When we were approached to design the Q-SYS India Experience Centre, the brief was ambitious, yet refreshingly clear. This wasn’t about building another tech showroom. It was about designing an experience. A place where technology isn’t just seen, but felt. Where space, sound, and interaction work in harmony to tell a cohesive story. Right from … Read More
For many of us, traversing the world of AV can sometimes feel like navigating a maze. The complex systems, technical jargon, and endless cables can make it seem like something only experts can handle. But at Q-SYS, we believe AV should be intuitive, approachable, and easy to connect with. That’s why we’ve built the Q-SYS … Read More
Exciting news for your high-impact spaces: the Shure Microflex® Advance™ MXA920 Ceiling Array Microphone has been certified with Q-SYS across major UC Platforms. This enables users to get the optimized experience they expect in Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms, and for Google Meet by leveraging the combined audio capture and processing capabilities of both Shure … Read More
InfoComm 2025 is only a few days away! Next week, our industry will crowd into the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for a week filled with connection, inspiration, and innovation. Q-SYS is excited to showcase our most extensive platform release yet—unveiling a full stack AV platform that unifies data, devices, and cloud-first architecture to … Read More
In today’s hybrid, hyper-connected world, AV systems must do more than connect—they must adapt, evolve, and drive business outcomes. At Activate 2025, Q-SYS introduced its most expansive platform release yet, redefining what it means to deliver transformative AV experiences at scale. This isn’t just a launch—it’s the next step in our mission to build the … Read More
If you’re looking for more ways to get Creative with Plugins, look no further than the Asset Manager feature in Q-SYS Designer Software. The Q-SYS for Cinema universe is expanding once again with a new control plugin for Barco Series 1 and 2 Digital Cinema Projectors. Now, two of the leading digital cinema projector manufacturers are … Read More
QSC’s SC-444 Screen Channel Loudspeaker System Ever since it was first introduced over 14 years ago, no other screen channel loudspeaker has come close to matching the performance and utility of QSC’s SC-444 Screen Channel Loudspeaker system. It was, and is still, simply the best large room cinema system available. From top to bottom, here … Read More
Ever struggle to find answers on a company’s website? Even simple questions like, “How do I cancel this gym membership?” can lead to a potential aneurism. Vague menus, confusing navigation, chat-bots named Zayden. Ughh! So what about QSC? Is it any easier to find answers to your questions or get support here? Well, any time … Read More
The Cinema industry has been hit hard by the COVID 19 shutdown. While we are optimistic about an eventual recovery, the industry will be changed by all that has occurred. Studio release patterns and theatrical windows are changing. Cinemas need other income streams that don’t rely so completely on major studio releases. Cinemas also need … Read More
Technology Convergence Brings New Opportunities Q: When is a movie theatre not a movie theatre? A: When the content appears to be feature film or custom created content, but you don’t smell popcorn as you walk in, and you didn’t have to buy a ticket. The venue might be a high school or college auditorium, … Read More
How the Beatles influenced my line of work Did you ever wonder how a loudspeaker works? So did I, at a very young age – but I was more interested in understanding the electric guitar after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. It turns out the two operate on very similar (yet opposite) … Read More
In this blog I’d like to share some of the things that were, at first, confusing to me about Q-SYS. It is specifically for those who are just starting their journey with this incredible, yet intricate and ever-expanding program. Disclaimer: If you are a Q-SYS Super User you might want to skip this blog. It … Read More
It’s been a busy few weeks at QSC, with the announcement of two major new developments that further solidify the expanding role of Q-SYS in movie theatres. You may remember that early on in the journey of Q-SYS for Cinema, we were saying “If it can be controlled, it can be controlled by Q-SYS.” There … Read More
If you haven’t noticed, QSC has been slowly changing the paradigm of cinema sound. This past week, another milestone was reached with the introduction of two new Q-SYS Core processors, expanding the Q-SYS Ecosystem both as a product line and as a practical application scenario throughout the modern cinema complex – and beyond. Over 20 … Read More
We’re only beginning to come to terms with the fundamental changes in many industries in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. While no one can accurately predict the future, one thing is for certain: the cinema exhibition industry will be anything BUT a return to “business as usual”. The pandemic is not the only … Read More
