On this episode of The Front Row Podcast, we’re joined by Chris Seymour, Manager and Co Founder of Seymour Screen Excellence. If you’ve spent any time around projection, chances are you’ve heard his name. Chris has been building acoustically transparent screens for years, and lives in the weeds when it comes to what actually happens once light hits the screen.

This conversation is all about the part of the system most people treat as an afterthought: the screen.

We dig into gain and what that number really means. A 1.0 gain screen sounds like it should give you 100% of the light back, right? Not exactly. Chris explains why it’s close, but not quite that simple, and why understanding screen gain matters more than most people realize.

We also get into ALR properties and when they actually make sense in a home environment. Not every room needs it, and not every projector plays nicely with it. Speaking of projectors, we also talk a bit about sparkle. If you’re running a single chip DLP and have ever noticed a little extra shimmer on certain screen materials, this part you don’t want to miss.

We also spend time on the long standing debate between micro perf and woven materials. There are compromises on both sides. Chris breaks down what those compromises are and which use cases make the most sense for each. And of course, we touch on screen masking and why it might be relevant again with variable aspect ratio movies and even some streaming content using different ratios. There is a lot more going on with screens than just picking a size and calling it a day.

If you’ve ever focused all your energy on the projector and barely thought about the screen, this episode might change that. The screen is not just a white surface. It changes the image more than people realize.

We want to give a big thank you to our podcast sponsor, ⁠⁠Anthem Electronics⁠⁠. Anthem isn’t just about power,  it’s about precision. From clean amplification to intelligent room calibration, every element is engineered to deliver pure, articulate sound. Unlock the performance your system was made for.

⁠⁠Anthem – Elevate. Refine. Enhance⁠⁠

Listen to The Front Row Podcast on your favorite platform and be sure to follow and leave a review on Apple & Spotify:

⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠

⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠

⁠⁠iHeartRadio⁠⁠

⁠⁠Amazon Music⁠⁠

⁠⁠Pandora