One thing that sets cinema sound apart from almost all other types of professional audio is that the goal for cinema playback is to be heard as much like the original recording as possible. This is significant, and not trivial. Filmmakers quite literally want you to experience their work as they saw it and heard it when they approved the final masters.
Properly designed cinema sound systems follow well-established industry standards to match what is heard in post-production. This, along with proper design calibration of cinema loudspeakers, allows you to achieve a highly accurate translation of the original artistic intent of the director and sound mixer.
Cinema Sound
Most cinemas have three loudspeakers mounted behind the perforated cinema screen (Left, Center and Right). These are referred to as (you guessed it) “screen channels”. They have very specific requirements/features, performance goals, and form factors that are quite different than typical pro audio loudspeakers.
The QSC Digital Cinema Series (DCS) SC-223X screen channel loudspeaker is a typical example of a loudspeaker you might find behind the screen at your neighborhood multiplex.
In contrast, the QSC AP-5152 is a high-power, 1 x 15” 2-way pro audio loudspeaker designed for installation in a variety of AV applications such as bars, restaurants, and music venues. Its compact design includes a large format HF driver that is also used in many of our cinema screen channels. It has a trapezoidal shape, a grille, and birch plywood construction with M10 mounting points to facilitate a variety of mounting methods. Its compact size, reasonable weight and high output make it ideal for AV applications (but not for cinema).
The Design
Cinema screen channels are designed to be full range. But, unlike many pro audio loudspeakers, they do not cross over to a subwoofer. The subwoofer in a cinema application receives a separate recorded track, and it’s not normally used to reproduce very low frequency content from the Left, Center and Right screen channels. However, due to the need to play low frequencies, screen channel loudspeakers normally utilize two, three or even four 15” subwoofers in their LF sections.
The large number of loudspeakers required in a cinema multiplex make cost a critical aspect when selecting the right loudspeaker. Therefore, you’ll notice cinema screen channels leave off several features you typically find in pro audio loudspeakers.
For example, there are no handles or grilles. The paint is flat black to prevent reflections of light back through the perforated screen, and connectors are typically screw-type barrier strips instead of “speakON” or other quick connect/disconnect types.
Since cinema loudspeakers don’t need to be portable, and height and width are not usually an issue, the low frequency cabinets can be very large in cubic volume compared to pro audio loudspeakers. This improves efficiency and extension at the very lowest frequencies, at the expense however, of overall sensitivity. The horns can be very large as well.
In terms of cabinet construction, cinema cabinets are typically built using MDF (medium-density fiberboard) instead of the expensive birch plywood that make pro audio loudspeakers light enough to be suspended overhead and portable. Also, the midrange and high frequency horns and drivers of a screen channel are not enclosed at the rear, saving the cost of a full cabinet.
Let’s Talk About the Horn
The biggest difference in configuration for cinema loudspeakers is the need to have excellent dialog intelligibility. To achieve this, the large midrange horn allows for pattern control down to lower frequencies than a smaller pro audio system, and keeps most of the dialog range in between the crossover points of the midrange horn.
For example, the AP-5152 HF horn’s 75° conical coverage angle is well matched to the coverage pattern of its single 15” subwoofer with the crossover frequency of about 1 kHz. In order to maintain a uniform coverage pattern below 1 kHz, the horn would have to be larger. To accommodate that, the cinema midrange horn is about twice as wide as the AP-5152 horn, which allows pattern control to extend about one octave lower, or down to 500-600 Hz.
To lower the pattern control limit to half the frequency, the horn should be twice as wide. The dual 15” stacked woofers of many QSC screen channel models have a good coverage pattern match to the 90°x50°horn down to about 300 Hz. The three-way cinema loudspeaker crosses over at about 300 Hz and 2 kHz to allow for most of the vocal range to be reproduced by the large midrange horn. This results in exceptional dialog intelligibility, even in the back of the room.
The QSC Difference
QSC cinema screen channels are optimized for the typical multiplex auditorium, resulting in not only incredible sound, but ease of installation and aiming as well. When combined with Intrinsic Correction™ DSP presets provided by QSC processing, it is possible to achieve unmatched audio performance with very little additional EQ on site. This saves you both valuable tech time and money.
Have you tried them? Do you have any questions or want more details? Check out our website for more details about QSC Screen Channel loudspeakers here and let us know what you think in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you. And remember, we’re here for you when you need us.
I keep listening to the reports speak about receiving boundless online grant applications so I have been looking around for the top site to get one. Could you advise me please, where could i find some?
708467 116547Normally I do not read article on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up quite forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post. 260987
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such wonderful information being shared freely out there.
legitimate online pharmacy
online pharmacy no prescriptions
I have recently started a website, the info you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work. “Never trust anybody who says ‘trust me.’ Except just this once, of course. – from Steel Beach” by John Varley.
I¦ll right away clutch your rss as I can’t to find your email subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly allow me understand in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Helpful overview
Thank you for sharing superb informations. Your website is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you?¦ve on this blog. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched all over the place and just could not come across. What a great website.
Whats Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I am hoping to contribute & aid other users like its aided me. Great job.
I’ve been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this website. Studying this info So i am glad to show that I have an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I came upon just what I needed. I such a lot for sure will make sure to do not omit this site and give it a look on a continuing basis.
magnificent points altogether, you just gained a brand new reader. What would you recommend in regards to your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
Very nice post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wished to mention that I’ve truly loved surfing around your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing on your rss feed and I hope you write again very soon!
Hello there, You’ve performed a great job. I will certainly digg it and individually suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Hello, you used to write magnificent, but the last few posts have been kinda boring?K I miss your tremendous writings. Past several posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
Hey there! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thank you!
Well I really liked reading it. This information provided by you is very constructive for proper planning.
Sugaring effektive und moderne Haarentfernung in Berlin Die Epilation mit Zuckerpaste wird von unseren speziell dafür ausgebildeten Kosmetikerinnen / Depiladoras an allen Körperregionen durchgeführt. Wir bieten diese effektive und moderne Behandlung sehr erfolgreich und schonend mit einem Maximum in der Hygiene der Anwendung an. Sugaring wird immer beliebter.
Wonderful work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the internet. Shame on Google for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my website . Thanks =)
I do not even know how I stopped up here, but I assumed this post was great. I don’t know who you might be however certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger for those who aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
Some truly superb posts on this web site, appreciate it for contribution. “Careful. We don’t want to learn from this.” by Bill Watterson.
Very good blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally confused .. Any suggestions? Kudos!
Hey there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a outstanding job!
naturally like your web site however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the truth however I¦ll certainly come again again.
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
I have learn a few good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot effort you set to make this type of great informative site.
You actually make it appear really easy along with your presentation but I to find this matter to be actually one thing that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very extensive for me. I’m taking a look ahead in your next submit, I?ll attempt to get the grasp of it!
Hello there, I found your web site via Google while searching for a related topic, your site came up, it looks good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
I got good info from your blog
It’s really a nice and useful piece of info. I’m happy that you just shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.