News

29/07/17 - New AVR's

Its almost that time of year where we start to review the new AV receivers again. It looks like this will be slightly different this year with both Onkyo and Pioneer running a two year life cycle on their top end units. Im going to review the Onkyo TX-RZ820 shortly as soon as I can get it home. The new Yamaha RX-V3070 should be here first as usual, followed by the Marantz SR7012. Anthem are being very tight lipped, although their AVR's are due for an upgrade at the end of the year going by past cycles. Denon as yet are also not dishing any dirt on the replacement for the very popular AVR-X7200WA. If I hear anything, ill post it up.

YAMAHA RX-V3070 - MARANTZ SR7012 - ONKYO TX-RZ820

29/07/17 - Goldenear Supersub X

Review by Dan Bland

It has taken me a bit longer than expected to get around to review this, but that delay has given me time to set up a couple at customers houses in different sized rooms, test one on the hi-fi in the office as well as set up dual units in our demonstration cinema.

The first thing that strikes you about the unit is the size of the box, roughly 13” in each direction give or take a little. Physics somewhat dictate that it is usually very difficult to get any kind of impact from a subwoofer this small, this unit seems to be the exception to the rule though. Packing a monstrous 1400-watt digital amplifier inside, two 8˝ long-throw high-output bass and drivers, two 10.5˝ x 9.5˝ quadratic planar infrasonic radiators, leave little space for the actual cabinet. This structure features very little in the actual makeup of the woofer itself in terms of its actual surface area, but what is does have is a lovely angled glossy modern design, rather unlike anything else on the market today. It is most definitely not just another black box.

Instinct would say that what cabinet structure this unit has, the speakers would probably be fighting their way to jump out of it given the amount of technology and power packed in there, surprisingly the unit is almost totally inert. This stems from its design, something which has clearly had a lot of thought. The concept of this arrangement of drivers and radiators is not something new to Goldenear, a similar array adorns the Forcefield subwoofers which have been around for some time now, and somewhat slipped under the radar in recent years. Being brutal, while these Forcefield subwoofers sound fantastic, they do somewhat scream “subwoofer” at you and are to be polite somewhat aesthetically challenged. The Supersub does not suffer from this, and would feel at home in the most modern of surroundings.

The culmination of this design gives you phenomenal power from a very discreet box, the closest comparison sound and size wise would be the Paradigm Seismic 110, which itself is somewhat aesthetically challenged looking more like a cannon rather than a subwoofer. The Supersub’s performance from a box this size is nothing short of astonishing, put on the opening scene form Quantum of Solace and you can feel the tight bass in the seat of your pants, even in larger rooms. Given its power it is also happy running all the way up to 120-150hz in a controlled punchy manner.

One thing which is slightly unique is that the unit doesn’t have a phase control, all you have is volume and crossover, the latter can be bypassed with an LFE switch on the back. It also has stereo inputs for use with stereo setups, something I’ve not seen on a subwoofer for some time. I did ask why there was an absence of the phase control and the answer was somewhat surprising, as the subwoofer should be somewhat phase inert given its driver and radiator configuration. Something somewhat borne out by my tests. The unit is extremely flexible with its positioning when using a single unit, bass was reasonably consistent at the seating position in most of the rooms I tested, something of a godsend for most people who can get inconsistent bass from forced positioning. Using two in a small room, I did encounter some issues and the lack of control of phase did cause me some positioning issues but nothing that couldn’t be overcome by rotating the subwoofer itself on its original position. In larger rooms, phasing issues seemed less apparent although you might be able to argue that given its design you could move to the larger model the Supersub XL rather than duals if the response form the original position is good. There isn’t one single answer in truth, the room dictates the bass response as well as the subwoofers position in it, but I did find this sub to fill the room with bass from a single point better than any other I had tested considering its size.

Given its design if there is a negative, possibly the music performance lacked a little “edge” but I would have to be fussy to criticise it in that department given its performance in other areas. This is no Velodyne DD18+, but I think if you are looking for a small, good looking, powerful subwoofer which is flexible with its position, this one is tough to beat.

GOLDENEAR SUBWOOFERS

25/07/17 - HD Fury joins The Movie Rooms

We can now supply products from HD Fury. In basic terms, if you have a HDMI connection problem, chances are these products will be able to fix it. Drop us an email if you are having issues and we can see if we can help out.

HD FURY RANGE

25/07/17 - Movie of the Week

This week, the fantastic "Brooklyn".

Young Irish immigrant Eilis Lace (Saoirse Ronan) navigates her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother's home for the shores of New York City. The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her past disrupts her new vivacity, and Eilis must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.

BROOKLYN TRAILER

11/07/17 – Dan’s Roundup - General News Update

It’s been a while since we had a general news roundup, so here we go!

Subwoofers - Velodyne

I’ve recently completed an in-depth course of calibration training with Velodyne, mainly covering their DD+ range of subwoofers. While these have been on the market for some time, they still offer the pinnacle of performance and room EQ technology of any subwoofers on the market today, and trust me I’ve heard and sold them all. What makes them unique is a couple of things. Firstly, the RTA (Real Time Room Analyser) giving you an invaluable tool to find the best position for your woofer/s in any room. The unique way the set-up test tone sweeps through the entire system, not just the subwoofer means you can not only analyse the subwoofers performance, but also the crossover accuracy of the main and surround speakers as well as well as their integration. This also lets you set up multiple subwwoofers perfectly, as the test tone sweeps these at the same time taking them into account during each step of the calibration. For those tricky rooms including the stacking of multiple subwoofers to gain bass height or extra delivery in a sweet spot, the Velodyne also includes a manual 8 band Parametric EQ which works at the same time as the RTA, giving you instant feedback for a manual tune up. Notwithstanding the performance of the subwoofers (which nothing can touch) these features alone take the guesswork out of bass, and particularly the set-up of multiple units. We have permanent dual DD10+ subwoofers set up in our small demo room if you wanted to experience – perfect bass, if ever there were such a thing?

Room EQ – Trinnov Optimiser 2.0

I recently had the pleasure of testing a Trinnov ST-2 Hi-Fi at home on my hi-fi system. The main components of my hi-fi at home are; Audio Research SP9 Tube Pre-amplifier, Arcam Alpha 10P Power Amplifier and Harbeth Monitor 30.1 speakers. I’ve been happy with the sound of my hi-fi, and the inclusion of the Trinnov into the system was partly to compliment my ongoing research into room EQ and its effects on various systems (good and bad). What it gave me more than anything was a visual insight in the form of graphs into the acoustic problems within this room and area, and how best to tackle them. It flat out improved my sound in this room, that is without question, significantly so. This shouldn’t be a surprise as it is the same technology in use in their cinema processor the infamous, Altitude. Most impressive was its ability to still let the system breathe and not remove its natural sound which is very accurate and warm anyway, probably more important to listeners in hi-fi systems than in a cinematic scenario.

