Luxurious cinema rooms that every home can aspire to
(Image credit: Pyramid AV)
Think your house couldn’t accommodate a luxurious home cinema? Think again. For Home Cinema Week, we've asked some of the best custom install companies in the country to share details of their most impressive domestic cinemas. Scroll through the gallery below for some stunning pictures and information on the top-specced home cinema equipment that lies within.
You won't find recreations of the Starship Enterprise here. This is a collection of understated beauty and some clever home cinema engineering to produce top performing mini-movie theatres to fit each precise location.
From transformed attics, basements and box rooms in houses (both old and modern), the plush good looks of these design marvels belie great feats of problem-solving. In the quest for the ultimate entertainment room, it seems there is no obstacle too great, no space too small, no wall that can’t conceal a Dolby Atmos system, custom LEDs and, of course, a fridge.
So whether you’re looking for inspiration, escapism or a bit of both, get your popcorn, turn off your phone, fill your glass from the outrageous custom bar and step right this way. Hit the arrows on the image to begin your own secret tour...
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(Image credit: New Wave AV)
1. Open-plan Dolby Atmos system
This sleek setup proves you needn't let a love of open-plan living stop you from installing a reference level Dolby Atmos screening room.
The cinema space features a 3m fixed-frame screen with a discreetly situated JVC DLA-X9000 projector and a 7.2.4 Artcoustic speaker system, powered by a Denon AVR X6200 with a Control4 C4-AMP108 handling the Atmos channels.
For the ultimate ease of function, a Control4 processor handles the integration of AV and lighting. The JVC projector automatically switches to its correct lens memory preset, depending on the aspect ratio of content from the Kaleidescape player.
Above the seating area is an eye-catching starscape ceiling, while the surrounding coffer houses four Artcoustic Architect 4-2 Dolby Atmos height speakers as well as LED Lighting.
How do you fit rear speakers in a cinema with no back wall? The installer used slim Artcoustic Multi Soundbar enclosures, arranged vertically into twin supporting pillars constructed to be just wide enough for the task.
The custom seating by Fortress provides space for up to 10 film fans but three have an added surprise - they're interactive, immersive motion seats from D-Box. Of course they are. So there it is – sublime and sociable.
Would you believe that this extraordinary cinema is located in the basement area of a house built in the 1750s? The enveloping design creates a controlled acoustic space, incorporating hidden speakers, acoustic treatments, bass traps and a raised seating platform.
The sound system is a 9.3.6 Atmos configuration driven by a Trinnov Altitude 16 processor and using professional speakers from Martin Audio whose trapezoidal enclosures proved a challenge to hide within the 2.3m ceiling height. The solution was to create the unique 3D faceted ‘cave like’ design which makes for a unique and exciting environment.
Projection is provided by a JVC X7900 used in conjunction with the Lumagen Radiance Pro range of video processors, which helps to ensure screen ratio format re-sizing and colour format presets are well managed across all sources. 3D viewing is also possible by using a pair of JVC active glasses linked directly to the projector.
Inspired by the world-famous Palais Garnier opera house in Paris (as you do), this elaborate home cinema delivers top-spec tech within an interior designed to be space worthy of the historical property in which it is installed.
The Bowers and Wilkins Diamond D3 surround speakers are hidden underneath acoustically transparent fabric wall coverings, and the in-ceiling speakers sit behind custom grilles, set within ornate plasterwork. The whole 9.4.4 Dolby Atmos system is driven by a Storm ISP Elite 16 channel processor with DIRAC Live room correction and Rotel power amps.
A Barco Balder Cinemascope 5K laser projector resides in a climate-controlled booth outside of the main room, ensuring it is kept at the perfect operating temperature and that any fan noise cannot spoil the movie. Classy to the end.
The remit for this cushy gaming room was to house as large a screen as the space could accommodate for truly immersive gaming. The result is a 3m wide, 4K-enhanced, acoustically transparent screen, mounted onto a buffer wall with the LCR speakers hidden inside.
The vertically mounted Epson TW9300 projector uses a bespoke mirror rig from DT Technologies to extend the focal length from lens to screen, creating a larger image than would have been possible using a traditional ceiling mounted method.
Immersive audio comes courtesy of a 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos system using a combination of Bowers & Wilkins in-wall Cinema 7 speakers powered by a Denon AVR-X4300H 9-channel amplifier with built-in Heos.
The dimensions of a domestic room can prove a real challenge when it comes to projector positioning and, in this space, the ideal location was on top of the bar area. However, the required lens shift meant it wasn't possible and a custom housing was built above the door entry instead.
The whole room is wrapped with acoustically transparent fabric ensuring surround speakers are hidden and the room acoustics managed without impacting the decor.
Torn between your desire for a bar and a home cinema? As this install shows, you don't have to choose; the bar is creatively hidden away at the back of the room behind two noise-damping fabric wrapped doors.
The Paradigm 9.4.4 Dolby Atmos surround sound speaker system includes four 15-inch Defiance X15 subwoofers, with individual room correction, providing low-end down to 18Hz. Powered by an Anthem AVM60 with ARC room correction, the system can be driven at high levels, even while people sleep in the bedrooms below thanks to extensive acoustic treatments employing Wavewood diffusers around the ambient channels and a bass trap built into the raised stage.
A Sim2 Nero 4S projector with Panamorph anamorphic lens displays the picture from a range of sources including a Kaleidescape Strato 4K 12TB server, Panasonic DP-UB9000 4K Blu Ray player, Sky Q 4K box and Apple TV 4K; all managed by a Control 4 EA5 processor with a Neeo remote.
This luxurious basement conversion boasts a 4K Highlight Laser 3 Chip Projector paired with a Lumagen Radiance Pro Series 4K UHD scaler to provide ISF calibrated reference level video and colour performance. For an authentic movie-watching experience the variable width, motorised screen is programmed to give exact framing for multiple aspect ratios, providing a projection surface that is always accurately bordered with black edges to enhance the contrast and focus on the image.
Aesthetically all the panels may look the same, but behind the sumptuous fabric, each one is handcrafted with a wide range of thicknesses, slots and holes. The complete acoustic panel system is cleverly mounted on a flexible yet rigid structure that in turn creates an air gap for bass frequency control.
A 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system, using Wisdom Line and Point Source speakers, is concealed within the walls. To ensure clarity, dynamics and a consistent sensory experience, there are custom back boxes to house the in-wall loudspeakers and subwoofers.
This smart cinema room's classic art deco stylings conceal a considerable 11.4.6 Dolby Atmos setup with JBL Synthesis in-wall and in-ceiling speakers and four Bowers and Wilkins CT SW15 subs, all driven by a Storm Audio 24 channel processor with Storm PA8 Ultra 8 x 400W power amps.
Mary is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and has over a decade of experience working as a sound engineer mixing live events, music and theatre. Her mixing credits include productions at The National Theatre and in the West End, as well as original musicals composed by Mark Knopfler, Tori Amos, Guy Chambers, Howard Goodall and Dan Gillespie Sells.
