Case Study: The Anatomy of a Wilshire Signature Cinema

Case Study: The Anatomy of a Wilshire Signature Cinema

Have you ever gone to a movie and been so engrossed in the story that you forgot for a moment that you were sitting in a chair at a theater? So immersed in the storyline that you were almost in the movie? Its not at all uncommon to experience a racing pulse, goose bumps, or sometimes even tears when watching a good movie in a great theater. A Signature Cinema from Wilshire Media Systems can bring this experience right to your home.

To begin, we must first explain the difference between a Home Theater System and a Personal Cinema. Home Theater systems generally reside in a dual purpose environment like a family room where the functionality of the room often takes precedence over the performance of the system. In a Personal Cinema the performance of the system is the primary focus of the room, which results in a viewing experience that exceeds a commercial movie theater.

The key to successfully creating an amazing Personal Cinema lies in Wilshires unique planning and design process. The projector, the screen, equipment, acoustic paneling, room construction, lighting, and electrical are all parts of the equation. Wilshire puts these parts together by designing the Cinema and managing the entire process from start to finish.

Step 1: Location. Indentify a location in your home that can accommodate a Personal Cinema. In this case a mostly empty storage room above a three car garage was transformed into a Wilshire Signature Cinema. Wilshire can create a Personal Cinema in a room that ranges from 200 sqft up to 3000 sqft.

Step 2: Contact. Make contact with one of our dedicated design professionals. From there, youll convey your vision to us and establish a working budget for the overall project. An in home consultation with you may also be needed to get a better picture of what will be required to complete the project.

Step 3: Design. A 2% deposit of the working budget is required to fully design and engineer your system; this deposit is credited to the overall price of the project. The design will provide a scope of work and services, identification of key components, any required renderings, and a fixed price to completely install your Cinema. The presented design will maximize the working budget that was established in prior meetings.

Step 4: Production. Once the overall design and budget have been agreed upon, our Operations Department will establish a production schedule. Construction, product ordering, and installation will be coordinated to meet the project timeline.

Step 5: Delivery. Wilshire will deliver your Personal Cinema to you when it has been thoroughly calibrated and tested for performance. The delivery process will include a detailed lesson on operating your Cinema as well as instruction for the future care of the system.

The Wilshire Signature Cinema featured here originally started as empty room above a garage and was primarily used for storage. To achieve the homeowners main goal of reproducing movie theater quality sound at home, our designers incorporated a JBL Synthesis system speaker package that utilizes 7 hidden speakers, 4 hidden subwoofers, and 6 amplifiers. JBL Synthesis is a slimmed down home version of the speaker systems used in most commercial movie theaters. All of our JBL Synthesis systems are computer calibrated and tuned specifically for each installation resulting in sound quality that is far superior to a traditional theater.

The final design of the Cinema required some physical modifications and minor construction. As you can see by the before and after pictures, the vaulted ceiling was brought down a few feet to improve sound quality and allow for recessed lighting. A riser for the chairs in the rear of the room was designed to accommodate two rows of stadium seating and a partition wall was erected behind the second row of chairs. Just like a traditional movie theater, the front speakers are located behind a perforated film screen allowing the sound to pass through. Sound absorption panels were added to the walls and ceiling to limit echo causing reflections. The projector is hidden with a removable shroud that matches the d