Educational Seminar Overview for Audioholics SOTU Trade Show

Live, Learn, Eat, Fun!

As many of our regular readers can attest to, Audioholics primary focus is on truthful education about home theater. In fact, our publication is regarded by many industry professionals and engineers more like a scientific journal that just happens to do product reviews and host discussion forums.

Our SOTU annual trade show event is no different this year. Yes we are hosting 6 state of the art demo rooms packed with the latest high definition audio and video equipment from leading manufacturers. We are providing great prize giveaways, and top notch food and entertainment. But, most importantly, we are serving up some superb educational seminars hosted by world renowned guest speakers from the likes of Dolby, THX, and many more. Best of all its entirely FREE!

Here is a course overview of what to expect during our two day show.

Day 1: Thursday, October 23^rd

Projector/screen Considerations by Jeff Pavia from Epson
Why do some home theaters look so much better than others? The answer starts with the proper matching of screen and projector. We will cover size, materials and placement to attain the highest video quality. Many secrets of the super professional install be will revealed. Don't miss this!

Residential Structured Cabling by Tom Sullivan from Dayton Audio

From the utility room to the home theater and beyond; the cabling and essentials that maximize versatility within your home. Choosing the correct distribution devices, cables and terminations for your project will make the difference between satisfaction and regret.

Multi Channel Amplifier Measurements by Jonathan Novick from Audio Precision
Most power measurements in use today were designed for measuring two-channel stereo gear. Most audio analyzers in use today were designed for those tests. This model isn’t well suited for modern home theater receivers that feature at least 5 channels. This session will explore the challenges faced in testing home theater receivers/amplifiers and show sample results using new testing techniques that have recently become available.

For more details, read: Audio Precision to Discuss Amplifier Measurements

Home Theater 101 by John Dahl from THX

The theme of this course is “where to put your time and money for the best possible Home Theater Experience”. This course will go over basics such as choosing the proper screen size, finding the best speaker placement, and how to properly calibrate your system so that every seat is a good seat in your theater room.

Audyssey Overview by Chris Kyriakakis from Audyssey Labs

Chris will present research findings that led to the development of new room measurement and correction algorithms. His presentation will focus on the signal processing, acoustical, and psychoacoustical optimization that is required to achieve good room correction performance. A brief overview of new findings in loudness compensation will also be given.

Acoustics 101 by Sean Bowman from Auralex

If you would like a basic overview of home theater room acoustics and wondering what type of treatments you can add to your room to enhance the sound quality, you won’t want to miss this seminar. Learn about the different types of room acoustics treatments, where to properly place them and which ones are appropriate for your room depending on your listening preferences.

A/V Distribution over Cat5 vs Coax - When and Why By Joe Cornwall from Cables to Go

This is an overview of when and why to use Cat5 or Coax for A/V distribution cabling. This seminar discusses the limitations of each cable media and how best to plan your cable distribution routing throughout the home.

Dolby Volume:: Advanced Leveling and Modeling Solutions by Craig Eggers from Dolby Labs

Dolby Volume is a revolutionary breakthrough digital signal processing technology that provides a consistent listening experience across all sources, programming and content, and enables a perceived reference mix at any volume setting. This presentation focuses on the challenges of properly addressing and implementing. Volume Leveling and Modeling in the Home Theatre devices and the unique solution provided by Dolby Volume technology will be discussed here.

Day 2: Friday, October 24th

Holosonic Overview by Joe Pompeii from Holosonic Research

The use of directional sound is still in its infancy, but interest in the technology grows each year. Unlike traditional speakers that broadcast sound in every direction, directional audio technologies focuses a beam of sound at a specific location, such as a projected surface, so the sound appears to originate from the surface itself. Within that beam, ultrasound waves create sound only in a desired listening area, while eliminating peripheral noise. To date, a number of companies around the world have embraced the subtle, directional audio technology. While Cisco Systems maintains a professional atmosphere in its U.S. office’s reception room with directional sound, T-Mobile customers test ring tones with it in the U.K., while car dealerships and shopping malls in China use the technology to market products. Exhibits in tradeshows and museums, such as at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, use the technology to create personalized experiences for customers.

Today, new trends in directional sound include advertisers and home users targeting one person with sound, even when two people are sitting next to each other. While Target and A&E beam directional sound from outdoor billboards, Court TV used it to promote its new murder mystery book series in New York bookstores. With the expanding interest in directional sound, there are endless possibilities on how the technology could next be put to use. During this session Dr. Joseph Pompei will discuss how the technology works, past applications and what’s up-and-coming in the directional audio field.

Bass Management Basics by Shane Rich from RBH Sound

Ever wonder what crossover frequency you should use in your A/V receiver / processor or if your speakers should be set to “large” or “small”? Shane Rich Technical Director of RBH Sound covers these topics while also discussing sound methods to ensuring the optimal blend between your subwoofer(s) and speaker system.

Subwoofer Calibration & Overview 101 by Geoffrey Marks from Velodyne

This seminar provides the basic principles behind reproducing bass frequencies, subwoofer design, room effects and more. Also addressed is choosing the right sub for any bid, wiring options, placement tips, room optimization, etc. Product placement and system integration examples are given. If you want to get the most out of your subwoofer setup, this is the course you don’t want to miss.

Power Protection for Home Theater by Mark Shannon from APC AV

APC AV Representative, Mark Shannon, will present an informational session on Power Anomalies and how they can negatively the AV Experience. Surges, Spikes, Blackouts and more are often threats to expensive equipment in the home and Mark will explain several solutions available to protect your costly AV investments.

Video Calibration 101 by Jerry Palleschi from Sencore

This seminar discusses proper calibration techniques to get the most out of your HD display using the proper test tools and source materials. You will learn the importance of proper grayscale calibration and why using the auto setup and picture controls of your display is usually NOT a good idea. Get the most out of your display and learn how to use the right tools for the right job to make it happen.

3LCD Technology Overview: by Jeff Pavia from Epson
This seminar is a close up look at the major projection formats. You will physically handle both 3LCD and DLP light engines and
leave with an understanding of video that will put you head and shoulders above the wannabee crowd. This is an essential meeting for those who want to increase their video knowledge.

Horizontal vs Vertical Center Channel Placement / Design by Chris Seymour from Seymour A/V

The center channel’s job is a tough one. The consensus is that around 75 percent of a movie’s content is routed to the center channel loudspeaker. Yet, the design criteria for center channels traditionally require that it fit as stealthily as possible around that big-box television, or that huge sheet of projection screen. The sound can’t go through your glass TV screen and projection screens are usually not acoustically transparent. Ideally, the sound should come from behind the image, through the screen as it does in the movie theaters. But while there are new options with acoustically transparent projection screens, this seminar will focus on the more traditional problem of what compromises result from the different approaches to center channel design and how to best deal with them in a real home theater room environment.

For more information read: Horizonal vs Vertical Center Channel Speaker Placement

Wrap Up

As you can see, we have a wide range of educational seminars planned. Best of all they are all FREE. We do have limited seating available and we encourage you to > REGISTER NOW < to ensure you can participate in this event. Our registration deadline is next week October 6^th so time is running out.

If you write in “Education” in our registration form, we will waive the $75 registration fee for oner person per party attending our banquet event.

LIVE LEARN EAT FUN – the Audioholics 2008 SOTU Event. Don’t miss out!