and 1:85"1 on the same screen.


Using a lense to correct the pincushion effect of a curved screen has been around for more than 50 years. The Cinerama and Vistarama systems both used it for three projector Cinemascope productions. As a matter of fact the theater link I posted in my OP is a Cinerama theater with a three panel curved Cinerama screen.

[Smokey]

Using a lense to correct the pincushion effect of a curved screen has been around for more than 50 years. The Cinerama and Vistarama systems both used it for three projector Cinemascope productions.I thought medium to large theaters use curve screen to offset the pincushin so the light from projector hit every corner of screen at the same time.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I thought medium to large theaters use curve screen to offset the pincushin so the light from projector hit every corner of screen at the same time.

You have it reversed. A special lens is used on the projector to correct the pincushion effect of the curved screen. No matter what the light will hit the screen at the same time whether the screen is flat or curved.

A curved screen is much like a horn on a loudspeaker. It projects the light more precisely at the seats, and the special lens makes sure there is the same uniformity of light at the corners of the screen as there is in the center of it. With flat screens light uniformity at the corners of the screen is less than in the center.

[Swish]

Damn is that some project. How big is your HT room?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Damn is that some project. How big is your HT room?

Currently the room is 26x40x30' I use it for mixing, fundraising, and family enjoyment when we have our big get togthers every holiday. The remodeled room with probably not be any bigger than this, but there is capability to make it bigger if I desired.

The place used to be an old barn that was next to the house. It was huge, but I didn't really need a barn. So I beefed up the structure, split it up, and created a on property post production studio complete with two large mixing rooms(a music and movie mixing rooms), and several audio editing rooms for television and DVD and Bluray mixing for special editions.

[Swish]

Wowzers. That's pretty crazy stuff. I went from a tiny 13' wide by 18' deep at my previous home to 18' wide by 24' deep in my present home and feel like it's 'big', but your space is, indeed, more like a movie theater. I may be requesting pictures. Just sayin'.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Wowzers. That's pretty crazy stuff. I went from a tiny 13' wide by 18' deep at my previous home to 18' wide by 24' deep in my present home and feel like it's 'big', but your space is, indeed, more like a movie theater. I may be requesting pictures. Just sayin'.

My music room in my San Leandro house is 13x17x10. When you stuff a 55" 3DTV, a 7.1 channel surround system, and a listening seat - it is quite small. But the sound in that room is wonderful. All it required was bass traps in the front corners, and a blanket over the listening seat, and the sound came alive. The HT room in that house is 18x27x12, and that room seems large to me.

[Swish]

I have a 7.1 system as well. If you saw my post, I just got the Marantz 7701 processor to replace my Rotel RSP 1098. You'd probably scold me if you were to see and hear my setup, because I have no freaking clue how to calibrate everything properly. In fact, you'd probably cringe to know that I use di-poles for my side speakers. I bought them years ago (Paradigm DP-450 reference) and still use their LCRs for my rears and center channel. I added their Studio 100s a few years ago and love them for the fronts, and a Paradigm 14" sub to go with that.

I bought a fixed 120" screen from Visual Apex and have the Epson 8700 UB and I'm pretty pleased with my video.

If I were going to upgrade, I'd probably get a better center channel speaker. I have to place it on a small cabinet on the floor under my screen since there is not space above (drop ceiling). I have the cabinet angled so the speaker points upward toward your ears. Not sure it's 'correct', but I really didn't have any idea what I could do differently.

My amps are 5 and 2 channel Adcoms that do a fine job, and I have an Oppo Blu-Ray as well as the PS3.