The Home Cinema Alliance - Tech Talk Podcast
A consumer-facing podcast hosted by industry veterans, Stuart Burgess from Immersive Cinema Rooms and Simon Gregory from Cinema Rooms.
Each episode, we bring you News, Reviews, and Interviews from inside the industry covering Home Cinema, Home Theatre, and all things tech.
Get involved podcast@homecinemaalliance.co.uk
The Home Cinema Alliance - Tech Talk Podcast
From DTS Roots To Procella 2.0: Building Cinemas That Perform
Want a home cinema that feels visceral, vivid, and effortless at the same time? We spent two days inside Procella’s Netherlands facility to unpack how pro-grade components, smart room design, and THX fundamentals create reference sound that doesn’t wear you out. From their DTS origins to a bold Procella 2.0 roadmap, we dive into the build decisions that matter: baffle walls done right, consistent voicing across speaker sizes, and bass systems that pair modern DSP with serious cone area for real control.
Gerard and Ben walk us through the journey from a show-floor demo to a permanent lab where integrators and clients can audition small media rooms and large theaters side by side. We explore why Procella refuses the “good, better, best” hierarchy and instead scales performance to room size, keeping the same sonic character from compact surrounds to flagship LCRs. If you’ve wondered how to handle modular LED walls without acoustically transparent screens, their above‑screen LCR approach offers a brain-friendly way to anchor dialogue and effects to the image with full-range authority.
We also get practical about acoustics. Many private theaters are either overdamped and dull or untreated and chaotic. The team demonstrates diffusion that preserves life and space, letting microdetail pop at high levels without fatigue. Then there’s bass: with waveforming and advanced bass management gaining traction, Procella is expanding subwoofer options—including single 21 and 24-inch models—to move the air large rooms demand while integrating cleanly into modern arrays. Along the way, we touch on partner gear from Trinnov and Storm Audio to Anthem, Arcam, Denon, and Marantz, showing that great results are possible across budgets when the room and system are planned together.
Curious to hear it for yourself? The demo centre is open by arrangement for dealers and end users, with more training days on the way and big show plans for CEDIA and ISE. If you love cinema that hits hard, stays clear, and invites long sessions, this conversation lays out the blueprint. Subscribe, share with a home theater friend, and tell us: what’s the first scene you’d use to test a system like this?
Thinking of building your dream home cinema? Don't know where to start? Start with the HCA. At the Home Cinema Alliance, we connect homeowners with the very best in the business. Our members are trusted designers, installers, and technology experts who know how to turn any room into a breathtaking cinematic experience. Whether you're building from scratch or converting a spare room, our members are here to help you every step of the way. Visit our website to find your local member at homesinamaralliance.co.uk.
SPEAKER_03:We're here with Ben and Gerard from uh Priscilla Audio. And uh last time we saw you was at ISE in in Barcelona. Uh there you kindly invited us over to uh this fantastic facility here in the Netherlands. Can you tell us a bit more about uh the facility here that you've got?
SPEAKER_01:Of course, yeah, you're more than welcome. So um actually at talking about ISZ, that's actually where this started from. We uh always have been showcasing at ISZ uh dur from 2015 up to 2020 before COVID. Yeah, then we had to decide uh what to do with uh the whole setup over there, and then um we decided actually to rebuild it as a fixed install uh for demos, for testing, for everything back in Harderwijk in the Netherlands. So uh that's where you are at the moment. And besides the demo room, it's sort of we are also showcasing all our loudspeakers what we have. We're inside a media room right now, so it's our smallest uh setup that we have, also to showcase from little to actually a big system. So uh yeah, more than welcome.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, thanks. You've had a few dealers here for the last couple of days, and obviously the home cinema alliance members as well. What was the main benefit of uh trying to get people over here? Is it to experience what the cellar can do?
SPEAKER_01:Indeed, that's pot on actually. So it it's so telling our story, our heritage. We originated from DTS back in the day when we went when we went uh from DVD, still on DVD. So for those who know still knows DVDs, we went from DTS to DTS HD, so high resolution, so way more dynamics. Uh system back in the day, um, the speakers didn't hold up that that dynamics. So Anders, uh one of our uh founders, actually designed a loudspeaker uh system for in the DTS demo room um in the UK. Um, and that actually is sort of the starting point of of still the Procella P815 that we still have in our in our um yeah lineup, so to speak, uh which is actually showcased here in the demo room. Um so yeah, so that's the short sort of sort of the short background of where we come from.
