Progress on Dedicated Private Cinema in Emerald Cove

I'm here in Dana Point, California, doing phase one audio calibration of a dedicated private cinema in the Emerald Cove neighborhood of this upscale community. This phase is all about initial configuration, testing, and debugging of all the audio components in this 7.1 channel system with eight ceiling-mounted subwoofers.

I'm also finishing up with a basic room tuning equalization and will finesse that after the internal finishing of stretch fabric and drape is completed. This room needed a rather large sliding door along the right wall in order to keep a sense of openness to the space and to reduce anxiety over claustrophobia. A motorized drape with combination of absorptive and diffusing strips will be added in a few weeks.

So far so good. Caught a few small mistakes, like L-R channel reversal, polarity of back set of side surround speakers (there are two pairs for soundfield evenness), and the obligatory HDMI configuration and reliability challenges.

The integrator on this new construction project is Audio Images of Tustin, CA, and the system is Triad Gold LCR, six Triad Silver Surrounds, and eight Triad CinemaPlus 12" Subwoofers. The amps are two Parasound A52 five-channel units for the main channels, and one big QSC 4050 for the subs. An Ashly 24.24m 8x8 audio processor takes care of all the room correction, time alignment, level setting, and peak limiting. A Marantz AV7005 AV preamp drives the bus, for a simple and clean setup racked-up in a tek room at the back corner of the room.

The room was engineered by us at PMI, with full sound isolation, noise control, optimized electro-acoustic layout, and acoustical tuning modules along the walls and ceiling. All this techie machinery is elegantly concealed behind a stretched fabric dress in earth tones. ~A. Grimani

For more info on MSR Acoustics products and solutions, please visit our website. Or call us at (415) 883-1476.

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