Over the years we have won various international awards for our cinema's with esteemed organisations' such as CEDIA.

We are particularly proud of the CEPro award because it was in the category of Best Cinema between $25k-$100k. This award is testament to the value we bring to our clients without compromising on quality, we still used, in our opinion, the best brands currently available that have a proven track record of relentless performance and unparalleled quality. This, combined with massive "bang" for your money results in home cinema's that are absolute world class without costing more than your home!

This award is testament to this ethos, and we are exceptionally proud of it.

Here's a Q&A session with Schalk Burger of Cinema Architects about this project.

Q. What were the performance objectives for this design?

A. Maximum performance for a tight budget - we decided to factor in the future upgrade course as crucial for the customer. We chose to select GENELEC Active Loudspeakers because they are Active, we were able to scale down on the processor or AV receiver.

We elected an affordable NAD Receiver that still produced excellent quality sound and delivered the functionality that was desired. The vision was to provide an upgradable processor that would elevate the system to the next level in the future. We calculated a balance of all - to avert that the client would necessitate replacing everything in future upgrades. We compensated with the loudspeakers to accommodate a better future processor. We kept in mind that the NAD with its Dirac Live™ plus the upgraded version that is available to add to this processor would be a worthy investment not only on functionality but also cost-saving - as other competitive processors are double or triple in price tag. Another benefit is that the NAD consists of MDC boards, which makes the unit almost future-proof.

Another performance objective for this room was that the customer is a big sports fan, so the requirement was to provide a fairly large screen with high-quality pictures. We, therefore, supplied the DreamVision Native 4K Projector with a large 3.4m acoustic transparent Projector screen.

Q. Please tell us about the power management for such a system?

A. Firstly, there is a battery backup system from solar via an inverter from a three-phase DB board. The electrician supplied us with a complete phase of conditioned or clean power to the server room. In the server room, the power goes through a Furman UPS and power conditioner to supply the equipment. The server room’s entrance is located on the side at the back of the cinema on a higher level for ease of access.

The server room has an access floor at the same height as the back level of the cinema where the power and signal cables run underneath. All power and signal cables are split via a cable management system to ensure that there is no interference.

Q. Share any additional customer requirements or technical challenges.

A. One of the client/customer’s major requests was to have a bed at the front of the cinema. It is a young family with two children and they enjoy spending weekends in the cinema as well as having sleep-overs of friends in the cinema. Thus on the audio calculation of the “sweet spot” we had to ensure that the front row seating enjoyed the best sound - as the client does not entertain much and requested that the cinema sound be more concentrated/focused at the front row seating.

The residence is built next to a dam with high water levels and a lot of waterproofing was done in the basement, where the cinema is located. It is a concrete basement and we were not allowed to drill into the concrete or the floor or the side walls or the roof. So we had to build a room in a room or a sub-frame that is stand-alone. The second biggest challenge was the roof that was very low - much lower than was the norm according to standards and the sub-frame also took up some space.

Extreme attention and planning went into the design of the sub-frame as not to take up more height than what was absolutely necessary.

Q. Explain the speaker and sub placement in this installation.

A. We installed GENELEC Active Loudspeakers that require power and signal. We also used GENELEC’s specifically designed cables manufactured for these speakers. The installation was done according to CEDIA design and installation standards/principles. Having HAA skilled personnel and constantly upholding Genelec’s standard requirements, resulting in a worthy balanced theatre.

For room correction we used GENELEC’s software, base management GLM, SAM and fine-tuned the sound with NAD’s Dirac Live from the processor.