Up on the Roof

PROJECT PROFILE

UP ON THE ROOF

Audio Images proves any space can be an effective — and award-winning — media room

Ed Wenck

Content Director, CEDIA

Audio Images had a client who wanted to turn his rooftop deck into an entertainment space. The deck has an incredible view of a bay along the Southern California coastline, and the homeowner wanted to turn what had been a space dedicated to a lap pool into a place to watch sports and movies and listen to music.

This system features an outdoor-rated 84-inch TV on a motorized lift along with marine-rated speakers and subwoofers. PMI’s Anthony Grimani tuned the whole 8.2 channel audio system with digital signal processing in order to make the sound perfect.

There’s also a 4.1 audio system in the bar and jacuzzi area along with a TV on a lift and swivel to allow for easy viewing. Both displays are part of a whole house audio/video distribution system.

There were, of course, challenges that came with installing a proper outdoor media-room space. Audio Images’ Mark Ontiveros says:

“In order to provide adequate sight lines, the TV is raised up well above the roof line. It was put on a motorized lift so that it didn’t show from the street when not in use.

“Getting the TV and its lift mechanism onto the roof required a crane and lots of careful planning and preparation during the entire build process, while the client was living there.

“We put volume limiting into the sound system in order to preserve the neighborhood relations, given the teenagers’ (and sometimes, the adults’) propensity to turn up the volume.”

The client already has a CEDIA-award-winning media room in his basement, but now uses his deck almost exclusively.

This brilliant integration not only won its category in the Americas region, it was also honored as “the best of the best,” winning the 2019 Global CEDIA Award for Best Media Room.

EQUIPMENT LIST

APC Audioquest Brightsign Cleerline Crestron Easy Adapters Furman Power ICRealtime ISO-MAX James Loudspeaker Leviton Liberty Marantz Middle Atlantic Muxlab NETGEAR Nexus 21 Ruckus Sandisk Seura Sonance Tributaries Xantech Zack Zigen

AUDIO IMAGES

audioimages.tv CEDIA Member Since 1995