Motion-Picture Theater Sound System Performance: New Studies of the B-Chain

Tomlinson Holman

As the industry moves to digital delivery of sound tracks to motion-picture theaters, attention shifts to the performance of the B-Chain of the sound system, consisting of room and loudspeaker equalization, power amplifiers, crossovers and loudspeakers, screen loss, and auditorium acoustics. After choosing appropriate performance metrics, studies of the uniformity of coverage in the listening area of both steady-state and transient sound energy were performed on five motion-picture theater sound systems in situ. Conformity to the standard SMPTE 202M-1991 (ISO 2969 internationally) was measured. A hypothesis was developed regarding high-frequency uniformity of coverage and the screen-loss function.

Print ISSN
Published
1994-03
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J03687