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acoustics

Rooms for Improvement

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Rooms for Improvement

Rooms for Improvement

Rooms for Improvement

the entertainment spaces in this Australian home are undeniably spectacular—but after a decade in use, they were ready for a major sonic makeover

the entertainment spaces in this Australian home are undeniably spectacular—but after a decade in use, they were ready for a major sonic makeover

by Michael Gaughn

by Michael Gaughn

October 31, 2022

This story could have easily just been about the Theo Kalomirakis-designed Art Deco home cinema. Or it could have focused instead on the jawdropping one-of-a-kind entertainment area, with its discreet stage, ability to accommodate 250 guests, and epic views of Sydney Harbor. But there turned out to be an even bigger—though not quite as showy and obvious—story to be told, about how these kinds of high-end spaces have become so elaborate and flexible and the trends and technologies influencing and supporting them are evolving so quickly, that we’re now being presented with an unprecedented array of opportunities—but also the continual challenge of staying ahead of the curve. 

Every home cinema is a completely custom and unique machine. And the open-floorplan multi-use entertainment areas that are beginning to supplant dedicated theater rooms (like the one profiled in “Achieving Serenity”) are even larger and more complex machines that have to be able to handle a wider and wider variety of tasks. You don’t need to be a techie or have any interest in what’s going on under the hood to realize that creating something like that and keeping it functioning optimally means relying on massive processing power. The key thing to remember is that these systems are basically one-off computers and subject to all the thousand shocks and upgrades our digital brethren are heir to.  

Because of that, this is also a story about not the visible but the invisible. As spectacular as these rooms are, they’re literally useless unless someone keeps a constant and careful eye on all manner of things that are never seen by their users. Acoustical designer Steve Haas has developed a reputation as a master of that unseen realm, one of a you-can-count-‘em-on-the-fingers-of-one-handful of people who know how to not just tame but maximize these intricate, individually crafted mechanisms so they can achieve and maintain peak performance. The portfolio of his company, SH Acoustics, extends well beyond private residences to museum and commercial venues as well, and Haas found himself having to draw extensively on that broader pool of knowledge in order to make this Australian homeowner’s exceptional mandate a reality.

A VERSATILE PERFORMER

The seven levels that constitute this 55,000-square-foot residence—let’s call it the Sydney Home—rest terraced in a rock face overlooking the harbor, with the iconic bridge and opera house prominent in the dioramic views from its primary living spaces and numerous terraces. It shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that a home of this caliber would hold a theater from a premier designer like Kalomirakis, nor that Haas, who has collaborated on some of Theo’s most ambitious efforts (including the legendary Paradiso) should have been called in to handle the acoustic and audio chores. 

The entertainment area, with its  spacious bar & lounge area and terrace with epic views of Sydney Harbor, can comfortably accommodate 250 guests

The stage area, with the main speakers hidden behind the fabric at the top of the proscenium. Steve Haas took the client to the Steinway showroom in New York to help him select the Model B grand piano.

The home has seen performances by numerous A-list artists, including Sting, Michael Bolton, and Australian native Delta Goodrem (above)

“Once I had some dialogue with the client, we realized there was a need to have me consult on other keys areas of the home,” says Haas, “especially what they call the Level 1 entertainment space.” It’s not unusual for a home of this size to have a place for holding parties, hosting events, and staging live performances, but you’d be hardpressed to come across another similar space as well realized or as chameleon-like as the one here. 

The room gives few clues to its other capabilities when they’re not in use, feeling causal, comfortable, and domestic. Furniture groupings and large canvases help disguise the stage’s true identity, with the main speakers for performances hidden behind fabric panels in the soffit above the proscenium, and with a dropdown projection screen and monitor speakers tucked into the ceiling of the stage area. 

