Selection & Application: Part 1

If you’ve watched the previous videos you learned about cinema design and best practices, as well as the cinema products that are available to you.

Now it’s time to apply that knowledge.

This video will show you how to determine which QSC products are right for your application and how to apply that knowledge to your design.

This course, again, is for AV System Integrators and Consultants who are new to the industry as well as cinema dealers and reps who may just want a refresher.

And the concepts we’ll cover here can apply to both DCI-and non- DCI compliant applications.

The two primary criteria for choosing the right products for a cinema sound system are room length and price/performance expectations.

Sometimes other considerations, like reduced space behind the screen or Immersive vs. 7.1 can also drive the final product selection,

but room size and quality expectations always lead the way.

Generally, we’ll decide on screen channel loudspeakers first and then surrounds and subs can be added to meet the specific needs of the room.

Finally, processor and amplifier selections will complete the equipment package.

When considering room length we define this as the distance from the screen to the last row of seats.

This is helpful, since a loudspeaker has to play louder to reach the correct volume levels in the back of the room, but it’s not always completely clear-cut.

And, it can be tempting to choose smaller, less expensive models that may play loud enough, but will be stressed – and possibly create distortion - during peak levels.

Remember, it’s always ok to move up to the next larger loudspeaker model, since the cost to upgrade is not a lot, and can be one of the best investments you’ll make.

After we know our room size, we need to consider price vs. performance tradeoffs.

Compact and Economical applications frequently face special challenges like limited space behind the screen and tight budgets.

And of course, we have some great solutions here.

Most presentation spaces are seeking the “best value”, with a desire for high performance, reliability and great dialogue quality,

but cost does matter, especially if you are building dozens or even hundreds of screens.

And, some critical listening applications like Post Production or premium cinemas simply want the best possible performance.

We’ll call this the “Premium Performance” category.

Let’s look at each performance class individually and first determine which screen channel models fall within each category,

then we’ll add subs and then surrounds that are a good match.

Alright! Let's take a quick break before we dig in. Go ahead and proceed whenever you are ready.