A cinema in a former music room, Bath.

A dedicated cinema turned out of a disused music rehearsal room in a private Bath home. The owners had an equal love of films and music, and the design had to serve both — décor and lighting that read warmly for either; audio that delivered cinematic immersion without diluting the stereo front-stage that music could earn.

Surround systems often spread the budget thin across many channels, and end up with reference cinema but weak music. We held the line in the other direction. Wisdom Audio L75 across the front three channels carries both the cinema centre and the stereo soundstage with serious authority; the Wisdom STS Jewel — a 15-inch transmission-line subwoofer — underpins both.

Wisdom amplification and a StormAudio processor sit behind the speakers, with Barco projection on the screen wall. The dual-use brief shaped the room itself as much as the rack: the décor and the lighting design had to read warmly whether the owners were watching a film or listening to a record with the lights half up.

The room is internationally award-winning. More importantly, it is a cinema the owners actually use, for both films and serious listening — which was the brief, answered. HVAC, lighting design, joinery and the AV installation were all managed in-house.