Northampton Home Cinema
We have just completed this stunning home cinema in Northampton. It’s a great room that features a huge screen, a star ceiling, great lighting and Anthem and Paradigm sound system.
The equipment installed includes;
✅ BenQ W4000i 3200 Lumens Projector
✅ Anthem MRX1140 Surround Receiver
✅ Paradigm Pro In-Wall Speakers and Paradigm X12 Subwoofer
✅ Starscape Star Ceiling
✅ Philips Hue Lighting
✅ RTi Remote Control
✅ Frontrow Home Cinema Seating
✅ Movie Poster System
Watching the Olympics in 4K.
Photo of Home Cinema towards entrance.
Suicide Squad movie poster.
Before the movie poster frame was installed.
Because of the tight dimensions of the room we had to go for a short throw projector, in this case we used the BenQ W4000i which is actually an LED projector which features lighting via 4 LEDs for a very punchy 3200 Lumens output.
BenQ LED Projector
The projector is 4K HDR LED with lumens output of 3200lm and BenQ claim that it is 100% DCI-P3. DCI-P3 is a colour space first defined in 2005 as part of the Digital Cinema Initiative, to be used for digital theatrical motion picture distribution.
In pursuit of perfect picture quality, pioneering BenQ HDR-PRO technology employs Optimal HDR Tone Mapping, Leading Local Contrast Enhancer, and Dynamic BlackTM to overcome brightness constraints and optimise contrast effects for authentic HDR performance.
BenQ W4000i LED Projector
The Projector produced a lovely picture quality, however there is an error on the network port that was stopping us from controlling the projector over IP - In the end we re-configured the control system to use RS-232 to control the projector with our RTi control system. RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data, so feels a bit old school to be using today, but it works and it’s rock solid.
Paradigm Speakers and Subwoofer
The Paradigm speakers are in-wall and in-ceiling with the front Left, Centre, Right speakers sitting behind the acoustically transparent 120” screen. For the subwoofer a powerful Paradigm Defiance X12 is used, this 12” subwoofer has 650 watts RMS of power.
Anthem MRX 1140 Home Cinema Surround Amplifier
The speakers are all powered by one of our favourite home cinema receivers, the Anthem MRX1140. The MRX 1140 is a great way to bring premium audio to any home cinema it features 7 dedicated 8K HDMI inputs that support 8K/60Hz or 4K/120Hz pass-through and 3 dedicated outputs with eARC.
It also features the latest version of ARC Genesis with a redesigned and more accurate calibration microphone, Anthem Room Correction (ARC) is a significant leap forward in room correction, new target curve adjustment options including deep bass and high frequencies; improved algorithms and much more and helps transform the performance of your room whilst retaining the unique rooms unique character.
StarScape Star Ceiling
The star ceiling consists of 6 magnetic 1x1 metre panels (in a 3 x 2 metre ceiling), these each have a bundle of 100 mixed diameter fibres (0.50mm, 0.75mm, 1mm and 1.5mm) distributed in a natural star pattern across the face. On the rear of the panel this bundle is connected via an optical joint with screwed coupling to a corresponding carrier tail connected to the light source. The light source or light engine feeds the fibres with the light and this lights up the stars.
Waiting for the carpet install before installing star ceiling.
The star panels start to go up into the ceiling.
In goes the carpet.
All star panels are up and star ceiling is complete.
Acoustics and Fabric
We used Vicoustics Cinema Round acoustic tiles around the sides and back of the cinema. Cinema Round panels are mostly used to control sound reflections and excess reverberation in home cinema rooms, helping maximize the acoustic performance of the room , Cinema Round performs mainly on medium and high frequencies.
Cinema Build Systems fabric tracking profiles where used for the room, at the front a black velvet fabric was used so that the screen felt like it was part of the wall. On the sides we used a dark Camira acoustically transparent fabric over the acoustic treatment and speakers.
Thanya installing (and hoovering) the black velvet front fabric for the home cinema.
Vicoustic Cinema Round acoustic treatment.
Fabric Tracking around the acoustic treatment.
Fabric tracking sides and rear of cinema nearly complete.
Movie Poster System
Our Movie Poster system boots up automatically when the TV is turned on, it then shows movie posters in random order each for 30 seconds at a time.
It’s all controlled via a Raspberry Pi, powered through the TV’s USB port It makes for a great talking piece about the films shown and helps build the home cinema experience up. This is all controlled via the RTi remote which has a movie posters on or movie posters off button.
TV Mounted in-wall.
Frame for the Movie Poster System.
Ben in shorts because the day was so hot!
Frame painted matt black.
Movie Poster System in action.
RTi Control System
To control the home cinema we have used an RTi T4x remote control alongside an RTi XP3 control system.
the XP-3 provides bi-directional control for two-way real time feedback from connected third-party devices and the XP-3 enables control via Ethernet, Zigbee, RS-232, IR, and relays.
The T4x remote control, is RTi’s flagship remote , it features a 480x800 4.0” LCD Touchscreen and two way control via Zigbeee protocol.
Lighting scenes are programmed onto the remote, as is control of the movie poster system. The owner simply chooses what he wants to watch (such as SkyTV) and all the equipment boots up and turns over to the correct components. When finished with the room for the night a simple off switch turns everything off for them, easy.
