WUPRO Black Crystal vs Soft Matte Grey on XGIMI Horizon 20 Max

If you watch movies in a dark or light-controlled room, get the WUPRO Soft Matte Grey, not the Black Crystal ALR. I ran both 133-inch screens side by side on the XGIMI Horizon 20 Max, and the ALR fabric added visible laser speckle and crushed detail in dark scenes. The Black Crystal only makes sense when you can't keep daylight or lamps out of the room.

That is the short version. Below is how I tested them, what surprised me, and what both screens cost when I checked.

How I tested the Black Crystal and Soft Matte Grey

Same projector, same source, same camera settings. Only the screen changed. I used the XGIMI Horizon 20 Max because a lot of you already own one, and because a triple-laser projector is exactly where the speckle question comes up. Many of you asked about it after earlier videos, which is why this test exists.

Everything played from a Zidoo Z9X 8K media player using uncompressed native 4K HDR files, with bitrates around 80 to 90 Mbps. No streaming apps, no streaming compression. The signal ran through a 20-meter RUIPRO detachable armored fiber optic HDMI 2.1 cable through the walls. If you want the same cable, it's on the RUIPRO store and code ZinoNetic saves you 8%.

Test material was Avengers: Endgame, Independence Day, Batman v Superman and F1, all native 4K HDR (F1 in Dolby Vision). I filmed with a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 locked manually at 4K 25 fps, 1/60 shutter, 3700K white balance. Nothing on auto.

One warning about the footage. In explosions and fast action you'll see rainbow banding in the video. That's the camera. The Horizon 20 Max pulses red, green and blue light very fast, your eyes blend that into one picture, but the camera's rolling sensor scans line by line and catches separate color slices. I rewatched those scenes live and saw no rainbows at all. As I put it in the video: "Rainbow is my camera, speckle is the screen."

Is the WUPRO FlowArc motorized screen well built?

Yes, and this part applies to both, since the only difference is the fabric. "Looking at the design, it's just lovely. I love how it looks like, I love the frame of it." I still stand by that.

It's a tab-tensioned drop-down screen with tensioning cables along the edges and a heavy bottom bar. That bar is the important bit. "Because of that heavy bar, it will keep everything stretched out evenly." On my 133-inch screens I saw no wrinkles, no curling edges, no uneven stretch. At 133 inches that's not a given.

In the box you get two mounting options: floating ceiling screws, or heavier black L-brackets for wall or ceiling mounting. I also triggered the drop-down with Google Assistant voice commands, which works fine and is honestly how I'd use it every day.

How loud is the motor?

I measured it with my Apple Watch while the screen went down and up. About 55 dB. "So we're approximately at 55 decibels, so that might be noticeable for some of you. I'm not bothered by it at all." It's audible, but smooth and consistent, no grinding or jerky noises. You hear it for a few seconds before the movie starts, and that's it.

Does the Black Crystal ALR screen cause laser speckle?

With a triple-laser projector, yes. This was the biggest negative of the whole test.

Speckle looks like a fine sparkling, shimmering grain on bright and white areas of the image. On the Black Crystal it was noticeably visible to my own eyes, and the triple-laser light engine of the Horizon 20 Max makes it worse. Once you notice it in a white sky or a bright wall, you keep seeing it. I found it distracting.

The Soft Matte Grey had virtually zero speckle across all test scenes. The picture just looked cleaner and smoother, and more comfortable to watch over a full movie. If you came here searching for a fix for triple-laser speckle, the honest answer is that the screen fabric matters a lot, and a low-speckle matte fabric is the fix.

Which screen has better contrast, color and shadow detail?

This is where it gets mixed, because the Black Crystal does have real strengths.

The Black Crystal drops blacks deeper and pushes warm tones hard. Fire looks more saturated, reds more punchy. "The Black Crystal pushes those orange and reds deeper and more aggressive." In Independence Day explosions that looks impressive at first glance.

The price you pay is shadow detail. In dark scenes the Black Crystal crushes the darkest parts of the image. Texture in clothing and background detail just disappears into black. "The Soft Matte Grey keeps more information in the darkest parts of the image, so you can still see what is actually happening." I prefer that. I'd rather see the scene than have very deep blacks with nothing in them.

