SRTs behind an acoustic transparent screen

Tollaksen

I am going to build an acoustic transparent screen for my theater. I have a 100" diag. screen and have been unhappy with the localized sound of the center channel. I have have read up on this subject over on avs and have decided that this is something that I want to try. Before I do this I want to know a few things.

Do I just put the center behind the screen or the whole front stage?

What is the min. distance that the SRTs need between each other L/R?

Since these will be built in, Do I need to insulate the the enclosures that the speakers are going into?

Do tweeters have a dispersion pattern? If so, what direction is the tweeter pattern for the center (Vert/Horz)?

Separating the subs from the sats (no longer needing the subs as stands for the sats, I could place them anywhere), Will this hurt the sound or help?

Does anyone have a dedicated sub for the rear channel that is behind the seating? How does that work out? Better worst or unnecessary?

Thanks in advance,

Tollaksen

Sherardp

You may get more responses @ AVS. But to answer some of your questions the center will be behind the screen as well as the front left and right if possible. The speakers should have baffles so no insulation is required though it may help in some regard. Im not familiar with your model speaker but some allow you to aim the tweeter toward listening position. If the center channel speaker is rectangular then you can position any way you want, thats the flexibility of the installation. I'd keep the subs upfront and corner loaded, it would still give you that clean look. Ive had a sub installed in the rear of my old room and just seemed to be to localized. Once I moved it up front it seemed to blend in better, however theres nothing wrong with you trying it out to see how it works in your room.

rtart

Here's my suggestion:

Send me your SRTs, and you won't have a problem

Assuming that you don't like my first suggestion, here's what you may consider.

I built a HT for a customer using an acoustically transparent 120" 4:3 screen. The room was about 20 feet wide. I built a screen wall about 3 feet away from the "real" front wall across the entire front of the room to hold the screen and allow room behind the screen for the front speakers. The screen wall is basically 2x6 studs, covered in fabric instead of plywood or sheetrock, surrounding the screen. I positioned the center speaker in the center of the screen on a shelf built in to the 2x6 stud structure. The fronts went behind the fabric covered portion of the wall. The subs went behind the wall as well. From a visual point of view, the wall surrounding the screen appears to be solid. From a sonic perspective, it ain't really there.

This approach allows you to position the front speakers and subs in the optimal thirds or fifths positions, and hides everything. I prefer this method to built-in speakers for lots of reasons. First, the speakers can be optimally positioned and tweaked if needed. Second, you can upgrade easily, and more importantly with SRT's, take them with you if you move.

As you can tell, this method makes the answers to your other questions unecessary. Just allow room between the real and screen walls for your SRTs as they are. You can modify and optimize their configuration and position as needed with little difficulty.

BTW, most AVRs have built-in sound calibration capabilities today, so the slight sonic affect of the fabric can be tuned out automatically.

I'm curious about the projector you have selected for use with an acoustically transparent screen. I've considered this approach in my personal HT, but I use a CRT because of picture quality, and am not convinced the A-T screens available have a gain that I would be happy with. My CRT is a 9" tubed NEC 10PG, which is very bright on my 120" 4:3 Stewart M1300 (1.3 gain). I too am an AVSForum member (rtart) and have looked into the fourms concerning this issue.

Are you using a CRT or digital? If digital, have you considered 2:35 ratio anamorphic solutions? Always thought I would if my 10pg dies on me.

Hope this helped. Good luck on your HT project!!