Dedicated Home Cinema Room, Derby

An Underground Dedicated Cinema Room with Sony 4K, Artcoustic SL and Crestron Control

This dedicated underground home cinema room near Derby was designed around a single clear objective: the best possible picture and sound quality for the available space and budget, with no compromise on aesthetics or ease of use. A Sony VPL-VW1000ES 4K projector, a Screen Excellence Enlightor 4K acoustically transparent screen, a full Artcoustic SL speaker system and Crestron whole-home control deliver exactly that. This installation was selected by Artcoustic as their Install of the Month.

Sony 4K Projection and Screen Excellence

The Sony VPL-VW1000ES was, at the time of installation, one of the finest residential 4K projectors available — delivering a native 4096 × 2160 resolution image with exceptional contrast, brightness and colour accuracy. It projects onto a 3.8m (150″) Screen Excellence Enlightor 4K acoustically transparent screen. The room is underground, which removes ambient light entirely and allows the projector to operate at its full contrast capability.

Artcoustic SL Speaker System

The speaker package is built around Artcoustic’s SL range — designed for flush installation and finished in black to blend with the dark room interior. The front stage comprises three Artcoustic 180-43SL speakers and two 180-43 subwoofers behind the screen. Four Artcoustic 40-30SL on-wall speakers — just 67mm deep — handle rear and surround channels, mounted at the correct height and angle for optimum surround imaging. Driven by a Pioneer Elite home cinema receiver.

Acoustic Design

The false wall, built by our carpentry team and finished in acoustically transparent fabric, conceals the front speaker array and allows the room to be tuned without visible acoustic treatments. The underground location provides natural isolation from external noise — a significant advantage in dedicated cinema design. The combination of a well-designed speaker system and a carefully considered acoustic space consistently outperforms rooms with more expensive equipment in less considered environments.

Crestron Whole-Home Control

The cinema is integrated into the home’s wider Crestron control system via an iPad running a bespoke interface. One button press starts the projector, selects the source — Sky HD, Sony 4K Blu-ray, Apple TV — and adjusts the room environment. The Crestron Digital Media system handles 4K video distribution throughout the home, allowing the same sources to be enjoyed in every room with identical simplicity.

Underground Cinema — Maximum Performance

Underground rooms offer the home cinema designer two significant advantages: inherent acoustic isolation from the rest of the property, and freedom from natural light intrusion. This Derby installation exploits both. The 3.8m acoustically transparent screen fills the visual field from the viewing position with a Sony 4K image whose quality the room’s acoustic isolation allows to be experienced at proper reference levels.

This Derby installation is regularly referenced by Custom Controls’ Midlands clients as evidence that dedicated underground cinema rooms deliver results that above-ground installations in occupied living spaces cannot replicate.

Project Details

• Location: Near Derby, Midlands
• Room type: Underground dedicated cinema
• Screen width: 3.8m (Screen Excellence Enlightor 4K)
• Projection: Sony VPL-VW1000ES 4K
• Audio: Artcoustic 7.2 SL system
• Control: Crestron iPad control
• Award: Artcoustic Install of the Month

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