Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K Fixed-Frame Screen Features
Through over a year of research and development of an acoustically transparent material, EluneVision has developed a material that meets our standards in minimal texturing, hole size and the highest perforation density in the industry. During the entire design process, two things were paramount: produce a material capable of both displaying the full detail of 1080p and 4K resolution video sources with minimal light loss and produce a screen that is completely transparent to sound.
The material is an extremely fine and yet acoustically transparent material that has over 2000 holes per square inch, which now sets the bar for the entire industry. Each sound perforation is only 0.0026" by 0.0035" in size
The other engineering challenge was to deliver all the advantages of our Reference Studio 4K 100 material to the AudioWeave 4K. This meant designing a screening that has no texturing, no hot spotting and with perfect colour uniformity.
Performance:
During the Research and Development phase of the screen, the key factors that make a good acoustically transparent screen were determined:
- Sound Transparency: the ideal screen should not alter the sound signal from the speakers in any way.
- Video Transparency: The ideal screen should match the performance of our Reference Studio 4K 100 material, which does not degrade the video source in any way.
The solution:
- Produce the highest density of sound perforations to ensure lowest acoustical attenuation in the industry.
- Minimize the perforation size and total perforation surface area to reduce light leakage and increase image sharpness.
- Produce a fine weave pattern that is as smooth as possible.
- Introduce an angular shift to the weave pattern, so that the pixels of the projector do not align with the pattern, thus eliminating moiré.
- Minimize the thickness of the material without compromising material integrity or video integrity, thus giving maximum audio transparency.
- Absorb the minimal amount of light that does leak from the tiny perforations on screen with a sound transparent black backing.
Reference Audio Performance:
Unmatched Acoustic Transparency
Audio Transparency is the most important aspect of any Acoustic Weave screen. The ideal scenario is to have the screen material let all of the audio frequencies pass through it with zero attenuation. Of course, this is the engineering ideal, and cannot be achieved in actual practice. However, with careful design, a very small and inaudible linear attenuation with no comb filtering is possible. This is what the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material achieves.
The graph above shows that the AudioWeave 4K follows the original speaker frequency response very closely, with less than 0.35dB attenuation on average, an industry-best.
This results shows that AudioWeave 4K material in combination with the specially designed black backing shows an average of less than 0.75dB overall attenuation. The attenuation is very linear, as the curves closely match each other. This, performance, again, is an unmatched performance on a weave screen with a black backing.
To illustrate further, let's see how the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K's performance compares to what is currently understood as the weave material performance leader (which can be purchased for anywhere from 2.5x to 3.5x the cost of our AudioWeave screen in the same size) as well as a typical "bargain" weave material (which can be purchased for anywhere between 0.8x to 1.5x the cost of our AudioWeave screen in the same size):
Remember, the dB Scale is not a linear scale, so a doubling in dB attenuation is a huge difference in relative % attenuation (for more information, see table below). This above results clearly shows that the AudioWeave 4K material has better performance than both the most expensive/highly rated materials available, which can cost as much as 3.5x the price as the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K and still have frequency roll-off as we increase in the frequency spectrum, thus causing a great deal of harmonic distortion.
What this means is that simply increasing the dB output of the affected speaker will not get rid of the problem, because the competitors' material is not simply attenuating the audio source, it is fundamentally changing it by attenuating different frequencies by vastly different amounts. The below table summarizes how the above dB attenuation transfers into linear attenuation. We can see below that the AudioWeave 4K material barely attenuates the whole range of audible frequencies (having a very small difference in attenuation between low frequencies and high frequencies), whereas even the most expensive alternatives do an extremely poor job of passing sound through them (having an over 30% difference in attenuation between the lower and higher frequencies).
Percent Frequency Attenuation (Lower is Better)
| Frequency |
AudioWeave 4K Attenuation |
Market Leader's Attenuation
(2.5x - 3.5x Cost) |
Mid-Priced Material's Attenuation
(0.8 - 1.5x Cost) |
| 2 kHz |
4.50% |
6.67% |
49.88% |
| 4.5 kHz |
3.84% |
16.82% |
59.26% |
| 7 kHz |
2.28% |
20.57% |
62.85% |
| 12 kHz |
2.50% |
32.39% |
73.70% |
| 16 kHz |
6.67% |
35.43% |
74.30% |
| 20 kHz |
12.90% |
38.34% |
73.70% |
This extreme attenuation of middle frequencies will be extremely noticeable, and loss of higher frequencies results in a loss of "airiness" and "sparkle" to the sound. The mid-frequency attenuation will affect the performance of virtually all audio coming out of your speaker, no matter the genre. The high-frequency attenuation will be very pronounced in high frequency instruments such as the violin, piccolo, clarinet, cymbals and piano. Furthermore, a variety of movie scenes (everything from a scene of a busy street in New York during rush-hour to a World War II movie action scene) will sound nothing like the makers of the movie intended. EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K is the only material to keep its linearity all the way up to 20kHz (the highest audible frequency by humans) and have virtually no attenuation for a fraction of the price of the supposed high-performance competitors.
