Private Home Theater in Calabasas, CA

This Calabasas theater was designed to feel like art before the film even starts: deep malachite velvet, soft light tracing the lines of the room, and sound that wraps around every seat. When the lights fade, the room disappears into the picture.

The room was modeled in Particle, our acoustic design platform, before construction began. Particle set the speaker layout, the Dolby Atmos placement, the acoustic treatment plan and the height of the riser, so every decision traces back to how the room sounds from each seat. The riser itself is a custom open-cavity design, framed, glued and screwed, filled with mineral wool and decked in plywood. That fill lets it absorb low-frequency energy instead of resonating like a drum, and the construction keeps it silent underfoot.

The walls are fully treated and finished in Schumacher Tigress velvet in Malachite, paired with Duvaltex Studio 54, so the fabric is part of the acoustic system rather than decoration over it. Sound comes from a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos system built on Focal speakers and two JL Audio subwoofers, driven by a Marantz Cinema 30. The picture comes from a JVC DLA-RS1200 projector, hand-calibrated by JVC.

Lutron linear lighting and custom sconces give the room full RGBTW color, from bright and warm for conversation to fully dimmed for the film. Control4 ties it together, so the lights, picture and sound move as one from a single interface. The result is a private screening room that happens to be at home.