Home Cinema Frequently Asked Questions

A home cinema is an investment in entertainment and enjoyment. Creating your very own private cinema, in the comfort of your home, requires both technical engineering and beautiful interior design. Our home cinema frequently asked questions give you an insight into this process.

How much does a home cinema cost?

The term "Home Cinema" covers a broad range of systems, from low-cost Cinema in a Box systems or a Soundbar to a True Cinema Experience. Our typical rooms can better be described as a Cinema at Home, because they share much more in common with a Commercial Cinema or Professional Screening Room than a set of speakers and a big TV.

Much like a bespoke kitchen, the cost of a cinema room will depend on the size, design and performance objectives. We often think a kitchen is a suitable comparison. Allocating a similar budget for your complete home cinema room as a new kitchen is a good starting point.

How much space do I need for a home cinema?

The room can really be as large or as small as suits you and your family. Large and small rooms both have their own unique challenges, requiring careful design consideration to provide the best experience in the space you have.

A 30 to 70m² floor space is optimal in most situations. A footprint of 6 x 5m to 10 x 7m would be perfect for most situations, providing a range of seating options. That said, we have created some stunning rooms in both smaller and larger spaces. With careful planning we have delivered a full cinema experience in rooms as small as a single garage or bedroom conversion.

What can I do if my room is not perfect for a cinema?

We can help you achieve your dream room in even the most unusual of spaces. A loft conversion with pitched ceilings or a non-standard shape will require creative design to accommodate the essential equipment and seating. These rooms can still become incredible cinemas, but it is important to understand any compromises involved early, to make sure the design accounts for them without impacting the performance.

We work with a large range of specialist suppliers, making sure we can always design and specify the best possible system for the space you have available.

What is a Reference Cinema?

There are many technical standards established to create a public commercial cinema that meets the audio and video performance requirements of Dolby or THX. These standards do not always directly translate to the smaller rooms we have at home, but they can form a good starting point for the performance required to make sure you enjoy the artistic expression the film makers intended.

Separate standards and best practice have been created for the home. Our Technical Director, Ben Goff, is part of Working Group 10, the joint international committee run together by the Consumer Technology Association and CEDIA. This small committee is responsible for publishing RP22 and RP23, the immersive audio and immersive video best practice recommendations for home cinema.

Combined, RP22, its video equivalent RP23 and the HVAC paper CEB24 provide the framework to create a true cinema experience in your home, which equals or betters any commercial cinema you may have visited. Achieving this level includes meeting targets for criteria such as:

• Sound pressure level of each speaker and subwoofer
• Positions of every speaker relative to each seat
• Difference in sound level from the best seat in the room to each other seat
• The length of time that sound echoes in the room, calculated to hundredths of a second, known as the reflected decay time (RdT60)
• Screen size and viewing angles
• Image brightness and colour accuracy
• The comfort of the room, including temperature and humidity control

Though others may describe a home cinema as having "reference" performance simply because it meets the required sound pressure level, we only classify a room as a Reference design when it has been engineered to meet all 40 criteria drawn from commercial cinema standards.

Back to Journal →