Projectors – Optoma & Sony

Optoma have released some 4K UHD capable DLP projectors, the UHD-60 is available now for £2498, its larger sibling the UHD-65 will be available later in the year and will sport a better contrast ratio. While not a native 4K chip, our experiences with “faux 4K” on projectors have overall been positive, most outperforming the native 4K Sony’s these days on both specification and performance so we look forward to seeing it in action. Speaking of Sony, they will launch a replacement for the VPL-VW320es next month. After a couple of years of small upgrades, we are hoping for something significant. Time will tell.

TV – LOEWE & Panasonic OLED

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve had more flat screen TV’s than I care to mention, something like 13 in 12 years. With the advent of OLED technology and the price of these screens tumbling it was finally time to move to the more innovative technology of OLED at home. Traditional LED TV’s have been developed now to the point that they are actually very good, the recent Panasonic 902 being a notable highlight. Unfortunately, the technology was never designed to hold a moving image, let alone be a TV set. The re-purposing of this technology (mostly it seems based on low energy consumption and cheap build costs) has some legacy effects in terms of being able to light the LED TV panel evenly, and marks in the image known as DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) on motion with a consistent colored background (skiing and football being the worst culprits) plagued LED sets and seemed to be part of the manufacturing process. In recent years efforts have been made to use dimmable zones to control the light on LED sets which in most manufacturers screens have produced more consistent, blacker images, but when you are already starting from poor, these improvements put in context seems less impressive. Dimmable zones produced another problem of haloing, where light and dark scenes are adjacent on the screen the screen lights the whole “zone” creating a light halo, again not great. Plasma screens were the answer for some considerable period, providing great consistency, but as the resolutions got higher so did the energy consumption and at the dawn of the age of 4K, plasma was extinct. OLED was somewhat a whisper of a promise for many years, Sony produced the very first OLED screen which you could go into a shop and buy, but only LG committed to it and bet that it would be the display technology of the future. Years of high panel failure rates off the production line along with a major accident killing staff on the OLED production line failed to dampen their commitment to the point now where LG are the only producer of OLED panel technology for TV sets in the world. Reliability has soared and prices have come down, effectively leaving us with a massive leap in picture quality from both LED and Plasma, truly the display technology of the next age. Some discussion still rages about the perceived limit of the brightness of OLED compared to LED sets, which in the most part is true. In my view, it depends on the purposing of the monitor and in the real world, side by side there is no doubt in my mind that OLED is a considerable leap forward in consistency and quality. While we can sell all the current OLED sets including LG and Sony, we have LOEWE and Panasonic sets on display in our showroom and are happy to answer any questions.

Speakers – Piega

Our Piega Classic speakers have been running in the demonstration area for a few weeks now and are really starting to shine. For AV use I have always loved what is possible from ribbon tweeters and the Piega sports one of the best on the market. If you are in the market for a larger speaker I would seriously consider them. They have garnered some great reviews over the past few months and make some very impressive higher end offerings for Hi-Fi enthusiasts and cinema buffs alike. We can offer demonstrations of these models by appointment should anyone be interested.

15/07/17 - PIEGA Special Offers

We have been tasked by PIEGA to help clear out some models which are about to be or have been discontinued. There are limited numbers of these available. All of them are currently listed in our special offers section of the website, link below. 

THE MOVIE ROOMS SPECIAL OFFERS

13/07/17 - Movie of the Week

This week, Alien-Gravity rip off "LIFE". Lots of fun though!

Astronauts (Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds) aboard the International Space Station are on the cutting edge of one of the most important discoveries in human history: the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. As members of the crew conduct their research, the rapidly evolving life-form proves far more intelligent and terrifying than anyone could have imagined.

LIFE TRAILER

17/06/17 - Movie of the Week

This week, Manchester by the Sea.

After the death of his older brother Joe, Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked that Joe has made him sole guardian of his teenage nephew Patrick. Taking leave of his job as a janitor in Boston, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea, the fishing village where his working-class family has lived for generations. There, he is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife, Randi (Michelle Williams), and the community where he was born and raised.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA TRAILER

29/05/17 - Movie of the Week

A very good yarn, with two fine actors albeit with some slightly odd studio background/set green-screen works at points. Well worth watching.

Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) and Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard) are World War II operatives who never reveal their true identities. After falling in love during a risky mission, they hope to leave all that double-dealing behind them and start new lives. Instead, suspicion and danger envelop their marriage as both husband and wife become pitted against each other in an escalating, potentially lethal test that has global consequences.

 ALLIED TRAILER

29/04/17 - Goldenear Subwoofer SuperSub X

I finally got this puppy set up in the demonstration room which is on loan from Goldenear. It is just running in at the moment but I have already placed an order for a demonstration unit based on it's out of the box performance. Once both are run in and I have had a proper listen Ill produce a written review.

GOLDENEAR X SUBWOOFER

 

29/04/17 - Movie of the Week

We are back with a bang on the new Facebook & Twitter feeds with our Movie of the Week.

There will always be a soft spot in my heart for Star Wars, and for me all of the new films including the last one were all awful. This however, is brilliant. Made so by it's impressive cast and dark story line, I instantly watched it again as soon as I had finished it.

Plot; Former scientist Galen Erso lives on a farm with his wife and young daughter Jyn. His peaceful existence comes crashing down when the evil Orson Krennic takes him away from his beloved family. Many years later, Galen is now the Empire's lead engineer for the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, the Death Star. Knowing that her father holds the key to its destruction, a vengeful Jyn joins forces with a spy and other resistance fighters to steal the space station's plans for the Rebel Alliance.

 

11/03/17 - Piega joins The Movie Rooms

We have now added Piega Loudspeakers to our range. Piega's speakers hone a mixture of ribbon technology and seamless aluminium housings - Which are one of the main features responsible for the outstanding sound characteristics of their loudspeakers.

Piega was founded over 25 years ago, and the passion of Leo Greiner and Kurt Scheuch to develop and build speakers has continued unabated, as well as their ambitious aim that the sound from Piega loudspeakers must "reproduce" the original.

All Piega Loudspeakers come with a 6 year warranty. Contact us for a demonstration, ill be adding the range to our website in the coming days.

Prices range from £250 - £16,000

PIEGA WEBSITE - CLICK HERE

 

21/02/17 - Trinnov Altitude 16

Trinnov have announced that the will be launching a slimmed down version of the Altitude32 later in the year. The Altitude32 has yet to be challenged technologically, especially in terms of its rendering and processing, but Trinnov felt a fully-featured and capable mid-level immersive audio processor was still missing on the market. Trinnov intends to change that. Details are still scant but the unit will include 3D-Remapping and the Optimizer which are two features which currently make the Trinnov Altitude the best domestic home cinema processor money can buy. We expect to see this unit around September 2017. 

