Waterfall Speakers, Seymour AV Projection Screen, and Wolf Projector at CES 2016

A high-end home theater requires the coordination of several key pieces of equipment working together.  At CES 2016, we were lucky enough to see a complete room with Waterfall Audio LCR 300 speakers and SUB 600 subwoofers, Seymour AV Ambient-Visionaire Black 132" Projection Screen, and Wolf Cinema SDC-15 Ultra 4K Projector.  These three pieces of gear served as the foundation of a system that defined the difference between a simple "home theater" and having a true theater in your home.  We talked with representatives from all three companies is our CES 2016 coverage videos. 

 Seymour AV Projection Screen, Wolf Cinema 4K Projector, Waterfall Audio Speakers Room at CES 2016

Waterfall Audio LCR 300 Speaker and SUB 600 Subwoofer

The audio cornerstone was the front sound stage from Waterfall Audio consisting of three LCR 300 loudspeakers and two SUB 600 passive subwoofers.  The LCR 300 serving as front main speakers are a 3-way, sealed design featuring two 6" woofers, a single 6" midrange, and a 0.75" tweeter.  At only 8.3" thick, the speakers can be installed in a wall or behind a screen to conserve valuable floor and visual space.

Waterfall Audio Sub 600 and LCR 300 Speakers

The SUB 600 subwoofer is a bass reflex/ported design, also only 8.3" thick, and features two 9" high-excursion drivers that offer similar radiating area to a single 12" driver.  Both the subwoofer and main speakers are passively powered by an amp of your choice.  They possess a no-frills, flat black appearance that would work well behind an acoustically transparent screen, but have optional grills that would give them a more finished appearance in an exposed in-wall installation.  In listening to movie footage that included Luc Besson's Lucy (Waterfall Audio is a French company, after all), the sound was impactful, clear, and spacious, in other words, everything that you'd want in a movie going experience.

Seymour AV Ambient-Visionaire Black ambient light-rejecting projection screen

Seymour AV Ambient-Visionaire with the lights on

On the video side of the equation, Seymour AV's Ambient-Visionaire Black was the projection screen of choice.  While Seymour AV has been well-known for their best in class acoustically transparent screen material, the non-AT Ambient-Visionaire was chosen to show off how good a projected image could be, even in a hotel room with a fair amount of ambient lighting (and because they didn't wanted to hide the Waterfall Speakers behind a screen.)  

 

Seymour AV Ambient-Visionaire Nano-Mirrors

The Ambient-Visionaire Black is a 1.2 gain material with a deep background that absorbs 90% of ambient light from any direction.  Paired with the light absorbing carbon particles are stacked and dithered non-mirrors.  This construction rejects off-axis ambient lighting, improves contrast ratios in lit environments, and still boasts a wide viewing angle.  Our video clearly shows what we saw at the show; this approach works fantastically and allows you to install a HUGE screen (132" at CES) in a lit space and still get a great picture.  It doesn't hurt that, while not the least expensive projection screen on the market, Seymour AV offers a lot of bang for the buck with advanced screen materials, a number of frame options, and options like masking panels to get exactly the screen you want at a variety of price points.

Wolf Cinema's SDC-15 Ultra 4K Projector

Wolf SDC-15 Ultra 4K projected image with lights on

Of course, the other half of the video equation was Wolf Cinema's SDC-15 Ultra 4K Projector.  The SDC-15 has undergone annual improvements since the original 2011 edition, with 2016 improvements including Wolf Cinema's latest V4K Gen4 "e-shift" delivering 3840x2160 resolution with two full-frame images merging with a 0.5 pixel offset.  Other features include a lens memory system that enables rapid access to 10 preset aspect ratios without the need for an external anamorphic lens.  The 6th generation, 3-chip, D-ILA light engine (LCoS technology) and 1900 ANSI Lumen lamp are suitable for high-quality viewing of both 2D and 3D content.  At CES 2016, the SDC-15 was being fed by a $60 Blu-ray player to showcase the prowess of the Wolf Proscaler.  While there were some lipsync issues that hadn't quite been dialed in between the scalar and associated non-Wolf equipment, the picture was bright, saturated, and high contrast.  I'm certain there were a number of attendees who wished their local cinema-house looked this good. 

Conclusion 

While we fully appreciate that many of our readers skew towards the "budget" end of the market, we know that all of our readers dream of a home theater that is not only "as good" as the multi-million dollar cineplex, but is actually better in many aspects.  Waterfall, Seymour AV, and Wolf put together a room that offers movie theater performance without eating up half your room or requiring you to watch in a blackened cave, and they did it for about the price of the family SUV.  Aspirational system or not; we walked away impressed, and will be keeping these manufacturers on our radar.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.