Home Theatre Installation in Sydney
A proper home theatre is not a television with speakers either side of it. It is a room designed around two things: what you see and what you hear. Get the room wrong and no amount of equipment will rescue it. Get it right and a modest system will outperform an expensive one installed badly.
We have been designing and installing home theatres and cinema rooms across Sydney for over 25 years. We handle the whole thing — acoustics, sightlines, seating, projection, sound, lighting and control — as one design, not as a pile of boxes delivered to a room someone else built.
You can see and hear a finished room before you commit. Our Redfern experience centre has a dedicated cinema room set up exactly as we would build yours.
What we build
Dedicated cinema rooms. A light-controlled room built for one purpose. Tiered seating, acoustic treatment, a projector and a screen sized to the viewing distance, and a full surround layout. This is where the format is at its best, and where the room itself does most of the work.
Media rooms. A room that works for a film on Friday and the cricket on Saturday, without the blackout commitment of a dedicated cinema. Usually a large screen or short-throw projection, a serious sound system, and lighting that can shift between the two moods.
Living room systems. The hardest of the three to do well, because the room was designed by someone else for something else. Invisible and in-ceiling speakers, a subwoofer that disappears into the joinery, and a screen or display that does not dominate the room when it is off.
Basement conversions and garage conversions. Often the best rooms we build. No windows, thick walls, and a floor plan nobody is precious about. If you have unused space below ground, it is worth a conversation.
What actually goes into the room
Acoustic design comes first. Bare plasterboard, glass and hard floors make a room sound harsh and indistinct, and no speaker fixes that. We model the room, then treat it — absorption at the reflection points, bass trapping in the corners, and where the build allows, isolation so the rest of the house does not hear it.
Sightlines and seating. Screen height, viewing distance and row spacing are worked out from the room's dimensions, not chosen from a catalogue. Where there is a second row, it goes on a riser high enough to see over the first. We set this out before anything is ordered.
Screen and projection. Screen size follows viewing distance. Projector choice follows screen size, ambient light and throw distance. A bright room needs a different answer from a blacked-out one, and we would rather tell you that at the design stage than after the ceiling is patched.
Sound. Speaker placement is dictated by the seating layout and the surround format. We specify the layout, the amplification to drive it, and subwoofer positions chosen by measurement rather than by where there happens to be room.
Lighting and control. Dimmable scene lighting, step and aisle lighting where the room needs it, and motorised blinds or curtains if there are windows to deal with. As licensed electricians and C-Bus specialists we do the lighting and the control as part of the same job — one trade, one contract, one point of responsibility.
One button. Every room we finish gets a control system set up so that watching something takes one press. Lights down, blinds closed, projector on, source selected, sound at the right level. If your family cannot use it without being taught, we have not finished.
How a project runs
Consultation. At our Redfern showroom or at your place. We look at the room, ask what you actually watch and listen to, and give you an honest read on what the space can and cannot do.
Design. Room layout, seating plan, acoustic treatment, equipment schedule and a fixed price. If you are working with a builder, architect or interior designer, we coordinate directly with them from this point.
Rough-in. Cabling, speaker backing, power and control wiring, before the linings go on. Getting this stage right is what keeps the finished room free of visible cable and surface-mounted compromise.
Installation. Equipment, screen, seating and finishes. Our own licensed electricians do the electrical work.
Calibration and handover. Speaker levels, distances and room correction measured and set. Then we sit down with you and show you how to use it. You get documentation, and you get us on the phone afterwards.
Equipment
We are not tied to one brand, which means we specify what suits the room and the budget rather than what we need to move.
Loudspeakers from KEF, and architectural and invisible speakers from Sonance where the room needs the sound without the hardware. Amplification and electronics from McIntosh, Rotel, Arcam, Hegel, Linn and Pro-Ject, with Powersoft where a larger install needs the headroom.
For cinema rooms specifically: surround processing and AV receivers from McIntosh and Marantz, projection from Sony, and screens from Dream Screen. Cinema-grade loudspeakers from MAG Theatron where the room calls for that kind of output. Cinema seating is specified to suit the room's row spacing and riser height. Lighting control on C-Bus or KNX, and whole-home integration on Elan by Nice.
Where the room has to hide the hardware, we build the mounting to suit it — fold-down ceiling mounts and slide-out wall panels among them — so the screen appears when you want it and disappears when you do not.
If you already own equipment you want to keep, bring the list to the consultation. Often it can be built around.
Hear it before you buy it
Our Redfern experience centre has a working cinema room, not a showroom display. Same class of equipment, same calibration approach, same control system we would put in your house. Sit in it, put something on that you know well, and judge it for yourself.
The showroom is open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, at L1, 722 Bourke Street, Redfern. Listening sessions are by appointment, which means we can have the room set up and the system warmed up before you walk in rather than you catching it cold. There is no charge and no pressure. Call (02) 8551 9595 to book a time.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a dedicated room, or can this work in my living room?
Both work, but they are different jobs. A dedicated room gives you full light control and the freedom to treat the acoustics properly. A living room system has to respect the room's existing design, which usually means invisible or in-ceiling speakers and a display that behaves when it is off. We will tell you honestly which your space suits.
Projector or a large television?
It depends on the light in the room and how big you want the image. A projector gives you a genuinely cinematic image but needs light control to look its best. A large TV is brighter and more forgiving in a room with windows. If the room cannot be darkened, we will usually steer you to a display.
Can you work with my builder or architect?
Yes, and it is far cheaper if you bring us in early. Getting the cabling, speaker backing and power right during the build costs a fraction of retrofitting it afterwards.
Can you fix a system someone else installed?
Often, yes. Poor sound in an expensive system is usually a room and calibration problem rather than an equipment problem, and that is fixable without replacing everything.
Where we work
We install home theatres and cinema rooms across Sydney from our Redfern base, including Surry Hills, Paddington, Alexandria, Balmain, Bondi, Coogee, Darlinghurst, Randwick and Dover Heights, and throughout the wider Sydney metropolitan area.
Tell us about the room. Book a free consultation, or come and sit in the cinema room in Redfern and hear the difference for yourself. Call (02) 8551 9595 or send us the details of your project.