TRINNOV @ THE MOVIE ROOMS

 

21/02/17 - New Dali Spektor

 

Absolutely nothing to do with Commander Bond’s least favourite secret criminal organization, SPEKTOR is a new affordable range of DALI speakers, engineered to the high standards you expect from your favourite Danish brand, and designed to complement the existing PICO and ZENSOR offerings.

The new range will comprise four bass-reflex models at launch, all being available in either black ash or walnut. The baby of the range is the £159 SPEKTOR 1, boasting a 4.5in wood-fibre bass driver married to a 21mm soft dome tweeter.

SPEKTOR 2 (£199) ups the ante by incorporating a 5.25in woofer married to a more capable 25mm soft dome tweeter in a slightly larger cabinet. Topping the range is the £499 SPEKTOR 6, a beautifully proportioned floor stander with two 6.5in woofers partnered with the same 25mm soft dome tweeter.

Last but not least, there’s the all-important centre-speaker model, the £169 SPEKTOR VOKAL. Boasting a pair of the 4.25in bass drivers used in the SPEKTOR 1, allied to the larger 25mm tweeter from the SPEKTOR 6, the VOKAL will deliver outstanding clarity as well as superb dispersion.  

 

02/02/17 - Movie of the Week

Our movie of the week has been a bit neglected as we have been so busy, but this film was so good I had to put it up. I've not seen what I would class as a very good film in ages and this one is a belter. I have to say Chris Pine is not an actor I really rated particularly highly, but his performance in this is immense.

This week - Hell or High Water

Two brothers -- Toby, a straight-living, divorced father trying to make a better life for his son; and Tanner, a short-tempered ex-con with a loose trigger finger -- come together to rob branch after branch of the bank that is foreclosing on their family land. The hold-ups are part of a last-ditch scheme to take back a future that powerful forces beyond their control have stolen from under their feet. Vengeance seems to be theirs until they find themselves in the cross-hairs of a relentless, foul-mouthed Texas Ranger looking for one last triumph on the eve of his retirement. As the brothers plot a final bank heist to complete their plan, a showdown looms at the crossroads where the last honest law man and a pair of brothers with nothing to live for except family collide.

HELL OR HIGH WATER TRAILER

 

29/11/16 - Movie of the Week

With a firm nod from the fantastic Amazon series "Goliath" which I finished watching this week, I give you The Verdict.

A boozing lawyer (Paul Newman) takes on a law-firm dean (James Mason), the Archdiocese of Boston and the system in general.

THE VERDICT TRAILER

 

12/11/16 - Movie of the Week

Just watch it, it will spit you out elated.......Whiplash.

Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is an ambitious young jazz drummer, in pursuit of rising to the top of his elite music conservatory. Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an instructor known for his terrifying teaching methods, discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into the top jazz ensemble, forever changing the young man's life. But Andrew's passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher pushes him to the brink of his ability and his sanity.

WHIPLASH TRAILER

 

28/10/16 - Movie of the Week

Released a year before The Matrix and for me, a much better film. This weeks Movie of the Week is the heavily underrated "Dark City"

John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember whether he committed the murders or not. For one brief moment, he is convinced that he has gone completely mad. Murdoch seeks to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

DARK CITY TRAILER

 

21/10/16 - Pioneer SC-LX901 Test

The second of this year’s tests starts in earnest and the Pioneer SC-LX901 is next up to bat, replacing the recently reviewed Yamaha RX-A3060 in my system at home. There seems to be a major overhaul with Pioneer this year which probably has something to do with the recent purchase of the brand by the Onkyo Corporation. This as it turns out looks to be a large positive. The set-up menu system has been totally overhauled, and the graphical user interface is much better laid out than previous iterations with a higher resolution and better graphics, by far the best looking on the market. The entry point into the on-screen menus is familiar giving the options for; System set-up, MCACC Set-up and Network/Bluetooth Setup and rather than the cluttered jumble usually presented on high end amplifiers. This is easy to navigate with clear options as to what you are changing and what the effect of that change will be.

As usual the MCACC excels at the set-up stage, and is by far the best automatic EQ system on the market provided by a Japanese manufacturer. The fact the amplifier seems to make a huge stab at correcting for phase within the system is a massive plus point. Distances were correct down to the centimeter and levels were bang on including the subwoofer which is rare from these basic automated systems. I didn’t take any amount of care with the initial EQ mic position, rested on the back of the sofa for an initial run gleamed a great result, so much so that I didn’t feel the need to revisit this. I suspect if I had with a proper mic stand, the results would have been even more impressive, if that is even possible. So many EQ systems particularly Audyssey are fussy about the microphone positions, it is refreshing to see one that isn’t and still gives a fantastic result giving it a clear advantage to the novice user.

Pioneer amplifiers in the past have often been described as “bright” which is unfair, they are not bright but rather very clear, ruthlessly so. If there are any issues within your system, chances are the Pioneer may find them. What I experienced was a super accurate clean joyous sound, not bright at all. Over the years Pioneer seemed to have developed their digital amplifiers to the point where they are super-efficient giving you loads of power on tap, without the unit itself ever getting stressed or harsh sounding. In previous years Pioneer included their X-Curve system for people who felt the top end was a bit lively. Proper use of this tamed the amplifier in larger rooms, at higher volumes, to great effect. This year’s amplifier seems to be happy at higher volumes and the further refinement of the digital amplification would appear to have enabled Pioneer to remove this feature form the 901 (or at least I couldn’t find it!).  

Rather like Denon & Marantz products 3D up mixing was confined to its original source material so DTS Master Audio cannot be used with the Dolby Surround Up mixer, no great shakes as the unit seems to seamlessly switch between the two while also letting you have a preferred-up mixer for TV for example.

The real star of the show though is Pioneer I-pad control app, leagues ahead of the competition. This gives you brilliant access to the main features in the unit, Hi-Res 2ch up conversion, bass & dialogue emphasis and overall system emphasis. Usually I would avoid any tweaking after the initial set-up as you invariably make things sound worse. The Pioneer is slightly different. It seems to have the ability to subtly change the sound with clever finger swipes and pinches, without effecting the initial EQ to any great degree. Most importantly, once you are done fiddling, it is east to get back to the original refence point. Again, brilliant for the novice user to maximize their enjoyment of the system.

Add into the fact that the 4K video scaler is very good, way better than most TV’s internal scalers making all video content benefit, 11 channels of internal amplification and build quality like a tank, makes it a serious contender alongside the likes of any Anthem or Arcam with their advanced EQ system. For my two pence, I think it is outstanding. The Pioneer SC-LX901 is now on demonstration in the shop.

