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TDS Sound Technology

Established 1985

Used in the HOLOPHEAR 4D 1080I Digital Cinema 1998

Recommendations


 

Experiencing Holosphere
By T. Berryhill

It was Remembrance Day, November 11th, 1998, when I finally got to experience true digital theatre. CORE invited me to join others who had been close to the company for a special reception the night before a two-day demonstration in a theater at Robson Square, Vancouver. I had heard that the projector would impress me even more than the GE light valve technology I had considered to be tops for many years, so I was definitely curious to see for myself. But since I believe that sound is at least as important as picture to create a truly impressive experience, I really wanted to hear the proprietary system for myself too. As much as I enjoy graphics and have worked with 3D animation since the early 80’s, seeing the premier of Jurassic Park only reinforced to me that sound and sound quality is critical.
I did have a “taste” of the sound system at the home of its developer, Dr. Josef Tyls, a few weeks earlier. As we sat in his listening room with a small array of
speakers, we chatted easily while the sound pressure gauge registered over 100 decibels.
“We can hear each other clearly without shouting over the music,” he said, “because no distortion is being introduced by the system.” Having considered myself an audiophile in the 60’s and 70’s, I was quite impressed by what I heard. But a special small listening room and a theatre are two different things. I had faith that his bass end would hold up because of what I call his “air cannon” design for the bottom end. Four of these would be at the front of the theater. But what about the high notes and mid-range? I was informed that the secret was in the crossovers and system design, making sure that only the right range of sound was delivered to each speaker, with absolutely no distortion. This system has been designed using proprietary circuitry developed over 17 years. It involves modifications to the amplifiers as well as the special crossovers.
What amplifiers would he use? Crown. “I’ll be there,” I said.

At the theater, CORE presented the sound system first, demonstrating the “small array” designed for small theaters and high-end home installations. Even in this space for seating 350, the small array was crystal clear and well balanced, except for a slight weakness at the low end, in my opinion. Then they switched on the woofers, or air cannons as I call them, but just two of the four. That was it. It filled in what I had been missing with just the small array. However, if I were to use the small array for home theater, I think I would just take them without the cannons.

I really was impressed by the clarity and quality of the sound from the small array, but sitting there staring at the large array, I couldn’t help but wonder, “what’s it going to be like when they switch it all on?” I didn’t have to wait. On went the class-A amplifiers, the other two woofer systems, the large array and selected sample CDs.

I listen for detail. I listen for tonal quality and balance, and unfortunately I often try to tune out distortion. I joke with myself at the symphony about the time at Massey Hall in Toronto during the 70’s, when I was heavily involved with sound systems, exclaiming to my companion, “Listen to the quality!” as the Toronto Symphony played. Live sound is amazing.

 

What I heard that night I can only describe as “more.”
I wanted to hear it again. I wanted to hear more examples to see if it really was this good. I couldn’t get enough. The next day I returned and brought my own CDs. I had them push the limits. 105 decibels. 106 decibels. I knew this music. I had heard it on several different systems. This is really what I wanted… a sound system with no distortion and lots of power. I have never before heard this level of clarity.

Now, how about some imagery to go with this sound system? Unfortunately, since it was a holiday, the digital tape deck was stuck in shipping, so they only had DVD quality that night. Their up-converter that improves the quality of DVD video was also enroute, so we watched straight home quality DVD. I’ve been at movie theaters with far worse quality! This was beating 70-mm film! I returned the next day to catch the D5 digital tape projection at much higher quality. I walked right up to the screen, on stage, and could not see artifacts of the technology until I was about 10 feet away. I later learned that the screen, 27' x 11', was designed for film projection with a coarse mesh to minimize distortion caused by airflow. Now I’m thinking those “artifacts” could well have been that mesh. The projector’s intensity had been turned up to compensate for the light lost due to the tranmissiveness of the screen. Does this mean it would be even more impressive on a solid surface mounted screen? It doesn’t really matter, because from the seating area, the digital projection was far and away better than any 70-mm film I have ever seen. While I had used micro-mirror technology projectors for lectures and presentations, this projector was incorporating the technology specifically for theater projection. All the same ease of use was there with on-screen controls from the remote control for brightness, etc. It was just that the image was so much bigger (it filled the screen) and so much clearer than film or other digital projectors of the past.

Putting together the sound and projection, CORE screened a couple of recent Hollywood titles on DVD. This indeed was better than when I saw the movies at the cinema. Special effects came alive with no distracting sound artifacts or distortion. The power of the bass involved me in the action with no pain.
This is digital theater, and I want more of it.

Where can this go in the future? With such a high quality picture and such great sound, all coming from a little digital disk or tape instead of bulky cellulose film, theaters of the future may cut their costs enormously by operating the equipment much as we now do at home with our TVs, VCRs and DVDs.
I can only imagine other opportunities for group experiences in a theater environment, such as live events shared around the world over digital networks, live learning experiences for school children, computer-based presentations, group games and more. This, in my opinion, is one of those evolutionary, incremental changes, that is indeed significant. Those who seize the opportunity first will definitely set the direction.

 


Mr. Berryhill is a teacher and lecturer at the University of British Columbia, in the Multimedia and Internet Labs. He was also past President of the Vancouver ‘SIGGraph’ Association for the past three years. Mr. Berryhill also does private technology consulting and multimedia development work for a number of prominent businesses within British Columbia.