The fact that the performance of even the best $3000 - $5000 screens out there is not high enough and means you still have to perform expensive equalization is not acceptable to us, and it should not be acceptable to the consumer. EluneVision is thus changing what was conventionally thought of as a high-performing audio-transparent material - no longer will you have to perform expensive and time-consuming equalization on your speakers in order to get the most out of your audio setup.
The above graph shows that, in addition to having substantially better performance than its peers which cost numerous times more, our AudioWeave material is in a much higher performance class versus materials close to its price-point (0.8 to 1.5x of our screen prices). With the EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K, there is no compromise.
The graph above shows the performance of the AudioWeave 4K vs the current performance leader's weave with the use of each company's respective black backings, which are used to black out any light that goes through the holes of the weaves. From the above graph, it is clearly evident that the AudioWeave material with its black backing follows the original signal very closely and very linearly, with a slight 0.35dB attenuation - meaning that there is virtually no harmonic distortion. The current performance leader, on the other hand, suffers even more pronounced problems than it had without the black backing - overall attenuation is higher than the AudioWeave 4K material, not at all linear, and hence suffers from a great deal of harmonic distortion. Once again, the AudioWeave 4K shows that it will outperform any acoustic material, now matter the cost.
Finally, for reference, we include the audio performance comparison of the AudioWeave 4K versus a typical perforated, non-weave material.
We leave it as self evident that whether a competing material is a low-end perforated, a low-cost/low-end or a high-cost/high-end weave material, the EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material stands alone as the best-performing acoustically transparent material. Furthermore, screens featuring the AudioWeave 4K material have a price-performance ratio never before seen.
Testing Methodology: The original frequency response is a ProAC Response 1SC monitor with Classic 16.0 Tube Amplifier, using EL34 Ultralinear mode (Frequency response 8HZ-82Khz, 10W RMS) as the amplification stage. The microphone used is the Behringer ECM8000, which was calibrated prior to testing. Testing was done with 1/24 octave resolution and 20HZ speed tradeoff. The material is 12" from the speaker and 55" from the microphone, and placed in an anechoic chamber.
Superior Audio Transparency Explained
The reasons for the inferior performance of the standard perforated material is that the perforations are too large and too few in number. With a holes size of 0.05" in diameter (1.27mm) and only 36 holes per square inch, physics simply dictates that frequencies above 1000Hz will begin to roll-off and certain frequencies will be cut off more than others, with a prevailing pattern of more attenuation as frequency increases.
As perforation size decreases and the hole density is increased, the audio transparency improves. This is where the EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material excels. With over 2000 holes/in2, our material has over 3x the holes per square inch than common mid-range weave materials which roughly match us in price, and over 33% more holes per square inch than our nearest performance competitor, which costs an astonishing 2.5x to 3.5x the price of our Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K screens. At the same time, each of our holes are about 85% smaller than common mid-range materials, and 25% smaller than the highest-end offerings, which allows our material to offer the best audio performance, while taking absolutely no performance hit in video performance.
The other reason is material thickness. The greater the mass of material in front the speaker, the greater the sound attenuation and distortion. Our material was engineered to be as thin, smooth and light as possible without compromising on video quality or material integrity.
The end result is that our material is truly audio-transparent, while other high-end offerings still require expensive and time-consuming equalization.
Speaker Positioning
The most important speakers in a 5.1 or 7.1 audio setup are the front 3 speakers - the left, center and right channels. The center channel is the most important channel out of the three. Most of the dialogue in movies comes through the center channel; therefore it is imperative that the sound quality of the center channel is at its best. Typically, most center channels are located above or below the screen, which compromises their sound quality by lowering horizontal dispersion. The ideal scenario is to have the center channel directly in center of the screen flanked by the left and right channels.
