When Alan Hutchings designed his new showroom for Spectrum AV LLC in Mill Valley, California, he faced a challenge familiar to many Bay Area homeowners: how to deliver a spectacular home theater experience without sacrificing precious living space or disrupting carefully curated interior design.
"I wanted a projection screen without the impact of a projector in the room," explains Hutchings, the company's founder. In the space-conscious homes typical of the Bay Area, bulky equipment and visible technology can feel intrusive, competing with rather than complementing a home's aesthetic.
The invisible solution
Hutchings' vision was ambitious: combine a functional piece of furniture with a high-performance projector. He explored short-throw solutions and ultimately found his answer in Barco Residential's Heimdall+ Cinemascope projector.
Indeed, the “Cinemascope” in the product name indicates the projector's optimization for the ultra-wide 2.37:1 aspect ratio favored by cinema purists. But for Hutchings, the technical specifications were only part of the appeal.
The centerpiece of his solution is a completely custom coffee table with a marble top—elegant furniture that happens to conceal cutting-edge projection technology. The table's design addresses the practical challenge of heat management with an active intake and outtake ventilation system, ensuring the projector performs optimally while remaining completely hidden from view.
"With the new Heimdall+ Cinemascope we perfected the concept and turned it into a real-world solution we can now proudly demonstrate to our clients," Hutchings says.
Performance that commands attention
When the Heimdall+ Cinemascope springs to life, partnered with a Seymour Screen Excellence 160-inch wide motorized screen in 2.37:1 format, visitors to the showroom experience what Hutchings describes as an unmistakable "wow factor."
The projector impresses on multiple fronts. "It fires up and produces an image much faster than other projectors," Hutchings notes. This is an important consideration when you want technology to feel effortless rather than cumbersome.
Image quality exceeds expectations. "The color saturation and brightness of the Heimdall is exquisite, producing what I would describe as near perfect colors in the showroom when the room is in black out mode," he explains. The projector's tone mapping and Non Linear Stretch (NLS) technology work seamlessly to display standard 16:9 content on the ultra-wide 2.37:1 screen without compromising quality.
Practical advantages extend beyond picture quality. The fan operates with exceptional quietness. So quiet that Hutchings confirms it could be installed directly in a living space without acoustic concerns. The chassis itself represents a significant evolution, with a form factor considerably smaller than previous generations.
Magic in the everyday
For Hutchings' clients throughout the Bay Area, the installation represents a new paradigm: home theater experiences that don't require dedicated screening rooms or visible compromises in living spaces.
A tap of a button. The screen descends. Light fills the wall. And the projector creating that cinematic magic? It remains exactly where great technology should be—completely out of sight, allowing the experience to take center stage.
For Spectrum AV LLC, the Heimdall+ Cinemascope showroom installation really proves a concept: that extraordinary home cinema can integrate seamlessly into the spaces where people actually live.
Complete audio-visual solution overview:
- Projector: Barco Heimdall+ Cinemascope (6144x2592 Resolution)
- Sources: Kaleidescape Strato V and Apple TV
- Cinema processor: Lyngdorf Audio MP 60 2.1. Room Perfect audio calibration was done by Claus Glasner from Lyngdorf Audio.
- Projection screen: Seymour Screen Excellence 160” wide 2.37:1 motorized screen
- Speakers: James Loudspeakers-Beryllium Front soundstage and SA-63-7 height/surrounds/back, James Loudspeakers Power Pipe 12s and SVS-Ultra SB16 subwoofers. Amplifiers: NAD Master Class amps
- Control: Control4 and Savant running in parallel
- Power Management: Torus Power RM 60
- MadVR Envy Extreme MKIII
