A factor which has been found to be important for the listener is the presence of dense diffuse reflections from the side walls in a home cinema room, called lateral reflections. The effect of these is to envelop or bathe the listener in sound and this has been found to be necessary, in order to experience maximum enjoyment from the home cinema system.

It is important that these reflections be diffuse, as specular reflections in home cinema installations will result in disturbing comb filter effects, and distracting images of the sound sources in unwanted and unusual directions. Providing diffuse reflections in custom home cinema installations is thus important and this has been recognised for some time. Traditionally, the use of plaster mouldings, niches and other decorative surface irregularities have been used to provide diffusion in an ad hoc manner.

More recently diffusion structures based on patterns of wells whose depths are formally defined by an appropriate mathematical sequence have been proposed and used, in many high end home cinema designs. However, it is not just the provision of diffusion on the side walls that must be considered when designing a dedicated home cinema room.

The Escient FP-1 iPod docking station provides all the functionality and management features that you should expect from a Fireball. Multiple custom install features allow for a seamless integration of an iPod into any home automation project. An iPod can now become a music server that distributes all audio content throughout the home, and makes it suitable for the most demanding multi room audio installations.

Escient’s FP-1 can stream music from any Fireball music server and even a PC, without a docked iPod. Other Escient music servers that are part of the same network can access and play music stored on the iPod, including songs purchased from the iTunes store.

An IP and RS232 port offer wired control capabilities for other third party home automation control systems like AMX and Philips. The graphic user interface provided displays the artist, album, song title, and even the album’s cover. The Escient FP-1 supports and streams multiple audio formats, ensuring the highest quality possible from any audio system.