Highbury

       With the home cinema at Highbury, the homeowners wanted to create a multi-sensory cinematic experience without compromise. Tucked into the basement of a stunning modern smart home, this home cinema contrasts a sophisticated design with fully custom cinema loudspeakers concealed behind acoustically transparent panels in the walls and ceiling. The entire speaker system speaker system was designed and carefully engineered by Andrew Lucas’ Andreas Brusberg (renowned for building the audio system at the Fryderyk Chopin Institute) and calculated precisely to meet the exact acoustic demands of the room.

Our design required us to integrate the following:

• Sony 4K projection system
• Lutron lighting circuits
• Whole-room control with Crestron interface
• Integra DRX-4-CI AVR with multiple media sources
• Rotel RKB-850-CI 8-channel power amps
• Custom-build 3D audio surround-sound speaker system built into joinery
• Custom subwoofers built into joinery
• Specialist acoustic treatment
• VPL-VW320ES/B-CI Sony home cinema projector with dual-fan ventilation system
• 106” acoustically transparent fixed screen

       In order to provide the best possible speaker layout, Andrew Lucas devised and built several speaker arrays and in-ceiling units for this cinema room, testing them thoroughly before shipping them to site for installation to ensure that they met the expected performance standards. Working closely with the construction team, Andrew Lucas specified several pieces of custom joinery to house several speaker units (62 tweeter and 62 midrange drivers in total), including an artificially raised floor for the rear half of the cinema which houses 32 individual subwoofers.

A fixed 106” screen from Projecta with 2.35:1 aspect ratio was selected to provide the maximum visible space within the confines of the room. Its acoustic transparency meant that speaker units could be placed behind the screen in the optimum position to deliver Dolby Atmos 3D surround sound. A custom recess houses a VPL-VW320ES/B-CI Sony home cinema projector, delivering phenomenal 4K video quality with HDR imaging, along with a ventilation solution that efficiently directs the air flow both to and from the projector. Meanwhile, a Panamorph XM1-CI Paladin anamorphic projector lens delivers higher brightness while also supporting up to 8K 2.4:1 resolution.

Occupants are able to choose between a number of video sources including Apple TV, Bluray and satellite, as well as audio sources (such as Sonos) using a Crestron remote or a custom Crestron interface on iPad or mobile. Meanwhile, soft furnishings, plush carpeting and fabric acoustic panels have been all put in place to provide optimum sound diffusion and absorption.

The two-tier room has been laid out for optimum audio delivery, with stringent acoustic tests performed by Andrew Lucas’ experienced in-house acoustician to ensure that nothing vibrates in the structure of walls and ceiling and that the room’s ideal sweet spot matches up exactly with the cinema seating.

       The homeowners were keen that the home cinema should be designed in keeping with the rest of the house, which makes extensive use of dark woodwork and brass. To guarantee this, Andrew Lucas sourced an antique bronze Lutron keypad specifically for the cinema room that would match the door handles, as well as integrating local AV equipment within custom wood veneer joinery beneath the screen that matched that around the rest of the home.

Our clients were keen to replicate as closely as possible the cinema-going experience; to achieve this, a scene with low-level lighting combined with spotlights was set as a standard setting on the control panel, creating a warm cinematic vibe ahead of selecting a film. Just like at the movies, the lights automatically dim as the film begins for that authentic multiplex experience.

To achieve the best possible sound within the room, angled paneling was built into the framework around the custom speakers and the cavities filled in with absorbent acoustic material which, combined with the soft materials used throughout the rest of the room, keeps sound reverberations from bouncing around the room. Meanwhile, four custom in-ceiling speakers installed above the viewers create that ‘voice-of-god’ effect and adds another dimension to films that feature Dolby Atmos or other 3D audio soundtracks.

The custom platform beneath the second row of seating was one of the largest challenges, with several subwoofer drivers designed in an acoustic labyrinth enclosure with folded lines for an improved overall sound quality and to create that rumbling bass effect that cinephiles love.