HABITECH

MAGIC IN THE MAKING

With Habitech’s support, every integrator can own the cinema design space, says Sales Manager Timmi Thorsen.

Here’s an upside to the downturn: the world is experiencing the biggest expansion of the internet and home entertainment in years. And it’s going to stick. Today, millions of bubble families are relying on digital delivery as a life preserver at work and play, generating double digit growth in SVoD and gaming entertainment. For example, 16% of the UK’s entire adult online population subscribed to Disney+ between its launch on March 24 and early July. Meanwhile, Netflix attracted 10 million subscribers in Q2, on top of 15.8 million in the preceding quarter. All this is accelerated by service stacking, which is now widespread, averaging three streaming services for every US household and two in the UK. Subscription fatigue is unlikely to reverse these dramatic home-centric shifts in media consumption when big streamers like Disney, Netflix, Comcast and Amazon are fighting tooth and nail to preserve them. Even as the bubbles pop, new habits will die hard.

For your business this could be the big silver lining to the Covid cloud. New enthusiasm for home AV at every price point is driving demand to your door at a time when the IoT invasion is eroding prices in other areas of your business. The ‘back of the net’ opportunity must be to sell and support the experiences your customers cannot get from smart things. Which is why we’re here to give every integrator the power to deliver – and charge for – the wonder of complete AV immersion.

GREAT CINEMA FOR EVERY BUDGET Today, after five years of investment in people, products and demonstration spaces, we’re able to transform your cinema proposition with an endto-end home cinema design service. Whether you’re new to home cinema design, or a seasoned campaigner; whether the brief is for super discreet surround around a telly or the ultimate in bespoke home cinema luxury, Habitech will support your business with a powerful medley of design, product, demonstration and backup services. Just think of us as a one-shot tonic for your cinema design creativity: everything you need in a single convenient supplement.

BEST BRANDS, BEST DESIGNERS Even if the prospect of tackling the largest and most complex investment in a single room within the home appears daunting, we can help you share the rewards of this market from a standing start. We’ve partnered with the best brands: Wisdom Audio, James Loudspeaker, Acurus, Arcam, Salamander, JVC, Dalite/Projecta, Panamorph, Yamaha, Sonance, to help you deliver a truly immersive cinema experience in any residential

When the IoT invasion is eroding prices in other areas of your business, Habitech is here to help you sell the experiences you cannot get from smart things

Wisdom Audio’s L75i-P38iP20i in-walls are part of a select product portfolio from the best brands, designed to give every integrator the power to deliver – and charge for – the wonder of complete AV immersion

CinemaTech’s Design Service Program provides you with design drawings and an acoustic design plan

CT’s reversible acoustic panel provides HF absorption on one side and reflection/LF absorption on the other

space. For perfect system permutations, you can rely on the experience of our own cinema systems product specialist, Craig Wheeler, in collaboration with Wisdom’s product wizard Steve Rutherford. And for the acoustics and room design challenges, we’ll ‘fly in’ a dedicated team of specialists to work on your project through our partnership with CinemaTech.

THE LARGEST SIGNAL PROCESSOR IS THE ROOM Today, many customers prefer to experience the joy of a home cinema in what is recognisably a ‘living’ environment. But they’ll be missing the magic if the room’s not ready for sound. CinemaTech’s acoustic technology will allow you to step confidently into luxury home cinema by offering flawless acoustically optimised room designs to the most ambitious clients. With hundreds of prestigious projects to its name, the CinemaTech design team can apply 25 years of experience to the successful and most exacting delivery of your client’s bespoke theatre. Habitech’s exclusive tie-up with CinemaTech gives you access to its industry-leading Design Service Program (DSP), which generates a unique interior design for the space, followed by accurate 3D design renders. Not only will it look and feel fantastic, the new cinema environment is tuned acoustically to achieve the maximum performance from the audio system installed. The beauty of this arrangement is that whether you’re taking your first steps in cinema or sprinting in the field, we’ll provide the level of project support that’s exactly right for you.

