While modern surround technologies makes truly immersive sound practical for
home theatre installations, such projects are compromised if the loudspeakers
cannot deliver high enough quality sound. This has been no problem for Istanbul-
based movie enthusiast Murat Cuhadaroglu, whose bespoke home theatre system
uses Alcons loudspeakers to deliver the ultimate in audiophile sound.

Cuhadaroglu built his first home theatre in 2001, moving to his current house 10
years ago where he built a better, 7.1 plus stereo, system. In 2016 he decided to
replace it, removing the huge, two-channel loudspeakers and starting again with the
latest technologies.

He spoke to Peter Montoulieu, proprietor of high end home cinema company
Cineramax and self-styled “top cinema guru’. Named after moons of Saturn,
Montoulieu insists that each new system has to be better than the last. Having spent
$6m USD on a four cinema R&D immersion deployment, Cineramax chose the
Alcons C-series as the highest quality loudspeaker solution to the “Hyperion’ system
he designed for Cuhadaroglu.

“The key aspect with the new immersive sound formats is to create a coherent,
smooth 3D soundfield around the listener,’ says Walter Fortmuller of Walter
Fortmuller SAVO, who provided his acoustic measurement and system tuning
specialist skills to the project.

Cuhadaroglu wanted enough dynamic headroom and impact to convey every part of
even the most intense movie soundtrack. In many cases this would mean
compression driver/horns, but they always compromise in other areas. In contrast,
Alcons patented pro-ribbon technology delivers the dynamic range and SPL of the
best compression driver/horn designs with unsurpassed finesse and transparency.
“It really is the best of both worlds,’ says Fortmuller.

The Alcons C-series system for Cuhadaroglu’s installation features three CR3 in bi-
amped configuration for the L-C-R front channels, powered by two four-channel
Sentinel 10 amplified loudspeaker controllers. Ten surround channels use CRMS-
SRIW reference surround speakers, installed in the room’s walls, with ten CRMSC-
SRHOR used as the height layer, complemented by four CRMSC-SRIW ceiling
loudspeakers. The surround, height and ceiling speakers are powered by six four-
channel Sentinel 3s.

“It’s a special 13.1.14 setup, using four subwoofers, providing optimal channel
mapping for all three major 3D Immersive audio formats: Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and
Auro 3D,’ says Walter.

Control for the system is via a Trinnov Altitude32 processor, which connects to the
Sentinel ALCs through 16 channels of digital AES and 16 channels of balanced
analogue XLR connections, also acting as video switch for all connected sources.
The user interface is a WiFi VNC client running on an iPad, integrated with a
Crestron system for central control of the entire installation.

With Alcons pro-ribbon technology, the sound signature and timbre don’t change
with dynamic shifts in SPL. Whether low volume background music, a rock concert
or an action blockbuster, the output remains clean and without detectable distortion.

The Alcons C-series will also be demonstrated in the Pro-Ribbon Immersive
Experience, at the ISE show on the Alcons booth 6H148.

More info on www.alcons.audio, www.cineramax.com and www.savo.at