When Sydney, Australia-based integrator Len Wallis Audio and home builder Innovative Building Services team up on a home theater, the result is nothing short of spectacular. Every detail is carefully considered to deliver an extraordinary cinema experience expertly crafted to each specific space. A good example is a recent project the duo collaborated on for a 30-foot by 20-foot room with a high 10-foot ceiling. The Len Wallis Audio Team and Joe Fuda of Innovative Building Services worked closely with the homeowners to take full advantage of the massive space, packing it with sophisticated technologies from leading manufacturers including an RTI control system.

The home theater features three tiered seating rows, each providing an unimpeded view of a 184-inch diagonal 2.35:1 Stewart Filmscreen Cine-V curved screen with a microperforated UltraMatte 150 surface. The screen features drop-down vertical masking panels to present a cleanly bordered 147-inch 16:9 image. Jaw-dropping picture quality is delivered by a Sony VPL-VW870ES 4K SXRD laser projector, with professional Image Science Foundation (ISF) video calibration from Avical. Media sources are all 4K-capable and include Xbox and PS4 consoles, a Foxtel set-top box, Oppo 4K UHD Blu-ray player, Apple TV, and Kaleidescape movie server.

And that’s just the video. To deliver stunning sound, the home theater features 30 audio channels. 22 B&W cinema range speakers are being utilized, driven by two Yamaha MX-A5000 11-channel power amplifiers. CT7.3 speakers behind the perforated Stewart screen provide the main front left, center, and right channels, supplemented with left, center, and right Auro 3D height speakers. Three CWM 7.3 in-wall speakers are located on each side of the room, with another two along the back walls. Each seating row features two CCM 7.3 in-ceiling speakers above, with another two located between the front row and screen. To top it off, eight 12-inch Sunfire subwoofers — four at the front and four at the rear — deliver the booming bass. Digital processing of the sound is handled by a Trinnov Altitude32 surround sound processor.

Controlling the cinema needed to be so simple that the least experienced user could do it. To provide this level of control, Len Wallis turned to RTI. The RTI system only required two components to bring all of the cinema’s equipment under control. The first is the company’s XP-6 control processor — utilizing two-way drivers for Yamaha, Sony, Trinnov, and Oppo — which was easily able to reign in all the home theater’s technologies. The second is the RTiPanel app running on an iPad, which provides the homeowners with effortless control over every aspect of their home theater experience.

Providing a high level of control is essential to the homeowners’ enjoyment of any home theatre. In this project, the RTI control system left the family completely confident in their ability to operate this sophisticated equipment. If they want to watch a movie, a single button press turns on the Kaleidescape server, processor, projector, and power amps. Another allows them to select between 16:9 and 2.35.1 formats, with the Stewart screen masking raising and lowering as needed. This is an important capability, because while Cinemascope is the most common format for movies,16:9 is typically used for free-to-air programs and many Foxtel channels. The theater is now the most used room in the house by the entire family, and that speaks volumes to RTI’s control capabilities.