Chris Morley, Lead Designer at Cyberhomes, gives EI the story on this high-performance home cinema project, shortlisted in this year’s Smart Building Awards that will be announced later this year.
Chris explains, “The clients wish list included the biggest cinematic screen and the best audio achievable in the room to provide an optimal experience for the six family members. It was stressed that they didn’t want the usual grey stretched fabric rooms that are becoming common place in many private cinema rooms. They wanted ‘The Wow! Factor’ as well as offering a comfortable and relaxing environment.
“To achieve a truly cinematic experience a projector with an electric masking acoustically transparent screen was chosen instead of an alternative large LED screen as it not only gave us a much larger ultra-wide 4K image but also allowed us to position the front speakers in their optimised positions behind the screen meaning voices and action would come straight from the screen image to the listener with pristine accuracy.”
After researching several design concepts and 3D visualisation the team decided on a futuristic look and feel to the room.
Chris says, “We carefully researched futuristic looking acoustic treatments to be integrated whilst also addressing first order reflections and room mode issues. A common theme of curves and angles was adopted making the room balanced and symmetrical. With Custom designed features complementing and mirroring the acoustic treatment shapes.
“CAD allowed us to carry out a full analysis of the room and determine the optimal speaker, screen and seating positions based on CEDIA, Dolby and SMPTE guidelines.”
The project also adopted clever use of ambient LED lighting enhancing the structures in the room to create a 3D look to the walls and ceiling. Different seating options were considered to complement the decor and offer a luxury finish with supreme comfort. Control needed to be simple and effective integrating everything in the room.
Project execution
Once the initial concept and look of the room had been approved, Cyberhomes focussed on maximising the speaker performance which included a three layer front baffle wall construction to house the front speakers and subwoofers which eliminated any resonance.
The projector housing was carefully structured allowing easy airflow and cooling incorporating a removeable section for servicing and temperature monitoring to generate an alert in case too much heat is generated, the enclosure blends seamlessly into the room.
The front stage under the screen was designed to a very specific shape using CAD, then printed full size so the shape could be traced and constructed, this proved to be very effective and was used again to construct the patterned side wall speaker grills, carefully avoiding any section which overlapped the speaker drive units which could potentially compromise the sound quality.
Custom cinema seating was chosen to offer a soft luxury black leather finish with contrasting blue piping complementing the rooms design perfectly.
Chris recounts, “The acoustic treatments use very specific fabrics which were hard to match, we overcame this by sourcing the actual material and colour direct from the manufacturer, then fabricated our own structures creating a seamless look throughout the room. The client was simply blown away with what we had achieved. They said ‘We could not fault Cyberhomes’ and ‘We never expected the cinema room to be as good as it is and it’s become the show piece of the entire property’.
The experience of the room wouldn’t be complete without some cutting-edge technologies. The acoustic treatments selected not only look very futuristic, but are very specific in their acoustic properties and control within the room. The Savant control system integrates audio, video, lighting, climate and the full function of the cinema.
The racking area houses the full house AV system including a full rack dedicated to the cinema. Cyberhomes included remote monitoring of the system to address any potential issues should they arise.
The front Moovia cinema seats integrate the latest D-Box mechanism adding an extra dimension to the movie experience. A Sony 4K laser projector produced a vibrant and detailed image on the Screen Research 2.40:1 ultra-wide electric screen with side masking/Kaleidescape, Apple TV, Sky Q and local games consoles provided the High definition video and audio. Cinema sound was produced by an Anthem processor with ARC room correction for fine tuning the full Triad Dolby Atmos 7.4.4 Cinema Speaker system.
Chris adds, “To us, movies are all about creating an alternate reality to draw you in. Our years of experience with AV performance, acoustics and lighting has provided the foundation for this project.
CAD and 3D visualisation enabled us to fully design the room before we built it, make adjustments, checking the symmetry and double checking every technical aspect relating to audio, video and acoustics.
“The result is a room which not only performs to the technical guidelines from CEDIA, Dolby and SMPTE but also delivers a bold statement look. Our aim was to create something different, a deviation away from an easier simple stretched fabric room.”
Cyberhomes also points out that from a business perspective to build a room like this is a big risk as all the visible structures require painstaking attention to detail adding expense and the chance that things won’t look quite right.
Every structure and shape is designed with a purpose. Fabrics, colours and upholstery are all carefully matched, proportioned and contrasted with balanced acoustics whilst ambient lighting highlights key parts of the room drawing the eye and creating an exciting but relaxing environment.
Chris concludes, “The client commented that he sometimes goes and sits in the room to relax from everyday noises and his busy lifestyle.
We believe our hard work speaks for itself and the risk of designing something unique and innovative pays off, we believe this offers a unique experience and maybe a little alternate reality of its own.”