The owner of this Media Room has been a Service Contract Client for a number of years and already had a simple home cinema system that we maintained. Whilst the family were on vacation, a water pipe burst in the attic causing the ceilings of both the upstairs bedroom and the cinema room to collapse!
The shear amount of water that had collated in the cinema room meant that the entire AV system was damaged. The Client contacted us and requested that we design and install a whole new system for the family.
Whereas previously the cinema room was used exclusively by the grown ups, the new refurbished room had to provide a relaxing entertainment environment for the whole family. The system had to be versatile enough to cater to the needs of the adults but simple enough for the children to navigate. The new Media Room had to be a place where the entire family could spend their weekends enjoying an array of their favourite activities – in short – it had to be more than just a room to watch movies in!
We designed a system to provide plenty of action and fun yet be discrete and simple when required.
Central to the ultimate home cinema and gaming experience within this scheme is Sony’s VPL-VW90ES - a Full HD 3D projector delivering a vibrant, bright 3D picture for an immersive, natural home 3D experience. With an ever increasing number of Blu-Ray 3D movie titles and 3D games, there’s no shortage of 3D content.
The canvass is provided by a 3.5 metre Screen Research (350FV HD WhiteAudio Extreme with micro perf.) wall-mounted projection screen whilst genuine sound can be heard via a 5.1 surround sound system featuring three M&K MP150THX front speakers, two M&K IW95 in-ceiling side speakers and a Polk 10” in-wall sub-woofer.
The audio and video sources are effortlessly handled by Onkyo’s AV powerhouse - the TXNR1008 - however we realised that we needed to deliver more power to the M&K speakers so we installed a Sunfire TGA-7401 amplifier – offering 400 watts per channel rather than 150 watts per channel. Delivering stunning 5.1 channel surround sound the TGA-7401 truly packs a punch in this Media Room!
An incredible eleven video sources provide a whopping choice of content, including SKY HD (x2), Apple TV (x2), Mac Mini, Blu-Ray player, Panasonic 3D Blu-ray Player, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Sony Playstation and CCTV.
Lighting design was an important aspect to create a relaxing ambience for movie watching whilst giving the room a ‘wow’ factor for entertaining guests. This was achieved with two drop down ceilings, the first has colour changing LED light strips housed around the perimeter and the second has flushmounted LED down lights and ‘Starry Night’ Optical Fibre lighting.
We also installed an iPort in-wall iPod docking station and a customised local input plate to provide HDMI + Composite with Audio, USB and Ethernet inputs. Blackout blinds were installed in the bay windows to ensure the room would be completely dark.
We also installed an iPort in-wall iPod docking station and a customised local input plate to provide HDMI + Composite with Audio, USB and Ethernet inputs. Blackout blinds were installed in the bay windows to ensure the room would be completely dark.
Providing control of the entire system is the Philips Pronto TSU9600. With a 3.7" colour touchscreen, the TSU9600 allows for effortless touch-of-a-button control of all the AV devices, lighting and blinds.
The AV rack was cleverly housed in the old fireplace, making it a central feature in the room and also allowing easy access of the kit for maintenance or upgrade purposes.
We also designed and commissioned all of the joinery works for the room, adding unique features in the room such as the wall hung bar with colour changing LED lights to match the ceiling. As well as, the curved pocket door including skirting, a bespoke sofa for the bay window and an in-floor storage box to allow neat storage of gaming equipment.
The Client comments on the new Media Room: “We had no plans to refurbish the old cinema room, however, the burst water pipe in the attic left us with no choice! Starting from scratch did mean that we had a completely blank canvas to create a real sanctuary from the outside world - a fantastic environment where the family could escape for a few hours at the weekends and really enjoy ourselves.
The process of creating the new Media Room was challenging but Smartcomm have delivered a truly versatile system – it’s amazing how much use we get out of a single room! We can access movies, TV, music and various console games at the touch of a button. Seeing our son’s image on the 3.5 meter screen when he’s playing football with the Xbox Kinect is such a joy – it gives us great pleasure seeing the kids interact with the technology and watching them jump around and getting active rather than just sitting on the sofa watching telly!
We are extremely pleased with our system as the end result is stunning. The kids love this room as much as us now and we find that we spend much more time together as a family.”
