This Home of the Year winning install was designed to maximize performance on a tight budget, with the ultimate goal of creating a bespoke home theater that can be easily upgraded in the future.
For South African-based integrator Cinema Architects, both the design and vision for this CE Pro Home of the Year Award winning theater had futuristic thinking in mind; aesthetically and technically it’s built to be good to go for this customer’s enjoyment for a long time.
“Maximum performance for a tight budget — we decided to factor in the future upgrade course as crucial for the customer,” says Cinema Architects’ Schalk Burger. “We chose to select Genelec active loudspeakers and because they are active, we were able to scale down on the processor or AV receiver.”
The integrator also used Paradigm in-ceiling speakers and went with an affordable NAD T777 V3 receiver that delivered the functionality the space needed now and for what might come next. The LEDs and seating options look ultra-modern, and the audio is built for future-proofing.
“The vision was to provide an upgradable processor that would elevate the system to the next level in the future. We calculated a balance of all; to avert that the client would necessitate replacing everything in future upgrades. We compensated with the loudspeakers to accommodate a better future processor,” Burger explains.
“We kept in mind that the NAD with its Dirac Live plus the upgraded version that is available to add to this processor would be a worthy investment not only on functionality but also cost-saving. Another benefit is that the NAD consists of [swappable] MDC boards, which makes the unit almost future-proof.”
Another performance objective for this room was that the customer is a big sports fan, so a fairly large screen with high-quality pictures certainly was the ticket. Cinema Architects went with a DreamVision Native 4K Projector and 133-inch acoustically transparent screen.
One of the big requests was to have a bed at the front of the theater. It’s a young family with two children and they enjoy spending weekends and having sleep-overs in the room. Thus on the audio calculation of the “sweet spot,” Cinema Architects had to ensure that the front row seating enjoyed the best sound (also, the client does not entertain much and asked that the theater sound be more concentrated/focused at the front row seating).
“The residence is built next to a dam with high water levels and a lot of waterproofing was done in the basement, where the cinema is located. It is a concrete basement and we were not allowed to drill into the concrete or the floor or the side walls or the roof,” Burger says, “so we had to build a room in a room or a sub-frame that is stand-alone.”
Another obstacle was the roof that was very low, much lower than was the norm according to standards “and the sub-frame also took up some space. Extreme attention and planning went into the design of the sub-frame as not to take up more height than what was absolutely necessary,” he adds.
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