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The Center Stage fixed frame screen uses the world's highest quality, blackest material available, true Fidelio velvet.  You can pay three to four times the price and not come anywhere near the light-absorption quality of Fidelio velvet, also made right here in the US and used to line the cavities of research telescopes.  At 0.3% reflectivity, it is even better than the 0.4% reflectivity fabric velvet with finished edges we have made for the retractable screens, and up to 25 times more absorbing than border materials from major screen companies at similar prices.  Our 3.3" wide Fidelio borders with an elliptical contour give you the ultimate overscan absorption, a boost in perceived contrast, and a floating three-dimensional look to the image.

Measuring a beefy 3.3" x 1.6", we designed the Center Stage screen to have as robust a frame as screens costing several times the price, and still fitting under our favorite masking system from Carada.  We also upgraded the wall thickness to easily resist sag to 170".  The .093" wall thickness is 50% thicker than many major screen companies frames priced thousands higher.  With the large profile, heavy walls and 360-degree O-ring tension, the frame is acoustically deader than Elvis.

Ease of Installation

Having put together countless screens, we designed the Center Stage screen from scratch to be the easiest possible installation for a woven screen.  For unsupported stretchy-vinyl screens, the snap or rod-in-pocket system works great.  But for supported woven fabric screens, nothing is easier and more robust than our 360-degree O-ring / grommet system.  Saving you the ridiculous hassle of pounding T-trim into slots, there are no special tools needed.  The Center Stage O-ring system is as simple as hooking a bunch of rubber bands over posts.   Here is a demonstration video clip: CenterStageORing.  The Center Stage tension system is dynamic, providing a lifetime of 360-degree tension at all temperatures and humidities, and enabling easy upgradeability or replacement.

If you have children, pets, video games with tossable objects, or a dumb friend with a pokey finger, you can easily and permanently damage many other fixed frame screens but not the Center Stage.  With its reinforced weave and the dynamic tension system that corrects for dramatic dimensional changes, you get durability for the long haul. Here is a demonstration video clip, with something you should never try with other screens: CenterStageJump.

Translucence

How light reflective are the surfaces behind your screen?  If your paint colors are any lighter than a medium tone, or if you have windows, pictures, or reflective speakers, then you first want to try to tame the reflection.  Dark paint is cheap and improves your contrast.  If your speakers are reflective or you otherwise can't easily treat the reflective surfaces, then I guess you're boned.  Or, you can order the black backing option, which is over twice as acoustically transparent (you'd lose an average 0.3dB) and effectively cancels the light transmittance through the screen.  The black backing material does not improve the contrast of your image unless you have noticeable reflections from behind your screen.  If you think this may be an issue for your installation, tell us to send you samples of both the screen and black backing fabrics.  You can always add the black backing layer later with our innovative grommet / O-ring design.

Fixed Masking Panels

The new optional Center Stage fixed frame masking panels provide a perfect changing of your screen's aspect ratio without the moving parts, cost and compromises that motorized masking systems have.  We start with custom, black anodized frames for the panels, and then finish them in two configurations, optimal to your installation.  No longer will you have to suffer those gray bars and the angst that results when you discover that movie you're about to watch does not match the aspect ratio of your frame.  The 0.6" thin panels don't create shadow lines and are fully retrofit-able into all existing Center Stage frames at any time.  They are built to your specification and easily insert inside the frame using dozens of powerful Neodymium magnets.

Fidelio^® Velvet
If you don't have your speakers behind where the masking panels will be, then we recommend nothing short of the darkest, most perfectly-matched material, the same true Fidelio velvet that we use on the frames.  Nothing else comes close to its 99.7% light absorption.

Millibel^™ A.T.
If you do have your speakers behind where the masking panels will be, then we recommend the most acoustically transparent mask available anywhere.  With the Millibel panels, we use the same material as our black backing which attenuates on average only 0.3dB (300 millibels), and then trim it out in matching velvet (99.6% light absorption) to mask the image overscan, maintain a sharply framed image and perfectly match your frame.  In a dark room, the panels look completely black, because the leading-edge velvet is what's doing the difficult job.  The rest of the panel just needs to reduce the ambient light reflectivity of the screen to a black appearance.  If your ambient light is so high that you can see the shades of black in the panel, then you're setting your projector's contrast back 10 years.