SPEAKER_03:And you've got an anniversary coming up next year as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, then yeah, so this year is 19, yeah. So next year is very exciting, it's actually 20 years, which sort of then says, okay, so we started with a one loudspeaker. So what will happen for the coming 20 years? Because I think a lot of people have been following us, maybe, or you guys from Home Cinema Alliance, what's going on within Procela. I think um last IZ my uh colleague Ben explained that in your uh last video. Yeah, we're now sort of entering Procela 2.0, so we have new not a new vision, but a a broader vision towards the future, uh new products, improvements, etc. etc. So yeah, exciting next year, yeah, indeed.
SPEAKER_03:Looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so Ben, tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Procella. I mean, obviously, myself and Simon have known you for years, you've been around a while. Um you make me sound so old. Well, I think what was it I worked out to feel actually? I worked out the other day, I think. Between us, we've been like over 40 years in this industry or something like that. Yeah, but um, yeah, and I'm I mean you were 27, I'm 40. Um 20, so um, I wish I was still 20. Um, so yeah, tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Procella.
SPEAKER_04:Well, firstly, if you can hear any strange noises in the background, there are live demos going on downstairs as well. And we actually had a very realistic sounding helicopter flying around earlier on, so hopefully that you could pick that up on the surround sound, the helicopter outside the window. Um, so so me, um I'm a European sales manager for uh for Procella. So we've had guys here today from uh from the UK, obviously, but also from uh from Germany, from uh from Sweden, from Norway, uh from Holland as well, funnily enough. And we've had previous guys here from from Croatia and and all over Europe. So uh the facility is open for anybody to use and to bring their customers to as well, so end users can come here uh for demos with uh with Gerard. Um, and it's it's a fantastic facility to be able to do that. Uh personally, I've been in the industry since the I hate to say it, the late 90s, mid to late 90s, worked in retail, I've worked for distributors, and I've worked for manufacturers. Uh, and I've really focused on home cinema in the last uh 10 years, working with companies such as uh obviously Procela Audio, Trinov, Storm Audio, Anthem. Um, and uh yeah, I've been I've been around for a while, let's put it that way. And that experience really led me towards Procella when I first took on Procella as a brand as the distributor in the UK. Um, and uh during COVID again uh contacted Procela and saw an opportunity there to join them full time. So starting with looking after the UK and now looking after the whole of Europe. So it's a great, great time and new horizons for us as well with Procela 2.0 um and uh a great future, some really cool new products coming soon as well.
SPEAKER_02:So obviously, there may be people watching this video who are uh HA members, CDA members, integrators in the UK, if if not globally, they potentially aware of Procella um and they know the brand, and obviously it's a brand that you know myself and Simon have known and used for a few years. For the end consumer, the end consumer might not be aware of the brand. So Procella is very much an inside CI brand, it's not it's it's available via an integrator. So what's the benefits of using Procella to the end user? So if if you said obviously client could come here with like myself or Simon or an HDA member and experience it, obviously, it's very much a media room, a cinema room brand. So, what sort of like what benefits does Procella give the end user? Why should they look at Procela over maybe a brand they may well know?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, as Gerard mentioned, we come from a background of DTS in the very early days. Uh, and moving from standard uh soundtracks to high-resolution soundtracks, which is everything that anybody uses now, Dolby Atmos is a high-res soundtrack. So to do that properly, you need the right type of speakers and technically the right speakers. Um nothing existed in the industry 20 years ago when that was first being thought of. So the two founders actually created their own speakers, made their own speakers on weekends, actually, uh at DTS and created a whole new range of speakers that became Procella. We are we kind of use um Prograde components, so we come from a professional or commercial cinema background. So we have a whole range of speakers that work in very large commercial cinemas as well. So we use commercial grade components to work very well in a residential environment. So some companies you see out there have commercial grade components as well, but they tend to be big and you know, big lumps that really are used in commercial cinemas and don't look so great in your living room. We have the commercial components, but we make them so they look really nice. So we have in-mall versions, on-mall versions, small subwoofers, large subwoofers. And we're really working with integrators like you guys and other companies from the HCA. Uh, we we work together to make sure that's fully integrated into anybody's living space, whether it's a media room, a games room, or a fully dedicated home cinema, so that it's completely uh integrated. You don't have to see any product at all, but you can still get the absolute greatest performance possible. Whatever size of room, as we were discussing earlier on, that we're in a very small, a relatively small media room setting at the moment, so a couple of metres from the screen. Uh, but we can do a cinema where your room may be 30 meters long, and we can still give you the same level of quality and performance that you'd expect to have in a small room as well. Your budget may have to go up slightly because you need much bigger speakers to be able to do that and a lot more of them. Um, but it's entirely possible, and the performance level that you should get will be consistent with uh Priscilla's uh performance level across the board.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think for me, one of the bits we touched on yesterday and today as well was the the scalability was the like small, medium, large, um, was that actually using speaker A or speaker B or speaker C is based on the room. You there's there's continuity between the sound, it's just the the the overall power that it's gonna give, and you don't necessarily look at a smaller speaker like the ones that are behind you here, which here we're using as a surround channel. You don't necessarily look at them and think, oh, that's a small speaker that's not gonna perform. Um but it it sort of like going up to a bigger speaker, going sideways to a different speaker, they all sort of like harmonize with each other. So you don't need to have a big speaker on the wall to get great sound from it.
