This family, which frequently entertains children and grandchildren, wanted a space for watching TV and movies that wasn’t just a media room, but delivered the full cinema experience.
The theater designed by Chicago-area CEDIA member company Barrett’s Technology Solutions met this goal and more, winning the Level III Gold Technical Design award for Home Theater in CEDIA’s 2011 Electronic Lifestyles® Awards competition.
Technical Highlights:
The rest of the home features an integrated system. This theater was added after the fact, so Barrett’s had to deliver some of the functionality of the existing system. For example, the home has an automated front gate, and when someone rings the bell, a row of lights in the theater flash on and off to alert the client.
As for the room itself, Barrett’s treated the entire space with sound panels by CDGI. The equipment and the projector are in another room, which creates a noiseless environment. The speakers are built into the walls and are hidden behind the screen at the front and behind sound panels in the back and on the sides. An enclosure was built under the screen to hide dual subwoofers.
Challenges:
The space behind the room where Barrett’s wanted to put the projector was an extremely narrow walkway that separated the back of the bar from the back of the theater. The theater was built with 2x6s rather than 2x4s, so Barrett’s was able to notch them out a bit, creating enough room to work with. They cut a square hole in the wall at the back of the theater. The carpenter built an aperture with astronomy-grade glass that the projector could shine through.
Barrett’s wanted the speakers to remain hidden. The room had been dry-walled already, which presented a challenge. Several studs had to be removed or modified to accommodate the in-wall speakers.
Calibrations:
Barrett’s did an ISF calibration on the Runco projector using a Sencore color meter and Sencore video pattern generator. They acquired an Audyssey pro license on the Integra processor, which is equipped with Audyssey pro software. This technology allowed the technician to not only balance speaker levels but also adjust separate bands of the frequency range to account for the natural acoustics of the room.
Result:
A great deal of time and care went into designing an elegant yet understated theater that looked and sounded great, while keeping all the electronic equipment hidden from viewers.
—–
To learn more about this and other award-winning projects, check out the latest issue of Electronic Lifestyles® magazine online or in print. Enter CEDIA’s Electronic Lifestyles® Awards competition at www.cedia.org/awards.