The client’s desire to have the room provide exceptional sound for parties, fundraisers, and other large events as well as for both movies and live entertainment created a unique challenge for Haas since each use had its own set of not necessarily cross-compatible needs. The music for parties had to be able extend into the bar area, out onto the various terraces, and into other parts of the home as well, while the stereo sound for performances needed to match what you would expect to hear in a high-end nightclub, and the movie system had to supply satisfying surround for groups as large as you’d find in a commercial cinema—all in a wide-open room filled with glass, wood, and other structural and decorative enemies of quality sonic reproduction.  

Haas was especially concerned about architect Alec Tzannes’s design for the ceiling, which used suspended elongated 3/4″ rectangular slats to create a barrel vault that would conceal the multitude of speakers, subwoofers, lighting cans, and ducts. “The client actually flew me over to Sydney to make the case,” says Haas, “because he had consulted with a local acoustic expert who had said there would be no problem. And I looked at it and said, no. This is absolutely wrong.” His solution was to use round dowels instead. “After we did our calculations and I created a physical mockup of the dowel system, we saw that the sound would bend around them in a way that would have a negligible effect.”

The curve of the ceiling was also a problem since it would tend to reflect and focus the sound from the speakers instead of spreading it evenly throughout the room. To help address that, and all the many reflective surfaces, Haas took advantage of the space above the dowels to apply extensive sound absorption.

Not only have the homeowners and their guests been impressed with the result, so have the numerous A-list artists who have sung there—Sting, Michael Bolton, and Australia’s Delta Goodrem among them. “Michael Bolton said it was one of the best-sounding places he’s ever performed in,” says Haas. 

MIXED SIGNALS

Cut to a decade later. The homeowner tells Haas he’s concerned the digital signal processors (DSPs) tasked with handling all the various audio responsibilities are beginning to fail. It’s not that the gear is faulty—it’s just at the end of its lifespan. “It’s not uncommon to see DSPs fail after 10 years,” says Haas. “They’re essentially computers, of course”—which means they’re just as likely to start crapping out as any laptop or desktop PC. And they’re subject to the same rapid technological advancements, with all their inevitable upgrades. Staying a step ahead of the upkeep is just a fact of life with anything this diverse and complex.

Rooms for Improvement

The 7.1-channel surround sound system in this Theo Kalomirakis-designed home theater was recently upgraded to Atmos via the addition of eight Wisdom Audio ceiling speakers 

PROJECT TEAM

acoustical designer

Steve Haas
SH Acoustics

theater designer

Theo Kalomirakis
TK Theaters

custom integrators
Datascene

architect
Alec Tzannes

Haas saw the task as not a chore but an opportunity to bring all the various types of DSP currently in the house under one brand and system. And while he was at it, why not upgrade the private cinema to Atmos as well?

With its 7.1-channel California Audio Technology speaker array, the cinema had been serving the homeowners well since its inception in the early ‘00s. But, having been impressed by Wisdom Audio’s ceiling speakers, Haas felt that adding eight of them to the room to create an Atmos configuration would significantly enhance the movie-watching experience. And the speakers were compact enough that he could have them installed without having to engage in a massive do-over.

Not that the upgrade wasn’t a challenge. Because they couldn’t dismantle the whole ceiling, Haas wasn’t sure what he, the contractors, and the custom integrators from Sydney-based Datascene would find when they attempted to tap into the preferred speaker locations. So they adopted a surgical approach, working their way carefully around the duct work and other impediments. And because there are bedrooms just above the theater, a tremendous effort had been made during the original construction to ensure none of the sound would bleed through the ceiling. Honoring this, they kept as much of the existing treatments in place as possible as they added the new speakers, also providing sound-isolation caps in each of the speaker locations. 

Premium theaters like this one often rely on a tip-top-of-the-line sound processor from a company like Storm Audio or Trinnov. But Haas went with a Marantz AV8805 instead because it provided the desired sound quality without all the additional bells and whistles of the higher-end models and would more readily work in tandem with the QSC Q-Sys pro-audio DSP he was deploying throughout the other key areas of the home.