Next up, the Marantz SR7011………….

Dan

FACEBOOK REVIEW WITH PICTURES

PIONEER AV AMPLIFIERS

 

21/10/16 - Movie of the Week 

Harking back to my childhood, the original Poltergeist.

Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family, the Freelings -- Steve (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), teenaged Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke) -- when ghosts commune with them through the television set. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when Carol Ann goes missing, Steve and Diane turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.

POLTERGEIST TRAILER

 

20/09/16 - Yamaha RX-A3060 Test.

My yearly round of amplifier tests starts in earnest. We have a bit of a queue forming this year and all of the following will be assessed at some point over the next few months; Marantz SR7011, Denon AVR-X6300, Pioneer SC-LX901, Arcam AVR390 & Yamaha RX-A3060. The latter was first through the door this year.

I managed to get the 3060 set up over last weekend and have so far lived with it for a number of nights. For reference it replaced an Arcam AVR550 which I have been running for the past 6 months waiting for the first of the new arrivals to test.

The general look of the chassis has not changed for some years, but it would appear that something may have changed underneath. Overall I have to say I think it is an improvement over the RX-A3050 which I tested last year; in some key areas. It was difficult to put my finger on exactly why as the changes were subtle; but for me, important. I do feel this year’s unit is a bit more balanced, particularly with dialogue which is what the RX-A3050 I felt struggled with. The RX-A3050 last year seemed to almost sound different every time I sat down with it, and I was constantly trying to adjust it for differing content. This year it was definitely not the case and once set-up I have left it as is. From late night listening to large scale DTS-X soundtracks all were portrayed with a very even, likable hand.

The Yamaha to my ear has its usual a very easy going sound out of the box; which for dialogue needs crisping up a little to hear the pronunciation of the words at lower volumes. Some editing with the manual PEQ setting on the centre channel brought much more insight to the sound. Overall I have been really impressed. I strongly believe you can make the Yamaha’s sound how you want them to sound, at a base level with the manual PEQ and also on a system & surround effect level with the adjustment of the DSP surround mode editing on an I-pad.

If there is areas of criticism, the EQ section is laid out poorly and the menu system is a little complex for most basic users. I also found the video scaler added no discernable benefits to the video performance, turned on it actually produced some minor image tearing on football scaled to 4K. All in all, it is a very accomplished performer, well worth its asking price. Next Up Pioneers SC-LX901.

Yamaha RX-A3060

What Hi-Fi Review

 

13/09/16 - Staff Meeting

We will be closed from 2pm today for our yearly staff meeting. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience. We will re-open on Thursday at 9am.

Dan - Manager

 

15/08/16 - Butterflies keep Moving!

For those of you who were interested our art journey, you may remember that we sponsored a tour of paper butterflies made by an anonymous artist who as left wonderful paper sculptures in libraries and museums. We gathered together paper butterflies made by young and not so young from all over the world. These have now been made into a final, paper sculpture by the anonymous 'booksy'. The Butterfly Tree and Lost Child can be seen at the Edinburgh Book Festival. If you are in Edinburgh during August, you are welcome to have a peek at this wonderful collaborative project that we are pleased to have supported. 

VIDEO

 

13/08/16 - August Double Save Promotions.

I have a couple of promotions on purchases before the end of the month. September will see a 10% rise in these products due to the poor exchange rate. So I thought we would offer 10% off these products before the price rises come into effect. You will need to sign up for an account on our website to activate these codes.

JVCPJTMR - JVC Projectors (Valid Until 31st Aug 2016)
SVSSAVE - SVS Subwoofers (Valid Until 31st Aug 2016)

 

30/07/16 - Installations & Bank Holiday Closure

I will be attending a customer’s installation for most of Saturday 30th July, but you can still contact me on the normal shop telephone number if your enquiry is urgent. I will respond to my emails when I get the opportunity later this afternoon.

We are also closed this Monday for the Bank Holiday.

On Tuesday of next week, we are completing a large installation so again, phone or email is the best way to get in touch depending upon the urgency of the contact. 

 

28/07/16  - Arcam Good News, Bad News, Good News & Bad News.............

Good News - The new firmware for the AVR550 & 850 adds full DIRAC EQ of the height channels!

Bad News - DTS-X Update wont be with us until Q4 of 2016 with no exact date as yet.

Bad News - Prices are going up as of 1st August £2699 for an AVR500 & £4499 for an AVR850.

Good News - There is a new base level AVR! The AVR390 which will come in at £1999. Similar spec to the AVR550 but no toroidal transformer.

DIRAC Firmware Link

NEW AVR390 Link

 

28/06/16 - Movie of the Week

You don’t need to be a fan or have any previous knowledge of the band Joy Division to appreciate this film.

In 1970s England, troubled musician Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) rises to fame as lead singer of the band Joy Division. A husband and father, Curtis begins to feel the strain of his band's growing fortune, his crumbling marriage to wife Deborah (Samantha Morton) and his worsening epilepsy.

A stunning film..........

CONTROL TRAILER

 

11/06/16 - Optoma 4K?

 

The Optoma 4K plot thickens.........

OPTOMA 4K PROJECTOR

 

04/06/16 - Ultimate Screens joins The Movie Rooms

We are now official retailers for Ultimate Screens. Superb quality fixed frame screens in 16:9 or a 2:35:1 format upto 4.35m wide. Right up there with Screen Excellence, Seymour & Screen Research but with a slightly more attractive price........

ULTIMATE SCREENS @ TMR

 

03/06/16 - Movie of the Week

This week, 1976's, Network.

In this lauded satire, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) discovers that he's being put out to pasture, and he's none too happy about it. After threatening to shoot himself on live television, instead he launches into an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. This stunt allows ambitious producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to develop even more outrageous programming, a concept that she takes to unsettling extremes.

THE WORLD IS A BUSINESS - SCENE FROM "NETWORK"

 

28/05/16 - Movie of the Week 

A young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move to a New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and odd neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet (Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Gordon). When Rosemary becomes pregnant she becomes increasingly isolated, and the diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth.

ROSEMARYS BABY TRAILER

 

20/05/16 - Movie Of The Week

This week a fantastic film, Sicario. Allegedly the sequel has already had the green light and is in pre-production.

After rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) receives a top assignment. Recruited by mysterious government official Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), Kate joins a task force for the escalating war against drugs. Led by the intense and shadowy Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), the team travels back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexican border, using one cartel boss (Bernardo Saracino) to flush out a bigger one (Julio Cesar Cedillo).

