Stéphane's Invisible Home Cinema Installation in a Living Space

This case study of an invisible Home Cinema installation in a living space is for you if, like Stéphane, you're looking for the ultimate cinema experience in your living room — with complete discretion.

Stéphane did things properly. He got in touch with us very early on, well before construction began. In fact, it was right at the moment he signed the purchase contract with the property developer. He quickly sent us the original floor plans so we could work together on his invisible Home Cinema installation in his living space. Since Stéphane had no existing Home Cinema equipment, we were starting completely from scratch.

Good to know: this is a family of artists. Stéphane is an actor who also shares his passion through drama schools he founded. His wife is an opera singer who also passes on her art by giving lessons. This detail is worth noting, as it influenced several of our choices in designing this Home Cinema installation.

Invisible Home Cinema in a Living Space: The Starting Point 

For his invisible Home Cinema installation in a living space, Stéphane wanted to enjoy Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 sound (that's 7 ear-level surround speakers, a subwoofer, and 4 ceiling speakers). If you're not familiar with the terminology, just keep in mind that a Dolby Atmos Home Cinema setup requires a very precise speaker placement. Relatively straightforward in a dedicated Home Cinema room, but a whole different challenge in a living space.

In Stéphane's installation, ceiling-recessed speakers require a 10 to 15 cm drop ceiling. Not ideal when you consider the ceiling height that would be left over…

Stéphane also asked us from the outset to design his Home Cinema installation around our most discreet motorized recessed projection screen.

The Concept Built-In Electrol 2 had to fit within the 14 cm minimum depth available on the large bay window side (right side on the floor plan). The 4K laser projector Sony VPL-VW760ES would be positioned facing the screen in the hallway leading into the living space.

Invisible Home Cinema Installation in a Living Space: Solutions and Project Planning

To make this invisible Home Cinema installation in a living space achievable without compromising the aesthetics or comfort of the room, we proposed and agreed on the following solutions:

• Installing a drop ceiling only around the perimeter of the room, wide enough to integrate the speakers closest to the viewing position.
• Using Amina invisible speakers designed to disappear completely once integrated into the walls and ceiling, requiring only 4 cm of depth (compared to 15 cm for a traditional recessed speaker).
• Keeping the two Victoria Evo glass floor-standing speakers that Stéphane had originally requested.
• Integrating the recessed projection screen Concept Built-In Electrol 2 with a 260 cm image base.
• Installing the AluliftHC projector lift in the hallway for maximum concealment.
• Projecting with the Sony VPL-VW760ES Home Cinema projector.
• Using the Denon AVR-X6500H Home Cinema amplifier, capable of processing Atmos 7.1.4 audio output.

Every component selected represents exceptional equipment. Total discretion combined with the best possible performance — at a price. Just over €50K in this case.

Invisible Home Cinema Installation in a Living Space: Atmos Audio System Layout

While we finish writing our dedicated article on Atmos sound, we invite you to read this excellent piece by our colleagues at WhatHifi which covers the topic very well. For the 3D sound effect to reach its full potential, it is essential to place the surround speakers at the listener's ear level and the effect speakers at the ceiling.

For his invisible Home Cinema installation in a living space, Stéphane wanted advanced spatial audio — specifically seven surround speakers, a subwoofer, and 4 overhead effect speakers.

Since this was a new building still under construction, we arranged for the electrician to run the conduit during the build. As a result, each speaker had a direct cable run to the Home Cinema amplifier with no additional works required (though this didn't go entirely without a hitch — more on that later in the article).

In the panoramic photo taken during the installation, you can clearly see the four Atmos overhead effect speakers in the ceiling (labels 1, 2, 3, 4). The invisible speakers integrated into the walls (labels 5, 6, 7, 8) are the surround speakers of the Atmos system. The centre speaker (label 9) — which would ideally face the viewer — could only be installed in the ceiling due to the window behind the projection screen.

The Amina invisible speakers have the advantage of dispersing sound over an exceptionally wide field. The listening result remains nothing short of spectacular.

The recessed projection screen (label 10) is installed between the ceiling-mounted centre speaker and the large bay window. Extremely precise work was required to ensure everything integrated seamlessly while maintaining the structural integrity of that area — there was very little space to work with.

The projector lift (label 11) is located in the small hallway leading to the staircase. And finally, the infamous TV (label 12), which caused us no end of trouble with system compatibility — more on that later in the article.

Invisible Home Cinema in a Living Space: Integrating the Projector

The VPL-VW760ES Home Cinema projector is a seriously large piece of equipment. At 56 cm wide, our original version of the AluliftHC that we were offering at the time was not capable of accommodating a projector of that size. This was precisely what motivated us to redesign our lift for larger projectors.