Whether going with a 5.1 or a 7.1 speaker setup, the center channel's optimum position will always be in the center of the screen, at ear-level. Moreover, in a projection home theater, where the screen is typically much larger and wider than a traditional TV, the left and right speaker's optimal position are often behind the screen as well. This makes EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K screens the ideal choice for any projection home theater.
Speaker Setup
Due to the transparency of the AudioWeave 4K material to sound, the only compensation required is to increase the SPL of the front speakers by 0.35dB (or 0.75dB if black backing is used) to compensate for the slight attenuation. The fact that this is the only compensation is important, as it is extremely simple for anyone to do. There will be no equalization required as the mid-range frequencies are not filtered out by the screen, and there no loss of the sound or "sparkle" on the high-end frequencies. Equalization poses a problem, as it is often time-consuming, and requires the use of expensive, trained professionals - this makes our AudioWeave 4K material the best, as it is the first material where absolutely no equalization is required. With the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K, your home theater setup can also easily be used to listen to 2.0 channel stereo music and CDs with flawless audio quality.
Reference 4K Video Performance:
Maximum Resolution and Detail Reproduction with Minimum Light Leakage
The EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K is engineered as very finely weaved material with holes that are only 0.0026 x 0.0035". This means only 1.8% of the surface area of the screen is actually composed of empty space. The finer and smoother weave pattern minimizes texturing and viewing distance, resulting in the capture of every detail from 1080P to 4K. Furthermore, the reduced light leakage means that more of the projectors light is returned to the viewer and not wasted, ensuring a crisp, bright image.
Above, we have a comparison of two images, with the same frame of the same movie being shown on the Reference Studio 4K 100 material and the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material from 8 feet away. This particular frame was chosen for a special reason: the whole image has the whole range of brightness, from the deepest of blacks, to the brightest of whites. These photographs illustrate very clearly that a premium was placed on making the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material not only the best material for audio-transparency, but also one that will not make the user have to choose between the best audio experience versus the best video experience. The Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K handles this any dynamic colour range with ease, without degrading resolution or image performance. The material is definitely a no compromise material from a video performance perspective.
Moiré Free With All Projection Technologies
Moiré is typically an issue with all acoustic weave screens. The Reference AudioWeave 4K material completely eliminates this issue. Moiré appears when the pattern of the weave matches the grid pattern of the projector. To resolve this issue, the material pattern is 15 degrees off the vertical so to completely remove moiré. Furthermore, the pattern of the AudioWeave 4K is so fine that it is often smaller than the projector pixel pattern, meaning yet another layer of protection against moiré.
The Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material has been tested with LCD, DLP, D-ILA and SXRD projectors to ensure a moiré-free picture at various throw distances and viewing angles.
To the left is an example of how moiré can impact picture quality. When you zoom in, you see that the competitor's screen creates moiré on the woman's dress, causing artifacting patterns that are not supposed to be on the image. This is due to the fact that their weave material is not rotated by 15 degrees, so the pixel structure is too closely aligned with the material's weave. Furthermore, the moiré pattern also causes discoloration, as green hues are introduced on what is supposed to be a completely blue dress in the competitor's image.
Reference-Class 2D and 3D Performance
The Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material is designed to maximize detail, resolution and uniformity for both 2D and 3D projection. To get the best 3D immersive experience, the screen must be free from artifacts, hot spots and as texture-less as possible. Any flaw in the material and in the reproduction will contribute to a loss of immersion and viewer fatigue due to increased cross talk.
Seamless Video Reproduction with Contrast Enhancing Sound Transparent Black Backing
The black backing is one of the most important aspects of an acoustic weave fixed frame screen. All acoustic weave screens will leak a bit of light due to the perforations in the screen. This light can then hit the surfaces behind the screen and bounce back into the material and thus lowering black levels.
To combat this problem, a specially designed, highly porous and low-density black backing is used to absorb the light leakage and provide better black levels. Not only does this enhance video performance, but as demonstrated above in the audio section, it will not negatively impact the audio performance of your home theater setup.
Engineered for Active 3D and 2D with 1.15 Gain
With a gain of 1.15, one of the highest gains for acoustic weave materials; the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K delivers high contrast images without any of the drawbacks of high gain screens such as hot spotting, texturing and graininess. The higher gain helps with brightness of the projected image and counters the loss of brightness due to active 3D shutter glasses.
Near-Perfect Lambertian Diffuser Viewing Surface
The thread used to weave the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material is chosen for its Near-Perfect Lambertian Diffusing properties. The end result is that you get a screen that is has a full 180 degree viewing angle and does not suffer from the effects of hot spotting, graininess, or texturing. The screen under proper usage conditions (viewing distance greater than 8 feet) will remain a near perfect canvas for the projector.
