Audio Video News

It's hard to find home theater-related products on the convention floor at the twice-per-year Audio Engineering Society (AES) gathering. It was therefore a treat to discover a fascinating cinema sound system at San Francisco's Moscone Center during the society's recent meeting there, October 28–30.

JSX Audio of Petaluma, CA, has developed a line of modular powered monitors that can be mixed and matched for use in any screening room—full-range main speakers with TAD TD-2001 compression drivers behind 90 x 60 degree horns, combined with 8" high-excursion woofers; low-frequency extension units with dual 8" woofers; LFE subs with dual 12" long-throw woofers; and surround speakers with 8" concentric two-way drivers in compact cabinets. In addition, the company makes a series of front-end electronic components, including DSP surround processors and an outboard six-channel amp for driving rear/surround speakers.

JSX powered monitors are intended to be installed directly behind porous video screens, and come fitted with acoustically absorptive "baffelettes," mounted on wings that fold out from the sides of each speaker. These baffelettes soak up any immediate sonic reflections from the back sides of screens, therefore improving detail and resolution in the near- and mid-field listening areas, according to the company's chief technology officer Jerry Steckling. The monitors can also be switched from "cinema EQ and polar pattern" to one more suitable for music, thereby optimizing the system for best performance with the program in use.

An entire JSX system can be configured according to a room's size and client's budget at prices ranging from $31,707 to $45,067, with delivery and setup extra. A great advantage to the JSX approach is flexibility and ease of configuration, and portability if needed. Very little in the way of permanent installation is required. Amplification is high quality solid-state in Class A mode up to several watts and Class AB above that, with balanced inputs.

For an additional eighteen grand, JSX can supply its monster power conditioner, the HDP Seven, a balanced uninterruptible power supply that can accept any line voltage or frequency used anywhere in the world and output up to 82 amperes at 120V AC. The HDP (High Definition Power) can deliver 250 amps peak, with output frequency and voltage selectable between 50-60Hz and 120-240, respectively.

JSX also has an electrolytic grounding system that can take ground impedance to nearly zero, according to director of advanced technology Aaron Reiff. In a system the company recently installed, he measured "only a fraction of an ohm" resistance between system ground and earth ground, something that can take the perceived noise floor into true darkness. A visit to the company's lab is in the near future; look here for a follow-up report.