Private Home Cinema Anyone? Audio T Swansea Installs A New Home Cinema System

We recently completed the installation of a home cinema system in a modest-looking house in the centre of Swansea. A period property whose interior has been lovingly modernised, whilst keeping the original outer character intact. In petrol-head terms it's something of a sleeper. In media terms it's something of a Tardis.

Our brief was for a compact first floor cinema, near-invisible speakers and projection system, but retaining high impact sound and picture quality. Local carpenter Steve of Full Focus Building & Interior made an impressive start hiding the old fireplace and sound insulating the party wall. Hidden illumination and a trick starlight ceiling complete the effect!.

A dedicated mains power supply using screened cable was installed under our instruction, running from the consumer unit to the bespoke equipment cabinet (Thank you Steve!), complete with a ventilation system integrated into the doors. Screened power cable runs up to the projector too.

Our customer is a serious Sci-Fi fan and so we recommended Panasonic's range topping UB9000 Blu-Ray player for his movies, extensive(!) collection of box sets and 4K Netflix content, to be stored here. The projector is housed in the ventilated top-centre console. Visible are the spaces for the rear surround speakers built into decorative columns. Similar structures are present for the surround channels.

The heart of the system is Arcam's AVR550 Dolby Atmos home cinema amplifier. One of our favourites, the AVR550 is graced with the exceptional Dirac Live room correction system. We recommended Bowers & Wilkins in-wall and in-ceiling speakers and our client happily accepted our advice.

CWM Cinema 7 front left, centre and right, Four CWM663s reproducing surround and surround back channels, plus a pair of CCM664SRs in-ceiling speakers for Atmos effects.

Interestingly, the Arcam has 7 channels of amplification and so we required the use of a Project AmpBox S micro power amplifier to run the in-ceiling speakers. It performs admirably and required no special attention.

We used a REL T7i subwoofer to enable us to run the centre channel full-range via it's high-level input and a REL T9i to provide LFE and augment the front L&R speakers, so they can be run full-range too.

We've gone to The Pictures, so what about the picture? An Optoma UHD65 4K HDR DLP video projector squirts its image onto a 92" Grandview Cyber acoustically transparent (AT) fixed screen. It has an extruded aluminium frame and tensioned cloth fabric to keep it's images clean and sharp. Using an AT screen allows us to place the front speakers right on top of the action for supreme accuracy of dialogue and effects. By happy coincidence it also yields a crisp-looking room.

Providing a convenient and easy to operate home for the client's music collection is an Innuos Zen Mini 2TB server. Plug an ethernet cable into its bottom, power it up and feed it CDs

The wiring loom is almost worthy of it's own blog. High quality Audioquest HDMI, USB, ethernet and power cables plus two Niagara mains conditioners hold the electronics together. Our client also runs a SkyQ unit and an Xbox One console. (I've never seen an Audioquest Carbon HDMI used on a games console before!)

We deliberately specified shielded Chord Company loudspeaker cables (Clearway on the surrounds and Shawline X on the fronts) to ensure the cleanest possible audio.

I am reliably informed that a discrete refrigerator and a popcorn maker are being installed this weekend. It's pure coincidence that I'm due to complete calibration next week, when the system has had time to run in.

If you’re interested in learning more about a home cinema system for your home, then please call in for a chat and a no obligation quotation. You could bringing films to a whole new level for you and your family.

Arcam Hi-Fi is available at the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Oxford, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Innuos servers and rippers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Online, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

REL sub bass systems are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Enfield, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea, Swindon

Optoma Projectors are available from the following branches of Audio T: Swansea, Swindon

Chord Co cables are available from all branches of Audio T

AudioQuest cables are available from the following branches of Audio T: Brentwood, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Enfield, Online, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Southampton, Swansea