The surface of a material exhibits lambertian reflectance if the viewer sees the same image or brightness regardless of the viewer's angle. From a more technical perspective, this means the incident light is scattered in all directions equally. A good example of this is an unfinished block of wood, where no matter what angle you view it, the luminance is roughly equal. In contrast, finished wood with a glossy coat of polyurethane exhibits specular highlights, which are areas of brighter luminance when viewing at different angles. While this glossy finish may be beneficial on furniture, it is the cause of numerous problems in projection screens.
Extremely Fine and Smooth Weave to Maximize Detail Clarity
At EluneVision, much effort was spent designing a projection material that is as smooth as possible. The Reference AudioWeave 4K uses a specially designed ultra smooth and fine weave that maximizes the picture sharpness while minimizing light leakage. This fine weave preserves the pixel structure, thereby giving the highest detail clarity, sharpness and definition of any projection screen released to date. This means, simply, that the geometry of each projected pixel remains as the projector manufacturer intended.
To illustrate this point, see the screen material texture comparison below, showing our Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material beside the industry's best materials.
From the above demonstration, it is clear that the EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material beats materials multiple times higher in price, and is far superior than materials even 50% higher in price.
Near Perfect Pixel Geometry
The extremely fine woven weave leaves pixel geometry perfectly intact. Why is this important? With 1080p projectors now standard and 4K projectors on the horizon, EluneVision's material ensures that the effective resolution remains at 1080p, while other (more expensive) competitors degrade the pixel geometry to the point that the effective resolution is no longer even close to 1080p. Due to the fact that there is near-zero texturing and perfect preservation of detail clarity, the EluneVision Reference AudioWeave 4K material will perfectly resolve 4K resolution in both today's high end and future 4K projectors, saving you a screen upgrade.
No Sparkles or Graininess - Complete Invisibility of Screen Material
Due to the use of a smooth and near perfect lambertian diffuser material, the screen has absolutely no sparkles. The screen was purposely engineered to disperse the light evenly in a hemispherical distribution, creating a perfect reproduction, as the director intended. The Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material will easily pass any of the common sparkle tests, which include bright scenes in movies as well as sports such as hockey, football, etc. This means that viewer will always see the image displayed on the screen as the projector manufacturer intended, and will never see the annoying imperfections present on competitors' screen materials.
Absolutely No Hot Spotting - 100% Screen Transparency
A big problem that you see with all but the best screens is an issue known as hot spotting. Hot spotting results in an area at the center of the screen with high glare and light, surrounded by a comparably darker image at the top, bottom and sides of the screen. As seen below, this results in a very unnatural image. This is not a phenomenon that only cheaper screens suffer from - there are countless examples of significantly more expensive Reference screens from competitors that suffer greatly from hot spotting, serving as a testament to EluneVision's engineering efforts in perfecting the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K.
Perfect White Field Uniformity
Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material provides perfect white field uniformity due to the material's lambertian diffuser nature. The brightness is even across the entire screen and there will not be areas of the screen which are brighter or dark to the viewer at any viewing angle. When projecting a pure white scene, the white level will be even from edge to edge, with absolutely no hot-spotting or texturing, demonstrating a reference level of performance and image quality.
Colour Neutrality and Accuracy
EluneVision's new Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material is designed specifically to achieve the highest level of colour reproduction. To achieve this, the material is designed for a completely neutral colour reproduction. The lambertian diffuser property, in addition to a specially designed white base colour, maintains colour accuracy across the entire colour gamut. Many other projection materials in the market today will exhibit a shift in hue, either to the blue, green or red. This creates an unnatural balance to the colours and will decrease the colour uniformity and vibrancy.
Above, we see a demonstration of this phenomenon. The top zoom-in shows the competitor's screen versus our EluneVision Reference Studio 4K screen. Note the color shifts that the competitor exhibits, as well as the minimization color shifts of the EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material. This results in the color accuracy of the whites and the reds you see in the EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K image.
Ultra Wide Viewing Angle
Due to the near perfect lambertian diffuser properties of the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material, the viewing angle is a full 180 degrees, allowing seats to be placed off axis without any changes in brightness or white field uniformity. The image on the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K material is consistent from edge-to-edge at all viewing angles.
