When you have a home cinema speaker package that is centred around some five-star stereo standmounts, it makes sense to make as much use of them as possible.
That is why, for this premium cinema set-up, we have married the KEF Q Concerto Meta speaker package with Arcam’s AVR5 AV amplifier.
The system
- Projector: Epson EH-LS9000 (£2999 / $3999 / AU$7299)
- Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB820 (£349 / $550 / AU$849)
- Streaming box: Apple TV 4K (£199 / $150 / AU$299)
- AV amplifier: Arcam AVR5 (£1499 / $1999 / AU$3995)
- Speaker system: KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 (£2549 / $4050 / AU$5650)
- Total system price: £7595 / $10,748 / AU$18,092
The AV receiver
Arcam puts sound performance as the main selling point of all its amplifiers, not merely bunging as many features into the box as possible to appeal to its buyer. More features means the potential for more issues with sound, and that is not an acceptable compromise for the brand.
That single-minded insistence on sonic ability is also why the Arcam will power only seven channels of amplification. It will process up to 12 channels of Dolby Atmos, but you’ll need to add external amplification to drive those extra channels, should you want to do so.
What it will do here, though, is provide a brilliant 5.1 experience – and should you want to take advantage of those Dolby Atmos capabilities (which we would urge you to consider) you can invest in a pair of KEF’s Q8 Meta Atmos toppers. Then you would be using the Arcam amp to drive a 5.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos system, without the need for extra external amplification.
Importantly, you would also have an impressively musical two-channel option as well, removing the need for a separate stereo set-up. If space is at a premium, this is a neat solution that should suit most people really well.
A glimpse at the images at the top of this page reveals that this is a substantial set-up, though. And more than seven grand is quite the outlay, of course. But consider that this is a system that can cover both stereo and home cinema – and perform both with aplomb – and things don’t seem quite so eye-watering.
It is, however, a set-up that requires a dedicated space. This is serious home cinema, after all, so a permanently plumbed-in projector and screen, and a room that can be made dark, should be your first aim.
Assuming you have the appropriate space to accommodate it though, this set-up is simply stunning value for money.
The nimble, surefooted Arcam can handle movie scores and sound effects with impressive ability. This really is an impeccable musical performance, and it’s one that can go really very loud without seeming to feel the strain.
The speaker package
An impeccable musical performance can apply equally as well to the KEF speaker package, of course – no great surprise with the five-star stereo abilities of the Q Concerto Meta standmounts that perform the front left and right channel duties.
It’s not all about that pairing, though. The KEF Kube subwoofer holds its own, with a powerful and dynamic low-end kick, and the Q1 Meta surrounds, despite being smaller than their front-channel siblings, certainly don’t let up on a movie as far as sonic scale goes.
No, this package puts in a truly impressive surround-sound display, putting us squarely in the centre of any movie action, while also revealing the subtle abilities of its centre channel by making dialogue pin-sharp and clear.
The projector
While the sound is a massive part of any home cinema experience, it would all be for naught, of course, without a brilliant 4K picture to do it justice.
Which is where the projector comes in. A Best Buy in the What Hi-Fi? 2025 Awards, the Epson EH-LS9000 is, for us, the top performer in its category.
It may not have a native 4K resolution, rather getting to its 4K image via pixel-shifting, but that technology, far from being the red flag it might once have been, has proved time and time again to be capable of producing brilliantly sharp and detailed picture quality. And so it proves here.
The Vivid preset (perhaps surprisingly – certainly unusually) is the setting that, for us, makes the most of the LS9000’s specification and processing. It produces a picture with quite exceptional vibrancy and three-dimensionality without making things look forced or veering drastically away from cinematic intent.
As we say in our review: “Playing Thunderbolts on 4K Blu-ray… we’re instantly struck by the sharpness and detail of the image. There’s an awesome solidity and depth to the picture, which is particularly impressive at the 100-inch scale of our screen, and you almost feel as if you could reach into the image and poke the little figures in the distance.
“Colours are both vivid and natural, and the shading is excellent: the sky over the desert fills the top third of the image and blends beautifully from very light blue on one side to a deeper, more vibrant blue on the other.”
The Blu-ray player
Talking of blue, we would urge you to invest in physical media for a home cinema of this quality. There are fewer and fewer 4K Blu-ray players available to buy these days, with the prevalence of video streaming, but there is no doubt, in our eyes, that the format is the best way to get a top-notch 4K image.
The Panasonic DP-UB820 is our current Award winner, and has been claiming What Hi-Fi? Awards since 2019.
And, as we say in our review verdict, “If you’ve bought into the 4K Blu-ray format and have a suitable home cinema set-up, you need a dedicated player that can deliver on multiple fronts. The Panasonic DP-UB820 is just that, supporting all major HDR formats, delivering a hugely immersive and impactful picture, backed up by a strong audio performance.”
The streamer
While a Blu-ray disc is perfect for those full-on movie nights, we are not obsessive or unrealistic enough to say that everything we watch should be via that somewhat restrictive medium.
Video streaming has come on leaps and bounds over the past decade and more – and the quality of the 4K images on offer is now extremely impressive. The very best option, though, for a home cinema such as this is undoubtedly Apple’s brilliant TV 4K.
Suffice to say that its predecessor romped away with Awards aplenty, and this superb little box is better than it in every department. For us, this is a no-brainer.
