Case Study: Sound You Can Experience for Yourself

Case Study: Sound You Can Experience for Yourself

JBL Synthesis 9.4.4 Certified Immersive System Anchors the New Sweetwater Immersive Audio Room, the Only Public Demo of Its Kind in the Midwest

Description of Project:

In March 2026, Sweetwater, the nation’s largest music store, located on its sprawling campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, unveiled a significant retail expansion built around two new dedicated home audio listening rooms. At the center of this multimillion-dollar investment is the Sweetwater Immersive Audio Room: an environment engineered to deliver cinema-grade immersive audio in a tuned, acoustically controlled space. The room is anchored by a custom JBL Synthesis 9.4.4 Certified System, giving Sweetwater customers and visiting professionals the opportunity to experience reference-grade immersive performance in a category normally reserved for private home theaters.

Challenges:

“When we set out to expand our home audio experience, we knew the immersive room had to be uncompromising,” said Adam Crampton, Director of Music Store Operations at Sweetwater. “Our customers, many of whom are themselves musicians, engineers, and serious listeners, can hear when a system has been carefully designed from the ground up. We needed equipment that could deliver reference-grade performance in a room built and calibrated around it, and JBL Synthesis met every requirement we set. The pedigree of the engineering, the way every component is designed to work together, and the calibration process that follows: it all comes through the moment you sit down. This is the only place in the Midwest where someone can walk in off the street and hear what this category of system is capable of.”

Solution:

The system breaks down as follows. Three SCL-6 loudspeakers handle the front left, center, and right channels, with two SCL-7 loudspeakers providing the front wide positions for an exceptionally broad frontal soundstage. Four additional SCL-7 loudspeakers cover the surround side and surround rear positions, while four SCL-8 in-ceiling loudspeakers deliver the overhead height channels critical to object-based immersive audio formats including Dolby Atmos. Low-frequency reinforcement is delivered by four SSW-3 subwoofers.

The system is driven by an SDR-38 16-channel immersive surround sound receiver paired with two SMA-8300 multi-channel power amplifiers, providing the headroom and channel count required for a full 9.4.4 build. Final room correction was performed by JBL Technical Sales Manager Daniel Jones using Dirac Live Bass Control.

The room measures 16 feet wide by 17 feet 7 inches deep with a 10-foot ceiling. Couch seating for three places listeners 10 feet 6 inches from the front wall at an ear height of 3 feet 9 inches, positioning every seat within the calibrated listening sweet spot. Acoustic treatment throughout the room was provided by Vicoustic, and picture is delivered on an 80-inch display at the front of the room.

Results:

“What we hear from customers and from the dealers and integrators who’ve come through is that this is the first time many of them have experienced reference-level immersive audio outside of a private home theater or a trade event,” Crampton added. “That accessibility is exactly what we set out to build. Sound is the reason we exist as a company, and giving someone the chance to sit in front of a system at this level, to feel what 9.4.4 immersive audio through JBL Synthesis can do, means people stop comparing spec sheets and start listening. The room has quickly become a destination for serious audio enthusiasts across the region.”

List of HARMAN Luxury Audio products used:

• 3 x JBL Synthesis SCL-6 loudspeakers (LCR)

• 2 x JBL Synthesis SCL-7 loudspeakers (Front Wide)

• 4 x JBL Synthesis SCL-7 loudspeakers (Surround Side/Rear)

• 4 x JBL Synthesis SCL-8 in-ceiling loudspeakers (Height)

• 4 x JBL Synthesis SSW-3 subwoofers

• 1 x JBL Synthesis SDR-38 16-channel immersive surround sound receiver

• 2 x JBL Synthesis SMA-8300 multi-channel power amplifiers

• Dirac Live room correction

Closer:

The Sweetwater Immersive Audio Room is part of a broader audio ecosystem on the Sweetwater campus, which also houses a professional recording studio with immersive audio mixing capabilities. This makes Sweetwater one of the few destinations in the country where both the creation and the high-end playback of immersive content live under one roof.