Acoustic Interiors

The most important aspect of this budget-minded theater, executed by Canadian integrator Acoustic Interiors, which received a CEDIA Best Home Cinema – Americas - Level 1 Award, is what you can’t see in the finished product.

A great deal of work went into keeping sound inside this room. The client felt it was key to spend a fair portion of an admittedly modest project on sound isolation, so the team at Acoustic Interiors, led by company principal Marco Resendes, used a rubber clip system to separate the two layers of 5/8-inch drywall that seal in the sound, so as not to disturb anyone else in the home during action movies or gaming sessions.

The next layer of sound control comes from the careful placement of absorption and diffusion devices throughout this home theater. Six custom diffusers are placed along the walls, and the textured, wavy tiles in the ceiling aren’t just decorative – they’re sound absorbers.

Acoustic treatments cover the rest of the walls in the cinema. The immersive sound in the room from the Dolby Atmos system also features two subwoofers installed in the front corners of the room with low-frequency “traps” – simply put, it’s a technique that delivers a uniform experience to every seat in the room. The combination of all the treatments further ensures that even the quietest moments of film dialogue won’t be lost.

CEDIA’s judges said they were impressed by what Acoustic Interiors achieved, given the cost ceiling here. They called the finished product “an excellent value.”