SPEAKER_01:That's actually you're tapping in actually correctly, and you were paying very good attention. So thank you. You get in gold stuff. Yeah, that's kudos for you. Yeah, uh um, no, but actually that that's what we do, and actually that's what we have been doing in marketing-wise as well. On if you look at the current website, it is this small, medium, large, as we call it, in simple terms, but we have a nicer uh saying for it, like um um, and that's actually just what we do. All the speakers indeed sound exactly the same, uh, no matter the size. Uh, for the subwoofers, we need to move air. That's the thing. The bigger the room, the more air we need to move, the further away you are. Yeah, we have to reach you. So it's very simple. That's the same as here talking to the microphone. This microphone helps me now talking to you. But if we move away the microphones and you go down the stairs, I have to talk louder in order to perceive the same thing. That's very simple, very basic. Um, back in the day we had THX, look it up, very interesting. It's still used as the industry standard throughout studios, throughout uh uh cinemas, etc. Um we as a brand still use that as basic because it's it's not a simple just a name or something that popped up like it's a nice to have. No, it's there's actually a lot of research behind that. I won't go into details, and we still use that. So they say 85 db um from seating position, 20 db up, 20 db down, as a dynamic range. That's simply what we do. So our smaller speaker will pick up from two to three meters, depending on your wall, up to a 16-17 meter from the from the screen, up to your main listening position. So that that's not a 13-meter room, that's like more like a 20-meter room. So that's for residential. If you want to go bigger or even more than that, simply we switch this to our cinema uh loudspeaker. So yeah, so we have a very good solution for everything. Uh the surrounds need more of them so you can combine them. Um it's so that's the basic content. We don't have good, better, best. You always get the best, yeah. And we sort of try to balance sort of the pricing that we're not like over the top.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, depending on the size of the room, would depend on what speak you're gonna put in.
SPEAKER_01:You need three surrounds, so you just you have to pay a bit more, but that's then what you get.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Gerald, you mentioned uh it's Procela 2.0, you've got a new website, but uh anything new coming along the along the line this year?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think a lot I think actually if we look back now, and I think 1st of August last year, we did we started the trans sort of the transformation. Uh by the way, everything who was part of call it Procela uh 1.0 is still there. So all the for the so the former two owners, uh everybody, uh sales, of course, uh both Ben and me, but we all are in different positions. I'm not product manager, so uh for the brand. So um I've worked a lot with Anders, one of the one of the co-founders, actually, also the guy who all designed all the loudspeakers throughout the years. Uh, but indeed, yes, um, you will see uh we did oh I think you saw that uh you saw it as well, at the P5 OCW, so an on-wall version of our in-wall version, especially made as a high channel, which can be then towed in 45 degrees as a as a high channel. So up, so it looks visually, it looks uh very good on the ceiling, but both technically it's in a perfect alignment with what we want to achieve according to all those CDA rules and all those things.
SPEAKER_03:That's a fantastic product. We saw obviously at RSE. Thank you for that. Yeah, I did a video on that. So click on the link below.