PROOF OF THE PUDDING Another big part of our end-to-end design support offers you the power to demonstrate. We’ve invested in multiple price-point theatres, including the new Wisdom Point Source and Line Source cinemas shortly to be opened at our Basingstoke base. Covering a wide range of budgets, this resource throws open the opportunity to invite your customers to a demo in the environment that’s closest to their ideal. Fact is, demonstration is the only way to show them what a real cinemascope image looks like, or what their favourite concert footage sounds like, or most importantly, exactly what ‘immersion’ is all about. Invariably once the experience has generated the desire to buy, price becomes less of an issue. What’s more, with the benefit of replicable CinemaTech acoustics, you can transfer the complete experience down to the very last frequencies! To the ‘can I have this in my home’ question, you can simply say ‘yes’, emphatically, every time. Combined with the proven systems versatility and performance of our flagship cinema brands, CinemaTech, provides the power to emulate the look, sound and feel of

JVC’s peerless N Series projectors combine with Dalite/Projecta screens and Panamorph lenses for jaw-dropping picture quality from Habitech high-end Habitech cinema virtually anywhere. In a single compelling and transferable package, you can supply the ‘wow’ that makes every decision simpler.

YOUR CUSTOM PROPOSITION With or without CinemaTech, we’ll tie all the detail together in a custom proposal that comes exclusively from you to your customer. With your brand on the cover the presentation will describe the system elements, configuration and seating plan for the optimum cinema design, according to the scale/budget required, and explain why our specialists believe it will offer your clients the immersive qualities and experience of today’s most advanced home cinema technologies in their home - without mentioning individual prices of course. Your exclusive proposal will reassure them that from start to finish, the project is in expert hands.

FROM PLAN TO PREMIERE With Habitech on side, every integrator will have the ammunition to deliver magical home cinema in any space, from a modest media room to the most desirable, unique and precision-crafted home theatre environment. Step by step we’ll provide the support you’ll need to clinch the sale and complete the project end-to-end, from plan to premiere. For you and your customers, the best possible experience of home cinema design starts right here, with us.

Habitech habitech.co.uk

PULSE CINEMAS’ STORMING YEAR IN HOME CINEMA

With the introduction of the StormAudio MK2 line up of amplification and processing power to the Pulse Cinemas family, the company argues installers have the best platform on the planet from which to create AV and home cinema masterpieces. Kapes Patel, Technical Director at Pulse, makes the case.

Starting with an introduction to the two key new products if you are not yet familiar, StormAudio has poured all of its knowledge and manufacturing knowhow into new generations of its processing and amplification offerings.

Created as an evolution of the awardwinning ISP product range, the StormAudio ISP MK2 version is a preamp/processor that delivers the ultimate feature package required by the most demanding integrators and home cinema enthusiasts. Also an evolution from the MK1 version, the high performance PA MK2 amplifier range (available in 8ch and 16ch versions) has a new more refined appearance to match with the new processors. A collaboration with Danish experts Pascal Audio, the MK2 variants boast Class D amplification.

Looking at the processor in more detail, StormAudio has kept its commitment to flexibility with its modular approach offering lots of options in terms of hardware and software. Installers can make choices such as the amount of analogue XLR outputs or digital AES/EBU (up to 32ch). Perhaps you need to connect with audio over IP AES67 networked devices? No problem, just talk to us and we will help create exactly the machine you need for each project. The base of the range begins with a 16-channel product that can be upgraded to 24 or 32 XLR analogue outputs or a mighty 32 Digital AES outputs.

All the important CODECs for a real immersive cinema and AV experience are delivered by MK2. The platform includes DTS:X Pro and Dolby Atmos up to 24 channels (13.1.10) offering the best immersion in big cinemas including the new centre height and overhead speakers. Also included is the latest version of the Auro-3D engine, including an update of the Auro-Matic upmixer offering better dialogue management in the centre channel with stereo content. Auro3D compatibility also includes support of back speaker rendering even with 9.1 or 11.1 Auro3D content. This new hardware also supports IMAX Enhanced which will be offered through a free software update early 2021.

