Symington Home Cinema Installation

Even a mid-grade cinema can be hi end

With this installation, Jesse Morra shows how "a mid-grade to a proper home theater in the local market can achieve treatment results without having to think that only studios or ultra high end theaters have it". The installation process was documented on video:

Expert in luxury homes installations in the Toronto area, Jesse chose Vicoustic because he wanted a hi end product on the cinema room he built on his basement. "My theater can give a hi end result and encourage more to choose Vicoustic solutions", he says.

A reverberation study

For this acoustic project developed by our team of Acousticians, a Reverberation Time study was conducted by Vicoustic involving: defining optimum RT values for the room; defining the type, number and location of acoustic panels to be used; presenting the proposed location for the acoustic panels; presenting the expected RT values before and after the application of the proposed acoustic treatment.

The viewer should be able to feel the ambiance and reverb contained in the film audio tracks and should also clearly distinguish sound sources and locate them in the sound field. Early reflections may affect this, by masking those ambiance and reverb and compromising sound sources location.

Early reflections may affect the perception of a dialog in a cinema, compromising speech intelligibility, as the central speech image becomes diffuse due to multiple delayed reflections. Therefore, early reflections should be well treated in order to avoid these issues. In order to control reflections, Vicoustic has proposed sound absorbing panels, which control reflections by taking energy from them (this is being done by Vicoustic’s Cinema Round Premium, Flexi Wood Ultra Lite and Wavewood Ultra Lite panels). The Wavewood Ultra Lite elements also prevent the room from becoming too acoustically “dry” or “dead” by reflecting a portion of the high frequency sound energy back to the room.

A room modes study

Based on a room modes study, Vicoustic has recommended the use of VicTotem Ultra VMT. Preferably, the bass traps should be located where the maximum pressure levels occur within the room, more precisely in the corners of the room.

A special thanks to Jesse Morra. He is an expert in luxury home stairs installations in Toronto area, Canada:Deluxe Stair.

A special thanks also to Vicoustic's Distributors in Canada, Focal Naim America.