Coming Attractions: JBL at Cannes

The 66th Cannes Film Festival kicks off with killer custom sound systems from JBL. Four JBL Synthesis systems, large-scale and according to JBL, ultra-high-end, are going to be installed in the theaters built in the Hotel Gray d'Albion to showcase the festival's film's sound quality. Complete with four-way speakers and 18-inch subwoofers, they're bound to make an impact.

What's of more interest to those of us who aren't on the VIP list at Cannes is the use of other JBL and Harman Kardon (both are part of Harman International) products in smaller screening rooms and video-on-demand booths for the many short films featured at Cannes. These are products that you could easily use in your own home. What's coming soon to a theater near you? (Well, near you if you live in France.)

Jbl_logo_2 The smaller screening rooms will feature JBL Cinema Sound loudspeakers. Their stylish look fits right into the scene at Cannes, but you can bring that stylized look home too. For Cannes, they're using CST55 floor-standing towers, CSC55 center channel, and a CSS10 powered subwoofer. Powering the speakers is a Harman Kardon AVR 350 and DMC 250 digital media center (currently not available in the U.S.).

The video-on-demand booths will be using AKG headphones - models K242HD and K142HD that are studio-grade headphones with the bass response needed for movies while maintaining dialogue details.

If you can't make it to Cannes this year, at least you can bring the sound of Cannes home. -Leslie Shapiro

JBL 

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