[Scott B]

I am planning to get an acoustic screen for my theater and would like opinions on the Da-Lite Audio Vision screen. My first choice would be a Stewart microperf, but the Da-Lite screen is much less expensive. First some general questions about Da-Lite screens. Are they shipped rolled or folded (I have read about screen material arriving with creases in it)? How does the quality of Da-Lite screens compare to other manufacturers such as Stewart, Vu-Tech, and Draper? I was told by a Da-Lite sales associate that the border on the Da-Snap screens is 3". Is this correct? What is the Pro-Trim made of (e.g., black velvet) and does it work well in suppressing overscan or light leakage from projectors? More specifically on the Audio Vision material, how many perforations per inch does it have? What sort of attenuation as a function of frequency response does it have? Is there a noticeable loss of fidelity with placing speakers behind the fabric?

 

[Video]

I use an Audio Vision screen with my Sony CRT and it works great. My seating is about 14 feet from the screen so you cannot see the perfs. It is fairly high quality material, although not on par with a Stewart screen.


I bought my material in bulk (unfinished) and mounted it on a home built frame so I have a 7 ft. wide 16x9 screen. There is no gain to the material - but I wish there were. Unfortunately, I could not see spending $2k or more on a screen when I built this one for only $200 incuding material and frame.


I do caution you from using it with a digital (LCD or DLP) projector. I used an LCD with this screen for a short time before installing my CRT and it was a disaster. I saw a ton of moire from the pixels lining up with the perfs.


Good luck

 

[Video]

Forgot to comment on the sound quality through the screen. I am using M&K 150THX speakers and see some degradation in volume through the screen. I suppose there is some loss of high frequencies but I have to admit that it is difficult to notice (probably helps that there are three tweeters in the center channel). I just increase the volume of the center channel a little to balance the system out.


Good luck

 

[Scott B]

I understand that Stewart also provides screen material without the frame. Perhaps I should look into this option. Does anybody know if Stewart microperf screen material can be purchased without their screen equalizer? I will doing full equalization of my theater, and therefore, the Stewart screen equalizer would be redundant.

 

[Jason Turk]

Scott,

Drop me an email and we can discuss pricing on some Stewart screens, although I'm not sure if they'll sell microperfed material by itself (it weakens the fabric).


Thanks!