SICARIO TRAILER

 

13/05/16 - 3D Rendering Service

We can now offer a full 3D line drawing, rendering and design service prior to your installation with us. This now gives you a very good idea of what the project is going to actually look like when it is finished, even if the room is not yet built.

 

13/05/16 - Movie Of The Week

Oooh, been ages since we had one! This week a documentary with it's tongue firmly placed in it's cheek. This made me laugh out loud more than once. Michael Moore's "Where To Invade Next".

Michael Moore visits various countries to examine how Europeans view work, education, health care, sex, equality, and other issues. From cafeteria food to sex ed, Moore looks at the benefits of schooling in France, Finland and Slovenia. In Italy, he marvels at how workers enjoy reasonable hours and generous vacation time. In Portugal, Moore notes the effects of the decriminalization of drugs. Through his travels, we discover just how different America is from the rest of the world.

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT - TRAILER

 

13/05/16 - Cineversum "Blackwing" joins The Movie Rooms

Things have been a little quiet on the site and Facebook page with a few big projects taking up a lot of our time. We are back with a bang though, and can announce we are now partners with Cineversum projectors and can now supply the "Blackwing" series.

Cineversum have been designing high quality projectors for over 20 years and are renowned for adapting the most advanced technologies of the professional cinema industry into projectors for discerning home user. Cineversum ensure every single unit is carefully checked and pre-calibrated for top performance before leaving their laboratory.


The new Blackwing MK2016 series have boosted light output which directly reflects the increasing demand for larger screens and brighter 3D. The three chip LCoS panels support 4k resolution at 3840x2160, HDR and DCI-P3 colour gamut. The ultra quiet Blackwing is housed inside a futuristic deep metallic-black chassis designed by the famed French designer Antoine Béon. The futuristic shape is reminiscent of the Stealth Fighter; hence, the name BlackWing.


Cineversum’s passive 3D option is unique in the residential market and has numerous benefits. The passive 3D glasses are lighter (around 10g), less expensive and more comfortable than the RF glasses. More importantly, the 3D picture quality is spectacularly improved with more brightness, more detail and more colours. Viewers have less dizziness, eyestrain and headaches with passive 3D than they have using active technology and because Cineversum’s passive solution does not require the user to stack two projectors together, they are easy to install and considerably more aesthetically pleasing.

Contact us at the shop for further details.  

CINEVERSUM WEBSITE

CINEVERSUM BLACKWING RANGE

 

 

29/04/16 - Bank Holiday Monday

Almost forgot myself, but we will be closed this coming Bank Holiday Monday.

OPENING TIMES

 

19/03/16 - Easter Closure

Don’t forget we will be closed on the Easter weekend from Friday 25th March, re-opening on Tuesday 29th March. Any web orders placed over this period will be dealt with when we return on the 29th.

OPENING HOURS

 

12/03/16 - Loewe Joins The Movie Rooms

 

 

Im finally getting chance to update the site after 4 months of nonstop hectic-ness. We have had premier German TV manufacturer Loewe on board for a couple of months and have an ART 40 on demo in the office. The full range should be up and live on the site later today.

LOEWE 4K TV

 

10/03/16 - More DVDO!

Bought a non 4K AVR and don’t want to change it? This is the solution, do all the video switching in this clever box and take one HDMI feed to your AVR for audio. Voila, you have a fully functioning 4K AVR!

DVDO QUICK 6R 4K HDMI SWITCH

 

10/03/16 - Movie of the Week

Arguably Johnny Depp should have been nominated for an Oscar for this performance, the fact he wasn’t was probably more due to the screenplay and script rather than his performance, which is truth be told, scary. Worth a watch just to see him at his best.

Black Mass.....

While his brother Bill (Benedict Cumberbatch) remains a powerful leader in the Massachusetts Senate, Irish hoodlum James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) continues to pursue a life of crime in 1970s Boston. Approached by FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), the lawman convinces Whitey to help the agency fight the Italian mob. As their unholy alliance spirals out of control, Bulger increases his power and evades capture to become one of the most dangerous gangsters in U.S. history.

BLACK MASS TRAILER

 

27/02/16 - DVDO Joins The Movie Rooms

Cheaper than a Lumagen, better than a Darbee........anyone with an Anthem or Arcam AVR shouldnt even think about it.

DVDO ISCAN MINI

 

19/02/16 - News Roundup

We have been a bit quiet of late on the site as we have been covering for some of our colleagues who are on holiday. In that time, we have had delivery of the new Arcam AVR550 and AVR850, the new Anthem MRX520, MRX720 & MRX1120. Notable is the MRX1120 in being it is one of a few integrated amplifiers to be able to run 7.2.4 speakers in an Atmos configuration internally.

I have also tested a couple of other amplifiers at home, one being the Marantz SR7010 which was quite fantastic. The highlight being the 4K video scaler which quite frankly did a stunning job on all of my sources. The only thing holding it back was the Audyssey XT32 room EQ which in my opinion is best turned off.

We are also taking on another subwoofer brand, Sumiko. Not widely renowned but noted for being closely related to Sonus Faber (need we say more). We will have demonstration units shortly.

Trinnov have been busy and they have released a matching power amplifier to adorn their Altitude 32 processor. Named the Amplitude, currently the unit comes in a Black finish and will set you back a cool £10,600.

TRINNOV AMPLITUDE

ANTHEM MRX1120

MARANTZ SR7010

SUMIKO SUBWOOFERS

 

19/02/16 - Movie of the Week

It has been a while since I saw a film which I thought had real gravitas in the acting department. No surprise this came from Mr Fassbender, someone who stars in my favourite film "Hunger", locking opposing horns with Sean Harris, another fine actor.

Two runs through of this are probably required, one with subtitles and one without. Photography throughout the film are nothing short of perfect. My type of movie, 100%.

This week "Macbeth".

After murdering King Duncan (David Thewlis) and seizing the throne, Macbeth (Michael Fassbender) becomes consumed with guilt and paranoia as the tyrannical ruler of Scotland.

MACBETH TRAILER

 

21/01/16 - On The Road

We will be doing a whistle stop tour of the North of England and the Midlands visiting customers next week from 28th Jan - 1st Feb. As such we will be only available on the telephone and not in-store.

0131 558 1310
07776 992 400

 

11/01/16 - Movie Of the Week

This weeks Movie Of The Week is the fabulous, Mean Streets.

A slice of street life in Little Italy among lower echelon Mafiosos, unbalanced punks, and petty criminals. A small-time hood gets in over his head with a vicious loan shark. In an attempt to free himself from the dangers of his debt, he gets help from a friend who is also involved in criminal activities.

MEAN STREETS TRAILER

 

04/11/15 - News Update

It has been a while since we had a quick news round-up so here we go.

