EI took a trip to the Witham branch of Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, one of the group’s most established and succesful stores. A recent refurb of the main shop area and a new high-performance home cinema demo space meant there were plenty of exciting sights and sounds to learn more about.
This article originally appeared in the pages of Essential Install magazine. If you have a demo space you would like us to visit, email dan@essentialinstall.com
Trading for over 50 years, Sevenoaks Sound and Vision began with Paul Lee Kemp founding a store in Sevneoaks and then with business partner Peter O’Brien expanding the company. The Sevenoaks brand has continued to grow into one of the country’s most prominent specialist Hi-Fi, AV and home cinema retailers and installers.
Witham is one of the brand’s most well-established locations, enjoying its position in its home of The Grove Centre, since the development was built in 1988. EI was hosted expertly on the day by Simon Robinson, Store Manager, Dan Whipps, Senior Sales and Mark Succamore, Assistant Manager – enthusiasm and knowledge run through the team right from the off. The impressive and open plan store now also boasts a large home cinema demo space, and overall the store is welcoming and bristles with exciting AV equipment whilst also maintaining a good, uncluttered flow. Having had successful refits carried out at other locations, the Witham store’s transformation was begun in July 2023, taking seven weeks to complete.
Simon explains, “When we decided to renovate the old shop-fit to the new model, we discussed how best to utilise the existing demo rooms. Was it better to have two smaller demo rooms as was the case, or one bigger room that allowed us to showcase the latest tech, whether it be stereo or home cinema?
“The initial plan was to choose a solution that was commercially matched to the Sevenoaks profile, whilst deciding on whether to have a TV or projection solution. Whatever we did, it had to be flexible due to the nature of the demos that customers want. We were lucky that in the planning stage, our Managing Director (Rob Lawley) had a meeting with Monitor Audio, who told him about their new Cinergy series that was about to be launched. The timing was perfect and we created a home theatre around this new product line up.”
The single space demo room also allows for two-channel demos boasting some imposing Focal Scala Utopia EVO III speakers.
The team explains that the initial home cinema speaker design was based on a 7.2.4 layout to Dolby Atmos specification. Due to the change from two smaller rooms to one large room, additional subs were added to control the sound in the room.
Dan says, “We needed to pre-wire wall plates for day-to-day demos. Whilst we wanted a bigger projection screen, we needed to accommodate our high-end Hi-Fi option, so allowing large speakers to be left in situ without impeding the screen was also important.”
As always, there were some technical challenges, Mark explains, “Sound proofing the room was important so as not to leak into the neighbouring store and the shopfloor area. Building a suitable framework to allow the install of the Monitor Audio Cinergy 300 and subs behind the screen also needed careful planning and execution.”
Once the main build for the cinema was completed, as Mark and a cinema enthusiast customer calibrated the subwoofers using REW to correct phase and delay. Following this, the Dirac functionality contained in the McIntosh processing equipment was used to further improve the performance and deliver a knockout performance for customers. The team also cite strong support from Monitor Audio for the room layout and calibration support from AWE (James Drummie) for the Sony projector. All other installation work was in house.
Mark enthuses, “Now it is all finished the whole team is really happy with the performance, the scale of the cinema is way beyond any system we previously had in store.”
Simon adds, “We are really excited to be able to provide a professional listening space with flexibility to meet our customers’ needs, but also show a level most clients would not be familiar with.”
Customers can now make appointments for demonstrations, so preparation for any special requirements can be prepared for and the systems can be thoroughly checked beforehand. However, the space can also accommodate walk-ins. Parking is freely available for the Grove Centre and the store enjoys a fruitful location between Chelmsford and Colchester on the A12. Customers can either call the store or book an appointment for a demo online.
The team have already been hosting special events and showcases to make maximum use of the demo space and the main store.
Dan explains, “There has been a Sonus Faber / McIntosh music evening and a Project turntable event with cartridge upgrades. We also had an opening event after the store was re-fitted and it was great to see customers new and old come into the store to see what’s changed and how things have improved. The store was busy all day!”
DEMONSTRATION TIME
Comfortably seated, EI was ready to see what the room could do, and Mark was keen to put the system through its paces. Mark’s connection with AV and this store is a great story. Always an AV fan, and a Witham native, Mark spent Friday evenings like many youngsters visiting the local Blockbuster with his family to choose the evening’s entertainment.
Mark picks up the story, “We decide to invest in a cinema system from my local Hi- Fi store (Sevenoaks) which was a Pioneer AV receiver with Ruark Templar and Bowers & Wilkins speakers with a REL sub using a Pioneer laserdisc and Sony S-VHS player. My hobby was films and investing in the latest laserdiscs. I transformed my system as new technology was released, adding a Fujitsu plasma and upgrading as Dolby digital became available. Having visited the store regularly in my lunch breaks when I worked in town, in 1994 I began working on Saturdays. Then moved to full time when a position became available. My passion has always been home cinema.”
The Monitor Audio Cinergy speakers partnering a McIntosh MHT300 AVR, supported with Monitor Audio IA 750-4 amps, get to show what they can do. Some full-on action sequences from Top Gun: Maverick and James Bond No Time To Die amply demonstrate that the system is fully on-point when it comes to dynamics, range and also subtlety, as the finer points in these scenes are not missed. The tolling of the bells and change in audio tone when different parts of the car are hit and the dialogue and heavy breathing in the Bond sequence are particularly good.
In a nice contrast, EI experiences for the first time Pink Floyd’s Dolby Atmos recording celebrating 50 years of Dark Side of the Moon. Now if ever there was a legacy recording that is crying out for a spatial audio remix, this must be it and the recording and the room do not disappoint. The mix uses more channels than some Atmos music tracks, but if there is a recording that can handle this more expansive approach to spatial music, this is it. The main music track remains locked mostly in the two-channel space, but all those effects that populate tracks like Breathe (In The Air) and The Great Gig In The Sky are launched around the room giving an expansive approach that surely the band would have embraced if they could have when conceiving the album. However, this does not mean the core of the songs are damaged, as the vocals have more room to shine and some of the instruments get more room in the mix than previous versions. The trippy experience of On The Run is the best version of this track ever conceived. Time for some two-channel courtesy the of the Focal Scala Utopia EVO IIIs and Naim. Mother Nature’s Son, by The Beatles shows off the level of emotional detail available with a system like this and equally, when it’s time to give it a blast with a bit of Back Street Symphony by Thunder, the system can rock as well. Awesome! The room shows it can do music just as well as movies. This new set up is a credit to the team here and everyone involved. Great to see a serious home cinema demo occupying a space on a UK retail space!
Essential Kit List
Home Cinema
• Projector: Sony VPLXW7000
• AV: McIntosh MHT300 supported
with Monitor Audio IA 750-4 amps for
the Atmos and Subwoofers.
Speakers
• Monitor Audio Cinergy 300 L/C/R
• Monitor Audio Cinergy 200 Surround
L/R
• Monitor Audio Cinergy 100 Surround
Back L/R
• Monitor Audio Cinergy Sub 15 x 4
Source
• Panasonic DMP-UB9000 4K Blu-ray
• Apple TV Box
• Control:
• AVA Home Cinema Remote
Hi-Fi
• Naim: NSS333 Streamer
• Naim: NSX300 Power Supply
• Naim: NSC332 Pre-Amp / Naim
NSX300 Power Supply
• Naim: NAP350 Mono Amps
• Project: X8 Balanced turntable with
Phono Box DS3B balance pre-amp
• Focal: 2 x Scala Utopia EVO III
