What is the difference between a media room and a home cinema?

A dedicated home cinema is purpose-built — acoustically treated, light-controlled, with fixed seating and a projection screen. A media room is a multi-purpose living space with outstanding AV capability. A cinema delivers the most immersive film experience possible. A media room delivers excellent performance in a space that also works as a family room, games room or entertaining space.

Media Room Design & Installation

Bespoke media rooms for exceptional homes — combining premium audio, large-format display, Cineak lounge seating, Lutron lighting and Crestron control. A room that lives beautifully every day and performs extraordinarily when it matters. London, Cheshire and worldwide.

The Room That Does Everything

Not every exceptional home has a basement available for a dedicated cinema room. Not every client wants one. Many of the finest entertainment spaces we have designed are rooms that serve multiple purposes — a family sitting room with a retractable 4-metre screen, a games room with a bar and a pool table and a display that fills one entire wall, a living room where the lights adjust automatically when a film starts and the motorised blinds close without being asked. A media room is not a compromise. It is a different brief — one that demands a different set of design skills. The challenge is not acoustic isolation or light control in a sealed room. It is integrating outstanding AV performance into a space that also works as a beautiful living environment, where nothing looks like it belongs in a rack room and everything operates without thought. Custom Controls have been designing and installing media rooms alongside dedicated home cinemas since 1998. Our Prestbury, Cheshire home entertainment complex is our reference project for exactly this brief — a vast open-plan space in one of Cheshire’s finest halls, designed to accommodate a cinema with a 3.8m projector screen and Artcoustic speaker system, a pool table area with its own display and audio, a lounge seating area for nine, and a full kitchen with wine fridges and marble worktops. Cinema, games room, bar and entertaining space — all in one room, all controlled from a single system.

Room Acoustics — What Actually Matters in a Media Room

Acoustics in a media room split into two entirely separate conversations, and confusing them is one of the most common mistakes in this category.

Sound Transmission — The Construction Question

Structural sound isolation — preventing sound from leaving the room and disturbing the rest of the house — requires construction. Mass loaded vinyl, decoupled stud wall systems, Acoustiblok membrane, acoustic underlay in the floor, resilient bar ceiling constructions. These are the tools that stop bass energy travelling through walls and floors. They are highly effective and essentially impossible to retrofit into a completed room without significant building work. If your media room is part of a new build, a basement conversion or a major renovation, we specify structural isolation as standard — it is always worth doing at construction stage and almost never worth doing retrospectively. If your room is in an existing completed property, structural isolation is not a realistic option. We will tell you this honestly rather than specifying it inappropriately.

In-Room Acoustics — What Every Room Can Benefit From

In-room acoustic treatment is an entirely different matter — and it is relevant to every media room regardless of construction type. This is about how sound behaves within the room: the early reflections from hard surfaces that blur imaging and reduce clarity, the reverberation that makes dialogue hard to follow in an open-plan space, the bass unevenness caused by the room’s dimensions. A well-furnished media room is already doing a significant amount of acoustic work without anyone calling it treatment. A large area rug on a hard floor. Upholstered seating with high backs — particularly Cineak’s lounge sofas, which are acoustically beneficial as well as beautiful. Heavy curtains or motorised blinds. Bookshelves on rear walls. Soft furnishings chosen for comfort do genuine acoustic work simply by being present.

Where a room needs further improvement, we specify bespoke acoustic panels — designed and finished to complement the interior rather than announce themselves as technical installations. A fabric-wrapped absorption panel behind the seating position, finished to match the upholstery, is acoustically effective and visually seamless. A diffusion panel on a side wall, in a material specified by the interior designer, does its acoustic job without looking like it belongs in a recording studio. We advise on in-room acoustic improvement for every media room we design, working with the interior designer — or taking on the interior coordination ourselves where no designer is involved — to ensure that acoustic and aesthetic decisions are made together.

Display Technology

The display is the anchor of the media room — the element everything else is designed around, and the one that most determines the character of the space when it is not in use as well as when it is.

Large Format Flat Panel

For media rooms where ambient light levels are higher than a dedicated cinema environment, a large flat panel display — 85 inches and above — is frequently the right choice. Modern OLED and Mini-LED panels from Sony, Samsung and LG achieve picture quality that would have been inconceivable a decade ago, with brightness levels that remain usable in a naturally lit room and black levels that reward dark-room viewing equally. Samsung’s The Frame range deserves specific mention for media room installations. When not in use, The Frame displays a curated artwork — making the display a deliberate aesthetic feature of the room rather than a black rectangle on the wall. For rooms where the display needs to disappear into the interior scheme when not in use, this is a genuinely elegant solution.