We have recently decided to take on well-respected subwoofer manufacturer Velodyne and have been putting a few of their subwoofers through their paces. Initial results particularly with the SPL-1200 Ultra are very promising and they will be a welcome addition to perhaps one of the best ranges of subwoofers in the country. We really are the place for BASS! Velodyne’s products will start making their way onto the website as I get time to add them on.

The new Arcam AVR amplifiers have finally landed although in small numbers. Arcam have always had the best core sound of any receiver in our opinion so with the addition of class leading room correction in the form of DIRAC the future looks rosy. Both the AVR550 and the AVR850 are available for demonstration upon request. The jury is still out on a dedicated pre amplifier but I would be surprised if they didn’t eventually end up doing one, time will tell.

Pre-orders are well on their way to being sold out on the new Anthem AV range. We will be offering our normal generous trade in values for any existing Anthem owners looking to upgrade again this year to the new MRX520, MRX720, MRX1120 or AVM60 and this will be advertised at launch for those wanting to take advantage.

Yamaha have officially re-launched their wireless MusicCast system and we have a Trio pack on display in the show room for those looking at a convincing alternative to Sonos.

Finally we have launched our Winter Sale on the 1st December. While the deals are killer all year round at The Movie Rooms, we have sourced some exclusive deals for this month. I aim to add a product a day until the New Year on this page so let’s see how far we get! Some of the deals are very limited so grab them while you can.

Dan - Manager

VELODYNE WEBSITE

WINTER SALE

ARCAM AVR AMPLIFIERS

 

27/11/15 - TV Series for the Week

No movie for the weekend but a TV Series for the week. Re-visited this over the last two weeks and I forgot what a collosal achivement this actually is. SIt back strap yourself in and turn up the volume.

Band of Brothers is a World War Two miniseries based on the best-selling book of the same name by Stephen Ambrose. It follows the men of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. It received a Golden Globe award for best miniseries. It follows the then newest branch of the United States Military, the Airborne Infantry, which is part of the U.S. Army. It centers around Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. It follows these paratroopers/soldiers from D-Day, through the Battle of the Bulge, to the end of the war in Europe during World War II.

BAND OF BROTHERS TRAILER

 

30/12/15 - Movie for the Weekend

John Capenter's, The Thing.

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks both human beings and canines in the camp and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims. A resourceful helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell) and the camp doctor (Richard Dysart) lead the camp crew in a desperate, gory battle against the vicious creature before it picks them all off, one by one.

THE THING (1982) TRAILER

 

15/10/15 - Anthem 2015 Launch and Open Day

The Movie Rooms in conjunction with Anthem AVS are proud to be able to offer the first real chance in the UK, for customers to be able to hear the up-coming range of new products from Canadian manufacturer Anthem.

Tom from Anthem will be in attendance and we will have the new AVM60 Processor, and also MRX1120 running in a Dolby Atmos configuration.

The event will be in Edinburgh and held from Midday-8pm on Wednesday 18th November 2015 at our sister companies demonstration area; HOMESOUND LIMITED, 246 Causewayside, Edinburgh, EH9 1UU

This is an open event, but to help with planning we would be grateful if you could drop us an email at sales@themovierooms.co.uk if you intend to come along.

 

15/10/15 - Movie for the Weekend 

I have watched a lot of movies this week including; Mama, Southpaw, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, Escape From New York and this. One of the films I remember from when I was a kid and I probably was too young to see it at the time. Written and Directed by James Cameron (when he was good), the fabulous "The Terminator".

Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sent to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that will spark a nuclear holocaust. Sarah is targeted because Skynet knows that her unborn son will lead the fight against them. With the virtually unstoppable Terminator in hot pursuit, she and Kyle attempt to escape.

Ayeeee.........Ill be back................

THE TERMINATOR TRAILER

 

12/10/15 - Sonos Winner!

Congratulations to Kathy MaCrae of Edinburgh for winning a Sonos Play 3 in our recent competition at the "Scale Scotland" event. Proudly being presented by our MD Struan Mackenzie.

 

05/10/15 - Pulse, DTS & Datasat

A couple of days ago I was invited to be a guest of Pulse Cinemas to experience their facility in Essex. After an early start and an interesting journey and landing with Ryan Air, we finally arrived at the fantastic facility early doors, and raring to go. We firstly listened to their small room which is about the size of an average garage conversion. Kitted out with Procella Speakers and Datasat Electronics in quite a dampened room I thought, the system sounded fiery and definitely woke me up! We then moved to the larger premium room with Triad speakers and Datasat Electronics. Both rooms were frankly superb, and a very different sound to what I experienced at JBL with their Synthesis system some weeks ago. Equally as good, with each having their different accent to the sound which let’s face it, if you know what you are doing can be tailored to fit a listeners preference. The larger room was a proper cinema experience, with phenomenal amounts of bass that just seemed to keep going on and on and on. Both very impressive, but the best was yet to come.

Later in the day we were surprised with a visit to David Crozier’s cinema. David worked in the motion picture business for decades, capturing sound and dialogue from actors in his role as a production sound mixer. Recipient of four British Academy (BAFTA) nominations and winner of an Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures award for Finding Neverland, David was and is the real deal as it were when it comes to sound. Basically, if anyone knows sound and knows the motion picture industry, David does. Responsible for sound on films like Harry Potter and Mission Impossible, his CV is long and strong. Now retired and teaching his passion, he is still on the judging board for BAFTA and as he proudly put it uses his cinema “every night of the week”. David’s cinema has been updated somewhat since the article was written for the Procella website, and now features Procella Speakers in an Auro 3D Configuration with 18” subwoofers, Datasat RS20i Processor & Power Amplifiers, Screen Research Multi Aspect Projection Screen, Oppo BDP-105D, Kaleidescape and a Runco 1080p Projector. Simply put, the sound from David’s cinema was staggeringly clear and dynamic and while being at reference level (possibly louder at points) was an utter joy to listen to. The best cinema I have ever heard without question. Interestingly this affirmed my own preference on how to correctly set-up a cinema, somewhat confirmed by David’s professional ears and own preference which we discussed for most of the day and over an evening meal.

Our second day consisted of Datasat RS20i training and a tour around the old DTS facility which is now Datasat HQ in the UK. Treated to a visit inside the cutting room, cinema and projection booth; we got to see behind the scenes of somewhere where a serious amount of Hollywood’s golden audio was mixed and produced. We were also given access to “the vault” before it was moved to the USA. This houses every master copy of DTS audio that was mixed there, and included the Bourne Films and Star Wars to name but a few, a real treat and a proper goose bumps moment for me.

