As LED/LCD and dvLED screens grow in size, Michael Heiss explores the challenge they pose to immersive home theatre audio.
As we look to CEDIA Expo 2026 for technologies that might aid new projects in the fourth quarter, one undeniable trend is the move to larger screens. Yes, traditional front projection has almost always been the go-to for large sizes, but that dominance has been, and will continue to be, challenged by what we’ll call “solid screens” in this article.
Mind you, that’s more of a categorical description. Let’s change it slightly to reflect what your prospects, clients and retail customers will be more familiar with: LED/LCD flat panel and dvLED screens. After all, 75-inch is the new 65-inch, 88-inch the new 75, and so on. That’s great for the manufacturers and your profit margins, but not so great for those wanting proper surround and immersive audio. Or is it?
Going back to the origins of cinema sound in theatres, speakers have generally been behind the screen to align dialogue with visuals: an approach subsequently advanced by surround sound and multiple speakers as main LCR channels. It’s not an issue when a projector constitutes your display and benefits from today’s acoustically transparent and micro-perfed screens. But the solid screens under discussion are, well, solid. Drilling teeny holes in an LED/LCD panel or omitting a few micro-LEDs from a dvLED isn’t advised.
"Going back to the origins of cinema sound in theatres, speakers have generally been behind the screen to align dialogue with visuals."
Yet someone spending BIG money on a BIG screen may (or may not) be satisfied with small sound. In that context, what’s a home technology professional to do? Indeed, the “may not” is something you should absolutely lay on the table before going into your technology options. Every home theatre expert questioned for this article – including both designers and manufacturers – offered a myriad of suggestions for this situation. But all agreed on one thing: it’s up to YOU to start the conversation around physics and fundamentals in home theatre audio. Make it clear you can do marvellous things with speakers, placement and processing, but there is no substitute for speakers behind the screen.
Design differences
Always take a step back and explain the difference between screen + projector as opposed to a solid screen – be it dvLED or flat panel. Remind clients of the following elements: room and ambient lighting; brightness; issues with DCI, if appropriate; screen size and masking; and, of course, cost. Sometimes the projector will be the better choice, but sometimes a large screen is the desired option. For some jobs the best possible sonic imaging is priority, whereas others might pose room or screen brightness issues that work against the use of a projector. Sort that choice out first.
“Make it clear you can do marvellous things with speakers, placement and processing, but there is no substitute for speakers behind the screen.”
With that surveyed and sorted, it’s time to address your considerations when a solid screen is non-negotiable. Call these obvious if you must - but better to check them off rather than miss something important later. The size of the room (height, width, depth and overall cubic volume) are key; you need to know how much air you’re moving. But what exactly are the individual dimensions to be measured, I hear you ask? These include the space available above, below and to the sides of the screen, where it’s positioned relative to the seating, and, in a formal theatre versus a more open den, how many rows you are designing for. What speaker tilt is required, even.
You also don’t want to forget standard room acoustics such as hard or reflective/soft and absorptive wall surfaces. Perhaps more importantly: don’t forget where the screen is mounted and how it interacts with adjacent walls. Sound may reflect from the screen surface and its surrounding wall material, affecting imaging and overall performance.
Sound meets image
It’s now time to assess sound and image as one. Again, depending on the room and screen, the solution may be simple. If the venue is appropriately sized, all you may need are left and right speakers at the sides and a centre speaker below the screen - or, in some cases, above it - particularly if the screen is in the 65- to 75-inch range and mounted high enough to work with conventional side, rear surround and height speakers.
If the screen isn’t too large and room size allows, you could even go for a soundbar substantial enough to deliver the proper SPL and imaging. However, as the screen gets larger and probably takes up space intended for the LCR speakers, it gets more complicated. Things worsen when you have limited space at the edges of the screen.
First, let’s list your options before circling back to the cautionary notes. For left and right front speakers, placing them on the sides at the screen’s horizontal centre line is always the best bet. Not as good as behind the screen, but it can work. And with that you can see if a good, old-fashioned phantom centre would suffice, as it did in the early days of matrix surround technology. But yes – I hear you – that can’t compare to a true centre channel. OK, so add a centre speaker, but that HAS to go above or below.
"For left and right front speakers, placing them on the sides at the screen’s horizontal centre line is always the best bet."
Above-screen speaker placement may be preferable in many installations, as the sound from centre speakers below the screen will likely encounter clutter from furniture and other obstacles. That becomes even more of a problem with a sloped theatre floor to accommodate multiple seating rows. Screen positioning permitting, you could put centre speakers both above and below the screen. But then you need to use Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to reduce comb filtering and, if possible, correct time alignment/delay issues and phase.
This will likely require outboard DSP products beyond what an AVR or processor’s internal delay timing correction can provide – not just to compensate for latency from the speaker box, but to synchronise the full spectrum. Furthermore, some systems require more than simple speaker-to-speaker delay correction. In some active or custom systems, DSP may also be used to optimise alignment between individual drivers so that all frequencies arrive coherently at the listening position.
“Speaker placement above the screen is preferable, if possible, as the sound from centre speakers below will likely encounter clutter from furniture and other obstacles.”
A key point to consider here for the equipment list and bid calculations: as good as the sophisticated DSP room correction systems are in today’s high-end AVRs and processors, they’re not really designed for this type of loudspeaker deployment. While some specialised amps include relevant capabilities, more demanding solid-screen installs may require additional DSP processing to achieve the desired results.
