Invisible Picture & Sound with Screen Goo!

A/V system integrators and Home Theatre designers have begun embracing a new approach that we here at Screen Goo consider to be of tremendous interest to architects, interior designers and home cinema enthusiasts. It involves painting a Screen Goo projection screen directly over embedded loudspeakers. It has long been recognized that it is desirable for audio playback to appear to be originating from the screen. Movie theatres have traditionally positioned loudspeakers behind perforated projection screens to create this effect. While satisfactory in a movie theatres, where the average viewer is at an appreciable distance from the screen, when transferred to a home theatre context, significant problems occur. Much of the projector's light output is lost as it simply passes though the perforations in the screen. The perforations can also cause another undesirable image artifact called moiré. Moiré is the interference pattern caused when straight lines in the picture content don't line up exactly with the perforations in the screen. From an audio perspective, perforated screens act as filters which invariably compromise sound quality.

Embedded, invisible speakers are interesting enough on its own, but when Screen Goo is added to the mix, the possibilities become almost magical!

Imagine painting a premium quality projection screen directly over these embedded loudspeakers! Sounds originate from the projection surface as intended by the content producers, but with none of the performance compromises inherent in perforated projection screens. Imagine embedding speakers in conference room, meeting room, classroom, video conferencing centre, and, yes, living room or recreation room walls and then coating that wall with Screen Goo. Turn off the projector and you're left with a pristine wall and not a single visual clue to the presence of a premium AV system!

Here are some examples of this type of system under construction and completed. The first series of photos details the construction of a dividing wall "invisible theatre". A critical contributing factor to the excellent sonic performance of this particular installation is the isolation of the wall from the floor and ceiling. This is accomplished with the use of our Gooeys.

Click on the photos below for enlargement...

        

           

           

The second series of photos is of a more traditional looking framed screen application by ZoneVU in Montreal, Canada. In this instance as well, the speakers are completely invisible, covered by the Screen Goo coating.

                 

Both of these installations feature Stealth Acoustics loudspeakers.

Manufacturers of embedded loudspeakers include:

Stealth Acoustics

CEAD Segretto

Amina Technologies