My overriding feeling from the visit and the Datasat RS20i is that it is a magnificent piece of engineering, and a fantastic sounding cinema processor. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to a potential buyer, the surprise of the visit for me was David’s Procella speakers. Not a brand I have spent much time dwelling on in the past, but something I am defiantly looking at in the future and also one I would heartily recommend. I must extended a big thanks to Pulse for having us, but particularly to David Crozier who is one of the nicest men you will ever meet and the most knowledgeable film professional I will probably have the pleasure to talk to.

Should you wish to hear what a Datasat RS20i can really do, we currently have a unit available for demonstration in Edinburgh and would love to let you have a listen.

DATASAT RS20I

DAVID CROZIER ON IMDB

DAVID CROZIER'S CINEMA

SEE PHOTOS OF OUR VISIT HERE

 

 

28/09/15 - Datasat

This Tuesday and Wednesday I will be visiting Datasat in England to do some training and hear a couple of their cinemas. I’m already excited. I will be available on the mobile on Tuesday should you need to get in touch, but as I may be flying leave a message and I will come back to you as soon as I can.

DATASAT

 

26/09/15 - Movie for the Weekend

One for everyone with Dolby Atmos speakers installed this week. Probably the best mix I have experienced with the new surround format, and it’s a good film to boot.

Angelina Jolie in her directorial debut tells the true story of Louis Zamperini.

As a boy, Louis "Louie" Zamperini is always in trouble, but with the help of his older brother, he turns his life around and channels his energy into running, later qualifying for the 1936 Olympics. When World War II breaks out, Louie enlists in the military. After his plane crashes in the Pacific, he survives an incredible 47 days adrift in a raft, until his capture by the Japanese navy. Sent to a POW camp, Louie becomes the favourite target of a particularly cruel prison commander.

UNBROKEN TRAILER

 

19/08/15 - Movie for the Weekend

Arguably the best Bond film for years, Skyfall.

When James Bond's (Daniel Craig) latest assignment goes terribly wrong, it leads to a calamitous turn of events: Undercover agents around the world are exposed, and MI6 is attacked, forcing M (Judi Dench) to relocate the agency. With MI6 now compromised inside and out, M turns to the one man she can trust: Bond. Aided only by a field agent (Naomie Harris), Bond takes to the shadows and follows a trail to Silva (Javier Bardem), a man from M's past who wants to settle an old score.

SKYFALL TRAILER

 

18/09/15 – The Movie Rooms General Update

Things have been a bit quiet on the news page of the site lately and I’m aware we have missed one or more Movies for the Weekend. Apologies for the lack of updates, we have been moving into our new office space and it has taken longer than we first anticipated. Well, as of today we are finally there and it is a really nice workspace. It is an identical space to our smaller demonstration area we already have, and adds to our complex of rooms available for customers to visit and experience top notch audio and video.

We have had a lot of new products pop their heads above the parapet, notably some new projectors in the form of JVC’s DLA-X5000, DLA-X7000, DLA-X9000. No native 4K this year from the masters of black but this would appear to be one of the only lacking areas with these new beamers. Sony have also launched slightly revised versions of their native 4K projectors in the form on the VPL-VW320es & VPL-VW520es. Talk among the industry and on the forums is of a revised version of the VPL-VW1100es coming our way soon as well. We are excited to see if the rumours of 8K E-shift and LED technology are true, I guess time will tell. All of the above projectors are on order and will be available to demonstrate as soon as they are available.

We have had some good success with the new Trinnov Altitude 32 with a couple of units already sold and waiting to be installed, we have a demonstration unit which will be with us in the next couple of weeks which will sit alongside the Datasat RS20i unit in our new demonstration facility and warehouse on the other side of Edinburgh. As I’m aware we will be the only place in the UK currently where you can compare the Datasat RS20i and the Trinnov Altitude 32 back to back, some of the finest residential cinema processors on the market. Towards the end of the month I will also be visiting Datasat to have a factory tour and experience two or three outstanding cinemas of theirs which I’m pretty excited about.

Denon, Marantz, Pioneer and Yamaha all revealed their current ranges for AV amplifiers but the most intriguing product is Yamaha’s new YSP-5600 Dolby Atmos & DTS-X Soundbar. I jokingly said 6 months ago someone would do an Atmos soundbar, and who better than Yamaha the kings of soundbar technology to produce it. I can’t wait to hear one now.

While most of our time is spent in the higher echelons of home cinema, it always excites me to get people who hadn’t considered home cinema or hadn’t heard it before. We recently hosted a show at a modeller’s convention in Edinburgh and rather than take the most expensive kit we had, I took some budget equipment along with not one piece being over £600. It was great to see people’s reaction to a relatively inexpensive system and talk to some people who had maybe not considered home cinema for one reason or another. Well worth doing

Dan 

 

25/08/15 - Contact & Opening

We will be on-site overseeing a cinema installation in England from the afternoon of Tuesday 25th August – Saturday 29th August 2015 and in this time will have limited access to our emails. Should something be urgent you can reach us on the mobile which is 07776 992 400. We will respond to as soon as we can.

We will also be closed this coming Monday for the Bank Holiday, re-opening on Tuesday 1st September.

Thanks for your patience

Daniel - Manager

 

21/08/15 - Movie for the Weekend

This week another one of my favourites, Road to Perdition. A fine performance from Jude (hit or miss) Law and a fantastic score. I do like this film a lot.

Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is an enforcer for powerful Depression-era Midwestern mobster John Rooney (Paul Newman). Rooney's son, Connor (Daniel Craig), is jealous of the close bond they share, and when Mike's eldest son, Michael (Tyler Hoechlin), witnesses a hit, Connor uses the incident as an excuse to murder Sullivan's wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and youngest son. Forced to flee, Sullivan and Michael set out on a journey of revenge and self-discovery.

ROAD TO PERDITION TRAILER

 

21/08/15 - Tannoy News

We are almost caught up with the new products on the website. We have listed the new Tannoy XT seties, these have been getting some fantastic reviews of late and are well worth considering if you are looking at that price. Precision has also has had a nice price drop as of this morning.

Tannoy XT

Tannoy Precision

 

20/08/15 - SVS Prime

SVS who are famous for their skill with subwoofery have launched a new range of budget cinema speakers named "Prime" which are now on the site. These offer phenomenal value for money.

SVS PRIME

 

15/08/15 - NEWS UPDATE

Lots going on recently at the shop. I will be moving into some new offices in the next two weeks. I will post up some pictures as and when the room/s are finished. Any local customers are welcome to pop in and say hello we are still in the same building and the kettle will be on (as always).

We are in discussions to place a Trinnov Altitude 8/16 on demonstration in the shop, I will update this page as and when this is a formality, but we seem to be dotting the "I's" and crossing the "T's". After my recent training visit to Trinnov in France, I will also be attending the training at Datasat in September so they can give me the full run down on their fantastic processors. Next week I will also be visiting the JBL Synthesis distributor in the UK to hear their system in operation.

