As soon as the owner of this dedicated home theater bought her four-bedroomed Surrey house she had an idea: 'I wanted a TV room of some kind. I just didn't know what or how.'

Cue residential install specialists James Paul AV. The company was charged with coming up with a solution that met the fairly loose criteria of wanting 'a cinema room that sounds like a real cinema'. The theater was completed as part of a whole-house conversion, which included networking, multiroom audio, a phone system, and supply and install of an Apple-based streaming system.  read more »

The proud owner of this media room is an old hand when it comes to home automation and cinema installations. It’s actually the third dedicated home cinema he’s built since 2000, and during the past eight years he has also designed cinema and whole-house AV systems for friends and relatives.  read more »

Are you an AV addict?
Oh yes! I started with a JVC 3D Phonic, then a Toshiba 32in, then a 42in Hitachi plasma. I had that for a couple of weeks, before it got stolen, along with both front speakers, the DVD player and a small collection of DVDs. I can not put down in words what I felt. But it all was replaced thanks to the insurance... As it is now, in the bedroom is a Samsung 42in which sits alongside a Denon 2800 multiregion DVD deck. In the living room is a Samsung 50in P96FD Full HD screen with a Denon 2805 receiver powering Sony speakers. I have a Denon 2910 DVD player for those R1 and R2 DVDs, HD is catered for by the Toshiba HD DVD player, the PS3 and Sky HD. Finally, there’s a Pronto Pro to turn it all on!  read more »

If you’re looking to upgrade your home cinema experience, there are typically two routes you can follow – commission a pro-installation company (typically someone from CEDIA, but not exclusively) or artfully structure your living room around your chosen pieces of equipment (the only constraint usually being the tolerance of your partner). But there is a third approach – designing and building a pro-grade cinema yourself.  read more »

Owning a dedicated home cinema is the ultimate goal for any hardcore cinephile. The easy was to get one is to visit a pro-installation company and commission them to spec and create your dream den. Slightly more challenging is to do all the work yourself! But just how tough is it?  read more »

It’s one thing to convert an existing room into a home cinema, but it’s another thing altogether to be involved from the ground-up on a new-build project. AV install specialist Musical Images found itself in the latter situation when contracted by a developer to help plan and install a lighting and AV system in a new-build in Hertfordshire. The brief was to create a multi-zone solution that did not impact on the aesthetics of the house or its ability to function as a traditional family home.  read more »

Are you an AV addict?
Without question. I got into AV hardware the moment we had our first video recorder, and I’ve never looked back since. My system consists of a Denon 2307 receiver, Panasonic PX60 42in TV (which is far too small), Monitor Audio Silver 5.1 speakers, Sky HD, PlayStation 3 for Blu-ray, e-box2 media centre, Cambridge Audio CD player and a Samsung 32in pebble LCD. I also have a PC with a 24in Samsung pebble monitor and a 1TB NAS for media storage (which is shared to three rooms using wireless networking). I also spent a lot of time making sure that all TV/speaker wires are chased in the walls, as I hate seeing lots of wires all over the place, I’m really pleased with how clean my install now looks.
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Building a home cinema is the ultimate goal for any hardcore AV enthusiast. While anyone can covertly pile more and more gear into the living room to feed their obsession, a dedicated media room remains the real prize. HCC often features desirable custom cinemas from both ambitious hobbyists and pro-installers, but faced with the challenge, could we produce a room comparable to a seasoned CI professional or passionate fan?  read more »

Not every home cinema needs to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. Nor do they have to involve building entire rooms from the ground up and networking numerous zones together in order to have an impact.  read more »

Are you an AV addict?
Indeed I would. I’ve been reading HCC for many years and have gained a great deal of knowledge from it. Thanks!

What was the last bit of kit you bought?
The Epson EMP-TW680. I’d been looking into buying a new projector for a while, and based on my budget and the review you ran, the Epson seemed like the perfect projector for me.  read more »