December 2004

Take a ride around the wealthy sun-drenched suburbs of Florida and you'll see row on row of beautiful whitewashed and picket-fenced homes. Homeowners mow the grass out front, while their neighbours wash their cars on the drive, but what you might not appreciate though, are the hi-tech home theatre rooms that so many of these houses have installed in their garages or the spare rooms.

Home theatre is big business here and to find a perfect example of what can be achieved in your own home, I tracked down professional installer, Brian D'Souza. His company, Magical Media have been working flat out in order to meet demand and driving around Naples on the west coast of Florida, we visited several houses that now boasted a Magical Media home theatre room. But what I wanted to see, was the kind of home theatre a professional installer fits in his own house.

The answer, as you probably guessed, is a very good one. In fact, Brian uses his own cinema room as a combination of test-bed for AV equipment, a training ground for new recruits and a showroom for potential clients. This room is on the ground floor of Brian's own house and when it's not locked and alarmed, it's his kid's favourite room in the house too.

Brian keeps abreast of all the latest technological developments and has checked out all of the AV products on the market and this gave him a very firm idea of what he wanted in terms of kit from the start. To begin with, the audio system would be based around active Genelec speakers. Brian knew that only this kind of professional audio engineering could deliver the accuracy, sound staging and power that he was looking for.

As for electronics, his first choice of processor was the Lexicon MC-8 – the industry standard and still the most reliable and flexible model available. A matching Lexicon DV-something would make a fine DVD source and a Hughs HTL satellite receiver for high-definition TV.

The display device had to be a projector as it's the only way to achieve a really big image, and in this case Brian chose a Dwin-TV3plus DLP projector firing at a 123inch Stewart Greyhawk screen from its housing in the ceiling.

The room itself was previously a large ground floor spare bedroom until Brian turned it into something much more useful. The windows and patio doors were darkened with heavy automated curtains, while another set of curtains move along an elegantly circular rail at the front of the room to dramatically reveal the projector screen.

 

An elaborate Lutron lighting system controls five independent sets of lights set in the walls and ceiling. Lutron's Graffik Eye and Radio Ra panels set the scene with a variety of preset lighting modes to suit each kind of viewing scenario. Like the curtains, it's all remote controllable too, so Brian can switch on the entire room from his handheld AMX controller.

Brian's team of experts helped configure and calibrate this system and the resulting setup is acoustically bang on. Each of the seven Genelec monitors and subwoofer work together to deliver a crisp and vivid soundtrack that fills the room with a cohesive all-around soundstage, while the image from the Dwin projector beams an optimised progressive scan image onto the Greyhawk screen.

But it's not just technology that makes a good home theatre - the feel and cosmetic appearance of the room is just as important. Brian's room blends the grandeur of a classic picture house with the comfort of home in a particularly comfortable way. The three rows of custom-made cinema seating are generously sized and covered in soft leather. The thick carpet is welcoming and also balances the acoustics of the room, by absorbing reflected soundwaves. Like all of Magical Media's installations, the kit itself is all hidden away. The Genelec monitors are housed behind the attractive panelling that covers the walls and the electronics are kept in a dust-proof Mid-Atlantic rack cabinet at the back of the room. There's not a cable in sight anywhere.

 

This project was a labour of love for Brian and took longer than he expected as it had to be done at the weekends and in the gaps between his paying jobs. And with the ever-growing interest in home theatre, there weren't too many of those. The finished room is such an inspiration for his staff and clients it's hardly surprising that Magical Media are so busy.

Magical Media Equipment list for D'Souza Residence Theatre

1-Dwin-TV3plus projector
1-Lexicon-MC8 A/V processor
1-Lexicon-RT10 DVD Transport
1-Genelec-HT208
2-Genelec-AIW26
2-Genelec-HT205
1-Crestron-MC2W and CT3000
1-Mitsubishi-HSU776
1-Hughes-HTL Satelite
1-Pansat-Satelite
7-Aura-Shaker Pro-Seat Bass Shakers
1-Elan-Z301 Bass Shaker Amp
1-Panamax-5300 Surge Protector
1-Lutron-Graffik Eye
2-Makita-Drape Control

Photography - Louis Austin