Procella Audio will feature a THX-certified screening room designed and constructed by Epic Home Cinema in its booth at CEDIA EXPO later this month.
The THX Certified Screening Room, showcasing Procella Audio’s flagship speaker system, is designed to the same standards as professional facilities, the company says.
Initial construction began offsite by Epic Home Cinema of Marietta, Georgia. Before the show, the room will be dismantled, moved to the CEDIA EXPO floor, and rebuilt by the Epic team. Once complete, the room will be tested by THX in an attempt to earn the THX certification for residential screening rooms.
To earn THX certification, residential screening rooms must closely mirror the acoustic performance of a full-blown commercial theater or professional studio. The room itself must meet THX standards for room design and construction, including room dimensions, acoustical environment, sound isolation, and viewer sight lines. Additionally, all audio and video components must have either THX approval or THX certification, and the completed room must pass a final evaluation. THX participates in the entire process, from initial design through the construction phase, and ultimately verifies system performance through a battery of measurements performed onsite by THX engineers.
All audio and video components used in the CEDIA EXPO room are either THX Certified for home use or THX Approved for professional studios and cinemas. In addition to Procella, the room will feature products from Stewart Filmscreen, Runco, QSC Audio Products, Meridian, and Integra.
The Procella models used in the theater include three active P815s for screen channels, six passive P8 speakers for the surround channels, and two P18 active subwoofers in the baffle wall. Three additional P10 active subwoofers are located in the side and back walls and used as balancing subwoofers. The P815, P8, and P18 have all earned THX approval for integration into professional facilities, including THX Approved Screening rooms and pm3 rooms (Professional Multichannel Mixing and Monitoring).
“As a manufacturer introducing loudspeakers to the CEDIA audience at EXPO, a THX-certified screening room is a dream environment,” said Procella director Chuck Back. “Demonstrating speakers at a trade show, whether in a booth, a so-called sound room or a hotel suite, invariably results in frustration due to poor acoustics and high ambient sound levels. Having a properly designed and built room means that attendees and potential customers will be able to accurately evaluate and fully appreciate the performance of Procella speakers. Having previously worked with Epic Home Cinema and THX, I can say their quality of work is unsurpassed.”
“THX Certification ensures that a screening room reproduces exactly what the director intended. Since we have built a THX-certified home theater, we know the amount of time and effort it takes to accomplish this. With the stringent standards and specifications of THX, every aspect of a screening room is inspected and evaluated. Starting with the components, which is exemplified by the incredible performance of Procella Audio and finishing with the optimized acoustical room design, build and calibration, the director’s vision is brought to life. Many home theater companies may promise a high end theater, but THX Certification is the only way to be sure that the final product meets the quality initially promised to the homeowner. The chance to produce this at the CEDIA Expo, and the opportunity to share this with all the attendees is quite an honor,” stated Epic Home Cinema’s Greg Dawkins.
“We applaud Epic Home Cinema and Procella Audio for taking on the challenge of designing a THX Certified Screening Room at CEDIA Expo,” added Andrew Poulain, of the THX Studio and Cinema team. “Meeting the THX standards for acoustic performance and sound isolation is next to impossible on a tradeshow floor. The result of this collaboration is testament to the design talent of Epic and the performance capabilities of Procella Audio and all of the other THX partners involved.”
