The grape escape

Wine and food matching is a relatively mainstream phenomenon these days, but what about wine with film? For many cinemaphiles, of the required age of course, wine is the beverage of choice, and in its various guises there's a wine for every film.

A brooding red for a powerful drama, something bubbly and sweet for a light-hearted romance, or perhaps an obvious white for the latest blockbuster the combinations are almost endless. Similarly, when it comes to choosing audiovisual equipment, there is also an incredibly large number of possibilities. However, for Peter Johnston, the owner of the home theatre featured on these pages, the first priority was simplicity.

"As well as a dedicated home theatre room, we wanted a system that would enable us to listen to different music simultaneously, while in other rooms of the house. It was also essential that the system offered simplicity," he says.

After considering many options, a ReVox server-based multi-room system, supplied by Sampford & Staff, was selected. The server is located in the home theatre, but all content can be simply accessed by touch screens throughout the house. This allows different users to call up television, DVD or music in different rooms, says Travis Anderson, business development manager from Sampford & Staff.

"What appealed to the homeowners was the ability to store all their CDs on the media server, and to pick and choose which artist they wanted to hear within any particular room," says Anderson. "After a lengthy discussion about the layout of the house, it was decided that the server and source components would be installed in the dedicated home theatre."

At the heart of the system is a ReVox M51 source, with built-in amplifier, DVD player and decoder, and a M37 audio server with a 250Gb hard drive capacity. In the home theatre, these components are accompanied by a 5.1 surround sound system comprised of two Brilliant front left and right speakers, two rear column speakers, a centre speaker and an active bass. An InFocus projector was selected to complement the high definition sound with a crisp, sharp picture.

With the exception of the speakers, all equipment is concealed in the lacquer-finished cabinetry. By including a central sink unit with the cabinetry, the combination home theatre/wine cellar is a semi self-contained entertainment zone.

Story by: Trendsideas