After the side-by-side clips I did a long viewing session on the Soft Matte Grey alone in a fully dark room: Avatar: The Way of Water, Jurassic Park III, The Godfather, The Mask, The Matrix and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning. The picture was calmer and more balanced, without looking washed out.

Skin tones were a tie. Both screens kept faces natural, no red or yellow push on either one. Good news, because that's usually the first thing that goes wrong with a screen.

ALR vs matte grey: what do gain and light rejection actually mean?

On paper the difference is simple. The Black Crystal rejects 70% of ambient light and has 0.8 gain. The Soft Matte Grey rejects nothing and has 0.9 gain. Both are PVC with a 160° viewing angle.

So with a higher gain, the Soft Matte Grey should be the brighter of the two. In practice it was not, and that was the most interesting thing I found in this whole test. A gain number on a spec sheet does not tell you how a screen will look with your projector in your room.

WUPRO sells more long-throw fabrics too: Lenticular CLR, Grey Crystal (1.2 gain, enhanced contrast), Soft Matte White and Woven AT. I only tested the two in this article, so I won't pretend to know how the others look.

The bigger point is this. "Projector screen is not just a white sheet you hang on your wall. It is the last thing the light touches before it reaches your eyes." And my favorite line from the video: "You can spend €3,000 on a projector and throw half of it away on a €200 screen."

How much do the WUPRO screens cost?

When I checked the WUPRO Cinema site on 17 August 2026, prices were in USD (Euro prices are on the site too):

• 72-inch: $759 Soft Matte Grey, $799 Black Crystal
• 133-inch (the size I tested): $1,459 Soft Matte Grey, $1,499 Black Crystal
• 200-inch: $2,959 Soft Matte Grey, $2,999 Black Crystal

So the ALR fabric is just $40 more at every size. Price is not the reason to pick one over the other. Sizes go from 72 up to 200 inches.

WUPRO has warehouses in China, the EU and the US for popular sizes like 84, 100, 110 and 120 inches, so those ship faster. The site also lists a refundable fabric sample kit, which is a smart move if you're unsure. You can check the Soft Matte Grey here and the Black Crystal ALR here.

No room for a ceiling-mounted screen? WUPRO also does motorized floor-rising screens and fixed-frame versions with the same fabrics. I'm considering a floor-rising one for my office, where ceiling mounting isn't an option.

Who should buy the Soft Matte Grey and who should get the Black Crystal

"There is no clear winner here. There's only the right screen for the right room." That sounds like a cop-out, but it really is down to your light.

Buy the Soft Matte Grey if you have a dedicated home cinema or a room you can make dark, and especially if you own a triple-laser projector like the Horizon 20 Max. No speckle, better shadow detail, balanced contrast. "For my situation, the Soft Matte Grey is the one."

Buy the Black Crystal ALR if you watch in a living room with daylight or lights on that you can't or won't switch off. That 70% light rejection is the whole point of it. Just accept that you'll see some sparkle on bright surfaces and lose detail in the darkest scenes.

Skip both if you have an ultra-short throw projector, because these are long-throw fabrics and UST needs a dedicated screen. And if your budget is a manual pull-down under $300, this isn't your screen either.

If you still need the projector, you can find the XGIMI Horizon 20 Max on Amazon. The full comparison with all the footage is in the video on YouTube.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best projector screen for the XGIMI Horizon 20 Max?

Of the two I tested, the WUPRO Soft Matte Grey was the better match in a dark room. It removed the laser speckle that the Black Crystal ALR showed with this triple-laser projector, and kept more detail in dark scenes. In a bright living room the Black Crystal is the more practical choice.

Is an ALR screen worth it in a dark room?

Not in my experience. The Black Crystal's 70% light rejection does nothing for you without ambient light, while you still get the downsides: visible speckle with a triple-laser projector and crushed shadow detail. In a dark room the matte grey fabric looked cleaner.

How loud is the WUPRO FlowArc motorized screen?

I measured about 55 dB with my Apple Watch while the screen went up and down. You can hear it, but it's a smooth, consistent sound and it only runs for a few seconds. It didn't bother me at all.

How do I fix laser speckle on a triple-laser projector?

The screen fabric makes a big difference. On the Black Crystal ALR I saw clear speckle with the Horizon 20 Max, on the Soft Matte Grey virtually none. A low-speckle matte fabric is the simplest fix I found.