How They Did It: The Escape Room

Audio Images worked with the PMI team to design inside a footprint that had already been established by the architectural team. This was a tremendously important project for the client — they told the integration firm that they intended for this dedicated theater to be the most used room in the home.

Immersive sound is key here, with an 11.4.4 package that can deliver reference sound pressure levels. The image is delivered to a 130-inch acoustically transparent screen from a Barco Balder Cinemasocpe 4K projector.

One of the hallmarks of the work done by PMI is excellent bass response, and that’s present in this project.

A big challenge here was the local power grid. Spikes, surges, and outages are fairly common in this particular beach-side location, so in addition to proper power filtration to protect against unwanted events, the firm, quote, “provided battery backed filtering to critical path components to prevent damage and improve reliability."

There’s also a mechanical room adjacent to the front of the theater, and this meant that the integrator paid special attention to both the door to the cinema and the door to the aforementioned utility area. There’s a lot of care here in the look and function of each entry.

The HVAC design is excellent here, keeping air moving and keeping guests comfortable while moving air through the space. As noted by Audio Images:

“A large linear diffuser brings slow-moving supply air to the front of the room above the screen. The riser platform serves as a large collector of return air, which is then fed back through lined ductwork to the air handler.”

So what did CEDIA’s judges have to say?

“This is a well thought-out design, both for end user AND serviceability in the future — it’s quite impressive at this price point to have separate projection room.

“We thought it would’ve been a pricier cinema for what was achieved.”

The project won the 2019 CEDIA Award for Best Home Cinema, Level II, Americas.