Join AV NIRVANA Live with Chris Seymour and Talk Projection Screens!

(February 9, 2022). Tomorrow (February 10, 2 PM EST) Chris Seymour, co-founder of Seymour Screen Excellence, joins AV NIRVANA Live to discuss three factors you should consider when buying a projector screen. Those factors include, room configuration, aspect ratios, and screen material.

US-based Seymour AV and UK-based Screen Excellence -- both industry leaders in acoustically transparent woven fabric projection screens -- founded a joint venture that combines the best of each company's technology platforms, namely Seymour AV's patented electric retractable screens and Screen Excellence's fixed-frame, in-ceiling and masking screens. Called Seymour-Screen Excellence (SSE) the brand exclusively serves high-end custom installers and specialty AV retailers in the US and Canada.

With a slogan of "Get the screen, keep the sound," and a goal of constant improvement of the home theater experience, Seymour AV offers the most responsive, top-quality manufacturing and materials innovations available to the US market. From their manufacturing location in Iowa, Seymour has focused design goals on the patented retractable screen design and the combination of the most visually dynamic acoustically transparent screen materials with the deepest, darkest border velvet. Using all US-sourced materials and celebrated customer service, Seymour has been able to define new values in the enthusiast home-theater market. www.seymourav.com

Chris Seymour has an B.S. in electrical engineering, a minor in economics from University of Missouri- Columbia, and an M.B.A. with honors from NYIT. His background includes sound reinforcement, product design and management, corporate strategy and manufacturing processes.

The stream can be watched on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook – please join us in the chat room (YouTube and Facebook, only) and ask a question!

 

[JStewart]

@Todd Anderson , I don’t see the time anywhere for this. Please help.
I’ll be working so probably will have to miss it live, but just in case....

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

@Todd Anderson , I don’t see the time anywhere for this. Please help.
I’ll be working so probably will have to miss it live, but just in case....

I believe 2pm EST.
If you have any specific questions drop them here in advance and hopefully Todd & Chris can address them for you.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Yes, 2pm EST

 

[Todd Anderson]

 

[ddude003]

Interesting information... Thanks for that... Not much about UltraShortThrow screens... No worries, I have made my choices and am stunned by their performance...

 

[natty]

Nice information. Too bad there weren't more measurements comparing the acoustic info of different materials. Even within the Seymour line, there appears to be a bit of variation and trade offs between gain, patterns, and acoustics that were only touched on. I would love to see some apples to apples comparison perhaps with multiple brands.

-------

Update: It took me a month but I found some like-for-like data online (from a test run by pixelHT).

TLDR: The Seymour screens typically beat industry leaders like Stewart!

They has super detailed measurements like this (for three times as many materials as listed here, and for different distances between speakers and screen.)

But the easiest way to compare is where they do a statistical comparison the summarizes the differences, which they show like this:

 

[Todd Anderson]

Hi Natty, I’ll see if I can can dig up some information that helps to draw a better picture…

 

[SRW1000]

Not sure how I missed this thread, but glad to have finally watched it this weekend. There's a lot of good info packed into just 90 minutes.

Thanks for asking my question, Todd. I wasn't expecting a 50-50 split between the two common aspect ratios, so that was really interesting.

It doesn't sound like there's going to be any consensus on the best screen size coming out of the entertainment industry, so the best strategy remains to best match your room unless there's a format that dominates your viewing preferences.

(By the way, you ought to update your profile pic to your new clean-shaved look; I was wondering who was doing the interview at first. )

 

[Todd Anderson]

Lol… ah, yes. That profile pic was taken seven years ago when my youngest “graduated” 5th grade. She’s about to graduate from high school and head off to college! Crazy how time flies! I guess I should put “new profile pic” on the to do list ;-)

I was a bit surprised at the answer to your question, too. Your summary is correct: room really drives what’s best. For example, I’d never thought of Chris’ take on 2.40:1 being a great selection for theaters with multiple rows.

Anyhow, thanks for watching. He’s a great resource of knowledge. And, it’s neat that he’s one of us - a huge fan of this awesome hobby we all love.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Chris’ theater room is still my benchmark for perfection. The most natural sounding audio I’ve heard.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Chris’ theater room is still my benchmark for perfection. The most natural sounding audio I’ve heard.

Do tell!

He told me about his screen system. Sounds like a great place to experience the best of the best.

 

[JStewart]

Hey @Todd Anderson , what are your impressions after moving the center behind your new Seymour AT screen?

 

[Todd Anderson]

Hey @Todd Anderson , what are your impressions after moving the center behind your new Seymour AT screen?

I'm really - really liking it. The tweeters are all perfectly aligned across the front three, which is big from a cohesiveness perspective, but I'm very happy with the location of sound emanating from the screen, itself. I wouldn't say it's a radical change, because my old center channel position was almost at ear height, but it's a noticeable change. If the center channel had been lower to the ground, I think the change would be night and day.

I haven't noted any issue with frequency response. If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have measured a before and after to illustrate what's happening, sound-wise. Now that the screen is up and wires for the masking system are secured, I'm feeling a little unmotivated to take it all apart ;-)

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Do tell!

He told me about his screen system. Sounds like a great place to experience the best of the best.

I'm not sure he'd be into me listing out his gear, as I've never seen him mention it on any of the forums. They're classic speakers that I've never seen mentioned in any other home theater - definitely a unique setup. But mentally listing it all out, you'd think it would be incredibly loud, with punishing bass, but it's actually not. It's such a perfect sound, and he's never even run room correction on the processor. Incredibly dynamic and powerful without ever being 'loud'. The power capability is there, but his system reaches bliss with finesse instead of manhandling you.

It's hard to describe, quite frankly. The only system I would say I've heard that even compares in terms of quality is the Wisdom Audio room we put one of his screens in at CEDIA a few years back. They didn't sound similar, but they were both at a similar level of quality. Wisdom was loud, though, and precise. Chris' room is just all about a natural sound and finesse. That's the best word for it, I think. Finesse.

Too many rooms I've been in go for sheer volume and power. They're fatiguing after about 15 minutes.

 

[Grayson Dere]

I just finished watching this fantastic presentation. Thank you so much for putting this all together, Todd and Chris!!!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Thanks for watching, Grayson! Chris is a vessel of knowledge... and a great guy, too! Really cool to see a passionate fan of the hobby achieve such stature in the industry.

 

[SRW1000]

The only thing missing was the announcement about the special screen giveaway contest.

 

[ddude003]

And that special Luxman Amp giveaway...

 

[Todd Anderson]

And that special Luxman Amp giveaway...

Yeah... about that amp...