[Uther]

I will have to have an acoustically transparent screen because of the nature of the walls in my HT (I cannot mount the center channel above or below the screen), but given the outrageous prices of pre-made acoustically transparent screens ($1.5K + for 96"+), I was thinking of just ordering the material and making one myself. Anyone have any experience doing this? Any quirks in building with this fabric opposed to non-transparent fabric? Also, do I need to be concerned with getting un ultra-bright projector because of the perforations?

 

[Professor]

Uther....


Since no one has answered your question, I'll give it a shot.


A DIY acoustically transparent screen is impossible. Why? It takes special, very expensive equipment to create the holes in the fabric. Why? Because the holes are very small, spaced just so, and must yield a perfectly flat surface (no residual material).


I wanted a transparent screen. However, after careful investigation I found that such screens are very expensive and don't work well with most LCD or DLP projectors. On the other hand, acoustically transparent screens do work well with expensive CRT projectors.


Most DIY projects are motivated by keeping the costs down. But, there is no way to achieve this goal when it comes to creating a quality screen with acoustical transparency. Darn.

 

[Uther]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant a DIY after purchasing the acoustically transparent fabric (e.g., Da-lite Cinema Perm, Stewart Mircro Perf, etc.).


I had read that the above examples gave excellent results, even with DLP/LCD. Is this not so? If it is a question of lumens, would it help to go with LCD over DLP in that case?

edit

Since I only need a small portion of the screen transparent, couldn't I put some sort of backing behind the rest of the screen if light spill-through is a problem?


Thanks!

 

[[email protected]]

It's not 'impossible.'


I live with DIY perf every day. Send me your address (by e-mail) and I will track some of the MMC material down that I am using and have it forwarded to you.


Professor there are two ways to make a perf screen. One is perforation (Stewart/Da-Lite etc); second is weave (Draper).


Using a weave style fabric material with good visual as well as sonic properties is possible. My own compares very favourably against a Da-Lite perf in a side-by-side test.


To start, you may want to try white Lycra.


Secondly all 3 speakers should be behind the screen not just your centre channel. So your entire screen will need to be perfed, (primarily to keep screen image consistency) but also to provide sonic accuracy and synergy.


There are numerous threads here on DIY perf. All of the issues have been discussed in detail there.



Max Christoffersen
www.audioenz.co.nz

 

[Dylan]

I'm very happy with the Dazian Coated Celtic Cloth. Do a search on "Dazian Celtic" and you'll find my comments and others.


-Dylan

 

[fray]

I am planning on making a DIY Acousticaly Transparent screen from the Dazian Celtic Cloth (for projection). I havn't ordered the material yet.. but I figure for approx $35 for the fabric, if I hate it...I'll just skip a couple of steak dinners..


As noted by Dylan apparently many others have used this material and really liked the outcome.. I'm hoping for the same.


(BTW you can go to the Dazian web site and order a small fabric sample.. it should give you a good idea of transparency of the material and what you may have to do to deal w/ light spill..)


--Mark