PMC creates cutting-edge Dolby Atmos demo cinema

PMC has installed a state-of-the-art home cinema within its Holme Court headquarters. Designed to showcase the company’s dedicated installation loudspeakers, the 22 square metre theatre will be used to demonstrate to custom installation, retail and global distribution customers.

Ian Sutton, director of PMC Distribution UK, says the idea was to create a space in which PMC could invite its clients from around the world to experience the very best that can be achieved in a home cinema environment.

The Emmy Award winning company has long had a close association with the film industry, its speakers used in the mastering studios to create film soundtracks.

The new Holme Court facility has been designed by Guy Singleton, owner of multi award-winning installation business, Imagine This.

Singleton’s role was to take over a space within the Georgian mansion, that has been PMCs head office since 2014, and overcome the obstacles a building of this age presents to produce an acoustically and aesthetically perfect cinema space.

“We were working with a number of challenges during this design and build project,” says Singleton. “We had to overcome the issues presented by such things as traditional sash windows which vibrated with low frequencies and a large void under the floorboards that acted as a bass resonator. These were coupled with the global supply chain issues thrown up by the pandemic, which meant obtaining some materials proved to be very tricky.”

Sutton says the end result is astonishing. “We have a cinema space which is worthy of the superb new PMC Ci series speakers, that we can now show off in the kind of environment they were designed for.”

The build incorporates three flagship ci140 speakers plus two ci140 subs for the front LCR channel duties, mounted behind the acoustically transparent screen, in a very sturdy and inert baffle wall which is built to THX standards.

Surround duties in this 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos cinema are handled by six ci65 in-walls, with six ci30s mounted in the ceiling for the height channels. While this is designated as a .1 LFE installation, there are actually three subwoofers in operation, in addition to the two ci140 subs. Two of the company’s active PMC SUB 2s are mounted in the front wall beneath the screen, with a passive XB3 mounted underneath the rear seating stage area.

Processing and power amplification comes from PMC Distribution UK’s long-term electronics partner, Bryston, with the company’s SP4 16-channel immersive theatre processor at the heart of the system. Amplification is provided by an array of Bryston amps, including the multi-channel 9B cubed.

The PMC cinema also uses a Barco Balder 4k laser projector, Acoustic GRG products for the acoustic treatment and fabric walls, Kordz for all of the cabling, Crestron for the control system and Acoustic Innovations for the cinema seating.

The PMC Cinema is expected to welcome its first trade visitors from the UK’s custom installation and retail sectors, and PMC’s overseas distributors soon. It is also envisaged that end-users wishing to embark on a high-end cinema build of their own will be welcome to visit with their installers.