Located in Marlboro, NJ, KEF’s Music Lounge showcases an incredible THX Certified Home Theater, equipped with Uni-Q technology, capable of delivering an extremely phase accurate sound to a wide listening area. This theater flaunts THX Certified Ultra loudspeakers and subwoofers ensuring a crisp clean audio to drive the emotional depth and texture in the room. THX audio engineers have expertly verified the individual loudspeaker performance, listening, and viewing environment of the entire room to provide an exceptional entertainment experience for all listeners.
THE LAYOUT
As you pass through the entrance hall of the theater, you can see three large AV racks that house all of the equipment that brings this theater to life, including Cable boxes, an Apple TV 4K, Kaleidescape Strato S, and two Sony UBPX1100ES Blu-ray player along with four KEF KASA500 DSP Subwoofer Amplifiers to power ten subwoofers in the theater. In the next rack, there sits an Acurus Act 4 20 channel preamp processor, a Parasound JC5, Parasound A21, Parasound A51, and a Parasound A52. The rack on the right is reserved for the listening lounge which is a separate project, focused solely on audio performance.
The theater, which is impressively located smack dab in the middle of KEFs warehouse, where frequent loud distractions are present, was built to acoustically isolate the sound both inside and outside of the room. Reaching almost 650 sq ft., the room is filled with strategically placed absorption and diffusion panels to sonically isolate the space under the disguise of linen-textured fabrics and mahogany paneling. A combination of scattering, absorption, and diffusion panels are also placed along the side walls. Wood surfaces in the room are used to bounce sound around and provide a more lifelike experience.
Tucked away in the walls of the theater is a total of 25 speakers, including 10 subwoofers, with Four KEF Ci3160RL-THX in-wall speakers used as side surrounds and a pair of KEF Ci5160RL-THX in-walls as rears on the back wall.The 9.10.6 speaker layout features KEF Ci5160REF-THX in-wall speakers in the left, center, and right positions, with the left and right, displayed just outside of the screen and the center hidden behind a 160” Seymour Screen Excellence acoustically transparent woven screen. For the ten subwoofers, KEF uses four Kube12b’s towards the front of the room, hidden behind a linen cloth covering, for a clean look. They installed four pairs of the Ci200QSb-THX acting as side fill subs. There are two Ci3160RLb-THX subwoofers that match the side Ci3160REF speakers in the rear. Six Ci200RR-THX in-ceiling speakers deliver Dolby Atmos effects that provide an unbelievable height experience with great depth.
With a traditional loudspeaker, low, mid and high frequencies radiate from different locations, all interfering with each other which can cause muddied sound. KEF’s Uni-Q technology places the tweeter at the center of the bass/midrange cone which disperses the frequencies from a single point source so there is no interference, resulting in a much cleaner sound. Ultimately, this eliminates the “sweet spot,” which is a common problem in home theaters. The sound now spreads throughout the entire room evenly so everyone can enjoy the same natural sound no matter where they are located in the room.
The 160” Seymour Screen Excellence acoustically transparent woven screen is paired up with an Epson 6050UB Projector for crisp, 4K images. The 6050UB boasts 2,600 lumens with incredible brightness, color accuracy, and image detail to display your content the way it was intended to look. With full 10-bit HDR color processing and a powerful imaging processor, this projector gives you a superb 4K home theater experience.
The guys over at Audio Advice got together with KEF reps and were able to tour this amazing theater system. Watch the video below to see it in action. If you’re in the market for a home theater, take some advice from the people over at KEF and do it right. Contact AIC today for your home theater design needs!
