THE BRIEF
ASCENDO Dolby Atmos Reference Cinema
A 216 m³ flagship demonstration cinema designed to demonstrate what is possible when room design, acoustics, loudspeaker engineering, infrasonic bass and professional cinema calibration are treated as one complete system.
The cinema features a 9.6.4 immersive audio configuration, built around 13 ASCENDO point-source loudspeakers: nine speakers across the base layer and four overhead height channels.
Low-frequency reproduction is considerably more ambitious than a conventional home cinema system. Four 18-inch ASCENDO subwoofers provide the primary bass system, supplemented by a pair of enormous 32-inch ASCENDO infrasonic subwoofers. These extend the system into frequencies that are experienced physically as much as they are heard, adding genuine scale and impact to movie soundtracks.
System processing is handled by Trinnov, with dedicated ASCENDO amplification driving the loudspeaker system.
At the front of the room, a JVC DLA-NZ9BE projector illuminates a 5 metre-wide Cinema Build Systems acoustically transparent screen in a 2.35:1 CinemaScope format. The front loudspeakers and acoustic treatment are concealed behind the screen and surrounding fabric architecture, allowing the sound to originate naturally from the image while keeping the technology itself largely invisible.
The cinema interior uses the Cinema Build Systems fabric-track system, creating the clean architectural finish of the room while allowing extensive acoustic treatment and loudspeaker integration to remain hidden behind the walls.
System at a glance
- Room volume: 216 m³
- Audio configuration: 9.6.4 Dolby Atmos
- Loudspeakers: 13 × ASCENDO point-source loudspeakers
- Base layer: 9 channels
- Height layer: 4 channels
- Subwoofers: 4 × ASCENDO 18-inch
- Infrasonic system: 2 × ASCENDO 32-inch infrasonic subwoofers
- Processing: Trinnov
- Amplification: ASCENDO
- Projector: JVC DLA-NZ9BE
- Screen: Cinema Build Systems, 5 m wide, 2.35:1, acoustically transparent
- Room finish: Cinema Build Systems fabric-track system
The experience
What makes a system of this scale particularly impressive is not simply how loudly it can play.
A properly designed reference cinema should create a seamless sound field where individual loudspeakers disappear and the soundtrack exists naturally around the audience. Dialogue remains anchored to the screen, effects move accurately throughout the room and the bass system delivers both the speed required for musical detail and the physical energy demanded by modern cinema soundtracks.
The two 32-inch infrasonic subwoofers take this a step further. Very low-frequency information that would be absent from many conventional systems becomes part of the experience, producing the sense of pressure and physical movement associated with the very best commercial and private cinemas.
Experiencing reference rooms such as this is an important part of how we approach cinema design at Mirror Edge Networks. It provides an opportunity to evaluate technologies at the highest level and understand how loudspeaker selection, subwoofer deployment, acoustics, processing, projection and architectural integration work together.
Ultimately, the lesson is simple: a great home cinema isn’t created by any single piece of equipment.
It is the result of the entire room being engineered as one system.
