Best Media Room

Level II

Winner

| Americas

An Uncommon Room

by Audio Images

Speakers, racks, sound treatments, wiring, and control couldn’t detract from this room’s look.

The architectural plans for this space listed the area as “common.” The mission was to turn the space into anything BUT common. This room’s situated between two kids’ rooms and the master bedroom on a landing with a terrific seaside view.

That view and the room’s existing aesthetic demanded that all the technology needed to be as unobtrusive as possible. Speakers, racks, sound absorption and diffusion, wiring, and control couldn’t detract from this room’s look of a high-end yacht.

There are some fairly obvious audio challenges. The room’s open and there’s quite a bit of glass here, which could create a lot of uncomfortable results. With the PMI team assisting, an elegant solution was achieved: All of the speakers, subs, and sound treatments have been cleverly concealed behind a stretched fabric that covers the ceiling and the front and back walls of this landing.

The next issue: Bringing in the brightest possible image to compete with the beaming sunlight that often fills this space. A 98-inch 4K Planar display did the trick.

The sound system is truly immersive: It’s a 7.4.2 package that provides excellent clarity of dialog and terrific spatial imaging. Left, center, and right channel speakers are tucked behind fabric on the wall near the screen, and angled for proper dialog effects. Side channel speakers are tucked in the ceiling, carefully isolated so the sound doesn’t travel upstairs.

Two back channel speakers flank the rear of the seating area, and are also concealed behind fabric. The CEDIA judges took special note of the fact that subwoofers were custom-built for this installation’s demands, and that there’s great attention to detail here, rack included.

The sound system is truly immersive: It’s a 7.4.2 package that provides excellent clarity of dialog and terrific spatial imaging.

All of the speakers, subs, absorbers, and diffusers have been cleverly concealed behind a stretched fabric that covers the ceiling and the front and back walls of this landing.