Project Case Study: The Listening Room

Ocean-View — *The goal in this room was to create a perfect listening chamber while leaving the room’s elegance and ocean view completely untouched.*

*IMAGE COURTESY OF AUDIO IMAGES*

4K-screen — *The patio ocean view is replaced when the 1.78:1 motorized screen is deployed, helping create a blackout effect when the 4K projector is rolling.*

*IMAGE COURTESY OF AUDIO IMAGES*

Hidden-rack — Audio Images designed the room with stealth in mind. While it is equipped with high-end audio and visual technology, someone walking into the room would be completely unaware of the equipment until they switched it on.

*IMAGE COURTESY OF AUDIO IMAGES*

Each year CEDIA presents awards to companies and specific projects in the home automation industry. This article will examine an award-winning project by Audio Images (based in Tustin, Calif.).

The client for this media room is a dedicated audiophile who had spent years looking for just the right combination of components for his extensive collection of jazz, classical and rock recordings. Ultimately this music (and film) fan abandoned his DIY approach and called in Audio Images to retrofit a room in the home with a beautiful ocean view into the perfect listening chamber.

“In this industry we often cater to clients who want nice audio and video, but they don’t often have a frame of reference for high performance sound and picture. This client did, so it was a thrill to get to work with him and witness his amazement at the result,” said Mark Ontiveros, president of Audio Images.

The client was predisposed toward some gear and wanted an installation that wouldn’t interfere with the ocean view. Audio Images concealed all the speakers, including the Wisdom Audio LS4s that provide the two-channel reference experience. Careful baffling and tuning of the L/R channels — in a tricky location to boot — eliminated the need for a center-channel speaker in the system, although the infrastructure exists should one be added. For home theater applications, Wisdom Audio P20s handle the side, back and top channels for a Dolby Atmos experience. Complete sound isolation makes the room a true retreat in the renovated wing of this Tuscan-style home.

One of the truly creative solutions for a challenging room was display placement: You’ll note that the patio ocean view is replaced when the 1.78:1 motorized screen is deployed, helping create a blackout effect when the 4K projector is rolling. CEDIA’s judges noted the excellent solutions to the acoustic challenges this room presented.

Ontiveros said, “This system is truly stealth — you have no idea all the equipment is there until you press a button.”

In addition to a CEDIA Award for Best Media Room (Level II), this project also won top honors as a “Global Award” honoree.

Audio Images also took home two awards in the CEDIA competition. “I was thrilled to have won in the Best Home Theater Category and in the Best Media Room category, but I thought we were done for the evening. So when they called us up as the Global Winner for Best Media Room, I had a mouth full of food. I was both honored and surprised,” Ontiveros said.

Each year, the CEDIA Award winners represent the best of the best. A panel of global judges evaluates each project carefully, looking at every aspect from documentation to cost and equipment choices. To see case studies on some of the other CEDIA award winners visit cedia.net/blog.