Motorised Projection Screen

For the most demanding installations — where a very large image is required and the room allows control of ambient light — a motorised projector screen descending from a ceiling cassette gives the room a display of three metres or more when in use and a completely clean ceiling when not. This was the configuration at our Prestbury installation — a full cinema-specification screen and Artcoustic speaker system at one end of the room, invisible when not in use, transformative when it is. For a room that also functions as a games room or entertaining space, the ability to make the cinema disappear entirely is a significant advantage.

Short-Throw Laser Projection

Ultra-short-throw laser projectors sit close to or against the wall and project a large image without a ceiling-mounted projector or long throw distance. They are increasingly relevant for media rooms where a ceiling installation is not possible or desirable, and image quality at this price point is outstanding.

Audio — Invisible Performance

The acoustic challenge of a media room is not achieving great audio — it is achieving great audio without the room looking like a cinema. No black speaker boxes. No visible subwoofer in the corner. Nothing that requires explanation to a visitor who does not know what they are looking at.

Artcoustic — Designed to Disappear or Make a Statement

Artcoustic is our most frequently specified audio brand for media rooms. Their wall-mounted speakers — as slim as 67mm in some models — sit flat against the wall and can be specified in any NCS or RAL colour, meaning they can be matched precisely to the wall paint, the upholstery or any other reference in the room. Matched to Farrow and Ball colours. Matched to the fabric of the curtains. In a room painted in a soft neutral, an Artcoustic installation is effectively invisible. In a room with a stronger colour palette, the speakers become part of the wall. The customisation goes further than colour. Artcoustic’s front grilles are magnetically attached and fully interchangeable — replaceable with different fabric colours or printed with any digital artwork from Artcoustic’s curated gallery or the client’s own design. We have installed Artcoustic systems where the front speaker array carries a panoramic image that spans all three front channels — a piece of wall art that also happens to be a cinema speaker system.

Artcoustic’s Custom Soundbar range is particularly relevant for media rooms built around a large flat panel display. Custom Width soundbars can be specified to precisely match the width of televisions up to 100 inches, creating a completely integrated aesthetic — the speaker appears to be part of the display installation rather than an addition to it. Combined with colour-matched satellite speakers and a concealed subwoofer, this delivers surround sound performance in a living room that shows no evidence of having any. In terms of performance, Artcoustic’s high sensitivity — an industry leader in Sound Pressure Level per watt — means reference-level dynamics are achievable with modest amplifier power. At our Prestbury installation, Artcoustic front channels are housed behind an acoustically transparent screen, with surround channels distributed around the room and a Trinnov processor handling the signal — a full cinema-specification system in an open-plan entertaining space.

Steinway Lyngdorf — When Only the Best Will Do

For clients for whom the audio system is as important as the visual, Steinway Lyngdorf represents the reference standard for a media room. Their speaker systems are designed for room-friendly placement — from space-saving on-wall speakers acoustically designed for placement against the wall to freestanding models — with Bass Management allowing woofers to be positioned in room corners rather than demanding a specific placement. The system’s intelligence sits in the Steinway Lyngdorf electronics — processor and amplification that carry RoomPerfect, Steinway Lyngdorf’s proprietary room correction technology. RoomPerfect measures the entire acoustic space and calibrates the system to deliver correct performance at every listening position — including positions at a pool table or bar that a conventional system would never be optimised for. This room-adaptability is particularly significant in an open-plan entertainment space where speaker placement is inevitably constrained by the room’s other functions.

The Steinway & Sons Model S Soundbar

For media rooms where the brief demands the finest possible audio in the most architecturally discreet format, the Steinway & Sons Model S Soundbar is in a category of its own. Awarded Best Soundbar at CEDIA Expo 2025, it is the world’s most powerful soundbar — three Air Motion Transformer tweeters, three dedicated midrange drivers and two woofers, driven by 1,600 watts of Lyngdorf amplification. The machined solid aluminium cabinet, hand-finished in Skive, Denmark, is available in matte black or high gloss black with gold details, with custom finishes available on request.