Another note is what many designers informally refer to as the “10-degree rule”: as long as the angle between the screen centre and the speaker location stays under 10 degrees, you might make it work. However, as the angle increases (as it will with a larger screen and a larger room), you’ll lose the perception that key channel dialogue is coming from the centre.
Power or precision?
Let’s take a break from the technical side and return to the room application to reiterate something that can’t be overstated. Is the job spec to create more of a “media room”, or grand scale entertainment centre? Is it meant to be a big living space where sports and entertaining are the objective?
In that case you’ll want a bright screen and lots of SPL to overcome ambient room noise. There, a large solid screen and good, rather than precise sound, is more important. We don’t have to look far for evidence: this year’s World Cup has shown that everyone wants to hear the presenters’ GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLL above the cheering. Let’s call that a “power over precision” type of installation.
Alternatively, are you going for a serious theatre requiring big video paired with mixing-quality immersive sound and a high channel count to support Dolby Atmos, DTS:X or Auro3D? There, I’ve been told by experts you’d need to think again about suggesting a projector and speakers behind the screen. If that doesn’t fit the client’s wishes, then read on.
Let’s go back to the BIG solid screen. Along with traditional LCR speaker placement options, as detailed above, there are other solutions that involve reflected sound from speakers around the screen and on the side walls. These can deliver very good results, but aren’t for the faint of heart: they require precise testing along with the right type of speakers and perhaps more specialised DSP correction.
These reflective sound speaker systems tend to be more effective in larger sized theatre installations or even professional cinemas, where they work in concert with LCR speakers above and/or at the sides of the screen. Indeed, I recently attended an SMPTE technical presentation at Amazon’s Culver Theatre, a six-screen commercial cinema in California used by the company to screen-test new content, where a 10m-wide Samsung Onyx LED cinema display faces hundreds of seats. There, over five dozen speakers above, below and to the sides of the screen for LCR along with side-, rear-wall and ceiling- mounted speakers created a true cinematic experience. Suffice to say, this was an installation whose cost might well have exceeded the price of the entire home you typically work on.
Perhaps a bit extreme for home installations, but here are just some speakers positioned in one of the Culver Theatre’s rooms. These are only part of the array! (Image: Michael Heiss)
Another of the other Onyx-equipped auditoriums in that cinema complex has even more speakers positioned across the front and sides, as well as above and below, for reflective sound. It, too, worked with the caveat that these were large commercial theatres. Suffice to say, budget for those designs was likely in the “if you have to ask you can’t afford it” range.
Reflected sound
While reflected sound for solid screens is something you might want to consider doing yourself, assistance from vendors and consultants is often warranted – with comprehensive systems available for solid-screen and reflective sound approaches, in particular. Among those are Grimani Systems CenterPoint solutions which include its “Reflectance” series, combining a proprietary Sound Projector and customised DSP-equipped power amplifier to create a derivative low-frequency phantom centre feed. This system also includes Left and Right speakers flanking the display and additional speakers carefully positioned throughout the room. Having heard these various options, including an “Above and Below” speaker pair solution, I can say they did a great job overcoming the issues with solid screens.
"While reflected sound for solid screens is something you might want to consider doing yourself, assistance from vendors and consultants is often warranted."
JBL Synthesis also offers a wide range of speakers to accompany solid screen systems. That’s not surprising, given its corporate cousins at JBL Professional were among the first to experiment with solid-screen sound for the very first theatrical installation of an Onyx dvLED screen in 2018. Over the course of this development, which featured a screen more than 11m in diagonal size, JBL experimented with several speaker layouts. These ranged from early configurations where the LCR channels were all mounted above the screen, to later designs using left and right speakers at the sides, centre speakers above the screen, and multiple reflective speakers on the side walls aimed at the display.
But the basics are all still valid, as long as you pay special attention to placement and any artifacts. Curiously, the aforementioned Culver Theatre system used literally dozens of JBL speakers. Meyer Sound has also done solid-screen theatrical room sound using its speakers and specialised measurement techniques.
If you feel overwhelmed by all these different solutions, don’t be. Step back, take a deep breath, and once the client needs are assessed and agreed, look at the options one by one. Consult with colleagues and experts, work with your suppliers, and then take another deep breath. Digesting the tech with thought will ensure you find the right sound for solid screens.
And a final note. CEDIA education and standards are, and will continue to be, a great source of information on this subject. They’re totally plugged into the growth of large solid screens. As we move forward, be on the lookout for related training and standards. Indeed, look out for vendor solutions if you will be out in Denver for Expo 2026. I’ll be there and you won’t be able to miss my famous test pattern jacket. I’d love to hear your opinions on both this and the other industry topics that matter to you.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Thanks to industry experts Peter Aylett of Officina Acustica, Rich Green of Rich Green Design, Anthony Grimani of Grimani Systems, and Eric Leicht of AV Partners for their invaluable assistance in the preparation of this article.
Remember, some of the technologies, formats, brands, and products mentioned may not be available yet or sold in your country or region; always check with the manufacturers and service providers for availability before specifying.
Featured image: Big screens demand big thinking. This year's Luxury Immersion Cinema at ISE, co-developed by Barco Residential, StormAudio, ASCENDO and PrimeTheatre, demonstrated how advanced technologies can preserve immersive sound when speakers cannot sit behind the screen.