Basement Home Cinema Room — Pimlico, London

TV-Based Basement Cinema with Artcoustic Surround

This basement home cinema room is installed in a stunning Pimlico townhouse — part of a whole-house Crestron installation serving multiple rooms across the property. The room serves multiple purposes: football with friends, feature films with the family, and everyday television viewing — all from the same system, controlled from the same iPad interface. A 75″ Samsung display, Artcoustic 5.1 surround sound and an Anthem AVR with room correction deliver cinema performance without the footprint of a projector and screen.

75″ Samsung Display

The room dimensions lend themselves perfectly to a 75″ LED TV — a larger projector-based system would have dominated the space unnecessarily. The display has access to Apple TVs, Blu-ray players and Sky HD recorders alongside the full range of Smart TV apps. The same source can be routed to the kitchen so not a moment is missed during a game.

The television sits in a recess within bespoke oak cabinetwork that spans the end wall of the room, with cupboards either side and below. A flat panel was the right choice for a room used as much for daytime sport and everyday viewing as for films: it stays bright and usable with the lights on, needs no ceiling-mounted projector, and leaves the basement ceiling completely clear.

Although the room is compact, it was designed to the same standards as our larger dedicated cinemas: a considered layout, a calibrated audio system and one-touch control. Basements are acoustically ideal for cinema rooms, as the structural mass of the surrounding ground provides inherent isolation from the rest of the house. These are the services that came together here.

Artcoustic and Anthem Audio

The front channels are handled by a custom-width Artcoustic on-wall speaker mounted under the Samsung, with matching on-wall rear speakers handling surround duties. A subwoofer is built into the bespoke oak cabinetwork under the TV — the bass response is outstanding despite the modest footprint. The Anthem AVR decodes and calibrates using ARC room correction software, ensuring the system performs at its absolute best within the room’s specific acoustic characteristics. All cabinetwork was designed by our team and manufactured to our specification.

Artcoustic Custom Width soundbars can be specified to match the exact width of the television, so the speaker reads as part of the display rather than an addition to it. Artcoustic’s high sensitivity means reference-level dynamics are achievable with comparatively modest amplifier power, which suits a single AVR driving a compact room. Anthem Room Correction uses a measurement microphone to measure the frequency response across multiple seating positions and correct it within the processor, so every seat benefits rather than a single sweet spot — and, as on every system we install, calibration was part of the handover.

Concealed Equipment Rack

Behind one of the tall oak cabinet doors beside the television sits the room’s equipment rack, housing the AV electronics out of sight but within easy reach for service. Designing the joinery and the technical installation together is what allows a room this size to hold a full cinema system without a single piece of equipment on show. With the doors closed, the only visible elements are the television, the Artcoustic soundbar beneath it and the subwoofer grille in the lower cabinet.

Crestron Control

As with the rest of the property, the cinema room benefits from full control via an Apple iPad. One button press switches on the display, receiver and source with the correct surround sound decode mode automatically selected. Online sources on the display are as accessible as centralised sources — Netflix, streaming services and BBC iPlayer all route through the Anthem AVR for full cinema surround quality. The system is fully future-proofed: any source the display supports can be enjoyed at cinema audio quality.

Because the cinema is part of the whole-house Crestron installation, the same iPad interface that runs the basement also controls the other rooms on the system. Sources are shared across the house, which is what lets a match playing in the cinema also be followed in the kitchen.

Pimlico — TV Cinema in a Period Property

For London clients in Pimlico, Westminster and the wider SW1 area who want a high-performance cinema room in a basement without the footprint of a projector-based installation, this project demonstrates what a well-specified TV-based system with Artcoustic surround sound and Crestron control can achieve. The performance rivals many projector-based rooms at a fraction of the physical complexity. Our London home cinema work spans basement screening rooms, living room cinemas and dedicated new-build cinema suites, and this room shows how the same principles scale down to a compact space.

Frequently Asked Questions — Pimlico TV Cinema

Can a TV-based cinema room perform as well as a projector room?
In many cases, yes. This Pimlico basement uses a 75-inch Samsung TV with full Artcoustic 5.1 surround and Anthem ARC room correction, delivering performance that rivals many projector-based rooms without the footprint a projector and screen demand.

Can the same room work for sport and films equally well?
Yes. This room is used for football with friends, family film nights and everyday television, all from the same Artcoustic surround system and Crestron-controlled source selection — with the same content routable to the kitchen during a live match.

Where does a subwoofer go in a space-constrained basement cinema?
In this installation, the subwoofer is built directly into bespoke oak cabinetwork beneath the TV, designed and manufactured to our specification — delivering outstanding bass response without occupying any additional floor space.

Do streaming apps get full surround sound?
Yes. Netflix, BBC iPlayer and other streaming services on the display all route through the Anthem AVR, so online sources are enjoyed at the same cinema surround quality as the Apple TV, Blu-ray and Sky HD sources.

How is the cinema room controlled?
From an Apple iPad running the property’s Crestron interface. One button press switches on the display, receiver and source, with the correct surround sound decode mode selected automatically.

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Project Gallery

The first image shows the room from the rear seating, looking towards the oak cabinetwork that frames the 75″ Samsung, with the Artcoustic soundbar beneath the screen and the subwoofer grille in the lower cabinet. The second image is taken from the side with one of the tall cabinet doors open, revealing the equipment rack that houses the AV electronics. Together they show how the whole cinema system is contained within a single piece of joinery.