SPEAKER_01:That was actually my first video, so uh yeah, it was a bit exciting for me. How would we have been received? So uh and besides that, um, I think we already uh sort of highlighted a small thing um out in the industry very soon because of the the uh room mode in in a room up to 30 meters has been a thing always. So uh yeah, playing around with positions of subwoofers, um, Trinov having waveforming, um, storm audio uh integrating now uh uh direct base uh base management, which will be further implemented by many more brands. So you see this movement now. It's I think it's not a trend, it's it's it's it's just a different way with DSP processing power, how we can sort of tackle the issue of room modes in smaller rooms. So, and we are of course jumping in there, so we will have a complete lineup, single subs, um, starting that what we have right now is 15, 18 inch single subs, uh with the current look and feel that we already had for many years. Um, that will just simply change um with a visual look. So we will be adding very soon. Um, how it will look and how it will feel uh will be shown at Celia. Uh but then we will have a single 21 and a single 24.
SPEAKER_03:Fantastic. And that that's is that with waveforming in mind or just with waveforming or or for the better control, yeah, indeed.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but it's for many more purposes. I think back in the day it was all up to 18 inches what was available, and then you had sort of maybe a brand that was sort of experimenting with bigger drivers, but right now um our supplier has has it just in his range uh because it's possible for them to make them also in a more uh affordable sort of way uh with high performance, and that's what we're looking for. So yeah, but we still keep in mind easy installing, yeah, flexible installing, uh packaging will be something different. Of course, uh the whole branding is different. Um look and feel of those subs will be uh different than we had before. Uh minor improvements that don't look like much, but actually will be very interesting if you look closely if you ever uh have him installed them. So yeah. And of course, uh it's again CDR will be a sort of point where we sort of lift the yeah, I don't know, the sort of the blanket the the curtain, lift the curtain up to the more of a glimpse of the grand reveal. Yeah, what will be happening uh besides the soft movers?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, fantastic. Yeah. Well, hopefully I'm gonna be at CDR. Um if you're watching my beloved wife, I might be going to Denver in September. Um so hopefully please do so, Wyoming. So we'll hopefully we'll get to see that. Um, obviously, briefly touched on the facility you've got here. So in the big room, what are we running in there? It's 15 seats, three rows of 15 seats, isn't it? Scope screen. What channel count are we running in there?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so that's the thing. Um, uh, although uh normally you don't change. Um, I'm a guy that's that's never happy. There's always in uh improvements um in uh uh out there. Yeah, so we started as a 15310. So that meant so we have so we have 10 high channels, yeah. So left center right, which are the P815s. We started with a V21, single SOP at the front and two P15s, so dual P15s uh at the back. But then all of a sudden, um sort of waveforming was announced. So we are in close contact with a lot of industries, uh in this case, um attacking those room modes. Trinov, I think, was one of the first. So um yeah, they say that would you guys be interested in sort of rebuilding the room? So um I looked at my dad, we made a plan, a lot of drawings back and forth. So we took out the whole baffle wall and then we sort of totally rebuild it, also the rear wall, of course, because I was waveforming. So it's now a 1512-10 in here based upon uh P15 SIs. Yeah, I will have we have like listeners and watchers, of course, asking why not bigger ones. Yeah, the problem is if I show the drawings and all the work, and I think you guys, I showed you guys, it's simply impossible to fit them in because besides this, although we have the height, I also wanted our C102s above screen channels in this room. You heard it? Yeah, yeah, and I didn't tell anyone when I switched them, and nobody noticed it.
SPEAKER_02:So I think that was good. I mean, I've got a picture which I'll put up now, which Ben sent me of the front baffle wall, and and yeah, it's impressive.
SPEAKER_01:Um, is that the one with my dad on on there as well?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, which really sort of human for scale.
