AWE Provides a Halcyon Environment in Buckinghamgshire - Case Study

An ambitious renovation project has been completed in the Buckinghamshire countryside with experienced installer, Halcyon AV and us providing a multi-purpose home cinema featuring Dolby Atmos. The property, which was purpose-built to replace an old barn in the grounds of a family home, required a comprehensive AV installation for the whole family to enjoy.

The property was initially an old barn, which had to be demolished and re-built with the same footprint. Halcyon faced a challenge when linking this building to the house, as it required them to run very long cables between the two buildings, ensuring the cable ducts were run in properly. The main TV, Wi-Fi and network distributions are located in the house, so maintaining a high quality signal with these was important.

“The brief from the homeowner was to provide a stylish yet discrete home cinema, which was equally suited to watching films and listening to music,” comments Tim Dyer, Director of Halcyon AV. “During the early stages of specifying the equipment, the client asked for a demonstration of what could be achieved. I got in touch with AWE as they had just finished the cinema room at the head office. We both went for a full demonstration of Dolby Atmos and knew it was the perfect system for the job.”

The owner of the property comments: “We had advice from Tim initially as to what system would work well. But really it was when we went down to the AWE showroom, and heard all that the system could do, then we thought wow, it’s fantastic and it would be perfect for us.”

The impressive building has been designed with the AWE-supplied technology at its heart. The home cinema is fully insulated and features sound proof screens and blinds, allowing the immersive sound produced by the KEF speakers to be contained within the building. The KEF Ci3160 speakers were installed around the 65” Panasonic screen, with KEF Ci160QR speakers installed into the ceiling.

“We specified KEF for a number of reasons” continues Tim. “The client was keen to keep as many speakers as possible in-wall, and I don’t think there is a product that is as good as the KEF offering currently on the market. The customer has been really impressed with the sound.”

These speakers have been matched with a Marantz SR7009 AV receiver and Marantz UD5007 Blu-ray player. The sound within this room is indeed the stand out feature. Thanks to Marantz and KEF, the cinema boasts a 11.2 THX speaker configuration, which supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X to provide exceptional 360° audio quality.

Audio aside, the high quality visuals are down to a Panasonic 65″ AX902 4K Smart TV. To ensure the cinema room is easy to use by the whole family, Halcyon AV opted for a URC MX1200i touchscreen remote control.

“The room has different uses for all of the family” explains the homeowner. “I love using the room to listen to music through the sound system. But the whole family has been using the room as a home cinema – we all watched the final of the Great British Bake off in here.”

This is one of the larger Dolby Atmos installations that Halcyon AV has done, and the results have been outstanding. With more soundtracks now available for the system, Dolby Atmos is a great option.

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