Acoustically Transparent Screen

Garden Grove, CA – May 1, 2015 – One of the best ways to approximate the commercial cinema experience in your own home is to employ an AT, or acoustically transparent screen, that allows you to place loudspeakers behind the screen itself -just like in a commercial theater.
You can place speakers behind your AT screen either by using in-wall speakers, or by building a false wall out into your room that allows for you to put traditional speakers behind a screen while still keeping them concealed from view.
Two things to keep in mind; first, whether your using in-walls or freestanding speakers behind an AT screen, be sure to keep the tweeters as close to your seated ear height, since high frequencies are the most directional. If you have stadium-like seating in your theater, try and put the tweeter level at the median height between the two rows for best results. This may require you to install your in-walls upside down, which is okay.
Second, when building a false wall, use acoustically transparent fabric to “flesh” out the rest of your surrounding wall (the area not covered by the screen) so as not to block or hinder your speaker’s natural dispersion. You can tell if a fabric is acoustically transparent by holding it up to a light, if you can see light shining through -albeit even a little -then sound waves can and will penetrate, and you’ll be good to go.