Cinema · SERVICE · REV 2026-10-06
Cinema design
A projector and LED cinema are different rooms, not two finishes of one idea. Isolation between adjacent Auditoriums, the RT60 criterion, and the sightline to the image decide which path is even available.
Definition
A commercial screen is designed so the neighbour's film is not heard, so dialogue stays shorter than what is discussed for a concert hall, and so every row sees the image rather than a head cutting it. RT60 is a project criterion, not a universal number, measured by a stated method. ISO 3382-1 is a performance-space reference and its scope is read before it is used. C-value is a clearance method often discussed between 90 and 120 mm; the target here is the screen edge, not a stage.
A projector needs throw, a glass port, and a booth that does not leak noise. LED cinema removes the port and brings brightness, cooling, pixel structure, and a sightline to a luminous wall. Choosing one because the catalogue is new is the wrong scope. This page claims no THX certificate and no accreditation, and it writes no STC and no fire class. Home cinema is another page. The adopted code remains the reference for egress and fire.
When is this service needed?
More than one screen on one wall
Isolation is the design. The equipment does not close the path between the two screens.
The length cannot throw the image
If throw is impossible, the decision is LED or a geometry change, not a wishful lens.
An image upgrade in an old envelope
Replacing the equipment without checking the door, the port, and the floor does not renew the screen.
Wrong scope
A request for a brand certificate, a home cinema, or an equipment list without isolation. That is not this page.
Where it is used
A multiplex of adjacent screens
The shared wall, door, slab, and ceiling are the everyday problem.
A screen with a rear or booth projector
The port is an acoustic hole and a possible fire hole. It is detailed, not left as ordinary glass.
A screen with an LED wall
No throw booth, but there is cooling, load, and a closer sightline. The room changes.
A screen above another occupied space
Bass crosses the slab. Vertical isolation is not only a side wall.
Parts of the solution
The isolation boundary between screens
A double wall or separated mass, a door, a floor edge, and a ceiling. One path.
The image
Screen width or the luminous wall, and the height of the lower edge relative to the eye.
The rows
A rake or a step, spacing, and C-value toward the image. The tip-up seat enters the aisle.
The sound path inside the screen
Absorption so dialogue does not linger, without claiming a universal RT60 figure.
The booth or the back of the LED
Fan noise and the port, or cooling and load. Both are construction, not an accessory.
Engineering considerations
Isolation before the brand
The neighbour's film is heard through a weak door and flanking, not through a missing logo on the loudspeaker.
RT60 shorter than a concert hall
That is a discussion direction. The seconds are the project's criterion. The page does not set them.
Bass is not mid-band RT60
Low-frequency decay and slab transmission are another subject. One room figure does not cover them.
Sightline to the image
The lower and upper screen edges are checked. Theatre clearance is a method, not a stage target.
Throw or wall
Throw ratio comes from room geometry. LED changes viewing distance and heat. They are not swapped as fashion.
Materials
The separating wall build-up
Mass, separation, and seals. The page names no STC for the build-up.
The inner surface of the screen
Dialogue absorption from mounting data. No coefficient from this page and no fire class.
Port glass
Chosen for image angle and for acoustic and fire sealing together, on its reports, not by a ruling here.
Related systems
Projector
The lens follows length and width. The booth is isolated from the screen. The page names no model.
LED cinema
Brightness, pixel pitch, cooling, and load. Discussed on the screen page after the room decision.
Sound behind or around the image
Loudspeaker position does not come before isolation. Audio design stays on its page after room volume.
Screen and booth HVAC
Fan noise is a brief criterion. A duct between two screens is a leak path if it is not detailed.
Design sequence
- 01
Draw the adjacent screens and the isolation boundary before choosing the image.
- 02
Decide projector or LED from length, height, cooling, and sightline, not from fashion.
- 03
Build the rows toward the image with a clearance and a spacing the seat and the code fix.
- 04
Write the RT60 criterion as a project criterion, directionally shorter than a concert hall, with no copied seconds.
- 05
Name the isolation verification method in the brief. Do not write an STC on this page.
Delivery sequence
- 01
Build the break between screens as continuous before the services that will puncture it.
- 02
Detail the port, or the back of the LED screen, with load and cooling.
- 03
Form the rake and install a sample row on the image line.
- 04
Close doors and ducts between screens before any leak test.
- 05
Measure the room after seats and drapes, in the agreed mode.
