A West Australian installer had to meet several challenges when it came to installing an award-winning home theatre that could transform from a cinema to a disco within minutes. The multi-faceted entertainment area comes complete with a dance floor, karaoke, smoke machine and a speaker system that exceeds expectations.

It all started with a simple request from a Perth-based client: “I want to disco dance.”

The team from Surround Sounds in Western Australia were determined to deliver a room where the ambience is radically altered at the touch of a button, taking you from a dimly-lit movie to a fully-blown nightclub.

The end result: a design that was crowned Best Media Room at the 2009 CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Awards.

Surround Sounds designer Mark Jeisman says their aim was to design a unique entertainment area that would become the main feature in the client’s new home.

“The scope was defined both with the builder and the client. It was based on a true multi-faceted entertaining space that would deliver multiple media formats,” he says.

“But the large open space had to be designed so that it could also be divided into two areas.”

The home theatre consists of three distinct ‘zones’. A large semi-basement area of the home folds out to an adjoining pool/alfresco area which features additional audio. The room caters for movie soundtrack/viewing with 7.1 surround sound, karaoke, gaming and high SPL two-channel CD/DVD audio for dancing.

“The main area was divided into half, segmented by a unique curved folding door system,” Mark says. “When the doors are closed, this allows the theatre to be a clearly defined space with zone two being the dance floor. The alfresco/pool area was to have music from flush mount speakers run from a dedicated stereo receiver.”

Although the area was effectively one space, Mark says each zone was treated as a separate room.

“They each dealt with factors including throw distances for the front projection systems, sightlines, system control, acoustics, lighting control and comfort.”

When creating the design for the home theatre, CAD plans were produced and equipment specifications were sent to the cabinet designers. But there were still hurdles that had to be overcome.

“The pre-wiring commenced during the building of the home when bulkheads had been formed up. The Ultralift projection lift unit was formed out ready for installation into the ceiling bulkhead.

The end result: a design that was crowned Best Media Room at the 2009 CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Awards.

“However a challenge was the proximity of the projection lift to the ceiling supports holding up the weight of the folding door system. With only 10mm of clearance to play with, additional engineering support for the door system was introduced, as we couldn’t compromise the lift location.”

The completed theatre features a front projection lift system and fixed 110” screen. The demands on the speakers for karaoke and nightclub mode meant domestic speakers were out of the question. Rather than install two separate audio systems, the team from Surround Sounds chose Turbosound professional venue speakers to handle the diverse material.

“These deliver hi-fi sound with pro-audio SPL and were specified for LCR channels. A large Earthquake Subwoofer handled high SPL bass.”

With a bar area providing extra entertainment value, Mark says that Primare amplification and processing drive the speakers, as well as hosting inputs of DVD recording, dedicated karaoke DVD, CD and digital TV. A Beringher mixer allows precise mixing of the two Mipro radio microphones and karaoke sources.

Moving onto the dance floor, driven by an independent pro-power amplifier, a second pair of Turbosound monitors run the space with a KV2 audio dual 12” subwoofer. These are fed from the main Beringher mixer.

“We partnered with a pro-lighting company to provide some great club lighting and smoke machine,” Mark says. “This was interfaced with our supplied C-Bus control system for simple control.

“All systems are featured in custom cabinets, including a unique drinks trolley that houses the smoke machine and subwoofer.”

But the acoustics in the dance floor proved to be troublesome, due to the hard surfaces around the area. Surround Sounds anticipated this, and worked with a designer to manufacture a large acoustics panel as a backdrop to the dance floor space.

“Keeping the karaoke mixer accessible for manual control required it be incorporated into a drawer system in the cabinet. The cables fold out as the drawer is pulled out, and this way the operator can discreetly adjust EQ, FX or volume.

“Each shelf in the cabinet is ventilated into the speaker fabric area and the amplifiers are fan-cooled.”

Mark says where possible, all cables were balanced audio to reduce any induction of unwanted signals. Rattle tests were performed to combat the enormous SPL and bass response generated by this pro level system and iron out any extraneous noises in the room. The projector was also calibrated and an RTI controller handles RF control over all systems.

For the finishing touch, the lighting modes were condensed into one touch C-Bus presets via on-site testing and creation. Once set the lighting can also run automatically in sync with the audio.

“The client’s hair stood on-end the first time the system was powered up,” Mark says. “We exceeded his expectations in taking all the pre-requisite applications of the space and delivering performance beyond his thoughts.

“The culmination of quality visuals and lighting is inviting. It provides the client and their friends a space to be enjoyed.”