Home cinema, when it’s done right, is a truly magical experience.
Watching a movie you love, on a giant screen, in the comfort of your own home, wearing your Ninja Turtles pyjamas with a cat on your lap and whisky in hand (the last three may just be me). To quote the Goo Goo Dolls, it’s “the closest to heaven that I'll ever be”.
It’s this magic that makes me and the wider What Hi-Fi? home cinema team be part of that lucky minority that truly loves what they do. Specifically, testing the latest and greatest hardware so we can, in a small way, help others enjoy that magic.
But the trouble is, getting there is more complex than most people think, as the magic is heavily dependent on what hardware you’re using – especially if you’re going for a setup our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia, would deign to call “a proper home cinema”, with a multi-speaker surround sound system, long-throw projector, decent AVR and source.
Why? Because, despite the common assumption (even among some of our forum users) that home cinema sound is somehow different to hi-fi sound, and you can get a good setup just by bolting together five-star parts, the truth is, matching is still incredibly important.
And my experience helping test the KEF R Meta speaker package and Denon AVC-A1H (reviews incoming) this week proves that point.
Listening to the speaker package, we started with our reference Marantz Cinema 30 AVR and, not giving any spoilers away, as you'd expect, combining two accomplished pieces of hardware delivered excellent results. The system sounded expansive, cohesive and wonderfully controlled, creating a fabulously immersive home cinema experience.
Watching a difficult test scene from our Dune: Part One 4K Blu-ray, the setup was masterfully in control of every part of the frequency range. Subtle dynamics underneath the scene's pounding drums were suitably present, and the unit delivered a real sense of direction as a flight of ornithopters swooped from right to left and then behind the viewer.
But as we continued, and particularly when we switched to our F1 test disc and spent some time listening to stereo music, our senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, pulled a face – the same one he always does when something's not quite right. One by one, we all did the same until, in near unison, we asked, "Does anyone else think this sounds just a touch too smooth?"
Yes, the sound was refined and effortlessly composed (and remember, at this level we're nitpicking about very small but important differences in performance), but the combination perhaps leaned a fraction too far towards smoothness. It wasn't lacking quality – far from it – but there were moments when we wanted just a little more bite and urgency.
Which is no surprise as our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, who is taking the lead reviewing the speaker package, openly described it as “smooth and refined”.
That's not a dig; in fact, in some setups, it's a strength. But it's a problem here because if you jump to our Marantz Cinema 30 review, you’ll find the same words, “smooth, refined and always in control”, at the top of the page.
The two have a very similar sonic character, and while that creates a beautifully cohesive presentation, it also nudges the overall balance a little further towards refinement than we'd ideally like.
It's less that the pairing doesn't work – it clearly does – and more that combining two components with such similar personalities slightly softens the sense of attack.
Enter the Denon AVC-A1H. During testing, the Denon proved to have a more dynamic, more assertive character that complemented the KEF package differently, adding a little extra energy and attack without upsetting its natural balance.
From the moment Led Zeppelin's iconic Whole Lotta Love started, the F1 scene felt more electric, with the Denon adding more bite to guitarist Jimmy Page’s groove.
Then, the moment John Bonham’s iconic drum line lands, it hits with the gut-churning impact you’d expect from a drummer critics openly praised for his "hard-hitting" playstyle. That’s all before we start describing the added heft and impact of the race.
To be clear, this isn't a dig at the Marantz. In fact, the Marantz/KEF combination is an excellent one in many respects, producing a spacious, balanced and hugely accomplished sound.
We simply found that, in this particular system, the Cinema 30's refinement combined with the wonderfully smooth presentation of the KEF R7 Meta front speakers tipped the balance just a little too far towards relaxation. Swap in a more assertive AVR, or pair the Marantz with more overtly energetic speakers, and that balance shifts again.
Lewis summed the idea up nicely, describing it as being like cooking. “Even if you like salty food, if you add several salty ingredients, it’s not going to taste good.”
So, please remember, when setting up a home cinema, don’t just think of the individual parts; think about how they’ll work together as a system and complement one another.
Even if you’re watching at home alone (outside of the aforementioned cat), when it comes to hardware, home cinema is a team game.
MORE:
These are the best projectors we’ve tested
We rank the best surround sound systems
Our picks of the best AV receivers