It was also time to replace the projector—and rebuild the projection booth, which, located near the cliff face, had been infiltrated by moisture. Haas helped the client pick the new projector, consulting with Barco and coming back with a recommendation for its Wodan model. But this required an acoustical makeover for the booth since the new projector was significantly louder than the previous one and the noise would have been distracting, especially for anyone sitting in the last row, which rests up against the booth wall.

Acoustical designer Steve Haas calibrating the sound for the Level 1 entertainment area.

Rooms for Improvement

Acoustical designer Steve Haas calibrating the sound for the Level 1 entertainment area.

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At 38 feet, the room is unusually deep for a private theater. “In a room like that,” says Haas, “you can get so sonically disconnected from the front that by the time you get to the rear seats, it feels like you’re in a different space.” To address this, he used acoustical treatments to disperse the sound so that the experience would be the same no matter where someone is sitting. 

For all the defining trends the Sydney Home represents, maybe the most significant is its extensive blending of consumer and pro gear. As high-end homes incorporate more elaborate entertainment areas like dance floors and live-performance spaces, they need to be able to provide sound on par with what artists expect in professional venues—along with the ability for DJs, sound mixers, and others to be able to jack in their gear.

Also, a multiform multipurpose system as flexible and complex as the one here can quickly exhaust the abilities of the hardware available on the consumer side of things. It often takes robust, function-specific professional gear to rise to these emerging challenges.

Haas, who is just as comfortable working on recording studios, concert halls, and galleries as he is on domestic environments, turned out to be the ideal fit for a project this ambitious. As a member in good standing of that previously mentioned acoustical elite, he was able to bring the necessary combination of expertise and experience to bear. Relying on someone whose knowledge is limited to the residential world to master something like this is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Since entertainment areas are only going to get bigger, more versatile, and exponentially more complex, better to place them in the hands of people like Haas who not only think, but perform, well outside the home theater box.

Michael Gaughn—The Absolute Sound, The Perfect Vision, Wideband, Stereo Review, Sound & Vision, The Rayva Roundtablemarketing, product design, some theater designs, a couple TV shows, some commercials, and now this.

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Million-Dollar Wall, Hundred-Dollar Sound

Million-Dollar Wall, Hundred-Dollar Sound

Million-Dollar Wall, Hundred-Dollar Sound

“The subjective result of bouncing sound off the screen is a very profound distortion. The sound isn’t crisp and tight and clear. It’s smeared in time.”

Video walls have become a big status thing—and an even bigger investment—but getting them to sound good isn’t as easy as you might think

by Steve Haas
June 24, 2022

While most companies don’t yet heavily promote that they sell their video walls for residential use, you’d be hardpressed to find a luxury integrator who isn’t installing them in high-end homes. But they present an interesting challenge. They can often take up an entire wall, but you don’t have the option of putting speakers behind them like you do with a projection screen. Acoustician Steve Haas of SH Acoustics has checked out many of the existing audio solutions for LED walls and found them all wanting. But realizing that video walls are quickly becoming the likely future of viewing in premium home entertainment spaces, he’s been more than motivated to try to determine who has the best approach and how it can be optimized. 

—ed.

The question of how to achieve good sound with a video wall isn’t a new one but the latest version of the problem of what to do with sound when you’re dealing with any kind of solid screen. While many projection screens are created with holes that allow the sound to come through when speakers are placed behind them, many are not, in order to maximize light gain and other aspects of video reproduction.

LED and Micro-Tile video walls have existed in commercial spaces like museums for quite some time. Between our work with those and with multimedia theaters with solid screens, we’ve had to design plenty of workarounds to match the quality of the ideal “speaker behind acoustically transparent screen” approach. When the video contains dialogue with talking heads, we’ve achieved decent success by placing the speakers above and below and then using vertical panning techniques for the audio. If there’s no dialogue, we have a lot more liberty to simply deliver sound from above or below, or even reflect it off the screen. But these approaches definitely result in some degree of compromise. So when a leading speaker manufacturer developed a system for reflecting the sound from speakers mounted to the ceiling off the LED wall, we had a good understanding of the challenges involved in making that work efficiently.

