Award-winning integrator, Erskine Group, has delivered a luxury home theatre in Park City, Utah that performs triple duty as an awesome karaoke room and a video conference room too, with high-quality Meridian sound at the heart of the customer experience.
Having fallen in love with his Meridian two-channel system at his New York home, Erskine Group’s customer naturally wanted the same brand for his Utah property, which would now be his primary residence. His top priority was the conversion of a recreation room into a brand-new state-of-the-art home theatre which could also work as a music space where he could plug in his bass guitar and play along with his favourite songs and serve as a place for joining business meetings by video conference.
“We understood our customer’s affinity with Meridian and were excited to show what the brand could do in this challenging project,” says Dennis Erskine from Erskine Group. “We took on a project management role for the entire construction with the ambition to create a knock-out ten-seater theater in the 29’8” by 24’8” space. Our first task was to remove the existing garage door that featured in the recreation room and finished the exterior to match the house’s architecture.”
At that end of the room, Erskine Group used two thirds of the room’s width for the equipment/projection room. The remaining third now features cabinets, a sink, and a refrigerator. Four-inch Bi-fold doors conceal the wet bar, keep the noise of the refrigerator from ‘leaking’ into the room, and provide space for acoustic treatment in this important corner of the room.
Three Meridian DSP8000SE floorstanding loudspeakers provide the LCR channels in the new theater. Featuring Meridian’s unique Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology as standard, these Special Edition speakers are the flagship in Meridian’s range, offering the very finest in detail, accuracy, and power, all at 24bit and 192kHz precision. The high-quality speakers contain integral DAC’s, pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers, and built-in high efficiency digital crossovers. Enhanced Bass Alignment (EBA) technology within the DSP8000SEs delivers exceptional bass and full-range audio performance. The result is a perfectly aligned immersive audio experience where all ranges of sound reach the listener at one time.
Eight DSP750 in-wall digital active loudspeaker are fitted to the sides and rear of the room. Designed for a natural and lifelike sound with high fidelity and perfect tonal balance, the DSP750 delivers a maximum output of 120dB and bass extension down to 30Hz. Its built-in custom tweeter with a beryllium dome and diffraction expansion technology ensures a wide sound dispersion for incredibly lifelike sound, capable of playing over 40kHz.
For the height channels, Erskine Group installed six DSP320.2 in-ceiling loudspeakers, which produce at least four times the bass performance of a passive in-ceiling speaker with similar cabinet volume (100mm / 4” mounting depth). The timbre is matched to the respected DSP520.2 and DSP640.2, whilst also integrating the latest audio enhancing technologies from Meridian, including Enhanced Bass Alignment (EBA), Fifo Buffering, DSP Upsampling, Apodising Filters and MHR.
Using a Meridian two 271 Digital Theatre Controllers, Erskine Group took the digital signal out from the Trinnov Altitude 32 processor into a QSC Q-Sys eco-system (still in the digital domain) and then to the Meridian speakers. Digital to Analog conversions took place in the speakers to provide the highest resolution playback.
The integrator configured the Meridian system so that the client can play his bass alongside music videos, Roon and his karaoke player, without any latency issues. Additionally, USB and HDMI ports are fitted into the seats so that he can connect his laptop and run a video meeting through the AV set up in the room. Whatever the application in the room, the audio experience is exceptional and demonstrates the flexibility in system set up and performance that can be achieved through Meridian.
The full specification for the space includes four subwoofers and amplification, a Barco Loki 4K projector on a Display Technologies vertical projector mount and a projection screen from Stewart Filmscreen. Content sources in the room include a Blu-ray player, DishTV, Apple TV and Kaleidescape, all controlled via a Crestron system. Quest Acoustical Interiors acoustic treatments were applied behind the fabric on the walls to optimise performance even further.
The audio is complemented by a laser projector and an acoustically transparent screen. The integrator built a storage unit directly below the screen, to house the games consoles. To fulfil the visual and functional aesthetic of the room, Cyberhomes selected acoustic treatments that offer a distinctive and stylish feel and allows the room to sound at its best. The acoustic panels were complemented with LED lighting.
"We understood our customer’s affinity with Meridian and were excited to show what the brand could do in this challenging project"