SPEAKER_02:Give as I say, it gives definitely gives a scale. So um actually, that was touching on the above uh screen technology that was really interesting because obviously we touch on it in um the the training the the two days we've been here is the growth of the modular LED screens. Yes, definitely. You know, we've we've been out to ISC and NAT and we've seen Samsung's Wall, we've seen Sony's Wall, there's many um manufacturers from you know Japan and and countries like that who are producing the LED screen walls. Just tell us a bit about the putting the speakers above the wall, uh above the what the wall if it's Samsung, but above the screen um and how that can combat the need to put the speakers behind the screen like we would normally do when we do a cinema of an acoustically transparent screen.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, we have to give a lot of credits to the to Anders and um and another guy called Jaska Serena back in the day because this already started uh many, many, many years back, uh before even Procello started. So there was this cinema chain uh called Finkino that wanted the best picture quality and best sound quality. Very obviously, everything you put in front of a loudspeaker, like me putting my hand in front of the microphone, yeah, you just sounds not that good. You have a problem, and you have other problems as well. If the speaker is behind the screen, no matter what. If if there's the same speaker not behind the screen, yeah, or it is, it's different than sound quality. Picture quality is the same. If it's a perforated screen, no matter how good it is, yeah, it's still perforated or in our industry woven, yeah, but it is still woven, it's not the perfect surface. So they look for something else, and then um we have to sort of cut the short uh the story short. Um, they did they did a lot of test, real life testing with 200 people audiences, built systems, etc., and it was helping at the time. So they found out that everything on one horizontal plane, full range above a screen, because of how our uh perception, our brain works, picking up sounds, etc., really helps putting the sound, attaching it to the picture. I show uh I explained to you, but it's a long story actually to tell, so not enough time here. Uh but that's it, that's actually what we have, and we have them actually in in different sizes, depending on the room. So actually, if you want to do a we're sitting here, cozy, two-seat room with above screen. We even have here we've got three five ICWs as a small solution, but actually for bigger rooms for the big uh LEDs, um, yeah, we have we have all the solutions for that. So we can we can do two-seat up to 1200 seats.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, this room, I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, we've got a massive void behind us, yeah. We've got a massive void behind you two in the meeting room, and there's a window, big window behind the cameras there.
SPEAKER_01:All on purpose, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But it, you know, for for what is uh a typical, well, it's not even a typical lounge because you generally wouldn't have this, but for what is a typical round. I mean, this is this system really does kick kick out listening to like Mad Max we just watched and a few bits and pieces like that. Yeah, it is, yeah. So a real testament because obviously it's not easy creating a room like that downstairs, but when you've got one door in, one door out, it's not as hard as when you're dealing with lots of lifestyle elements, which you definitely are up here.
SPEAKER_04:Well, this could easily be a uh a games room. That's how I how I view it. So it could be at one end of the room you've got a big video wall showing sports or or or movies, whatever it might be. At the other end of the room, you've got a pool table, a snooker table, a dartboard, a swimming pool. I mean, it could be anything with the kind of projects that we all get involved in. It really could be any multiple usage room at all. It doesn't have to be a dedicated cinema. So this kind of room shows you what's possible with, from our perspective, uh a relatively entry-level uh Procellar audio system, but in a very, very big space, a very big volume that could easily be a customer's home. It could be their basement, could be their extension, the shed in the garden, it could really be anything at all. So it shows you the flexibility of what we can do with the systems that we have, going above screen, the kind of subwoofers that we have, that you can really fill a very, very large space with absolutely awesome sound at a very reasonable price that will fit in really well with anybody's lifestyle.
SPEAKER_02:So you obviously we touched on Cedia, Denver. Are you you're planning on an ISE Barcelona 2026 next year? Anything to look forward to? Are we going bigger than the obviously the interview that we did la this year? I never know what year we'll be there.
SPEAKER_04:So that's something to look forward to.
SPEAKER_02:And we'll be there, so it'll be uh it'll be ISE interview version 2, 2.0, like Priscilla 2.0.
SPEAKER_01:Indeed. No, no, no, definitely. No, no, I know uh um doing a very close room that as we have here, as I've been doing for five years, I think that's not really if you look at the amount of money that it will cost, all the time it will absorb. And at the end, it's very difficult to get that room in a perfect position where you want it to have. It's not it's not ever getting close. This one for me, the last show that we did, 2020, we got very close. Yeah, but still, you it to get it better, you don't have the time and the money to actually execute that. So, but indeed, we'll we will be showcasing. So we will have a sort of a live demo, uh, I think also on um on Cydia, and we're what we are trying at Cydia, we will sort of copy into ISZ, or or at least for IAZ, I already have the plan in mind what uh what we'll be doing. That will be sort of a a wink to the big room and sort of to this room. Think about something like LED uh above screen, uh showing elements, what's uh how to build a room with us. Most rooms are like in my perception a bit overdamped. I heard that as well these past two days. Yeah, I have my room, but it is a bit overdamped. This room is way more alive when you walk in. Those elements they're part of us. We can make the best, let's say, or the best, or a good sounding loudspeaker with the best whatever electronics in in but at the end it it starts with the room, with the acoustics. And you can do all the wizardry with all the microphones. It can't it can't fix a bad room. It starts with with building a good room, and that's what we try to educate here as well. We are purposely built using a THX baffle wall. If you make if you and I explain it to you, if you do that wrongly, it will work against you. So the whole performance of our speakers, the whole system, will degrade, yeah, in place instead of being the system that we want it to be.
