Publisher Profile

2016 CI Expo, Part 1

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The next room was Epson which was showing a pure video demo without speakers. They had a rather impressive 4K-projection system at a surprisingly low price. They were demonstrating their ProCinema 6040, which is a 2500-lumen 4K projectors for only $4K. The room also had a 138″ Anemographic screen (price unknown) and a Philips 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Player BDP7501 ($299.99). I got very close to the screen and could not see any pixels. Epson uses a proprietary technology called 4KE pixel shift. The result is a softer image, while maintaining very high detail. Epson also has a LS-1000 4K laser projector for $8000, which to my mind is a screaming good price. They also have an entry level ProCinema 4040 at only $2700.

 

JVC was next door with their $7000 DLA-XA750R DILA 4K projector. The JVC D-ILA has always been amongst my favorite projectors, but the demo was a let down after seeing the Epson next door. Don’t get me wrong, the JVC picture was amazing, but considering the price difference, I expected more. The Screen Innovations screen was on the small side (about 84″) and either the movie was very dark, or the system just wasn’t optimized. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. Spending all the time and trouble to set up a demo room and then missing the details to make it impressive. Seems like a complete waste. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time there.

 

The last room was Dolby Digital and Klipsch with a Dolby Atmos demo. The 5.2.4 system consisted of a pair of RP280FA fronts (Dual 8″ Spun Copper Cerametallic Cone Woofers, $799.00 each), a RP-450 center ($599.00 each), a pair of R115SW ($719.00 each) 15″ woofers with 800-Watt amplification and RP-260 with RP-140SA ($399.00 per pair) Dolby Atmos® -nabled elevation speaker on top. The speakers were powered by a Yamaha Aventage RX-A3060  (MSRP: $2,199.95). The source was a Yamaha Aventage BD-A1060 ($499.95) Blu-ray player. and the display was a LG Super UHD 4K HDR Smart LED TV – 60″ Class model 60UH8500 ($1,599.99 retail).

They had an impressive AV demo going that really showed off Dolby Labs technology. The Klipsch speakers really came to life. The dual 800W 15″ woofers delivered a rather convincing Sub-sonic demonstration. Normally, I am not a huge fan of horn speakers unless powered by tube amps, but this demo was completely involving. Sound swirled around the room from floor to ceiling. If you haven’t experienced a good Atmos demo, find your local AV specialist and give it a listen.

Mike Del Santo, Dolby Technical Marketing Manager, obliged me with a music demo of some rather interesting African/Amazonian (I didn’t recognize the material) music with jungle sounds mixed in. Again, a very involving experience. More dedicated products are being developed to accommodate Dolby Atmos without adding extra speakers to your system. Yamaha even has an Atmos Soundbar, but more about that in Part II of this article.

Klipsch RP-280FA

LG UHD-1

LG UHD-3

Copy editor: Laurence A. Borden

Read Part 2

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