Soundbars and soundbar systems with subwoofers and surround speakers are pretty great home cinema sound solutions. But, however well they perform, they aren’t the real deal.
To get serious home cinema sound, in a dedicated space, it is still very much the case that a full separates system has to be the way to go.
Article continues belowWhich – who would have thought it? – is what we have for you here. This is a premium home cinema system intended for the serious enthusiast and housed as a permanent fixture in a dedicated screening room.
The system
- Projector: Sony Bravia Projector 8 (£15,999)
- Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB9000 (£999)
- Streaming box: Apple TV 4K (£149)
- AV amplifier: Marantz Cinema 30 (£3499)
- Speaker system: KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 (£2549)
- Total system price: £23,995
The projector
We lead things off with the magnificent Sony Bravia Projector 8 (VPL-XW6100ES). This native 4K laser projector is a worthy successor to the Award-winning XW7000ES.
Sony’s strength with its projectors has always been contrast, and the Bravia 8 is exceptional in this regard.
It delivers stunning black depth – a rarity in the projector world – and ensures that dark scenes, such as the night sky of Gotham in The Batman, are deep and imposing, and refrain from straying into the murky grey seen on many rivals – even some at this price.
The new XR Processor, a version modified from Sony’s high-end OLED TVs, brings features such as XR Dynamic Tone Mapping and XR Deep Black to further enhance light control and detail.
Detail levels are a standout, presenting complex patterns and textures with remarkable fidelity. Colour rendition, too, is superb.
As we say in our review: “skin tones are balanced and well-judged, resulting in a lively yet not overcooked presentation across a range of pigments.
"They’re exceptionally balanced and realistic, too, while also having the necessary punch to draw the eye.
"Speaking of which, the eye at the beginning of Blade Runner 2049 features a stunning array of blues and greens, with a rich presentation that blends the colours in a smooth gradient.”
This projector is great for gamers too, with an improved 2.1 specification on both HDMI sockets. It supports 4K/120Hz signals with Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and it has an impressively low input lag of 12ms.
This is truly a projector that delivers on the promise of a premium, large-screen experience.
The AV amplifier
At the heart of any great home cinema is an AV receiver capable of both refinement and brute force, and the Marantz Cinema 30 delivers in spades. This is a premium unit that justifies its price with an equally premium performance.
The amp’s ability to place sounds precisely in three-dimensional space combines with a knack for producing an absolutely huge and enveloping soundscape.
Detailed sound effects – crumbling plaster, dripping water, an electrical short and a high-pitched alarm – appear from all around you and together fill the room. Importantly, you hear the sounds, not the speakers.
Marantz has tuned this 11-channel amplifier to work beautifully with music as well as movies. A switch to Pure Direct means we can listen to just the front stereo channels, and the delivery is far superior to most AV amplifiers.
It’s quite likely that in a set-up such as this, the amplifier will be hidden away, to do its thing out of sight. If it does find itself out on display, however, this is a rather attractive unit by AV amp standards, with its small ‘porthole’ display.
More importantly, it is very well specified, with a whopping seven HDMI 2.1 inputs that support 4K/120Hz. It would be nigh-on impossible for even the most ardent enthusiast to run out of sockets to plug things into.
The speaker system
And making the most of the Marantz amplifier’s impressive abilities, we have the Award-winning KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 Speaker System.
This stylish package is headlined by a pair of five-star Q Concerto Meta standmounts, with support from the Q1 Meta surrounds, the Q6 Meta centre channel, and the formidable Kube 12 MIE subwoofer.
For the full Dolby Atmos experience, a couple of pairs of KEF Q8 Meta Dolby ‘toppers’ will set you back an additional £599 a pair. And in this system, that is certainly a worthwhile investment.
We’re treated to a muscular and rich, yet agile presentation from the Q Concerto Meta system.
This system sounds big and bold, enveloping us in engaging sound from all angles, but it refrains from losing focus and becoming sluggish as a result.
There is plenty of low-end punch, with the subwoofer delivering its gut-punch of low end while remaining in total control. And there’s no flab or waffle here; the KEF Kube 12 MIE delivers a powerful and dynamic low-end kick.
Voices are conveyed with clarity and texture, underpinned by an impressive handling of low-level dynamics. This results in a truly natural and realistic representation of voices with excellent projection, which is aided by how forthright and crisp this centre channel sounds.
It manages to remain well integrated into the system as a whole while it does it, which is impressive indeed. The left, right and centre speakers mesh seamlessly, and these in turn gel with the surrounds, leaving no noticeable gaps in between the channels.
The system’s brilliance, then, lies in its stunning sonic cohesion.
The Blu-ray player
To make the best of the superb projector and the powerhouse (yet subtle when appropriate) sonic package, you will need the best when it comes to sources to feed it.
As ever, we recommend physical media for this whenever possible – a wired connection will pretty much always provide a more stable connection than anything being passed through the air.
That means 4K Blu-ray. Enter the Panasonic DP-UB9000.
The Blu-ray player market has struggled over the past five years or so, with the dominance of video streaming. New players into the market are few and far between. So it’s a good job that the old-timers that are still hanging around are such stunning performers.
The UB9000 offers supreme picture quality, and is a machine that will give sterling service for many years.
The streaming box
It is unrealistic to expect any home cinema to rely on physical media alone, though. Video streaming is here to stay, and picture quality is improving all the time.
The very best, most consistent quality, though, comes from Apple’s remarkably good Apple TV 4K.
We find it to be clearly the best performer compared with its many rivals – which is why it so merits its place in this brilliant home-cinema set-up.
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