UK loudspeaker specialist PMC has opened a new home cinema within its Holme Court HQ to showcase the company’s dedicated installation loudspeakers. The 22sq-m cinema will be used to demonstrate to custom installation, retail and global distribution customers.
Conceived by Ian Sutton, Director of PMC Distribution UK, the vision was to create a space in which PMC could invite clients from around the world to experience the best that can be achieved in a home cinema environment.
PMC is known for its close relationship with the movie industry, designing loudspeakers that are used by the major studios to create the film soundtracks. The company has provided the sonic reference for Hollywood since 1991, and today is a reference standard for Dolby Atmos mixing suites around the world. The new Holme Court facility provides a place to demonstrate cinema sound for home installations, with the same dynamics and realism experienced in leading studios.
To achieve this, the company enlisted the services of Guy Singleton, owner of Imagine This, whose role was to take over a space within the Georgian mansion, that has been PMCs head office since 2014, and overcome the obstacles a building of this age presents to produce an acoustically and aesthetically perfect cinema space.
‘We were working with a number of challenges during this design and build project,’ he says. ‘We had to overcome the issues presented by such things as traditional sash windows which vibrated with low frequencies and a large void under the floorboards that acted as a bass resonator. These were coupled with the global supply chain issues thrown up by the pandemic, which meant obtaining some materials proved to be very tricky.’
‘But he managed it with astonishing results,’ Sutton adds. ‘We have a cinema space which is worthy of the superb new PMC Ci series loudspeakers, that we can now show off in the kind of environment they were designed for.’
The build incorporates three of the flagship ci140 loudspeakers plus two ci140 subs for front LCR channel duties, mounted behind the acoustically transparent screen, in a sturdy and inert baffle wall built to THX standards.
Surround duties in the 9.1.6 cinema are shared between six ci65 models for the walls, with six ci30s mounted in the ceiling for height channels. And, while this is designated as a .1 LFE installation, there are actually three subwoofers in operation (in addition to the two ci140 subs). Two of the company’s active PMC SUB 2s are mounted in the front wall beneath the screen, with a passive XB3 mounted underneath the rear seating stage area.
Processing and power amplification comes from PMC Distribution UK’s long-term electronics partner, Bryston, with the company’s SP4 16-channel immersive theatre processor at the heart of the system. Amplification is provided by an array of Bryston amplifiers, including the multichannel 9B cubed.
Other companies involved in supplying product the PMC cinema include Barco for the Balder 4K Laser projector, Acoustic GRG Products for acoustic treatment and fabric walls, Kordz for all of the cabling, Crestron for the control system and Acoustic Innovations for luxurious cinema seating.
The PMC Cinema is now complete, and will be welcoming its first trade visitors from the UK’s custom installation and retail sectors, and PMC’s overseas distributors very soon. It is also envisaged that end-users wishing to embark on a high-end cinema build of their own will be welcome to visit with their installers.
More: www.pmc-speakers.com
