Grimani Systems MWAVE 2024 Demo Room Setup

As I’m writing this, we are busy setting up our demo room at the MWAVE 2024 show. I thought you may want to see what we are up to.

We started by installing a full lighting truss around the perimeter of the conference space to turn it into a reference screening room. 

We then set about installing the audio and video hardware, using our 3D renders as our guide

Front Left, Center, and Right channels

We’re using 3 Grimani Systems Rixos-XL speakers. These are the biggest, most badass flame-throwers we make, yet they resolve the finest details of the most precious music and film sound. Mark Gallay, Studio Director at Sandbox Films, said they were the most revealing speakers he ever heard, after they were installed in his New York City screening room. 

Make sure to ask to hear some 2-channel music though these big puppies at MWAVE. 

Also be sure to move around to different seats and notice the smooth and even sweet spot coverage. These will be on stands, behind the acoustically transparent screen, at about mid-height of the picture area. With their high sensitivity, 3.5 way CSA waveguide-loaded design, and 1200-Watt amplifier, expect each one of these to be able to put out 115dB SPL bursts at the midpoint of the listening area!

Side-left and Side-right channels

Here we selected 4 Grimani Systems Rixos-L Speakers. We’re placing two per side for adequate audience coverage and to keep up with the sound pressure levels of the front speaker. They are every bit as revealing as the Rixos-XL, and are the ideal companion for this room setup. We will hang these from a complete room perimeter lighting truss, using high-strength aircraft cable. With their 2.5-way, CSA waveguide-loaded design and 600-Watt amplifier, expect each one of these to be able to put out 110dB SPL bursts at the midpoint of the listening area!

We are also bringing an optional set of Rixos-M in case we decide to augment the audience coverage at the back of the room; wait and see…

Wide-left and Wide-right channels.

Two Grimani Systems Rixos-M Speakers make up these left and right Wide channels. These remarkably slim speakers will sit between the front and side channels, helping to widen out the frontal soundstage past the edges of the screen or to help fill in the transition of elements moving from the front to the side or back of the room. These speakers will also be hung from the lighting truss. With their 2-way, CSA waveguide-loaded design and 300-Watt amplifier, expect each one of these to be able to put out 106dB SPL bursts at the midpoint of the listening area!

Back-left and Back-right channels.

Two more Grimani Systems Rixos-M Speakers handle the back channels. While most of you will know that these are for putting sound firmly behind you, did you know that Anthony Grimani invented the original sound codec that enabled their introduction into film soundtracks back in 1999? It was called Surround-EX back then. These speakers will also be hung from the lighting truss. With their 2-way, CSA waveguide-loaded design and 300-Watt amplifier, expect each one of these to be able to put out 106dB SPL bursts at the midpoint of the listening area!

Top channels

Six Grimani Systems Rixos-WD+. These high output, wide dispersion, wedge-shaped sound-blasting cubes will be arrayed as three overhead pairs to reproduce the immersive top layers. One pair forward of the listening zone (we call these Top1), one pair over the listening zone (Top2), and one pair aft of the listening zone (Top3). All this to make sure you clearly hear the voices and effects all sprinkled above you in "Gravity", or duck at the overhead flyover in "Ford vs Ferrari". These speakers will all be hung from the cross-beams of the lighting truss. With their 2-way, CSA waveguide-loaded design and 160-Watt amplifier, expect each one of these to be able to put out 108dB SPL bursts at the midpoint of the listening area!

Subwoofers

Here we are really going to town with 4 Grimani Systems IS-21 Subs, 2 Sigma, and 4 Psi Subs. What?! Are we trying to crush the walls of the convention center? You may think that, but instead we are laying out a carefully engineered Quad-Bass array of long-excursion drivers at cardinal points around the audience area in order to pressurize it with tight, punchy, and consistent low frequency energy. Each one of these subwoofers will work in its ideal spectral range, and will be frequency, time, and level equalized. We call this Bass Management Optimization. The IS-21 each have a 21” transducer and 2400 Watts. The Sigma each have an 18” transducer and 1200 Watts. The Psi each have dual 13.5” transducers and 1200 Watts. With this total 12,000 Watts of firepower and 13 SqFt of transducer area, expect the system to put out 115dB SPL bursts in the listening area!

Projector

A Christie Digital M 4K15 RGB pure laser projector will light up the 220” wide Seymour Screen with 7000 lumens of perfectly tuned 98% of REC2020 wide color gamut pixels, 15,000-16,000:1 and above contrast ratio. Expect peak white levels of 32 Ft Lamberts (100 nits) for an eye popping, immersive experience that will cover 50 degrees of your visual panorama. All this amazing image can run on 120V, and generates merely 3000 BTU of heat.

Acoustical Treatments

To control what would otherwise be a cacophony of typical conference hall echoes and reverberation, we are hanging an array of 16 absorber panels (24x48x4”) and 17 diffuser panels (24x24x6”) from the truss rigging, along the front, sides, and back of the listening area. Expect a reflection decay time of 0.4s, with smoothly scattered energy surrounding the audience.

Sources:

We’re bringing along a Kaleidescape Strato loaded with lots of movies, a 4K BluRay Player, a Zidoo server, and a streaming music player. With all that you’ll probably get to hear some familiar and exciting tracks!

We hope that you’ll be able to experience this firsthand at the MWave Expo in Kansas City, June 21-23. Come see us at room 2214!