Welcome to the latest entry into our Absolute Cinema column, where we take a behind the scenes look at some of the most interesting and premium home set-ups in the world.
This week we head to Derbyshire to take a look at how a cutting edge set-up was neatly slotted into a Victorian manor.
Home cinema design and installation experts Finite Solutions worked tirelessly to deliver the last word in luxury for this ambitious period-property home cinema system.
Simon Mathieson, MD and Co-Founder at Finite Solutions, explains the background to this Derbyshire-based home project:
“Our clients were looking for a luxury bespoke cinema room in a large 1890s property, to be installed in an unused storage room.”
Getting modern technology into an old building
Whilst the space available was generous, the door entry located in the middle at the rear of the room created challenges, but the team was still able to design a system that would deliver a strong performance across the required eight seats.
There were a lot of in-use cupboards in the room, so spatial planning and the room build design were very detailed to maintain access whilst ensuring a soundproof shell and a seamless interior finish.
The design incorporates numerous acoustically sealed hidden doors behind wall columns and panels to cope with all the challenges the space presented.
Bringing in services for Sky and broadband was particularly challenging due to the age of the building and the care needed not to impact the interior but still deliver reliable and high performance.
The heat recovery ventilation system also required drilling 100mm holes through 600mm external walls, but all was achievable with sufficient time and effort.
Simon enthuses:
“The clients are truly delighted with the end result, as it is such a complete and dramatic transformation from what was an unused old, dusty room. We left no stone unturned in terms of the technical design and calculation of angles, nits levels [the brightness of the screen] and subwoofer placement.”
The system also underwent expert calibration using an Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) qualified engineer, a process that ensures the optimisation of quality to match industry standards for colour accuracy and overall image fidelity.
On top of this, the cinema used the Trinnov Optimizer technology contained within the processing equipment to further calibrate and fine-tune the audio.
Going to this level of perfection really squeezes every drop of performance from the system, making it a strong all-rounder great for movies but also for streaming favourite TV shows and watching sport.”
Happy Hopton Hall
Simon reports that the clients were also particularly pleased with the Control4 automation system that operates the cinema and the room itself.
The owners are able to intuitively control the AV, lighting, ventilation and heating systems using an easy-to-use Control4 Halo remote.
Given the age of the house, the team took extra steps with the heating and ventilation, using the exhaust air from the AV rack cupboard as a feed into the room.
This can be switched to add additional warmth or to expel heat externally when the room becomes too warm. This all happens seamlessly in the background along with automatic temperature adjustment when the room is not in use.
The technology and products for the space were all selected following demonstrations at Finite Solutions’ show house and a supplier facility which featured two different speaker systems.
The client selected Wisdom as his preferred choice. It was a tough call between Sony and JVC for projection, as both offer strong products in the home cinema space, but the client had a JVC in his previous house and wanted to stick with that brand.
Sources include a Panasonic Blu-ray player and streaming from Apple TV and Sky Q Silver.
The owners also have the advantage of a Kaleidescape system, which delivers lossless audio and video performance of movies and other forms of content downloaded from Kaleidescape’s own online store.
The fact that the content is downloaded allows the system to play back in much higher quality than streaming services and also at higher rates than Blu-ray discs.
Simon sums up: “This was a challenging project given the shape of the room, the age of the building and the very tight tolerances we had to work to in order to fit everything in without compromising speaker placement or acoustic performance.”
The attention to detail shown in all aspects of the room’s build, interior finishes and the invisible integration of technology achieved absolute optimum performance from the system.
Equipment list
- Speakers: Fronts – Wisdom P4i, Sides and Rears – Wisdom P2i, Overhead – Wisdom P2i, Subs – Wisdom S90 and Wisdom DSP amps
- Projector: JVC NZ9
- Projector Lens: Palladin
- Screen: Screen Research CinemaScope
- Processing: Trinnov Altitude 16
- Amplification: Trinnov Amplitude 16
- Sources: Kaleidescape, Panasonic Blu-ray, Apple TV, Sky Q Silver
- Control: Control4 CORE1 and Halo remote
- Lighting Control: Lutron RA2
MORE:
These are the best AVRs we've tested
We rate the best surround sound systems
Our picks of the best projectors for home cinema fans
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