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| Overview |
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Runner
up "Best Home Cinema "(20k - £100k)
at the CEDIA industry award in 2008. This subject
is a contemporary wing of a 19th Century Gothic
Mansion located in Weetwood, North Leeds. |
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| The Brief |
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The
client (a fine art and ancient antiquities dealer)
required everything to be completely discreet.
He also commissioned us to design and manufacture,
a bespoke macassar ebony cabinet to house all
the equipment and the plasma screen. This is part
of a larger multiroom project. |
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| Budget : |
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Approximately £25,000 - £50,000 |
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| Stunning 50" Fujitsu Plasma |
Given the size of the room, and the light conditions, a 50" Fujitsu Plasma screen was chosen. Fujitsu screens are largely accepted as providing the very best picture quality for all the displays currently on the market. This, combined with the Sky High Definition source provides some incredible visual results.
The thin piano black bezel has a sleek, elegant appearance totally in harmony with the existing character of the room.
The Monitor Audio Gold front speakers are recessed flush within the cabinet. They have custom made cloth grills fitted over the speakers to match the dark grain of the wood.
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| James Bond Style Plasma Lift |
The Future Automation plasma lift keeps the screen completely hidden when not in use. With one button press on the remote control, the plasma screen switches off and quietly descends into the cabinet. The lip then comes up to seal the top of the cabinet completely flush (see below) with the grain of the wood running through perfectly.
This was the perfect solution to a discreet system without having the traditional inconvenience of opening and closing cabinet doors.
Unlike plasma lifts from other manufacturers, the Future Automation lift allows the screen to sit without a wooden hat on top. Instead the lip retracts into the cabinet when the screen rises.
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Bespoke Designed Cabinet |
Given the clients passion for fine furnishings, the cabinet that we were commissioned to design and build had to be something quite special. The client requested explicitly that we use Macassar Ebony to match the wood elsewhere in the lounge.
This called for the fine craftsmanship of Bernhard Hobson Woodworking. Balancing the clients aesthetic demands, our technical requirements and the woodworking build constraints a fine piece of furniture was produced which exceeded the clients expectations. |
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| Music and Video 'On Tap' |
The iDyl Media server with a massive 3TB of storage stores hundreds of DVDs and CDs on the system. This means that without leaving the chaise-longue, the client can browse through his entire DVD collection on screen and start any one of hundreds of movies at the touch of a button.
The media server also stores images which can be set to play as a slide show. To make optimum use of this facility we transferred pictures of all the clients antiquities to the server so these cycle through on screen it is when not in use.
The RAID protection guards against any data loss so if the unit fails, all the precious movies, music and digital photos are completely protected.
it fails, all the precious movies, music and digital photos are completely protected. |
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Discreetly Hidden Equipment |
The function of the cabinet is to keep all the equipment completely hidden when not in use. The design of the cabinet has achieved this while allowing easy access for changing CDs and videos.
A customised cooling system has also been added to the cabinet so that two silent running fans turn on automatically when the equipment is in use. This ensures that all the equipment can operate at optimum level.
A Pioneer DV868 DVD player, combined with a Harmon Kardon AVR630 amplifier generates stunning imagery with acoustic effects to match. |
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| High Quality Surround Speakers |
The Monitor Audio Gold rear speakers are perfectly matched with the front speakers and also complement the design of the light fittings. Given the size of the room it was important to choose a speaker that would fill the room with a full bodied sound.
All cables were run during the build phase so they are completely hidden. Additional cables were run in the ceiling so that a projector and discreet automated projector drop could be added with minimal disruption at a later date.
A Triad subwoofer with a separate amplifier was built into the cabinet with a ported bass hole. This avoided the inconvenience of having a separate subwoofer box located elsewhere in the room. |
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Effortless Blind and Lighting Control |
Using automated blinds the ten floor to ceiling blinds in this room are very simple to control. The lounge and dining area blinds can be operated either independently or simultaneously, using the single pronto remote control.
Useful 'intelligent' features have been incorporated into the system so that when the house alarm is set, all the blinds close automatically and the lights are switched off.
Alternatively, the control can be set to 'holiday' mode having learned their normal daily sequence the control, will replicate this while the client is away in their holiday home in Tuscany.
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| Simple 'One Button' Operation |
The control method chosen was a Philips Pronto TSU9600 multi-remote control with Radio Frequency (RF) connectivity.
This allows the remote to work from anywhere in the room as it does not require line of sight to any of the equipment. This means all the equipment can be housed discreetly in the cabinet at the back of the room.
Macros were programmed so that with a single button press, the lights dim, all the equipment is switched on, set to the correct inputs and the plasma screen rises.
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| The specification |
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Sky HD Receiver |
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3GB Netgear ReadyNAS Mass Storage device |
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2 x Monitor Audio Gold in-ceiling speakers |
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1GB iDyl Server |
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Fujitsu P50HTS51ES 50" Plasma Screen |
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Custom designed and built Bernard Hobson cabinet |
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Triad in-wall sub |
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3 x Monitor Audio Gold in-wall speakers |
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iPhilips TSU9600 Remote Control |
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Chord Cabling |
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Goelst Electric Blinds |
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Rako 6 zone lighting control |
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Harmon Kardon AV360 Amplifier |
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