SPEAKER_02:I think you're right. I think there's there's many rooms that I've been into, you know, which have been they're either they've been they've been over dampened, and you can it's it's almost it's not quite walking into an anarchoic chamber, but it's it you sort of oh, this is a bit weird. And then you walk into rooms where they've just done nothing, and you you're you know, you're you're not dealing with first reflections, you're just not dealing with anything in the room. You've got quite an interesting material on the wall downstairs. Um, it's a is it it's it sounds almost disrespectful to say it's cardboard, but it is well there are there's different options that they offer.
SPEAKER_04:There is a cardboard option which we have. It's uh it's a it's a cardboard type material. It's not really it's very, very dense, it's very, very solid as well. They actually do the same thing in wood. But most of the time, in most of the rooms that we do, that would be uh behind stretch fabric, so you wouldn't see that anyway. Uh but it's a very, very clever diffusion material. Um we have it on view so that you can see our speakers because we use this for training as much as anything else. Um but in your customer system you wouldn't necessarily see that. Um I love it because it's it's div designed by a Swedish company called uh Audio Data Lab.
SPEAKER_01:SMT, yeah, no, but the the products are from SMT.
SPEAKER_04:The products themselves, SMT. But the concept behind it, I love the idea. That the idea is that if you're in uh northern Sweden and you're standing in the middle of a forest covered in snow in northern Sweden, it's that idea of that damped sound. So everything is a little bit damped, there's not there's no reverberation around you, but you can still hear a pin drop or a branch crack or something like that. You can still hear it throughout the whole space. Yeah, and it's it's that lovely idea of that Swedish forest um and uh and with the acoustics that are associated with that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, indeed, no, no, indeed, no, but I'm just saying if you do a gunshot in in a forest like that, you hear it and it fades out. So it's not reflecting like in a church, it it just fades out, and that that is what these diffusers typically do. They just so they they enhance sort of the the size of the room, it sounds bigger than it actually is.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think we would uh I mean one thing that stood out to me yesterday, we were listening to uh is Eric Clapton, wasn't it, Layla? And there was the the the drum, and he was just doing I don't know the technical name for it, brushing. He was brushing across the and you could just almost hear how many, you know, the great Colin Chapman always said that you know the thing with uh driving a lotus was you knew how many legs the spider had when it ran it over. This was like you almost could tell how many bristles were on the brush because it was just so precise at something that was running uh, you know, what was it probably that room running at at the time, about 107 dB? Yeah, at a max. At a max, yeah. So but it didn't sound intrusive over the top, it just sounded right.
SPEAKER_04:Well, that's what we do. The whole point of using the professional components that we mentioned earlier on uh is that we can run a system at the level that you want it to be played at. So the THX reference levels that Gerard mentioned, that George Lucas and uh Thomas and Holman uh worked on all those years ago. For uh for for cinema, for studios, and for for for us to actually listen to the systems, that's the level you should really be listening. From their point of view, you should be listening to movies and music at those levels. Um but to do that without it being fatiguing, without it sounding too harsh, it's actually very difficult. You need the right kind of components. So we work with professional grade components, we use very, very custom-designed uh crossovers to achieve that at a very, very low distortion level. So it's not just about going loud. We talk about uh volume levels a lot, but a volume anything can go loud and it can sound absolutely awful. Or you can play very loud and very, very clean uh and you get exactly what you said that you're listening to the number of bristles or the or the wings on this flying. Let's fly them buzzing around. If you're listening to this with that with headphones on, that probably sounded a bit weird.
SPEAKER_02:It's probably a bit like going back to the DTS disc where the fly is flying around the toad. Yeah, exactly. Yes, yeah, and the toad, the tone comes out. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04:It's it's great. But that that's it, it's about re reaching those volume levels um and having that experience, that visceral experience that you get from cinema and from music, uh, but with very, very low distortion levels. So it's very comfortable to listen to for long periods of time. Yeah, that's what it is.
SPEAKER_01:That's actually quite true. So what he's tapping right in is something that is also first question was why why we do this, and and it is that experience. You you cannot, everybody who was in here, whatever we had, we had prof sine, we have professionals in here from the industry, from studios, to everything, um and users for for a demo, and they all say, Okay, how's the volume? I always ask, okay, if it's a consumer, yeah, you can do a bit more. We're already at a very decent level, way above what we normally would do. But it is indeed what Ben just uh pointed out, it is that low distortion is sort of one of the key elements that we do. And the thing is, we can measure everything on paper, yeah. Uh and the typical things that we have to do, it will not show that distortion levels. Yeah, it will not you it's very difficult to read that. So you have to do experience that, and that's sort of a sort of a thing, uh, actually, that um that that's why we have this room.
