Microperf X² THX-Ultra pour acoustical transparency)
Review at projectorreviews
Stewart's site on Firehawk G3.
Stewart's site on Micoperf X²
Review at projectorreviews
Presentation on Panasonic Canadian site
Official thread at AVSForum.
Presentation on Logitech Canadian Site
Since 2 years ago (where I tried several center channel alternatives) I am convinced that the only center channel that will make me happy is of course another QUAD ESL. In fact I would ideally go for the latest generations of QUADs (2805 or even 2905) which would become my main speakers. With a total of 6 QUADs I will have attained audio enlightenment! But of course this is not a speaker you can put below or over a television!
So I had no choice but to go for a motorized screen which comes down from the ceiling and is acoustically transparent (as much as this is possible of course). In addition a nice bonus is that purchasing a latest generation front projector means I can now be full HDMI (my old TV was going 1080i using component cables). The quality of image is much much better in full HDMI on modern equipment.
For the screen there are only two companies that offer specialized acoustically transparent screens. One is screen research that offers a very interesting product but unfortunately not yet available where I live (Province of Québec, Canada). So when I checked over several audio boutiques in Montreal everybody told me the same thing, a Stewart Firehawk microperf X2. This is pretty expensive but exactly what I wanted.
For the projector of course I wanted 1080p to connect to the DTC 9.8 with the PS3 as my Blu-ray source. I went to three audio stores and evaluated the same material (Kindgom of heaven and the concert of David Matthews and Tim Reynolds). I checked-out a Sony a Mitshubishi and the Panasonc. Honestly for a video non-expert I was not able to see a huge difference, and in terms of background noise the 3 projectors were also similar. So I simply chose to buy at a store that offered me the best service and a good impression that the installation would be great (it was). For readers around Montreal I bought from Fillion Electronique and everything was installed right before Christmas.
I will add that with the screen itself being remote controlled plus the projector (and av pre-amp, and universal player and.....) I had about 6 different remote controls so it was the time to make the jump to a programmable remote control and I chose the logitech harmony one.
Here is the result with the screen up (notice the position of the center speaker)
The fact that I removed a big retro-projector TV and replaced it by a thin screen has also a beneficial effect on the sound. There is more air around the musicians and there is additional depth and space to the sound particularly on large orchestral recordings.
Of course for me the whole thing is best with an Opéra in Blu-ray. With the center speaker at the proper place, the physical placement of singers is dead on. And such a set up makes me eager for more Opéra purchase and greater exploration of this repertoire.
As for the efficiency of the acoustically transparent screen I did the following experiment (this was not perfect because the screen makes a bit of noise when it goes up or down); but I closed my eyes and asked my wife to randomly lower and raise the screens. On purpose (since only the center speaker is covered) I chose the SACD of Orféo for this test because the voice of the conter-tenor is full center. And I have heard no differences when the screen was lowered. I do not pretend that this is perfect but the effect of the screen on the sound is surely very small.
Of course a modern projector has hundred of possible adjustments, but with a bit of help from internet I touched some basic control with one notable exception: I found the default image to be a bit soft, so I change the sharpness settings nearly to its maximum. I use normal mode for PS3 games, color2 for TV,DVD material and Cinema2 for Blu-ray movies (in 1080/24 speed up 5 times at 120Hz).
I do not have the photographic equipment to produce pictures to do justice to what I see (I would have needed a high tri-pod and a remote trigger) but still here are 2 images extract from the Blu-ray of Aida:
