The One Thing Most Theaters Get Wrong

In this episode of The Front Row Podcast, we sit down with Peter Aylett from Officina Acustica and Cinema Bureau, a thirty year veteran of the industry and one of the most respected voices in acoustics. Peter is known throughout the professional community as a mentor, teacher, and lecturer, and his work has shaped the standards many integrators follow today. He is a longtime CEDIA instructor, and currently serves as Chair of the CEDIA and CTA R10 Standards Committee. This week, we dive into home theater and entertainment room design, and Peter immediately flips the usual approach on its head. Most of us in this hobby, myself included, tend to buy gear first and then try to build a room around it. Peter explains why that approach often limits what the system is capable of and why it makes much more sense to start with the room, the goals you want to achieve, and the experience you are trying to create. He breaks down how to think about the space itself before choosing products, and why that mindset leads to better results every time. He also surprises us with a few things many enthusiasts never think about. One of those is why carpet is not the acoustic advantage many believe it to be. We also get into the do’s and don’ts of building a baffle wall, and why small design decisions can have a big impact on performance. This is only part one of a two part series with Peter. In the next episode, we’ll be getting into low frequencies, and the challenges that come with managing bass. If you have questions you want us to ask Peter in part two, drop them in the comments and we'll make sure to ask when we shoot part 2 in the next week or so. We want to give a big thank you to our podcast sponsor, ⁠Paradigm Electronics⁠. At Paradigm, sound is not just heard, it’s felt. It’s audio that stirs emotion and is designed to move you. ⁠Paradigm - Authentically Canadian, Acoustically Brilliant.⁠ Listen to The Front Row Podcast on your favorite platform and be sure to follow and leave a review on Apple & Spotify: ⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠iHeartRadio⁠ ⁠Amazon Music⁠ ⁠Pandora