The updated version of the AluliftHC Home Cinema projector lift (the one currently available on our site) is fully compatible with Home Cinema projectors such as the VPL-VW760ES. Stéphane was the first to receive the new production version of the AluliftHC. We were therefore able to conceal the Sony VPL-VW760ES projector within the 27 cm drop ceiling prepared in the hallway during construction.

Invisible Home Cinema Installation in a Living Space: Audio/Video and Electrical Connections

The conduit installed by the electrician to route the optical HDMI cable from the Home Cinema amplifier to the projector was too narrow. We therefore ran the HDMI cable directly through the drop ceiling during our Home Cinema integration phase.

My advice: To avoid this kind of surprise, use 50 mm conduit for HDMI cables. Because even though our HDMI 2.0 fibre optic cable is ultra-thin and highly flexible, the connector itself remains relatively bulky. Which makes it extremely difficult to pull through conduit with an internal diameter of less than 50 mm.

The same problem arose with the conduits and cables that had been laid in advance. We needed to run our own audio cables during the invisible Home Cinema integration phase. Unfortunately, the 20 mm conduits worked against us — they didn't allow us to pull our own 40 mm² audio cable alongside the standard audio cable already run by the electrician.

This was particularly problematic for connecting the two Waterfall floor-standing speakers, for which high-quality audio cabling really matters. For the Amina invisible speakers, we ultimately used 2.5 mm² cables, which are perfectly adequate for that type of speaker.

My advice: here too, opt for larger diameter conduit (32 mm²). It gives you the freedom to run any type of cable in the future — and it doesn't cost much more.

Bonus tip 🎁 : we use a cable rod kit that makes pulling cables through walls incredibly easy. Here's the one we rely on. For just under €50, this tool will save you an enormous amount of time 😉.

Invisible Home Cinema Installation in a Living Space: Automation

When Stéphane contacted us for his invisible Home Cinema project, we had just finished developing AiOcontrol. This automation solution lets you control and configure a Home Cinema installation simply from your smartphone.

Another advantage of AiOcontrol is that it requires only a single power supply point for the projection screen, the projector, and the motorized projector lift. The unit was therefore installed close to the AluliftHC and the VPL-VW760ES, on the power supply point the electrician had already provided. To complete the AiOcontrol setup, the unit needs to be connected to the home's Wi-Fi network.

In Stéphane's case, the apartment was a brand-new build, so we carried out the initial AiOcontrol configuration in offline mode (extremely useful in this kind of situation), then finalized the Home Cinema setup once the internet connection was live.

Tip: if you're moving into a new apartment or house with no internet connection yet, make life easier by using a mesh Wi-Fi system like Google Wifi. It connects to your internet router and creates a new Wi-Fi network. That way, when you move, simply connect Google Wifi to your new router. Your previous Wi-Fi network is instantly recreated, and all your devices reconnect without needing to be reconfigured. I've written an article on the topic, available here.

Also worth noting: Denon amplifiers like the AVR-X6500H come with a full-featured (and free) app that gives you quick access to all of its settings.

Home Cinema Installation in a Living Space: Connecting the Audio/Video Components

Once the integration of the invisible Home Cinema installation was complete, we connected all audio/video cables to the Denon AVR-X6500H amplifier.

Here are three tips that will make your installation easier if you need to handle this part yourself:

Tip 1: Leave at least 1 m of cable (of any type) coming out of the wall so you don't have to contort yourself to reach the connections at the back of the Home Cinema amplifier whenever needed.

Tip 2: Verify the compatibility of all your components before installation. In our case, we agreed to install the new LED TV that Stéphane had bought at Fnac. Even though every device was from a reputable brand, we spent several hours — and days — getting them all to work together.

Simply put: when the TV was playing, the projector wouldn't accept the signal. We eventually found a workaround through a particular setting, though it does impose a constraint on how the system is used.

Everything works, but not as seamlessly as it would have if we'd been aware of this device conflict from the start. So especially if you're using high-end equipment like in this invisible Home Cinema installation, make sure all your components are designed to work together. I'll write a dedicated article on the topic soon.

Tip 3: If you want to enjoy 4K images, make absolutely sure all your HDMI cables are fully compliant with the latest standards. Otherwise, connected devices will all default to the capabilities of the weakest link in the chain. This is exactly why we always include a set of the latest-generation HDMI 2.0 cables with every AiOhc Configuration order. In this installation, we sidestepped the issue entirely by replacing all the HDMI cables.

Invisible Home Cinema in a Living Space: Conclusion

This invisible Home Cinema installation project in a living space was a genuine technical and logistical challenge — and we're proud to have delivered it successfully. Stéphane is delighted with his Home Cinema and uses it almost every day.

It's exactly this kind of project that helps us continually refine our knowledge of best practices and clever solutions for achieving a flawless final result. If you're currently working on a project like this, get in touch with us or take a look at AiOhc. You'll benefit from our full expertise to ensure your Home Cinema project is outstanding in every respect.