Private Home Cinema Room on a Scottish Estate

A Dedicated 12-Seat Cinema Room in a Stone-Built Estate Cottage

This is among the more unusual briefs we have received — and one of the more satisfying to deliver. The clients, owners of a Scottish shooting and fishing estate, had the opportunity to repurpose an entire stone-built cottage on the estate grounds as a dedicated home cinema room. A standalone building with no neighbours to disturb and no acoustic compromises imposed by the main house structure: the ideal starting point for a reference-level installation.

The Screen and Projection System

A 3.8m wide Screen Excellence Enlightor 4K acoustically transparent fixed-frame screen was chosen — wide enough to fill the field of view from the back row. A Sony VPL-VW760ES 4K laser projector delivers the image, producing a bright, sharp 4K picture with the deep blacks and colour accuracy that only a laser light source can achieve. The spatial alignment between image and sound that an acoustically transparent screen allows is one of the most significant advantages in dedicated cinema design.

Artcoustic 9.2.4 Speaker System

The speaker package is a full Artcoustic 9.2.4 configuration — nine main channels, two subwoofers and four height channels — driven by an Anthem AVR with full 3D audio decoding for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. The three front channels and two subwoofers sit in the void behind the screen. Surround channels are handled by Artcoustic on-wall speakers positioned along each row. Height channels are provided by Artcoustic in-ceiling speakers, completing the three-dimensional audio envelope that Dolby Atmos content demands.

Our Home Cinema Services

Installation

Design

Calibration

Treatments

Seating

Seating — Cineak Intimo

Three rows of Cineak Intimo seating accommodate twelve people. The front row is configured as day-bed style seats — relaxed, low-slung, ideal for long viewing sessions — while the middle and rear rows use more traditional cinema chairs, all finished in high-quality leather. The tiered layout ensures clean sightlines from every position. A small bar area integrated into the rear of the room, with a spiral staircase leading to an upper powder room, completes a space designed for extended social use.

Acoustic Design and Fabric Treatment

A full acoustic model of the room was built before any construction began. The stone cottage structure, while acoustically advantageous in terms of isolation, presents its own internal reflection challenges. Stretched fabric walls and ceiling panels — which also conceal the surround speakers — were specified to address standing waves and early reflections. The result is an acoustic environment that allows the Artcoustic system to perform without colouration or muddiness.

Crestron Lighting and Control

A full lighting design covers entry, viewing, interval and exit scenes — all controllable from a bespoke Crestron app on an Apple iPad. One button press starts the projector, selects the source, dims the lights and prepares the amplification. A keypad by the door allows the most frequently used scenes to be recalled instantly.

A Cinema Room Unlike Any Other

Custom Controls has delivered cinema rooms in London penthouses, Dubai estates and Cheshire halls. This is the only one in a stone-built Scottish estate cottage. The stone construction provided inherent acoustic isolation that a purpose-built room inside a house cannot achieve. The combination of an ideal acoustic starting point, a full Artcoustic 9.2.4 system, Sony 4K laser projection and Cineak seating produces a result that is difficult to better in a residential context.

Project Details

• Location: Scottish estate
• Building: Stone-built estate cottage conversion
• Screen width: 3.8m (Screen Excellence, acoustically transparent)
• Projection: Sony VPL-VW760ES 4K laser
• Audio: Artcoustic 9.2.4 — Anthem AVR 3D
• Seating: 12 — Cineak Intimo in three rows
• Control: Crestron iPad control

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