SPEAKER_03:So that's what I liked about the demonstrations that you did for us uh yesterday. Like they they they weren't necessarily uh overpowering or particularly loud. Obviously, certain scenes were like the quiet um the quiet place kind of thing. But yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:The first run that I did, I just actually on purposely looked on my on my uh doing the day before on Sunday, I was actually running through them and okay, max, okay, so about one six, one seven-ish. So we all sort of have them, and you guys experienced also the difference in so it's sort of the same level-ish, yeah, but still very different from the type of movie. So and and so and but I was not even pushing the system yet. Yeah, we still have a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03:You pushed it a bit more today with uh June. Of course, of course, of course.
SPEAKER_01:So we have we have enough headroom, yeah. More more than actually that is sort of but it is but it is still very uh appealing, sort of comfortable, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's a comfortable experience for everybody. I mean, some people like it. Some people don't like it now, but you can still hear a lot of clarity and a lot of detail, and obviously the dynamic range is is there in case it's uh in case it's required.
SPEAKER_04:But uh Yeah, well it's like going to a really good concert. You go and see a your your favourite band and uh and and you're enjoying yourself, you're really into it, you don't really think anything of it. It's it's at the right volume level. You're having a great time. It's not until you walk out of that venue and it's quiet outside that you suddenly realise that how loud it was that you're actually listening to. If it's really, really good quality, it's no problem. You can even talk to the person next to you because it's a very clean sound, it's load distortion, you can still chat to the person next to you. It's not until you go out afterwards that you realise that, wow, that was incredibly loud high volumes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, or you have to raise your voice quite a bit.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly, because your ears are uh are struggling a little bit for a little while. But we've run this system very, very hot a number of times, playing it at some crazy DB levels uh for testing as much as anything else, and it has absolutely no problem at all. We've got so much headroom. Uh you can have a have a great time, really enjoy your system, whether whether it's uh watching the Lions on tour this summer, just to throw that in there, or the uh the football tonight. Um sorry, manuslash Tottenham, whoever loses, uh just to age this podcast. Um but uh also if you're watching any film or any music concert, if you want to experience it properly, that's the way you do it. Um and you can play it at really, really good volume levels uh without uh overloading the room and without overloading your own hearing.
SPEAKER_03:So this facility is obviously uh designed to bring distributors and and end users. What's the best way for them to experience such a great facility?
SPEAKER_04:Uh they need to get in touch with their uh hopefully HCA member dealer, of course. Let's throw that one out there, um, who will contact me and uh we can arrange that no problem at all. If anybody's over it, we're we're not that far from Amsterdam here. So if uh if customers are happy to travel over here, or if people are over here on holiday anyway, uh we can set something up, no problem at all. And the dealer can come over with them or Gerard can host them here. Um and it's it's certainly open to be used and to be experienced, because it really is an experience. There's not many systems. It is fantastic on the planet.
SPEAKER_03:Have you got more open days coming along soon or that the the that distributors can come to?
SPEAKER_04:Yes, absolutely for distributors and dealers. Uh we'll we'll be doing another one. Uh we haven't quite worked out the date for that one yet. We'd love to do it mid-summer uh because it's nice around here in the summer. Um, but it's fitting it in with everybody's holidays. So we're looking at other dates. I'm sure we'll do another one in the third quarter, uh, sorry, fourth quarter of the year. Uh, but we're going to try and fit another one in between before then.
SPEAKER_01:We will definitely ramp up and then I think we'll communicate with all those dealers, etc., more dates out. So it's not just this one date is focused on as it was with this one, but we will plan ahead that we have multiple dates available, and then you can sort of squeeze in what suits you.