The perfect AUDIO RAVE was

The 1994 'KEY-OPS' concert

The finest Hand Made Audio Art Monitors
The 1998 Cello Blonds' by TDS
The Best Reference Audio Monitor
​The 1990 TDS MK3c

R. J. Barny Hiney CET P. Eng. ( BC Pndg.)

 

1045 Beverley Place, Victoria, BC V8S 3Z7

 

Ph: (250) 595-1120 Fx/Msg: (250) 388-7387

 

e-mail: hiney@bc.sympatico.ca

 

May 13, 1999

 

 

 

 

Holosphear 4D Ph: (604) 506-5019

 

3885 S. Decatur Blvd., Suite 3010 Fx: (604) 990-0956

 

Las Vegas Nevada, USA 89103

 

ATTN: Josef Tyls Vice-President of Engineering

 

C/o TYLS Dynamic Systems,

 

North Vancouver,

 

BC Canada V7J 1G3

 

 

 

 

Dear Josef Tyls:

 

 

 

 

This report will summarize the tests performed on the Holosphear 4D Mark IIIc speaker system and MANIFOLD at your workspace in North Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 6, 1999.

 

 

 

 

The system under test and review was the Speaker System intended for use with the Live and Theatre Entertainment System presently under development by Holosphear 4D. The frequency response and audio power tests were verified and conducted on the fabricated speaker units. The tests were intended to verify the efficiency and wide dynamic range of the speaker system. One model of each type was tested with the listed measuring equipment and the results recorded. Multiple models were compared, the comparisons verified, but no data was recorded. Technical details of the units were not provided. The units are manufacturing prototypes and are to be exactly reproduced in production.

 

 

 

 

The tests were conducted in the audio test and control workshop located at the above address. The data was recorded and verified against specifications. The data was compared to specifications and was not graphed or analyzed, as there was correlation between specifications and the recorded data.

 

 

 

 

The frequency and ouput power data recorded during this test session were sufficient to verify the operation of the units against the specifications provided. If these prototype speaker systems are reproduced in manufacturing they will meet the stated specifications.

 

 

 

 

Please find the test procedures and results on Page 2/.

 

 

 

 

If there are any questions regarding the contained information please contact the writer.

 

 

 

 

Yours truly,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

R. J. “Barny” Hiney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please find below the Test Configuration, Instrumentation and Recorded Data:

 

 

 

 

The test setup included high quality audio power amplifiers, low resistance/high power copper leads and 100 watt load resistors of 5.25 ohms. Measured by Micronta #22167

 

 

 

 

The signal sources were: - Pink Noise generator

 

- Sine wave source-- signal generator Model AG2601A

 

- CD-ROM player and various sound track diskettes

 

Measuring devices were as follows:

 

-Pink Noise, power output voltages- 3 ½ Digit PROTEK 506-Dual Slope Voltmeter

 

-Oscilloscope monitoring of sine wave output sine wave and amplitude

 

-Sound Level Meters

 

 

 

 

The system was set up near the rear wall of the audio room and the sound level meters placed 1 meter from the speaker system. The Pink Noise source was adjusted and level set, averaged over 10 seconds, for an output of (.920 to 1.012 Volts) producing an audio output level of 88 dB. The output was standardized at 1kHz at 87 dB ( 1.012 Volts).

 

The results for the Holosphear 4D Mark IIIc speaker system are as follows:

 

30 Hz 66 dB @ 1.005 Volts

 

35 Hz 72 dB @ 1.009 Volts

 

60 Hz 83 dB @ 1.017 Volts

 

70 Hz 86 dB @ 1.018 Volts

 

 

1 kHz 87 dB @ 1.012 Volts

 

12 kHz 87 dB @ 1.012 Volts

 

 

17 kHz 81 dB @ 1.004 Volts

 

 

20 kHz 68 dB @ 1.009 Volts

 

 

 

 

The system was set up near the rear wall of the audio room and the sound level meters placed 1 meter from the speaker system. The Pink Noise source was adjusted and level set, averaged over 8 seconds, for an output of (.800 to 1.102 Volts) producing an audio output level of 86 dB. The low frequency corner is 35 Hz.

 

The results for the Holosphear 4D MANIFOLD speaker system are as follows:

 

16 Hz 58 dB @ 1.008 Volts

 

20 Hz 66 dB @ 1.008 Volts

 

25 Hz 70 dB @ 1.001 Volts

 

30 Hz 81 dB @ 1.001 Volts

 

35 Hz 87 dB @ 1.008 Volts

 

40 Hz 86 dB @ 1.003 Volts

 

80 Hz 95 dB @ 1.001 Volts

 

The Crossover network functions @ 90 Hz and was operational.

 

 

 

 

Various frequencies throughout the spectrum were measured to ensure and verify flat response. There were no exceptions or anomalies and data was not recorded.

 

A demonstration of performance was provided and the system performance was excellent.

 

 

Tyls Dimensional Sound
INDEPEDANT THIRD PARTY ANALYSIS
The proprietary audio Technology http://www.tyls.net/test.htm is comprised of:
ALL custom 'handmade' monitors and totally modified 'to spec' audio equipment components with more than 100 transducers, powered by 12 PURE AUDIOPHILE QUALITY AMPLIFIERS equaling more than 25,000 watts of pure clean acoustic power.
Frequency response = 16 to 40,000 cycles per second
System Efficiency = 101 decibels with 1 watt @ 1 meter
Total sonic distortion is less than > 0.05%
The result is... PURE AUDIO BLISS :-) at any listening level with
ABSOLUTELY NO LISTENING DISCOMFORT OR HEARING CHALLENGES
creating profound physiological, mental, emotional and spiritual shifts.​

THE SONIC TEMPLE

25,000 Watts of PURE AUDIOPHILE CLARITY

The second finest Hand Made Audio Art Monitors
The 2000 Cello Cabernet' by TDS

1998 Holosphear 4D 1080I Digital Cinema

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