Constant Height (CH)
Constant height screens are often called "scope" screens because they start out ultra-wide.  When watching 16:9 ratio content, you will have pillar-boxes on the sides, where there is white screen but no content.  The CH masking panels will block those gray areas and reformat your screen for 16:9. 

While commonly 2.35, we just as easily do 2.37 (for those using an anamorphic lens) or 2.4 (the widest of the "scope" formats) and build the side panels to convert your screen to 16:9 (1.78) HDTV ratio.  Just specify what your original screen's aspect and image width are - its model number - and we'll figure out the rest.  Our CH panels now use all-magnet attachment to the frame.

If your L/R speakers are behind the screen, for Millibel acoustics planning the extruded frame is 1.2" wide on the outer side, 1.6" wide on the top and bottom edges, and the standard velvet on the inside edge is 3.5".  Available on request is a narrower, 1.5" wide velvet inside border.

Constant Width (CW)
Constant width screens are the more common 16:9 (1.78) HDTV screens that match the aspect ratio of nearly all home theater projectors.  When watching an epic "scope" ratio film, you will have letter-boxes on the top and bottom, where your projector is shining its version of dark.  The CW masking panels will block those gray areas and reformat your screen to 2.40 ratio as standard.

All CW panels come in a set of four, all magnetically attached to the frame.  Nothing is slicker or easier than magnets.  If you're not sure about getting the panels at first, for $75 you can have us pre-install the frame magnets so that you can opt for the panels later.  If you do choose to get them, we'll credit what you've paid in magnets (there are a lot of them) toward the panel purchase.  The frame is 1.2" wide, being double wide in the middle.  Millibel AT panels feature a 1.5" wide leading-edge velvet strip as standard, and appear totally black in a darkened room.

Constant Area (CA)
These screens start out as a natively-unusable 2.07 compromise, but allow for the same area to be displayed for 16:9/1.78-1.85 content and for the scope family of 2.35 to 2.40.  Through the use of both our fixed CW and CH panels, you can easily configure your screen for a balanced, maximized immersion for all modern aspect ratios.  Never again feel cheated when that film you've been waiting to see doesn't fit the screen configuration you went with.  Configure a 4-way constant area system and you'll be set for life.

NEW! Curved frame

For those who are using an anamorphic lens to stretch their 16:9 ratio projectors to a 2.37 native width, often times they can experience a pincushion, or bow tie-shaped geometric distortion to their image.  Our new curved frame option fixes that distortion with a standard 40' radius for the top and bottom frame pieces and dramatically increases the sense of immersion.  While less acoustically transparent screen materials from other companies tout their curved frames ability to allow you to angle your L/R speakers inward, our Center Stage XD material is far more acoustically transparent and you can angle your speakers however you want behind the screen with immeasurable difference.  Also, our 160 degree viewing angle material doesn't need curvature to improve its gain or uniformity, however using an anamorphic lens will improve your resolution by 33%, your light output by up to 20%, and immersion by three mojos.  With our Center Stage XD material, you would have a truly reference quality image.  Our fixed masking panels will easily convert the curved screens to 16:9 ratio with magnetized ease.

Above is a 150" wide, curved frame Center Stage XD 2.37 screen with Millibel CH panels and 3" velvet.

Options

While we welcome unique challenges, here are some standard options:

• Black Backing layer.  It can be installed later if you need, using half the o-rings from your screen.  The cost for this option varies from $175 to $400 depending on size.
• Masking panels.  The perfect all-magnet solution for a multi-aspect ratio screen.
• Four way masking, constant image area (CA) screen.  If you like the idea of a constant area, four-way masking screen but the $20k+ prices for motorized versions leaves you less enthusiastic, we have a killer value for you.  Special order a 2.07 ratio screen with a set of CW and CH panels.
• Curved frame.  Only for use with an anamorphic lens, our formatting to 2.37 and curving the screen improves resolution, brightness and immersion.
• Drilled and threaded holes.  We can drill and thread holes on the sides or top of the frame if you need.
• Black eye bolts.  For those who need to hang the screen from the ceiling, request that we drill and tap on the top of the frame, and include eye bolts.
• Stainless steel cable.  For a classier look than chain, we can precision cut and Nicopress specific lengths of 0.032" diameter SS cable for you to hang your screen from.

Installation instructions

Here is the installation document: CenterStageFixedFrameInstructions.pdf (Rev. 8/09, 1540k)

Dimensions