With a name like 'Ultimate Experience Room', expectations are inevitably set high.
What could possibly be inside? A 4DX cinema? A rollercoaster? Or just a comfy sofa and some peace and quiet?
Unsurprisingly, the room is, in fact, none of these things, but instead a demonstration space from high-end British audio company KEF, located at their Music Gallery in Central London. And in the realms of home cinema, it has a very valid claim to its name.
Nestled in the basement beneath the main gallery, the Ultimate Experience Room boasts a highly enviable 9.14.4 configuration. And just in case you skimmed over that bit, yes, that's fourteen subwoofers, with KEF utilising their own KC92 subwoofers (worth £2,499 a pop) running in two, seven-sub arrays via the system’s Trinnov Altitude 32 processor.
They're joined by three Ci5160REFM-THX (worth £9,500 a piece) for the front channels, with six Ci3160REFM-THX (£8,000 a pop) surrounds that have been classily recessed into the wall, and four Ci250RRM-THX (£1450 each) in the ceiling to boot.
And that's not even including the towering, curvaceous £190,000 KEF Muon speakers located at the front of the room that immediately draw the eye. It's clear this room is a bit of home audio heaven.
And the best part? This room is open to the public. As well as being available to book out for demos, every two weeks KEF Sound & Screen Presents shows a carefully chosen film in their Ultimate Experience Room. A glance at their programme shows a mix of older classics, newer Oscar winners and audio-focused animation, all for the highly accessible price of £5.
"With the ‘KEF Sound & Screen Presents’ series, we wanted to create a truly immersive and intimate way for our audiences to experience film as it was meant to be heard," Samara Wilson, KEF Marketing Manager for Europe, said. "By combining our award-winning speaker technology with carefully curated programmes, we’re able to highlight the full power of sound in storytelling. It’s about bringing people closer to the detail, depth and emotion that great audio can unlock."
As a dutiful What Hi-Fi? writer, I attended one of their biweekly screenings. Tucked away in an unassuming space on Great Portland Street, attendees were invited to wait in the spacious main gallery where numerous KEF speakers, soundbars and displays adorned the room, with a cafe located at the back.
After a complimentary drink, we were escorted downstairs, past relaxing demo rooms filled with big-screen TVs, plush sofas, and, of course, the premium KEF XIO soundbar.
As nice as these demo rooms are, they're clearly only a taster for the main event: the well-named Ultimate Experience Room. The towering KEF Muons and huge projector screen immediately draw the eye, but the other speakers are nicely ensconced into the walls and ceiling, drawing more attention to the 12 soft bean bag-esque chairs and the minimalist, luxury lounge design.
After a short introduction, it was onto the film itself. Recent Best Picture Oscar winner One Battle After Another was showing, capably delivered by a Sony VPL-XW7000 4K projector that showed every worry line and strand of unkempt hair on Leonardo DiCaprio's Bob.
But, as you would hope, it's the sound that was the real winner here. Gunshots and flares were fired left, right and just about every direction during a raid on an immigration detention centre. Bombings utilised those 14 subwoofers for low-end heft you could feel in your bones. A hovering helicopter was off-screen but unmistakably heard above our heads, and could be pinpointed sonically as it moved around the room.
The biggest benefit, however, was to Johnny Greenwood's nerve-shredding score. The grand, operatic synth surges of the main theme filled the room during several key scenes, and hearing the jittery piano over such a fine-tuned set-up only served to ratchet up the already anxiety-inducing tension.
The experience didn't end with the movie, however – a complimentary bag of popcorn was offered to me as I headed back to my now woefully inferior sound system. A set-up like KEF's Ultimate Experience Room is way beyond the means of even the most ardent home cinema fans – but with KEF Sound & Screen Presents, you can bask in the glory for just one night.
MORE:
Read our KEF XIO review
Our pick of the best KEF speakers
Denon and Marantz took me to hi-fi and home cinema heaven with its £200,000 reference system