SPEAKER_04:So and just to make it clear, I tend to invite my own list of dealers, and that's that's people that I are either already using Procella or have used Procella in the past, or I just know really well. Um if there are any other dealers that might not normally get an invite from me, absolutely more than welcome to come. We're very happy. Yeah, from all over Europe, absolutely. Um and we like to have a balance of people here. So at this this event, we've had a couple of very experienced uh Procela guys here and some guys that are very new to Procella. And we love having that mix. The last one that we did back in January, we had exactly the same thing. And it's just nice that people can share that knowledge, people can discuss things, learn more about cinema and learn more about Procella, but also Trinov, waveforming, Barco projection, screen research, screen, colliderscape. We have all the top brands here, of course, because we have relationships with all these manufacturers. MadVR exactly for the video processing. Um, but just I was thinking about this earlier on, actually. One thing just to throw out there, we we talk about Trinov, we talk about Storm Audio, we talk about these very, very high-end systems. We do a load of work with other brands as well, whether it's Anthem, RKAM, Morant, Denon, whatever it might be. Uh, just because we're Procella doesn't mean you have to have a 32-channel Trinov audio system for that to work properly. We work with all brands and at all levels and at all room sizes. So there's nothing to restrict people in that way. So if any other dealers are interested in coming out to the events, the partner events, get in touch with me. I'll put you on the list. Next time we have an available date or the one after, I'll get in touch and I'd be very, very happy to have as uh as many people along as possible. And if it's oversubscribed, we'll just do some more. And good steak. And incredibly good steak. Really good steak. I'm not sure if I recommend the lemon cello. That's uh that was perhaps a mistake.
SPEAKER_02:I've never seen I've never seen someone drink a lemon cello before where the whole face went like really taught.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I'm pretty sure my eyeballs rolled back in my head at one point, but it was uh it was very, very nice, very pleasant.
SPEAKER_02:Did you just have one? Because I I left you had two, because I I left after the I mean I don't drink, but I left after the first one because like I was just tired. And and then I'm like, it's been a while since I left them, so I was wondering whether you had another one or not. Oh yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Actually, talking about those dinners or whatsoever. So that's actually what what one of the things that we will do as well. It's more than welcome, yeah. We give you a lot of loads of information. You can ask ever literally anything. Well, we'll try to answer just everything as well as as good as we can. Um, but then also it's it's more like if you do the visit here, right? It's a nice place here, a little place here in in the Netherlands, Hardawake, which has a very nice uh town. Uh, you guys slept in the dead center of it on the marketplace.
SPEAKER_02:Lovely. It was only three minutes' walk from the restaurant. It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, we didn't.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we didn't all come back here and sleep at the cinema.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, you didn't sleep on the marketplace as well. No, exactly. No, but that's actually what we normally do. Yeah, if we invite people over, depending on time of day or whatsoever, yeah, we just take them out for dinner because uh, besides this, there are so much more to talk about always. Um, but it's for us as a brand, it's it's not we're selling the box, okay? It's it's about selling the experience, but it's also getting uh in contact. Yeah, it's selling is personal, yeah. So it's building relationships that we want that's what we are trying to achieve. Long-term relationships with our dealers, installers, wherever you are. In in this case, we're talking to Europe mainly, I think, but wherever in the world, yeah, that's just what we do. We build a long-term relationship.
SPEAKER_02:So obviously, uh to wrap things up, so new website, new brand identity, um, lots of information on the website that you guys communicated with with us over last year's uh website address to put you on the spot?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, it's www.procella.audio. So it's just simply if you type it in procela.audio in any browser, it just pop up.
SPEAKER_02:Excellent.
SPEAKER_01:So it's very simple, isn't it? The brand name. Just type the brand name.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and as I say, I I I I like 2.0, I like the new brand. It's very modern, very fresh, and and I think it pairs well with the the direction the brand is going in and the you know, the sort of conversations that we've had, you know, off camera um about the brand. I think that it's an exciting future for the brand.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, no, definitely. Keep keep an eye on the socials you'cause you're you're ramping that up a little bit more as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, indeed. Yeah, just follow us or subscribe.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we'll we'll we'll I'm sure we'll both be back at some point. Oh, yeah. Uh so we're we're back for interview podcast version two, as well as Brisella 2.0.
SPEAKER_04:So any dealers, visit us at CDR or ISC on our stand and uh and and we'll give you the lowdown. Uh there'll be lots of new announcements, lots of new products. We'll tell you all about them. Just by the way, uh, because people always get it wrong, the spelling of Priscilla is P-R-O-C-E-L-L-A. Brisella Audio. The storm.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Thank you very much for your time, guys. It's been a it's been a fantastic two days. And uh now time to pack up, have another quick demo, and uh jump on a plane back to the UK. Definitely. Thanks for your time, guys.
SPEAKER_01:Drinking a coffee and a and a stroke waffle.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely get another one in before I go. My fifteenth one today. Cheers, guys. Thank you. Cheers.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thank you.