Other enhancements on the MK2 family include the new hybrid analogue/digital volume

StormAudio MK2 is now driving the main cinema at Pulse Cinemas HQ adjustment offering better noise performance comparable with the best high-end stereo pre-amp for any of the 32ch available.

When it comes to calibration and adjustment to create truly bespoke cinemas each time, with MK2, each speaker now comes with a 20 band PEQ capability, in addition to the multi-way capability and Dirac Live filtering.

Full compatibility with Dirac Live delivers this state-of-the-art digital room correction technology, but makes it easy and fast to use. Dirac Live uses sophisticated analysis of all the speakers in an install to optimise performance and remove colorations. Using Dirac Live delivers real world, repeatable results for musical staging, clarity, voice intelligibility, as well as richer and tighter bass.

However, StormAudio goes further and delivers the Dirac Live Bass Control module too, offering sophisticated bass management and room mode correction for any number of subwoofers.

StormAudio’s Speaker Configurator has also been rebuilt for MK2 offering a new user friendly graphical per layer definition, base, height and top, with many new speakers feeds added.

Further visible control options include updated HDMI outputs via the On-Screen Display capability with adjustable position to meet 16/9 or 21/9 screens aspect ratios.

On the vision delivery side, StormAudio MK2 boasts the most advanced HDMI card in the business, co-developed with Cypress Technologies. The HDMI 7 + 2 eARC card delivers fast switching, eARC, 4K, 18 Gbps, Dolby Vision and HDR10. An 8K upgrade is also in development.

Compatibility has also been key to the success StormAudio has experienced with MK2. The new hardware can act as an endpoint for the popular audiophile content and streaming service ROON - a really popular combination this one. StormAudio also offers full compatibility with the Pulse Cinemas automation system of choice, RTI, and the platform can also be used with ELAN, Control4, Crestron and Savant. Flexibility also exists outside of the MK2 version as we can deliver a MK1 to MK1.5 - 24 channel decoder upgrade. This underscores StormAudio’s commitment to providing long term value with genuine upgrades. Via this option, an MK1 processor receives a 16-channel decoder to 24-channel boost, gains DTS:X Pro decoding, IMAX Enhanced and also gets quicker codec switching.

POWERFUL PERFORMANCE Switching to the MK2 amplification range, this upgrade delivers UMAC Class D technology, offering high efficiency, high dynamic range and extremely low distortion. The 16 and 8 channel versions both have four individual UREC technology-based power supplies and each PA MK2 offers up to 3kW of capacity with instantaneous response, changing in real time to the demands of the content. In partnership with the processor part of the family, all the information available to the amp becomes visible within the ISP WebUI interface thanks to StormMonitoring technology, allowing for accessibility locally or remotely.

MORE GOOD NEWS We also ways like to back winners here at Pulse Cinemas, so it’s wonderful to reveal that StormAudio already received significant recognition from the industry for its achievements with MK2.

Earlier in the year, the ISP.32 Digital AES MK2 has won the Audio Hardware: Preamps & Processors award at the @TWICEOnline TWICE VIP Awards 2020. Voted on by the U.S integrator community, it’s a great endorsement and verification that installers out in the field are appreciating what has been created. However, the recognition does not end there, as the same product was named as one of the winners of the Best of Show awards at CEDIA Expo this year - and StormAudio is also a finalist for the CEDIA Awards Best New Hardware of the year. At the time of writing this, we don’t yet know the results, so let’s hope its another triumph for this brand which has had such a strong year.

The good news does not end there; the MK2 is now driving our main cinema at Pulse Cinemas HQ, so you can come and experience a fully socially distanced demonstration and witness just how good it is for yourself. We were really impressed when we dropped the MK2 into the rack in place of MK1. We have the same amount of channels, but the improvement with a richer, cleaner sound was immediately apparent.

It really is the best option out there. Plenty of systems deliver lots of power, and StormAudio does that of course, but it’s the level of control and calibration that can be achieved efficiently and quickly that really puts the products out in front. Get in touch and whip up a storm of your own with the best in the business.

