the Brandon home theater

The Design & Construction...
Originally, HC² was contracted by the Brandon's to create an interior plan for the space. After extensive discovery, learning how they lived and how they would use this space, we were able to create a concept that was both appealing to her simple yet elegant decorating ideas without sacrificing his system's performance.

Following our method of treating design & specification separately from construction and installation, we furnished our client with all the documentation needed to get bids from trades people for their project.  Ultimately, the Brandon's chose to use us to provide the electronic enhancements, seating and room decor.

HC² is qualified to handle all aspect of construction. However the Brandon's elected to use a general contractor who was recommended by a close friend and who also happened to attend their church. In keeping with the first class service HC² strives for, we agreed to assist the Brandon's with overseeing and coordinate the effort with their contractor.

Unfortunately, even with a raving recommendation from a friend, things wound up not working out with this GC. The relationship had to be terminated with only 15% of the construction remaining. While this may seem like a big problem, HC² was able to quickly assist the Brandon's by recommending a couple of subcontractors for the job.

Though the construction had a couple of hurdles, all in all, the project turned out fantastically and the results of the construction were to the client's liking.

The Systems & Decor...
The Brandon's were comfortable with their current electronics but they did look to us for recommendations for making the system easier to use and of course to make the room look and feel more inviting.

In terms of electronics, and due to the need for bullet-proof system control and operation, we specified a Crestron control system including: touch-panel remote, and remotely controllable light switches.  Crestron's legendary reliability and broad selection of products made recommending these components an obvious choice. The combination of Crestron hardware, and our expert programming, made The Brandon's systems work beautifully. What once took a degree in rocket science to operate, now allowed the Brandon's to turn on the system, select their movie and lower the lights with the touch of a button.

For seating, the Brandon's selected one of the world's premier theater chairs, the Cineak Fortune Deluxe.  When properly designing a theater, seating selection has to be made early in the design phase.  The Brandon's spent time in our design center where they were able to evaluate some of the most luxurious theater seating in Central Virginia.

To improve the sound and add a decorative flare to the room, designer Chad Shell worked with the Brandon's to create a tasteful layout of wood columns, designed to help with sound diffusion, as well as a simple acoustical absorption panels. The panels were wrapped with a beautiful fabric and then framed with a decorative wood material Mrs. Brandon furnished.  The columns were stained with a medium-dark stain to match the primary color of the frames for the wall treatments.

The end result of this phase of the project was exactly what the Brandon's had been promised, a beautiful home theater that met the needs of the whole family and was no longer just the "man-cave".

Taking it to the next level...
There was nothing wrong with the components the Brandon's had selected prior to engaging HC².  In fact all the gear was fine equipment--B&W speakers, Denon receiver, Sony projector, etc.  As an expert specifier, our concern was how well the components were matched for each other.  The receiver and the speakers for instance were not of the same caliber.

With the owner's decision to correct this came the movement to make this home theater meet it's full audio potential.

To address the power requirements for the new system upgrades HC² furnished a Transparent Audio PIR power isolation/delivery system. By doing this, we not only prevented the breaker from tripping under heavy use but also improved how the system performed.  The end result was a very controlled sound and more vibrant colors from the projector.

To further improve the sound, we replaced the Denon with a high-performance  Meridian G68 surround sound processor, which better paired with the McIntosh amplifier Dr. Brandon had purchased.  To further enhance the system's HD audio/video sources, we installed the Meridian HD-621 HDMI Audio Processor.

The Meridian G68 surround sound processor and Meridian HD-621 HDMI audio processor are by themselves excellent, but to ensure we were able to live up to the HC² performance guarantee, we also included Transparent Audio XLR cables custom made to fit neatly into the in-wall equipment racks.

With all the right components now in place, we finished off the project by completing a 2-stage audio and video calibration; 1st doing a basic tuning of the system, and then a final calibration after the system had been properly broken-in for a month.

In the end, despite a few issues and delays with construction, the Brandon's were ecstatic with their new theater and the value that HC² brought to the project.