Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Acoustical projection screens

Has anyone use an acoustic projection screen? I am thinking of mounting my center channel behind my screen using an acoustic screen. I have 2 concerns. Obviously that the sound will be deadened or that since the screens are perforated the visual will be affected.

I believe a good acoustic transparent screen might reduce the overall dB level for the center channel but maybe .5-1dB. When you calibrate your speaker levels you would just bump up that channels levels to match the other speakers.

Not sure if it would affect the sound of the speaker in any way.
I like to look at my speakers, so would not be something I would ever have in my setup. Besides those screens aren't cheap.

I was looking at an Elite AT screen before I decided on a Carada. They did recommend to me to run all three front speakers behind the screen rather than just the center... But in terms of sound quality you do not lose much at all, if anything.

You can't see the perforations from more than a few feet back, and there is a seperate black backing fabric as well to stop light from reflecting back through the backside of the screen.

When we live in an age where people debate whether they can hear the difference with the grills on or off, or the differences between solid state amps, I just can't "believe" that the sonics would not be degraded by something that is sufficiently opaque to reflect a projected image.

Yeah, I was thinking I really wanted an acoustically transparent screen when I moved into front projection, but considering the trade-offs and how expensive they are, I'd say I'm resigned to doing a traditional screen. At this point, I'm thinking single M22 below the screen, but we'll see what happens.

I don't disagree the screen has to affect it somehow, I'm just passing along what several manufacturers have told me about their screens. Every movie theatre I've been to uses one so they can't be all that bad.

Well correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the vast majority of movie theaters place the center channel speaker(s) behind the screen?

[quote=PotatoheadThey did recommend to me to run all three front speakers behind the screen rather than just the center... But in terms of sound quality you do not lose much at all, if anything.
[/quote]

The statement that they gave you contradicts itself. It may be a matter of relativity and maybe not enough to worry about but if the screen does not color the sound to any great degree then why recommend that all three get placed behind it together?

Yes. In fact, they place the center channel, left, right, and subwoofer(s) behind the screen, as well.

Hi aspicer1,

Try Googling this subject. I wrote about this a few years ago (sorry I don't have the link) but I came across some tests and measurements of acoustically perforated screens done by one of the pro magazines--maybe "Mix" or Studio Sound. There were differences in different brands and one that was clearly superior. If I find the article, I'll post here.

Alan