Our Sound+Image GOLD Awards are reserved for the best of the custom installations which we cover in Sound+Image, Australian Hi-Fi, Audio Esoterica and Best Buys Audio & AV magazines, whether they be dedicated home cinemas, mixed purpose media rooms, stereo hi-fi installations, or an entire smart home decked in tech from its foundations to its roof-mounted CCTV cameras.
It’s the quality of work we look for, in the design, planning and implementation, often working with a builder or any number of other trades to deliver an entertainment space which will keep on giving at the highest quality possible for the budget.
They’re also the one award type we give that doesn’t have an expiry date. We don’t attach a date to the GOLD Awards as we do to our annual product awards — some of these jobs are years in the making, sometimes they only appear in our pages some while after their completion, as owners can be understandably cagey about the appearance of their magnificent facilities in our magazines, even though we anonymise both them and their locations. Consequently we deliver a GOLD award as a permanent status symbol to the companies involved, to display alongside their professional qualifications and often CEDIA membership. Sound+Image is also pleased to carry our region’s CEDIA Awards finalists, which were in our last issue in full, while you can see the projects selected as winners at the end of this issue.
Meanwhile we have two new GOLD winners in these 2021: a first appearance from Western Australia’s Rogue Home Cinema, and a return from Len Wallis Audio, which has won before for home cinema, but this time features a knockout stereo installation.
STEREO INSTALLATION ‘GOLD’ AWARD
Len Wallis Audio
Judges’ comment: An utterly modern and masterful system built around Focal’s Grande Utopia speakers, and a testament to professional installation.
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CINEMA DESIGN ‘GOLD’ AWARD
Rogue Home Cinema
Judges’ comment: It’s great to see a good room get even better through effective upgrades and good communication with the owners.
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INSTALLATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
Control4 Neeo remote
Judges’ comment: Universal remotes are very tough to make intuitive. The Neeo extends Control4’s powerful interfacing impeccably to a stylish remote.
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