Audio Video News

Many home theater experts contend that the proper place for a center channel speaker is directly behind the screen, as in a commercial theater. Such arrangements require perforated screens that are acoustically transparent but visually reflective, an arrangement that can wreak havoc with some fixed-pixel projectors. Annoying moire patterns can result from the relationship between a projector's image elements and the holes in a perforated screen.

Mission Viejo, CA-based Screen Research claims to have solved this problem with its new ClearPix2 fabric, designed for both fixed and retractable video projection screens. In early February, the company received THX certification for its ClearPix screens, which require no compensation equalization for speakers placed behind them. ClearPix screens do not introduce the comb filtering associated with perforations, and also eliminate moir interference patterns that plague traditional perforated screens when they are used with fixed-pixel projectors (DLP, LCD, LCOS, D-ILA, etc.) "Home theater designers who use these types of projectors can now place center channel loudspeakers where they belong - behind the screen and at the proper height for optimum sound and image coherence," states a new product announcement dated February 6.

THX certification is awarded to products that ensure accurate movie playback and deliver a home theater experience comparable in sound and picture quality to a movie-house presentation. Screen Research's ClearPix2 is the second acoustically transparent screen to receive THX certification, and the only screen for which compensation equalization is not required, according to the announcement.

"No screen we've tested to date matches the acoustical transparency of the Screen Research ClearPix2 fabric," said John Dahl, technical product marketing manager for THX Ltd. THX certification also ensures that ClearPix2 adheres to strict standards of color consistency, image uniformity across the projection surface, gain, and viewing angle.

Screen Research offers the ClearPix2 fabric in fixed and electric retractable models, in standard and custom widths, and in matte white (0.95 gain) or pearl gray (0.75 gain). Designed and engineered in France, Screen Research screens are distributed and marketed in the Western Hemisphere by St. John Group, Inc.