Dynamic Pairing is a special feature in Q-SYS Designer software that allows you to link a virtual peripheral device in your design to a new physical hardware device on your network, like an I/O-8 Flex or the new NV-32-H. This means you can build your Q-SYS design to include an I/O device that perhaps you … Read More
Most conventional cinema “screen channel” loudspeakers are designed to sit on a platform behind the cinema screen. The low frequency (LF) enclosure is made of heavy MDF panels to offer the best low frequency performance for the lowest cost. The horn section is supported by metal brackets and is mounted to the top of the LF … Read More
In a previous blog about loudspeaker sensitivity, we looked at two readily available woofers to see how different specifications and construction techniques resulted in different amounts of low frequency output capability. For this discussion, we will take a single woofer design and see how using 1, 2 or 4 woofers affects total output capability. Doubling … Read More
In this time of COVID-19, it’s wise to avoid touching any surface that others are also likely to be touching without first sanitizing it. Better still, avoid touching that surface at all; but this would seem to present a problem for touchscreen control devices, like the TSC Series controllers in our Q-SYS Ecosystem. But wait! … Read More
Honestly, it is likely that you already know this, but if you don’t, EASE is software that provides sound system designers a set of tools to help simulate, or model, the acoustics of a venue. Basically, it helps determine the best locations to install your loudspeakers to get the best sound coverage for your space. … Read More
In our previous blog post, Sensitivity Sensationalism, we looked at some incorrect assumptions often made around loudspeaker sensitivity and power ratings. We discussed the dangerous practice of publishing inflated specifications, including frequency range, power handling, impedance, and unspecified boundary loading conditions. And we promised a deep dive into the design of a Screen Channel Low … Read More
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Core Auditoriums with balconies can provide a significant challenge to the proper design and deployment of a cinema audio system. Generally, a 7.1 cinema auditorium is considered a single seating zone which is covered by multiple audio channels. When a balcony is introduced to an auditorium … Read More
In this third and final installment of our look at small rooms, we’ll focus on Q-SYS and how it can be used for multi-room systems, especially “cinema on demand” rooms in commercial multiplex sites. As before, let’s look at room sizes of about 10m, or 33 ft. in length. We’ll also assume the use of … Read More
Loudspeaker sensitivity and power ratings have become the primary specifications used to design sound systems in cinema. This practice and these specifications are accepted at face value and not often questioned. They make designing sound systems fairly easy and straightforward. However, they rely on many assumptions and some of them are simply not valid, at least … Read More
No one knows exactly what the “new normal” of cinema exhibition will look like. First, let’s get this out of the way: Coronavirus will not kill the global cinema exhibition industry. Changes are for certain, but cinema is here to stay. As has already been said by many industry observers – cinema has survived the … Read More
In Part 1 of our discussion on small rooms, we focused on premium solutions using our Reference Monitor System. In Part 2, we will look at some systems using the economical DCS SC 1120 and SC 1150 screen channels and a variety of amplifier and processor options for small rooms, including private screening rooms, high-end … Read More
In addition to our larger audio solutions for mainstream multiplexes, QSC has several options for small rooms. These could be private screening rooms, high-end home cinemas, or even “cinema on demand” rooms in multiplex sites that are rented to small groups. While QSC can support all room sizes, let’s focus on rooms of less than … Read More
In 1992, Syn-Aud-Con co-founder and audio industry legend Don Davis wrote an article (which later became a book) titled, “If Bad Sound Were Fatal, Audio Would Be the Leading Cause of Death.” While it hasn’t killed me yet, I’ve certainly been hurt more than once in public spaces, where it was evident that proper attention … Read More
Discover the power and flexibility of the new DPA-Q amplifier series Q-SYS – our ecosystem for audio, video, and control – combined with our new DPA-Q amps, has become increasingly popular for powering immersive audio systems in Premium Large Format cinemas. In this post, we’ll show you how you can use our new 8-channel DPA-Q … Read More
One of the hallmarks of QSC products is the concept of the total system design. Simply put, a system of a prescribed set of components that were designed to work together will always outperform a disparate set of components. This is the idea behind QSC’s “SystemSynergy,” any QSC powered loudspeaker, and any system configuration recommendation … Read More