What distinguishes the Model S from any other soundbar is not its specification but its system integration. It is powered by Steinway Lyngdorf’s A1 or A2 digital amplifiers and paired with a Steinway Lyngdorf processor carrying RoomPerfect — the result is a soundbar that benefits from best-in-class room correction, calibrated to the specific space it is installed in. The sound quality the system produces — described by CEDIA judges as delivering “an open airy sound, precise imaging and deep bass we normally hear on high-end tower speakers” — is simply not comparable to anything else in this form factor. For a media room built around a large display where no other speakers are visible, the Model S provides a complete, calibrated audio solution in a single wall-mounted object of considerable design quality.

The Open-Plan Entertainment Room

The most ambitious media room brief we work with — and one of our favourites — is the open-plan entertainment space: a room large enough to accommodate a pool table, a bar, a lounge area and a cinema-quality screen that anchors one end. Our Prestbury, Cheshire project is exactly this: a room divided into three distinct areas — cinema, pool table and lounge — each with its own audio and display capability, all managed by a single control system and united by a Lutron lighting design that sets the mood for every activity.

The Screen as the Room’s Anchor

In a room of this type, the display anchors one end — either a very large flat panel or, as at Prestbury, a motorised projection screen with a full cinema-specification image. The screen serves every activity: sport from the bar, a film from the sofas, scores or music visible at the pool table. In the Prestbury room, the pool table area has its own Samsung display as well — sources can be shared between both screens simultaneously or operated independently. Sport on the big screen and music on the pool table display, for instance. Sound following either source for complete flexibility.

Lighting Scenes — The Room’s Most Powerful Tool

Lighting design is the element that makes the difference between a room that has a pool table in it and a room that is a destination. Lutron lighting control allows every fitting in the space to be programmed into scenes — recalled instantly from a keypad, the Lutron app, or automatically by the Crestron system.

In the Prestbury room, lighting scenes are programmed for each distinct activity and area. A pool scene with focused warm light above the table, the cinema end dimmed, the lounge on a low social level. A cinema scene where the whole room adjusts to the correct level for film viewing — low enough for atmosphere, high enough to move around safely. An entertaining scene with the room bright and welcoming throughout. A sport scene with the lounge and bar areas active and the screen prominent. Each recalled in a single touch, each setting every fitting in the room simultaneously.

Lutron’s RadioRA 3 or Homeworks QSX — depending on scale — manages all of this from a single elegant keypad, the Lutron app, or automatically triggered when a film starts on the Kaleidescape server.

Crestron Control — One System for Everything

Crestron is the control brain of the room — managing the display, the AV system, the Lutron lighting scenes, the motorised blinds and any other system in the space from a single bespoke interface. In an open-plan entertainment room, the Crestron programming reflects exactly how the room gets used:

Cinema — screen or projector on, source set to Kaleidescape, surround system active, cinema lighting scene recalled, motorised blinds closed if required. One touch.

Sport — screen on, AV to satellite or streaming, distributed audio on at ambient level, entertaining lighting scene active. One touch.

Pool / Games — pool table display active with music or sport, distributed audio balanced across the room, pool lighting scene recalled. One touch.

Entertaining — full social lighting scene throughout, music across all zones, screen available for background content. One touch.

The Crestron interface — wall-mounted touchscreen, handheld remote or the Crestron Home app — presents these scenes simply and clearly. No menus to navigate, no inputs to switch manually, no sequence of button presses to get the room to behave as you want. The room responds to how it is being used.

Kaleidescape — Source Material at the Quality the System Deserves

In a room with Artcoustic or Steinway Lyngdorf audio and a high-quality display, the source material matters. Kaleidescape stores and plays back films at full uncompressed quality — picture and lossless Dolby Atmos audio that streaming cannot match. In a media room without acoustic isolation, where the system is working harder to deliver cinema performance in a living environment, the quality of the source signal is directly audible. A Kaleidescape server is a component at this level, not an accessory.

Kaleidescape also integrates with Crestron — browsing the film library from the room’s touchscreen, with the Crestron system automatically recalling the cinema lighting scene when a film is selected. Starting a Kaleidescape title and having the room respond around you — lights, blinds, Cineak seats all moving to position — is one of the most satisfying moments in a well-designed media room.

Seating — Lounge Style, Cinema Performance

Media room seating needs to do something that dedicated cinema seating does not: it needs to look like furniture. Traditional high-back cinema recliners in fixed rows would look incongruous in a living room or entertainment space regardless of their quality. The seating in a media room needs to be something a client would choose for a living room — and then discover, at the touch of a button, is also a cinema seat.