We have several issues with this approach that stem from the fact that speakers radiate sound off the sides and rear of their cabinets differently at different frequencies. Higher frequencies will be directed right at the LED wall, but lower frequencies will reflect from most speakers boxes and combine with the same frequencies that are also projecting from the front of the speaker. In museum installations, we often have the room to put big barrier clouds below the speakers so the sound coming off their cabinets isn’t audible over the sound of what’s being reflected.

Steve Haas

Having a solid screen in this exhibition area at the Kennedy Space Center Exploration Space gallery meant speakers couldn’t be placed behind the screen but had to be positioned above and below it instead.

photo | BRC Imagination Arts

Even if you can ignore having three large speakers hanging from the ceiling shrouded in multiple layers of plywood sandwiched with other damping materials, the listener can still hear those lower frequencies coming from the backs of the speakers before they bounce off the screen along with the upper midrange and treble. The subjective result is a very profound distortion of the sound. It’s not crisp and tight and clear. It’s smeared in time.

A number of speaker manufacturers are developing reformatted speakers that fit into a tight space below or above a video wall, and Wisdom Audio, Ascendo, and others have come out with completely new products that are meant to address the LED wall market. The issue is: Do you place those speakers above the screen, below the screen—or both?

There are times when a bottom placement would work, mainly in a media room with a couch and no second row. Then there are times when top placement could work by itself, if the speakers aren’t jammed up against a hard ceiling and creating strange reflections that cause comb filtering and other distortion if not properly treated. In either case, it’s difficult with only one set of speakers to optimally localize the sound at the proper image height without employing processing techniques developed by the manufacturers. We’re still evaluating the effectiveness of those techniques.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

In this proposed solution, the sound is directed at the primary listening position from speakers placed above and below the video wall and then blended to create a phantom sonic image

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The UK-based company TPI offers a variation of the above systems, called the Movement system, which uses speakers designed to fit within very tight boundaries below and above the video wall—something like 8 inches of height for each of them in their smallest configuration. That approach is similar to what other companies are doing, but TPI has also developed a black box that allows you to sit in the primary listening position and change the combination of level and time delay between each pair of top and bottom speakers so you can adjust the height of the sonic image. 

This approach—which is much easier than doing the hard calculations of time delay and relative levels between top and bottom speakers—is appealing even to us at SHA, who specialize in that sort of thing. It just takes away one task in an already complicated calibration, and there aren’t too many variables you can mess up.

Our role is to minimize the compromises, and that’s true whether you’re using a projector and screen or an LED wall. It’s really a matter of everybody involved—the display manufacturers, the speaker manufacturers, the dealers, the installers, the calibrators—working together to find an optimal solution. You can’t have a movie without picture and sound, and the picture and sound need to work together. So we have to make them work together and not have either element be an afterthought. 

No matter which approach one entertains for delivering audio with a direct-view wall, the experience at all seats in a theater or media room won’t be the same without being able to locate the sound sources directly in line with the image. Fortunately, some variation of sound/image localization can be accepted if all other aspects of the room and system are designed effectively. Advanced calibration of each of the audio system types mentioned above can at least ensure that the row with the primary listening seat(s) will be optimized with the exact sonic image height, while the other rows in front and behind will have as little deviation as possible.

We look forward to continuing this exploration and seeing the variety of manufacturers work to perfect their offerings.

Steve Haas is the Principal Consultant of SH Acoustics, with offices in the NYC & LA areas. Steve has been a leading acoustic and audio design & calibration expert for over 25 years in high-end spaces ranging from home theaters, studios, and live music rooms to major museums and performance venues.

Million-Dollar Wall, Hundred-Dollar Sound

a rendering of the Movement L center speaker, part of the TPI Movement system designed specfically for video wall installations

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