To demonstrate this, photos were taken and posted below (the images were not re-touched). The first one shows a projected movie in a front view, while the second shows the movie at fairly extreme side view. Though the user would not normally sit this far off center, the photos below demonstrate the fact that in any way that you decide to arrange seating, the screen will perform with perfection from any view-point. This performance extends to the height and location that you decide to mount the projector. Whether ceiling mounted and centered to the screen, or table mounted to far to the left/right of the screen, the image the screen projects back to the viewer will not degrade.
Perfectly Flat Screen Surface
EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K Screens use an easy to install snap on pre-calibrated anchor tensioning system. Each side of the frame has 5 to 20 anchors, providing a perfectly flat viewing surface.
The screens use a two-stage tensioning system. The first stage is composed of a frame tensioning system, where tensioning tabs are placed in between the material tabs to provide the flattest possible screen surface. The Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K series uses no fewer than 20 anchor points to fix the screen material to the frame.
The second stage uses force equalization rods, which are inserted into the perimeter tabs of the material to distribute the tension force evenly across all anchor points. The rods ensure that there is no sagging, creases or V waves in the material.
The Reference Studio 4K two-stage tensioning system means that the screen will be completely flat, and will remain so year after year.
Solid and Luxurious Construction
High Density Velour Pure Black Finish
During the engineering and design process of the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K series screens, one of the goals was to improve upon the already excellent velvet frames of the Elara series. The specifications were to increase light absorption, as well as overall fit and finish. After researching different possible ways to accomplish these two objectives, an answer was found. By using a high-density velour material, the new velour achieved an increase of 40%+ in light absorption and managed to achieve a high end, plush and luxurious finish.
Look to the photo on the left, where a more expensive competitor's frame was placed beside ours in a highly light-flooded room - the EluneVision Reference screen absorbed all the light, while the competitor's screen struggled.
Forged Aircraft-Grade Aluminum Construction
The entire frame on the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K screens is made from forged aircraft-grade aluminum. The all aluminum construction means that the screen will not bend or bow under any circumstances. The frames are forged as a single piece and therefore do not have any weak points where it may break or deform under strain.
The 45 degree edges of the frames are cut using an industrial high precision CNC laser cutter, ensuring only the highest precision cuts. This means that the corners line up perfectly, creating a seamless frame with no visible joins at the corners.
Easy Installation
Installing the screen is a snap, literally. With our snap on tension system, your screen will be ready for primetime within 1-2 hours. Our screens also come with movable mounting brackets which allow greater versatility of where to place the mounting screws. With a few simple tools you'll be watching all your favorite movies and sports in no time.
Four One Piece Frames, Never Six or Eight
The Reference Studio 4K Fixed Frame screens use one frame piece per side, not two like many of our competitors. Other manufacturers break apart fixed frames screens into eight frame pieces in order to save shipping costs due to dimensional savings. However, the unintended side effect is that the screens will, when tensioned, distort and bend at the joints, resulting in a sub-standard product. Our Reference Studio 4K screens use only the best 5" aluminum frames that are never joined in the middle, to bring you a product proud to be displayed in your home theater.
Our Commitment to Quality and Value
Long Term Durability
A screen is something you want to use for many, many years. It is key to purchase a quality screen so that it will outlast many generations of projector upgrades. The projector's screen is like a painters canvas - a quality screen is needed to show the full performance of today's and tomorrow's projectors. The material itself is extremely strong and cannot be easily torn by hand. The screen material can be cleaned easily with mild soapy water and a sponge.
Unmatched Performance
The performance of the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K series screen material is equal or better than the best purposefully designed HD materials in terms of audio-transparency, sharpness, resolution, detail clarity, white field uniformity and viewing angle. The screen also does not suffer any of the drawbacks such as comb filtering, harmonic distortion, graininess, texturing and hot spotting that lesser-name screens suffer from. The Reference Studio 4K 5" frames single-handedly beats much more prestigious brands which only offer 1.5" to 3" frames, far too narrow for a screen of the EluneVision Reference Studio 4K caliber.
Five Year Warranty
The EluneVision Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K Fixed-Frame Screen is backed with a 5 year warranty against manufacturer defects.
Superior Value
The value of the Reference Studio AudioWeave 4K series is far superior to that of competitors. We offer better audio and video performance with much greater quality frames for about a third of our competitors prices. In terms of value and performance, the Reference Studio 4K line stands alone.
100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
EluneVision stands behind each and every one of our screens. Unlike many other companies which require you to send the product back for repair, we simply just send you a replacement screen. This is our promise and commitment to our clients and customers. Before the new screen is sent out, another round of meticulous inspection is carried out to ensure that a flawless product is received.
