he Elite Screens Home 2 Series Acoustic screen, looks like a great deal. I mentioned previously, that the Suggested List Price of the 100" 16:9 version is $1609. I looked around for compeition, and found the Da-Lite Cosmopolitan motorized, with their Audio Vision surface (they also have a more expensive micro-perf surface). The less expensive of the two, is still about $750 more, and you'll pay extra for a 12 volt trigger or wireless RF system (a couple hundred dollars plus), bringing it close to $1000 more. I didn't bother to check Stewart Filmscreen prices. I'm confident that their 100" CinemaPerf would have a sticker price of at around $5000, probably more.
It becomes obvious, that Elite is a low cost solution. Even the best of the acoustic screens are going to cost you some loss of audio and video, but you can expect good results unless you really are audio focused. This makes for interesting trade-offs. If you decide on an acoustic surface, you can consider that the a better screen may cost you close to the difference in price between a good 720p resolution projector, and a better 1080p projector.
If, on the other hand, you have ample budget, and are buying a higher priced - $3000 to $8000 projector, I would think you more likely to consider some of the more expensive screens.
One thing I haven't mentioned about this Elite screen, is that it is not tensioned. Most acoustic screens, or for that matter most more expensive screens are tensioned to keep them flat after all that rolling up and down. The Elite surface itself, is a fairly heavy one, so I expect it will hold up pretty well, but I'd like to see a tensioned version as well for a few hundred more.
For casual viewing I found little difference between the Elite, and the Carada with Brilliant White surface. The Carada was definitely a bit brighter, and by virtue of that, appeared a little more dynamic, but the color was near identical with just a slight shift on the Elite.
Bottom line:
There are two scenarios I see, as common. The first one includes those people who want a minimally visible system when not in use, a major priority. No free standing speakers, no permanent fixed screen on the wall. Many of you who fit this category, are just looking for a good solution to that, and aren't hyper-critical. I'd say that for this group, this Elite Screen would likely make a good choice.
Then there are those who will put in really high quality in-wall speakers behind the screen, those same folks are more likely to look for the best screen in terms of minimal affect on the sound. Those of you that fit this description, are likely to look for the more expensive mico perferated surfaces, instead of a weave like the Elite's.
As I said to start, this was going to be more of a subjective review, and so it turned out to be. At this point you should know enough to determine if this screen is a contender, in meeting your needs.
