Is 3D Projection Viable in Great Rooms?

I do not fully agree with the article.  Leader D-Cinema is as EMMY Award wining company.  Our main market is studio grade “D” Cinema DCP and 3D screening rooms for industry professionals and clients who simply want the identical experience that movie stars and movie moguls have.  We manufacture the Leader Hollywood Format™ sound system, which is totally custom and optimized for each and every room…be it 200 sq ft (20 sq meters)  to large scale theaters seating 500, 1000, or more.  We also have our fair share of “E” cinema rooms also for industry pros and consumers alike.

There are thousands of examples of dedicated cinemas throughout the world.  The pages of all the magazines certainly illustrates the creativity of hundreds of “home theater” installers across a wide range of room shapes and sizes and of course budgets.

The Convertible / Multipurpose room:  true innovation from Leader Cinema.  Over the past 25 years, Leader Cinema has created numerous rooms based upon our radical thinking.  As radical as the concepts are, the end result is…where’s the equipment?  Imagine 2 tons of gear in a 750 sq ft (75 sq meters)  open plan living room for an international music executive…..and noting is seen.  This is innovation.  Located in Bay Harbor, MI   bayharbor (dot) com this $ 650 million resort has prize homes in the multiple millions of dollars.  This “Clap Your Hands” project may be viewed at the/web/site=leadercinema(dot)com   With a price range of $ 450,000 USD such systems are the creation of highly specific goals and objectives for a major music biz superstar.  Consequently one is afforded the luxury of a willing client and receptive architect.  The results are that not one element is visible upon entering the living space….yet a 20,000 watt sound system, with front L-C-R and subs which alone consume 84 Cu Ft ( 3.8 Cu Meters),  speaker weight 2500 Lbs (1159 Kgs) again is completely invisible.  So too is the rear bulkhead that separates the open plan kitchen from the dining room/ living room.  This bulkhead (massive) was designed to house the Barco DP90-P “D” cinema projector… a truly huge piece of equipment running on 220 volts and is exceptionally noisy…  The completed installation is one worthy of Ferrari levels of overall performance….the projector noise in the room is dead quiet.

Another example of Convertible Rooms, is our Maui Hawaii waterfront project.  Created for an entertainment industry executive, this concrete, glass and stainless steel residence is an architectural contemporary masterpiece.  The open plan living room approx 2800 sq ft (80 sq meters) again is similar in concept to the Bay Harbor project.  The Leader Hollywood Format™ sound system in Maui is even larger…the 6 surround channels alone tip the scales at 1680 Lbs (764 Kgs) with an overall volume of 42 Cu Ft (1.8 Cu Meters).  Again unseen, as the ceiling void of just over two feet enables both the massive surround speaker array and room acoustical treatment to be incorporated over the 650 sq ft area ( 198 sq meters) of the “theater area”.  The Hughes projection system is located in a credenza and projects an image 14 feet ( 4268 mm) in width.  Again nothing is visible as one enters the expansive living room, which is sheathed on three sides by over 140 lineal feet (43 meters) of retractable glass walls.  The $ 1.6 million project was completed in 1996, and still today its LHF™ sound system ( 28,000 watts) is among the world’s most remarkable systems.  ( Main Screen Channels are 4 way active.  Low frequency bass energy and balance has the ability to play across multiple musical genres including Hollywood level movie sound tracks.  The balance remains totally balanced from a solo cello, to full symphonic Wagnerian masterpieces, to rock, pop, jazz and of course “Alternate Content” for D-Cinema.  “Music to picture” live concert events can be presented with peak SPL’s approaching 130 dB SPL in each screen channel….and this includes studio grade deep deep low frequency extension down to 23 Hz, where at 20 feet, we can generate 125 dB SPL between 26 to 70 Hz in the Low frequency range. 

These two examples are certainly in the exotic league and created for two clients with very specific needs. 

In the lower price range, alternatives do present themselves.  How does one place a very large scale stereo playback system into new construction for a French Provincial living room of 680 sq ft (208 sq meters).  (Note: compact in wall speakers are useless for this application)  Most speaker systems are really ugly when compared to exceptional furnishings.  As an engineer and acoustician, I really get no pleasure at all form the appearance of speakers.  As our systems are horn loaded in the mid band and hf, the systems do become quite large.  Receptive architects and clients allowed for false walls and bulkheads to be constructed left and right of the fire place.  This concealed our custom three way active mid bass-mid-Hf system @ 135 lbs each ( 62 Kgs each)  The zero clearance fireplace was moved forward an additional 12 inches (30 cm) to allow for two low frequency enclosures, each weighing 120 lbs (55 Kgs) equipped with 2 x 15 inch woofers…tuned to 24 Hz.  The ceiling height is just over 10 feet ( 3048 mm)  The majesty of the performance is incomparable to merely placing a pair of exotic speakers in the corners of the room…which would obviously be on view…and the performance would certainly not match the 4 way (medium format) system with over 2800 watts RMS / 8 ohms available to each channel, for a system power total of 5,600 watts. 

We so many examples in the press, where the room has not been provided with sub-walls, soffits or other means to enable large scale AV gear to be used without unsightly appearance.  We are fortunate to have the engineering and manufacturing talent and capabilities to build such world-class sound systems without compromise while also being able to integrate the art of music into peoples lives….in multi-purpose rooms….so….”Clap Your Hands”…. 
web-siteURLis=leadercinema(dot)com