The home cinema design podcast

It's been a while since we talked about bass, and in the meantime we've learned some things. Particularly... How to place your subs for best results Active Acoustics (Trinnov Waveforming and DIRAC ART) Using digital EQ and limiters to achieve better bass extension Infra-bass - how it's done and what it does Updates on our Level 2 training course Plus the usual swearing and nonsense. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom's now on the 3rd iteration of his cinema demo room, at his facility near Stafford.. This one is pretty special, so this episode Owen interviewed Tom to tell us what he's done. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We went all the way to Barçelona, just to build a million pound cinema (OK, we helped a bit), with Trinnov, Officina Acustica, Perlisten and others, and we had a blast. We also took some training and went round the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Although we're a podcast we also run an introductory calibration course for our industry friends using RoomEQ Wizard software. This time we're joined by Tom Lanham (Lano), lead engineer at Wall of Sound, who was one of our first course attendees and a bit of a star pupil. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No particular theme for this episode - we accidentally took a few weeks off with our day jobs so we thought we'd ramble a bit and get caught up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The RP22 performance targets cover timbre ( timber if you're Northern), dynamics and spatial resolution. Spatial resolution has the longest set of metrics - there's 11 of them. This time out we go though and explain the spatial metrics in a bit more detail, what they're for and how they make your cinema better. Less sweary than some episodes - we're trying to behave properly. Ish. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, emotional hot-head Owen and calm, relaxed Tom discuss the emotional impact of a cinema system. We know that a better engineered system creates a deeper emotional connection with the audience, but why is that? Come with us on the hero's journey and find out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time out we look at the second 'triad' of RP22 metrics - timbre. The dictionary defines timbre as 'the characteristic quality of a sound, independent of pitch and loudness, from which its source or manner of production can be inferred.' Making sure the sound from every speaker is consistent, making sure every speaker tracks the target curve faithfully, and making sure the whole system has enough bass extensions, is a tough engineering challenge. As Tom says, you won't hit these numbers by accident. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time around we go deeper into the RP22 metrics, which divide into Dynamics, Spatial and Timbre (or Timber, if you're from Stoke). We start off with dynamics - Sound Pressure Level, Low Frequency Effect, and particularly, Noise Floor. And Tom throws a bit of a tizzy. Awww. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to styling, you can have whatever you want - up until the point it starts to affect the performance, and then we have to talk about it. This week Tom and Owen go through some popular room styles, ideas about the process, and CPD training for our architect and interior design friends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom and Owen both design in 3D, but very differently - Tom's Team Solidworks and Owen is Team SketchUp. Let's have a fight! No, not really. We talk about our processes and workflow with 3D modelling and how they help us create engineered cinema rooms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Owen and Tom are back on our bullshit - there's a lot of it about and thanks to AI it's increasing to near-infinite levels. We examine some of the most egregious examples in the home cinema industry, and wonder whether we can drag our industry from being bullshitters to professionals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time out Owen's the host and Tom is the special guest, to tell us all about a takeover project where having first got things working, he then made them work really well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back after a short break looking after the customers :) this time out Tom and Owen are joined by Louise Tarling of Louise Tarling Limited and Benjamin Pratt from B-Electrical and White Onyx Automation, talking about the recent two-day RP22 training course and setting the world of home cinema to rights Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Tom and Owen are joined by Dr Julian Scott from https://displaycalibration.co.uk/ to talk about video calibration, the Professional Video Alliance (PVA) and why white-walled projection rooms are (still) a really, really silly idea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Everyone knows that...' but is it true? Tom and Owen go over some of our least favourite home cinema myths, misconceptions, and bad excuses. Big thanks to Ben Pratt for the idea and to Peter Aylett for the longest list of suggestions! Bit sweary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're joined by David Meyerowitz of Trinnov Audio to explain their new Waveforming system. This technology really does seem to solve the long-standing problem of achieving great bass, for more listeners, in a small room. This could genuinely change the game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Once you've designed and installed the cinema to the best of your ability, you'll need to calibrate the system. There's a lot of difference between 'manufacturer auto-calibration' and what a trained, experienced hand can do with a system. Here Tom and Owen give you a 25-minute overview and talk about our (matching) calibration setups. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get the bass right and everything else flows beautifully - but in domestic sized rooms it's a hard engineering challenge, possibly the hardest job a home cinema designer has. This week Tom and Owen set out the problem and some of the remedies, preparing the ground for further episodes on the subject. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All projects are compromised - some good, some bad, and many are accidental. Home cinema designers Tom and Owen give examples of all three and what to do about them. Find out more at https://homecinemadesign.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.