Through the efforts of a brilliant marketing campaign during the 1990s and 2000s led by “Tex,” along with a respected product certification program and a slate of educational classes, THX had built an enormous amount of brand equity with integrators and AV enthusiasts.

The company’s certification program could be seen in the loudspeaker, AV receiver, amplifier and gaming categories and dealers and enthusiasts could participate in THX Level I, Level II and video training classes. Through a series of ownership changes however the company and its brand visibility had waned.

In a move to resurrect its training and visibility with the public, THX in late 2023 announced that it would be relaunching training program. Teaming up with long-time home audio expert Gerry Lemay, THX began offering a new education program to dealers and enthusiasts.

THX Training Covers Company History and More  

At the recently completed CEDIA Expo show in Denver THX held a day-long seminar on Wednesday Sept.4. The training session was jointed presented by Lemay and Steve Martz, VP of global technology, THX Ltd.

The first couple of hours of the seminar Martz looked back at the history of THX, which date back to 1983 and the release of the blockbuster Lucasfilm’s movie, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi. Martz told the dealers in attendance why THX started—to address the quality issues at the time moviegoers experienced with going to the movies.

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Martz went on to tell attendees that by the late 1980s Snell Acoustics, Technics and Lexicon were the first home audio companies to introduce THX certified products. According to Martz, as part of its research Lucasfilm determined several key areas that its product certification program would address with its certified home audio products:

• Reequalization
• Adaptive De-correlation
• Timbre Matching
• Bass Management
• Level Calibration

Today Martz noted, the THX ecosystem covers several markets, including automotive, home theater, commercial cinema, live entertainment, AR, gaming, digital content, mobile devices.

Looking ahead, he pointed out a couple of growth opportunities the company has identified in the spatial audio (immersive audio) and personal entertainment categories.

Transitioning onto the reach of the company in the pro AV market Martz and some of its newer partnerships, Martz said that it works with the WiSA Association and the THX certified studio PM3 Studio, which is a facility that offers movie premixing and the production of TV shows, music video games and other content.

Martz also pointed out the goal of THX with its certifications and programs is to deliver consumers an AV experience with focus, envelopment, response, dynamics, and consistency.

The Fundamentals of Home Audio

As the day-long seminar progressed Lemay outlined the objectives that integrators should be seeking with their AV installations.

Lemay told the participants in the THX presentation that inherently small rooms are not diffusive, and they present more problems than large rooms that include commercial environments.

“Big rooms behave very differently than small rooms,” he commented.

Small-room characteristics led Lemay into his next topic: The separation between stereo and multichannel audio and how these formats deliver sound staging. Using that as a segway Lemay then went to summarizing the various immersive or spatial audio formats that are currently available to consumers, which are Auro 3D, DTS:X, and Dolby Atmos—with a 7.1.4 configuration as a commonly used speaker system for Atmos.

Providing more insight on surround sound and immersive audio, Lemay told the class the center-channel speaker in a multichannel system helps modern surround sound to create a wider sound stage. He went on to pick up some of the points Martz made earlier such as the importance of channel levels and the arrival of sound from each channel to the listener.

Speaking on the topic of system calibration briefly Lemay explained why integrators should use SPL (sound pressure level) meters. Emphasizing the importance of level matching Lemay stressed SPL meters should be used to match the 0home reference level of 75dB C-weighted.

“We want to listen to the movie at the same volume level as they did in the Stag Theater,” he told the audience.

Lemay quickly touched upon several other topics including RP22, frequency response and pink noise before delving into room acoustics. Within the topic of room reflections, he pointed out the differences between good and bad reflections, as well as the other terms such as RT60, THX bass management and noise criteria.

Not forgetting video in the THX seminar, Lemay provided an overview of modern home video, including his experience calibrating CRT-based projectors.  

Outlining the fundamentals of home video Lemay pointed out elements such as aspect ratio, viewing and resolution and formats such as 2048 x 1080 (2K DCI), 3840 x 2160 (UHD), 4096 x 2160 (4K DCI), 7680 x 4320 (8K), and 15,360 x 8,640 (16K).

Once he explained resolutions Lemay also went into topics such as light output—1 nit equals 3.426 lumens—as well as the intensity of light and how it is measured through the equation of foot lamberts.

Concluding his discussion on video basics, Lemay touched upon contrast ratio, color gamut white/grayscale tracking, color and tint/hue controls, and HDR.

In addition to outlining the basics of home audio, Gerry Lemay of the Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA) touched upon the topic of home video during the day-long THX presentation at CEDIA Expo 2024. (photo credit: Bob Archer CE Pro)

The entire THX session, which serves as a primer for the deeper, more involved THX and HAA level seminars provides integrators with a foundation to start more advanced training modules the organizations make available to industry professionals.

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