Pulse Cinemas pulsecinemas.com

WHY PROJECTION SCREENS REIGN SUPREME OVER BIG-SCREEN TVS

TVs and projection systems have been a topic of debate for years. Some people swear by the brightness and clarity of big TVs, while others believe nothing beats the immersive viewing experience of a standalone projection screen. Determining which type of display is best usually boils down to a matter of personal preference—yet there are compelling reasons to make projection screens your starting point as you discuss home cinema options with customers. Here’s why:

BIGGER IS BETTER The whole point of having a home theatre is having a big picture. Certainly, there are huge TVs, but their dimensions still pale in comparison to exceptional projection screens. It’s the experience that matters in a home cinema – and the bigger the picture is, the more engaging, dynamic, immersive, and memorable the viewing experience. A projection screen brings movies to life, making a space like no other. The unparalleled images and cinematic presentation are why you’ll find only projection screens, not TVs, in both commercial cinemas and home cinemas. “With a projection screen you’re not selling technology; you’re selling an experience,” says Ryan Gustafson, CEO at Screen Innovations.

Plus, once you get past 120 inches in diagonal screen dimension, pound for pound a complete projection system is typically less expensive than a huge TV—making it a no-brainer for budget-conscious customers. A projection setup also contributes to integrators’ bottom line, as profit margins of commoditised TVs continue to dwindle. Also, transporting and installing a projection screen won’t eat up manpower. It ships rolled up for easy delivery and transport, and is lightweight enough for easy handling and installation. However, a TV of the same size is significantly heavier and cumbersome, requiring an entire crew to lift, carry, and install it.

Entertaining a large group is easy with a projection screen; there’s no such thing as a bad seat. Everyone has a great view of the image when it’s presented on a screen that stretches across the entire front wall. People can mingle and grab a drink at the back bar without losing view of the screen. Depending on the size of the audience, it’s difficult to achieve the same level of entertainment enjoyment from a smaller TV. TURN ORDINARY INTO SPECIAL A projection screen evokes a feeling of escapism—which many shelter-and-home families crave as the pandemic persists. Resembling the screen at a commercial cinema, a home cinema projection screen transcends reality, turning any room into a special destination where viewers can become truly immersed in a movie. What once was a space barely used becomes a room frequented and a valuable addition to the real estate. And with so much content at our fingertips, the same screen that takes you to the movies can transport you to exotic destinations, an interactive fitness studio, and virtual gaming sessions. Engaging content combined with larger-than-life images creates a window into different worlds – promoting relaxation, health and wellness.

INSTALLATION CREATIVITY A big-screen TV mounts to the wall or sits on a TV stand. It’s a pretty cut-and-dry installation. Once it’s in position, you’re left with a big, dark rectangle amid the room décor. However, a projection screen can be affixed to the wall, suspended from the ceiling, motorised to lower from the ceiling, or framed by elegant draperies. You’re able to choose a mounting and design approach that best suits the room’s style while imparting a sense of drama and excitement.

With a wide assortment of designs, you can get creative with a home cinema installation. Speakers can be hidden behind acoustically transparent screens; large, uncovered windows can serve as a backdrop for ambient light rejecting screens; and coloured bezels can complement the room décor.

While it’s certainly a popular option to construct a dedicated screening room around a front-projection system, it’s by no means your only option. The combination of high-output projectors, retractable screens, and proper lighting control allows you to integrate a frontprojection system into virtually any space. When paired with an ultra-short-throw projector, for example, even small rooms are candidates for large projection screens.

EASY UPGRADES When new TV technologies are introduced, the only way you can upgrade is to buy a completely new display. Not so with a projection system. The screen or the projector can be easily swapped or updated to stay on-trend.

AN AV GATEWAY A projection screen is the cornerstone of a home cinema. It sets the tone while providing a perfect inroad to other technologies. To your customers, it suddenly makes sense to incorporate lighting control, colour-changing LEDs, motorised window treatments, a customised remote control, a high-end media player, special theatre seating, and other accoutrements. Try convincing clients to add these technologies to a family room with a bigscreen TV—you’ll probably get some pushback. But in a dedicated cinema with a projection screen, it makes perfect sense.

Invision UK is the exclusive distributor for Screen Innovations. Sales@invisionuk.com | 01359 270280