Cineak — Belgian-made, hand-built and specialising in custom luxury seating for private cinemas, media rooms and living rooms — is our preferred recommendation for media room seating. Cineak was one of the first to market with alternatives to traditional high-back cinema chairs, pioneering the modular sofa and lounge seating designs that now define the category.

Their Strato — a truly modular design combining the plush comfort of a sofa with the functionality of a cinema seat — is configured as a sofa, loveseat or chaise in any arrangement, and adds motorised recline and adjustable headrest when the room is in cinema mode. A motorised backrest height provides an entirely new level of customisation, allowing headrest adjustment precisely for Dolby Atmos listening positions.

The Fortuny incliner provides a more structured cinema seat in a design that still reads as luxury living room furniture. At Prestbury, the cinema seating uses the Cineak Intimo range — an informal front row of Intimo seats and daybeds, allowing easy seating for four with bar stools behind for sporting events. The Trevia — wide, deep, designed for casual lounging — suits the periphery of an entertainment room, around the bar or at the lounge area, where comfort over long periods matters more than cinema precision.

All Cineak designs are fully customisable — fabric, leather, configuration, motorisation and finish. Interior designers specify them as living room furniture and discover the cinema capability as a benefit. The modularity means the configuration can change if the room changes. And Cineak seating integrates with Crestron — starting a film on Kaleidescape can automatically move the chairs to the stored cinema position, returning to upright when the film ends.

Why Custom Controls for Your Media Room?

25+ years of media room and home cinema experience — including our award-winning Prestbury home entertainment complex, one of the finest open-plan entertainment rooms we have designed.
Artcoustic and Steinway Lyngdorf dealers — we specify and install both of the audio brands most suited to high-performance media room installation, and advise honestly on which is right for each project and each room.
Certified Crestron and Lutron installers — the control and lighting combination that makes a media room genuinely effortless. The right lighting scene for every activity, recalled in a single touch.
Cineak preferred supplier — we have been installing Cineak seating since our earliest Dubai projects. We know the range thoroughly and specify it for both cinema rooms and media rooms.
In-room acoustic expertise — we advise on acoustic panel placement, soft furnishing choices and room treatment that improves audio performance without any construction work.
Full project management — we coordinate with interior designers, joiners and main contractors to ensure the AV and the interior are designed together, not added to each other afterwards.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a media room?

A media room is a multi-purpose living space designed for both everyday use and a high-quality cinema experience. Unlike a dedicated home cinema, it does not require fixed seating, acoustic treatment or a purpose-built room — it is a beautiful living space that transforms into an outstanding entertainment environment at the touch of a button.

Do I need acoustic treatment in a media room?

Not structural treatment — that requires construction and is only practical in a new build or major renovation. In-room acoustic improvement — acoustic panels, rugs, upholstered seating, curtains — is retrofittable and makes a meaningful difference to clarity and listening fatigue. We advise on this for every media room we design.

What is the best speaker system for a media room?

For most media rooms, Artcoustic is our first recommendation — colour-matched to the interior, custom artwork grilles available, custom soundbars matched to TVs up to 100 inches, outstanding performance in a slim wall-mounted format. For clients who prioritise audio above all else, Steinway Lyngdorf — including the Model S Soundbar paired with Steinway Lyngdorf electronics and RoomPerfect calibration — is the reference standard.

Can a media room have a pool table and bar as well?

Yes — see our Prestbury, Cheshire home entertainment complex for a reference project. An open-plan entertainment room with pool table, bar, lounge area and cinema-quality screen, all managed by Crestron with Lutron lighting scenes set for each activity.

What seating works in a media room?

Cineak’s lounge-style ranges — the Strato, Fortuny and Trevia — are our preferred choice. They look and function as premium living room furniture while incorporating motorised recline, adjustable headrests and Crestron integration. Hand-built in Belgium, fully customisable. Read more about Cineak seating →

How does media room control work?

Crestron manages the entire room — display, audio, Lutron lighting scenes, blinds and any other system — from a single interface. Scenes are programmed for each activity: cinema, sport, pool, entertaining. Starting a film on Kaleidescape automatically recalls the cinema lighting scene, lowers the blinds and moves the Cineak seats to the cinema position.