Pro-Install

Once you've had a demo of D-BOX seating, it's hard to look at your regular sofa again in the same way. It's no surprise, therefore, that the owner of this bespoke cinema room was seduced by the 'movie motion' experience after an initial recce at UK distributor Pulse Marketing, and insisted it was part of the conversion plan. As such, all the seats (from US brand Fortress) were ordered 'D-BOX ready'. The two prime seats in the front row are fitted with actuators – the remaining six can be upgraded easily whenever the owner wants.

This issue’s pro install reflects a common concern – how to harness wasted loft space. The brief here was to indulge the owner’s passion for enjoying sports events in the company of friends and family, and to have movies and kids’ TV shows accessible from a simple touch-screen controller. Support for 3D was a must, too.

While the premium picture palaces delivered by professional install outfits are guaranteed to get us salivating, a dedicated movie room doesn't have to be über-expensive. Proof, if you need it, comes in the shape of this basement theatre undertaken by FAB AV from St. Albans, with hardware and installation costs coming in at under £10,000.

The owner of this smart-looking media room didn't originally set out to own it. He'd actually called upon custom install outfit The Big Picture to establish home automation electronics throughout his house, with the idea of constructing an additional space for a dedicated cinema. But when this proved untenable, The Big Picture suggested turning the family snug into a movie palace. 'Being open to ideas, I challenged them to impress me,' he tells us. 

For serious AV-holics a 40in 3DTV just won’t do. The best way (some would say the only way) to watch Full HD 3D Blu-rays is on a projector screen. This is certainly the opinion of the owner of this dedicated movie room, which flaunts JVC’s flagship X9 PJ for full-size 3D thrills.

This basement movie den in South West London is the work of custom installation professionals MD Integration, and is slightly unusual in that it was commissioned by the developer of the property rather than the owner. In the capital's red-hot housing market, it should certainly help the six-bedroom new-build stand out from the crowd.

Face it – your home cinema system may offer spine-tingling sonics and hi-def visuals to die for, but until you’ve got rid of the cable clutter, the mountain of plasticky remote controls and the BD-strewn carpet, some of your friends won’t be impressed. The owners of this gorgeous theatre room in North London won’t have that problem, though...