Grimani Systems CEDIA 2018 Show Report

Dave Upton gives a great review of our SpringTrap bass absorbers! "MSR Acoustics is a name you probably haven't heard of, but given the products they produce, it wouldn't surprise me if that soon changes. The guys at MSR have some serious experience in their resumes, with Tony Grimani coming from a background in the industry and having held positions with Dolby Labs and Lucasfilm . MSR takes a unique approach to designing acoustical treatments, and intrigued me with their unconventional SpringTrap offering... We've all heard it, read it, and said it a thousand times: the room matters just as much, if not more than the gear you're using. Unfortunately, most of us don't take this sound advice (I'm on a roll folks, forgive the puns!) and do something about it. In the case of MSR and their acoustical treatment products, I think they have a truly innovative, unique, and well-engineered product in the SpringTrap. This is not snake oil folks....

This is a story that happens time and time again in hundreds of rooms all around the world. It is a tale of terrific audio gear, talented people, good intentions and… terrible sound. In this particular case, Anthony Grimani of MSR Acoustics played the role of the “room doctor,” while a famous music studio played the “patient.” In the wings, a well-known composer waited to hear the outcome. Would he be able to use his new studio composition room? Or would he have to continue using headphones? It all began after composer Guillaume Roussel moved into his new studio space in Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions facility in Santa Monica, California. This facility houses many musicians, composers and sound engineers, each with their own space to create music. Roussel had just purchased more than $10,000 worth of new speakers, amplifiers and subwoofers to go along with his existing digital audio recording workstation, flat screens, keyboard and composing rig. But the problem was th...

I'm here in Dana Point, California, doing phase one audio calibration of a dedicated private cinema in the Emerald Cove neighborhood of this upscale community. This phase is all about initial configuration, testing, and debugging of all the audio components in this 7.1 channel system with eight ceiling-mounted subwoofers.  I'm also finishing up with a basic room tuning equalization and will finesse that after the internal finishing of stretch fabric and drape is completed. This room needed a rather large sliding door along the right wall in order to keep a sense of openness to the space and to reduce anxiety over claustrophobia. A motorized drape with combination of absorptive and diffusing strips will be added in a few weeks. So far so good. Caught a few small mistakes, like L-R channel reversal, polarity of back set of side surround speakers (there are two pairs for soundfield evenness), and the obligatory HDMI configuration and reliability challenges. The integrator...