Located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Mönchengladbach has a history that goes back to the 10th century—but the city’s newly completed movie theater features the latest digital cinema technology. This is particularly true where the sound is concerned. Haus Zoar is Germany’s first cinema to feature a Dolby Atmos Connect interface with Harman’s Crown DCi Series network amplifiers. The cinema has also deployed JBL ScreenArray loudspeakers in an installation that takes surround sound realism to new heights – literally.
Dolby Atmos is a newly developed surround-sound technology that employs any number of overhead speakers as well as traditional side-surround speakers to create an astonishingly realistic three-dimensional sonic environment.
The Haus Zoar system employs three JBL ScreenArray 3732T loudspeakers for the main left, center and right channels. Two JBL 4642A subwoofers are located in the front of the theater and two 3635 18-inch subs are installed at the back of the theater. To deliver the full potential of Dolby Atmos sound, 50 JBL 8350 surround loudspeakers are placed at the sides of the theater and mounted from the left and right of the ceiling and aimed diagonally downward. Its high power handling capability and smooth coverage over a wide area make the 8350 ideally suited for the demanding sonic and technical requirements of Dolby Atmos soundtrack reproduction.
The loudspeakers are driven by a total of 10 Crown DriveCore DCi Network Series power amplifiers, including DCi 8|300N, DCi 4|600N and DCi 2|600N. The digital audio signal from the Dolby CP850 Atmos Cinema Processor is fed directly into the Crown amplifiers’ digital input via Harman’s BLU link networked audio connectivity.
This eliminates the need for digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion and preserves the sonic purity of the original multichannel soundtrack recording. In addition, the Crown DCi Series amplifiers include preset tunings that are optimized for various models and types of JBL loudspeakers, to further optimize the performance of the Haus Zoar system.
Carsten Peter, product manager for Audio Pro Heilbronn, Harman’s German distributor who handled the installation said, “Haus Zoar is truly a showcase installation that demonstrates the full potential of Dolby Atmos surround sound.”
“The Dolby CP850 Atmos Cinema processor, the new Crown DCi amplifiers, the large-scale JBL loudspeaker system and the superb acoustics of Haus Zoar all combine to create a remarkable and totally immersive sonic environment in what is surely one of the world’s most extraordinary movie theaters,” he added.