Our sister company Hi-Fi Corner in Falkirk is having a full shop renovation in the next two weeks and as such they are selling the entire contents of the shop to clear the decks for the re-fit. It would be well worth a call to Paul the Manager on 01324 629 011 if you are looking for something, as there are some great deals to be had. I’m trying to get a list of items that they have so I can post it up.

 

15/06/15 - New Yamaha On Demonstration

It would seem that Yamaha's boast that the new range of recievers sound better than previous years due to some key component upgrades has a ring of truth to it. We have just put a Yamaha RX-V679 on demo and I have to say it sounds very, very good for the money.

NEW YAMAHA RANGE

 

14/08/15 - Movie for the Weekend

This week another French film! I totally forgot about this until recently and I do rate Daniel Auteuil highly. Hidden, or to give it it's correct title Cache.

A Parisian couple terrorised by anonymous videos which hint at a long-kept secret.

CACHE TRAILER

 

01/08/15 - New REL T Series

REL have announced an upgraded range of the T Series available this month. The T5i (£499), T7i (£749) & T9i (£899) will all be available later in the month.

REL Ti SERIES

 

28/07/15 - News 

We have been a bit quiet of late working on a number of projects, with some big news and some small. Big news will have to wait, but in the meantime we are fully up to speed with Trinnov Audio after our visit to their facility in France. We have also taken on some new accounts, notably with Belgian furniture manufacturer Ethnicraft who do some lovely furniture. We will be focussing on their AV stands, but if you like the look of anything else they do I’m sure we can oblige! I’m slowly adding some of their products to the site as I can. BDI also have a few new stands which will also be added, so keep an eye out for the new Vertica range. Add into the mix a new “S” range of speakers from Quad and two new subwoofers from Canadian manufacturer Paradigm and that tops off our summary thus far. More news to follow!

ETHNICRAFT

BDI VERTICA

QUAD S RANGE

PARADIGM PRESTIGE SUBWOOFERS

 

10/07/15 - Arcam D33 DAC

I have a small number of Arcam D33 DAC's. Brand new in a box, was £2199 now £799. Be quick!

Phone 0131 5581310 To Order

 

10/07/15 - Movie for the Weekend

This week the BAFTA nominated "Northern Soul".

Set in 1974, an authentic and uplifting tale of two friends whose horizons are opened up by the discovery of black American soul music.

NORTHERN SOUL TRAILER

 

04/07/15 - Movie for the Weekend

Often the forgotten David Fincher film, but definitely not one to be forgotten. Still strangely not available on Blu Ray, so it's time to break out the special edition DVD and see how good your up-scaling is! Fingers crossed for a 4K Ultra HD transfer after Sony pictures scanned their back catalogue at 8K......well, we live in hope.

Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her young daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham (Forest Whitaker), Raoul (Dwight Yoakam) and Junior (Jared Leto) - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.

PANIC ROOM TRAILER

 

19/06/15 - 2015 AV Recievers

 Denon, Marantz, Onkyo & Yamaha have all launched new ranges of AV Amplifiers. These will start to come through to us in the next month and are likely to feature 4K, HDCP 2.2, HDR & 3D sound formats heavily. All of the current models are now listed but as details are scant these pages will be added to as we get specifications and photos. Prices are currently accurate and pre-orders are available for those wanting to get their name down.

Still no definite word from Arcam, Anthem & Audio Control but from the titbits of information we have gleaned so far, the Japanese manufacturers will have a fight on their hands as all are likely to sport extremely accurate room equalisation.

AV AMPLIFIERS

 

 

19/06/15 - Movie for the Weekend

One for the Dad's this weekend with the fantastic, visceral, raw.. ... Platoon.

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who believes nearby villagers are harbouring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.

Oliver Stone wrote the story based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne's The Green Berets. It was the first Hollywood film to be written and directed by a veteran of the Vietnam War. It is also another one of those rare films where the "making of " featurette and commentary on the Blu Ray version is almost as good as the original film and dialogue

PLATOON TRAILER

 

15/06/15 - Movie for Last Weekend

Company Men

Any excuse for a bit of Costner.......

A young executive at a shipping and manufacturing conglomerate, Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is on the fast track to the top. He is a rising star at work and has all the material trappings of success. Then his company goes through a few rounds of layoffs, so Bobby and colleagues Phil (Chris Cooper) and Gene (Tommy Lee Jones) find themselves on the unemployment line. As the year unfolds, all three must redefine their lives as they struggle to survive in a hostile post-career landscape.

COMPANY MEN TRAILER

 

06/06/15 - Movie for the Weekend

I loved this film, Ex-Machina. It will also be the first disc to feature a DTS-X soundtrack.

A young coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private retreat belonging to the reclusive CEO of the company. One arrival he learns that he must participate in a bizarre experiment which involves interacting with the world's first true artificial intelligence, which comes in the form of a beautiful female robot.

X MACHINA TRAILER

 

30/05/15 - Movie for the Weekend

This week, The Day Of The Jackal from 1973.

An underground French paramilitary group is intent on eliminating President Charles de Gaulle (Adrien Cayla-Legrand), but when numerous attempts on his life fail, they resort to hiring the infamous hit man known as "The Jackal" (Edward Fox). As the enigmatic assassin prepares to shoot de Gaulle, he takes out any problematic people along the way. Meanwhile, Lebel (Michel Lonsdale), a savvy Parisian police detective, begins to solve the mystery of the killer's identity.

THE DAY OF THE JACKAL TRAILER

 

30/05/15 - SVS Price Reductions

SVS have repositioned a number of their subwoofers to be more competitive against the Euro. Some of the best subwoofers in their price range, got a little better!

SVS RANGE

 

23/05/15 - Bank Holiday 

Dont forget we are closed on Bank Holiday Monday. We will re-open Tuesday @ 9.30am. 

OPENING HOURS

 

15/5/15 - Movie for the Weekend

We had a bit of banter about this before it was released but it never became a movie for the weeknd, well it is now! Get involved, awesome film.

Blue Ruin.................

An ominous piece of news sends a drifter (Macon Blair) back to his hometown to exact brutal -- and inept -- revenge for the deaths of his parents.

 

14/05/15 - Ultra HD Blu Ray

It's been a long time coming but the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has finally completed the specifications for Ultra HD Blu-ray. Great news, although with a small HDMI HDCP caveat. Time will tell but good news on balance we think. 

ULTRA HD BLURAY NEWS

 

09/05/15 - Movie for the Weekend

This week some propper crash bang whollop, with lots of bass! Godzilla.

Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe (Bryan Cranston). Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when Godzilla, King of the Monsters, arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.

GODZILLA 2014 TRAILER