Testing
Leakage between two screens
By the method the brief wrote, while one screen is playing. No catalogue STC in the record.
RT60 after completion
The project criterion. ISO 3382-1 where its scope applies, not a number from the internet.
Image sightline
From the first row and the last to both edges, seated, against the section.
Commissioning
A neighbouring show as the test
Handover accepts that neighbouring dialogue does not overwhelm local dialogue, by the agreed method.
A booth or cooling that is running
Noise is reviewed with the equipment in show mode, not switched off for the visit.
No certificate from the page
Neither THX nor any other accreditation is inferred from publishing this knowledge.
Maintenance
The door between corridor and screen
A worn seal brings the neighbour's film back. It is replaced to the detail, not with tape.
A port replaced with clearer glass
It may drop the acoustic or fire seal. The report comes before the swap.
A new duct between two screens
A later penetration without a silencer reconnects what the wall was built against.
Common mistakes
LED as fashion
Wrong scope if isolation, sightline, and cooling stay undecided. The technology is not swapped by name.
An invented certificate
The page grants neither THX nor any accreditation. Asking it for that is the wrong scope.
A concert-hall RT60 in a screen
Dialogue does not want that tail. Even the shorter direction is not a figure copied from here.
A single wall between two films
If the path is a door, a ceiling void, and a slab, the name of the wall does not isolate.
Short comparison
The comparison is a way to choose a path. It is not a product recommendation and it is not a code.
| Path | Fits when | Weakens when |
|---|---|---|
| Projector cinema | Throw, port, and screen are geometrically possible and RT60 is controlled. | When the room length cannot throw the image and the decision is postponed. |
| LED cinema | The image is a luminous wall, and brightness, pixels, and cooling are engineering. | When it is chosen as fashion and isolation between screens is unsolved. |
| A shared-wall multiplex | Isolation between each adjacent Auditorium is the design. | When the wall is a single partition and a logo is treated as a substitute for mass and seals. |
Discussion ranges
Any number here is a preliminary discussion range from practice or a named reference. Replace it with the project criterion, laboratory data, and on-site measurement.
| Item | What is discussed | Limit of this page |
|---|---|---|
| RT60 | Discussed for cinema as shorter than a concert hall because dialogue does not want a long tail. | Limit: a project criterion, not a universal number. Measure by a stated method, and to ISO 3382-1 where it applies. |
| C-value toward the screen | The clearance method is often discussed between 90 and 120 mm in theatre literature; the target here is the image. | Limit: no millimetre is fixed. Geometry and the adopted code fix it. |
| Row spacing | Often discussed from about 900 mm upward, depending on the seat and the code. | Limit: not a universal legal minimum. Tip-up width and the egress path change it. |
| Isolation between screens | A field path: wall, door, slab, ceiling, and services — not the name of a machine. | Limit: no STC and no Rw. Verify by the method written in the brief. |
What this page does not claim
No fire classification, absorption coefficient, sound pressure level, or legal capacity on this page may be copied into a quotation. Those values come from a product test report, a measurement, or the local code adopted for the project.
Questions designers and owners ask
Does LED cancel isolation?
No. That mixes scopes. The neighbour hears through the wall, the door, and the floor whatever the image source.
Why is there no THX certificate?
Because the page grants no certificates and attributes no accreditation. Asking it for a certificate is the wrong scope. Any accreditation is a contract with another party and their documents.
What is the correct cinema RT60?
There is no figure on this page. The direction shorter than a concert hall is discussion only. The criterion is written for the project and measured. ISO 3382-1 is not replaced by a table published here.
Is the projector port a small detail?
No. It is a hole in the isolation and in a possible fire path. Clearer glass can drop the seal. It is detailed with the booth.
When do I move to the home page?
When the room is a dwelling and a bedroom is on the same slab. A commercial multiplex stays here.
Technical sources
- ISO 3382-1
Measurement of performance-space parameters. Using it in a cinema is checked against the standard's scope. This page does not replace it and sets no RT60 seconds.
- The C-value method in theatre planning literature
A clearance often discussed around 90–120 mm. In a cinema it is redrawn toward the image. The page does not replace the section.
- The building, fire, and egress code adopted by the project
Occupancy, exits, the booth port, and finish performance. The page names no city and no fire class.
Last editorial review: 2026-10-06. Review means the text was checked, not that a project was measured.
Turn the question into a brief
A study starts from room volume, use, and existing condition, not from a product name. Fill the brief and copy it.
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