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I was concerned about the texture of the screen surface, compared to the almost totally smooth and uniform Firehawk,
or for that matter, my Carada Brilliant White and my Elite HC gray. Despite that, I didn't notice the texture during normal
viewing. I'm sure it's enough to be detectable when looking for it, but I do believe this surface will satisfy all but the most
critical. There are finer micro-perf screens out there, for those who may be concerned with this Elite surface. Note, the
patterning of the material is finer, and a different "improved" pattern for this new surface, which Elite says is designed
especially to work with 1080 projectors.
Here's one more split screen image with the Firehawk on top and this Elite AcousticPro1080 screen on the bottom. This is
the very dark train scene from Casino Royale:
Acoustic Performance
As noted above, my hearing isn't what it was 30 years ago when managing high end audio stores. With that as a given,
I spent hours listening to music videos, CD's and movies using this Elite ezFrame screen. At the most, I could only notice a
very slight loss of sparkle on the high end, when having someone move the screen quickly into the path of the sound. I
really enjoyed some superb performances with the screen in
place, including the Moody Blues in concert (Blu-ray), and
music videos on MTV's Palladia HD channel, as well as other
music videos.
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For typical movie watching (action oriented, talking, etc.),
certainly this screen seems more than transparent enough. Any
loss of overall gain (volume) is negligible, almost certainly no
more than 2db, and probably a lot less than that.
The only question, one I can't answer
without test equipment, is how much
loss there actually is on the extreme high end
(15K to 20K hertz) where I can no longer hear, but many of you younger folks can. For those not
"tuned" into audio, we are talking extreme high frequencies - upper harmonics of vocal and
musical instruments. This frequency range probably accounts for well less than 1% of audio
content but does contribute to the sound quality for those with good hearing. According to
Elite, they only lose 2db at the very top, and that seems to be a very reasonable (slight
amount). In fact many (very good) speakers roll off the high end more than that.
Elite Screens AcousticPro1080 Projector Screen - The Bottom Line
As I see it there are four major aspects to this screens performance: Image, Sound transparency, setup and physical
attributes, and finally price. Let's run through them.
Image:
This Elite seems to be a real improvement over the earlier screen surface I reviewed. The black mesh backing and new
surface solve the problem of reflected light, even with white walls. There is, as I pointed out, that very slight color shift, but
as you can see from the images provided, it is barely detectable, even comparing side by side with the Firehawk. The
shift is probably well within the normal differences from one movie to the next in color balance. It is subtle and should be
easy to correct for, if you so choose.
Elite claims a gain of 1.0. That seems very believable.
Sound Transparency
No significant acoustic problems are audible to my ears, although as mentioned, I can no longer hear the highest
audible frequencies. Loss of volume, is definitely negligible, just enough to be noticed when the screen is quickly moved
out of the sound path.
While listening to a favorite music video, I did find the high end a touch muted, compared to when the screen was out
of the way, but it is only noticeable when quickly switched. No way I could walk into the room and tell by sound if the
AcousticPro1080 was in front of the speakers or not.
Setup and Operation
As I stated earlier, the setup really is straightforward - (easy to say, when I was just watching it being done). 15 minutes
should do it, once the parts are out of the box. Once assembled, the surface appears nice and taut, comparable, no,
actually a bit stiffer than that of the Carada Brilliant White surface I use as my primary screen in the testing room. There's
not a sign, anywhere, of a wave or wrinkle in the screen surface.
The screen surface is easily cleanable, with a water moistened cotton cloth.(Nice!)
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