In an age where staying in is the new going out, home cinemas are becoming the latest must have for property owners. From luxury sheds to basement conversions, you can be transported in to movie heaven. As cinema attendance continues to decrease, more people are investing in their home movie experience, with streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime delivering high quality viewing directly to your TV. Home cinema technology has come along way from the Kodak 8mm film projector in the 1950s and 60s.
Locations for home cinema rooms generally come in 3 categories; basement, shed and existing family room. It’s important to use a room that can be closed off to other parts of the house to help avoid noise and light saturation from other locations. For a fully immersive experience, viewers want to lock themselves away from everyday life and become part of the onscreen action.
Getting the atmosphere right in your cinema room can be a fine balance of lighting and audio. A combination of LED downlights and LED strip is the most common trend at the moment. Recessed spotlights help provide a true movie feel, whilst the dimmable feature on LED lighting means you can change the light levels seamlessly and without the risk of flicker. The centrepiece of the room is of course the television or screen, so draw attention to it. You can continue with LED strip lights here if you wish to outline it or you could use it to backlight it which can provide a really cool effect which provides a great sense of depth. Matching all of this technology with a smart integration system such as Rako means your room can be movie-ready at the touch of a button.
Sonos Playbar
Audio is just as important as lighting when being immersed in a film. Our friends at Sonos have created a home theatre package based around their version of a soundbar called a Playbar. The Playbar has six mid-woofers to cover the low frequencies and three tweeters to cover the high, all driven by nine class-D amplifiers. More importantly, it’s a smart component making 24 million calculations per second, adding, subtracting, equalizing, and otherwise intelligently adjusting each element to keep the system balanced perfectly. Sonos also integrates with Rako and can controlled with Amazon’s Alexa.
When is comes to décor, comfort is everything. Best to avoid a noisy wooden floor in favour of a luxuriously thick carpet. And of course you’ll need plenty of places to sit, with the seat of choice varying between recliners, sofa and beanbags. Our upholsterer can design the perfect seating to match your room’s identity and colour scheme. Another fabric you will also need to consider is black out blinds or curtains, should your film rooms be above ground. Our Kent based suppliers Silent Gliss produce revolutionary electric blinds and curtains, that can be controlled with a remote or integrated into your Rako lighting system. They have created both battery and mains powered roller and roman blinds which can be retro fitted into your home with minimal fuss.
For the ultimate in cinema luxury, air conditioning is a must. Balancing the temperature and humid can be pivotal for you viewing experience. Proving both cool and hot air, you can easily change the temperature to ensure comfortable viewing for all.
Whatever your design, our team are on hand to assist and recommend you with the perfect home cinema for every budget.
