At Cinema Buro we don't consider ourselves dealers for any particular products. That can sound a little odd, because of course we have to use the world's best products to create the world's best private cinemas. In this short video, just under three minutes, I explain why the products in our rooms are an outcome of the engineering rather than the place we start.
You wouldn't ask an architect for bricks
Think about how you'd work with an architect. You wouldn't walk into their office and ask to buy some concrete, or some bricks.
A good architect takes you through a process. First they work out how you live, how you play and how you work, and who else uses the house. Then they go through a design process to work out the space and the aesthetics. After that the project goes to structural engineers and architectural technicians, and they specify the right materials to build that house with.
The materials matter enormously. They just aren't where the conversation begins.
Discovery, design, engineering, then products
That's very much how we work. Every project goes through discovery, design and engineering, the Listen, Plan and Prove stages on our process map. It's the engineering that then defines the products we use, in the Select stage.
I talked through those stages in more detail in Every Decision Defensible. The short version is that by the time we choose a product, we already know exactly what we need it to do.
Why we have favourite products
Of course we have our favourites. They're usually favourites for one of two reasons.
The first is that they're tools we know how to use really well. Some of them we've been using for more than a decade.
The second, and more important, reason is that they come with real engineering specifications.
Engineering specifications, not consumer specifications
By engineering specifications I don't mean the consumer figures, such as frequency response or watts per channel. Those numbers don't tell us very much about a particular room.
We're looking for detailed engineering information that lets us predict exactly what a product is going to do in the particular scenario where it's being used, on that particular project. If we can't predict it, we can't design with it.
A brand is not a cinema
There are a lot of companies out there that base their entire brand and marketing on the products they use. You'll see it in their Facebook posts and YouTube videos: this is an X brand Dolby Atmos cinema.
That's fine, and I'm sure they're very good products. But it's a bit like saying a house is incredible because it was built with a particular type of brick.
What happens when a new product comes along
At Cinema Buro, product choice is an outcome of the engineering. We're not driven by products.
When we find a new product, we research its engineering capabilities. So the next few rooms we build might well use different product sets, simply because those are the right products for those projects and their particular set of conditions.
Our product is the room
So no, we're not dealers. Our product is the totality of the experience in the room we build, and we'll pick the best materials and the best products to deliver it.
If you'd like to read more about why the order matters, our earlier piece Equipment Comes Last, Not First looks at what goes wrong when products are chosen before the room is designed.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cinema Buro a dealer for any home cinema brand?
No. Cinema Buro doesn't consider itself a dealer for any specific products. The practice uses the products that its engineering shows are right for each project, and the product it delivers is the complete experience of the finished room.
How does Cinema Buro choose home cinema equipment?
Every project goes through discovery, design and engineering before any products are chosen. The engineering defines what the room needs, and the products are selected to deliver it. Cinema Buro favours products that publish detailed engineering information, because that information makes it possible to predict exactly what a product will do in a particular room.
Why aren't frequency response and watts per channel enough to choose a product?
Headline consumer figures such as frequency response or watts per channel don't tell a designer how a product will behave in the specific scenario it will be used in on a particular project. Cinema Buro looks for detailed engineering specifications that allow that behaviour to be predicted before anything is installed.
Does Cinema Buro use the same products in every cinema?
Not necessarily. The team has favourite products, either because they are tools it has used and understood well for over a decade, or because they come with proper engineering data. When new products appear, Cinema Buro researches their engineering capabilities, and future rooms may use different product sets if those are the right products for that project.
Who is Peter Aylett?
Peter Aylett is Client Director of Cinema Buro, a private cinema design practice. He is one of the authors of the international standards the private cinema industry is now measured against, and has designed and calibrated reference-grade rooms for some of the most demanding clients in the world.
Read the full video transcript
[00:00] At Cinema Buro, we don't consider ourselves dealers for any specific products. Now, that might sound a bit weird, because of course we have to use the world's best products to create the world's best private cinemas. But also consider this. If you go to an architect, you're not going to go to an architect and say, can I buy some concrete?
[00:19] Can I buy some bricks? And that architect will take you through a process very, very similar to ours, where firstly, they need to figure out how you live, how you play, how you work, all the users of the house. They then go through a whole design process to spatially figure out what's going on, to look at the aesthetics.
[00:39] Then it goes to some structural engineers and to architectural technicians, and they will then specify the right materials to build that house with. And that's very, very much how we work. We go through discovery, design, engineering, and it's the engineering that then defines the products we use. Now, of course we have our favourites, and those products generally are favourites because,
[01:02] either, firstly, they are tools that we know how to use really, really well, and we've been using them for over a decade. But more importantly, the products that we use are products that have actual engineering specifications. Not silly consumer stuff like frequency response or watts per channel, but detailed engineering information that allows us to predict exactly what that product is going to do in the particular scenario where you're using it, on that particular project.
[01:34] Now, there's a lot of companies out there that base their entire brand, their entire marketing, on the products that they use. On their Facebook posts, on their YouTube videos, they'll talk about, oh, this is an X brand Dolby Atmos cinema. Well, OK, that's fine. I'm sure they're very good products, but that would be like saying, isn't this an incredible house, because it was built with this particular type of bricks.
[02:00] So the way we work at Cinema Buro is the product choice is an outcome of the engineering. We're not driven by products. And when we find new products, we research their engineering capabilities. And it could be that the next few rooms we build will actually use different product sets, simply because those are the right products for that particular project,
[02:23] with that particular set of project scenarios. So yeah, we're not dealers, but our product is the totality of the experience of the room that we build, and we will pick the best materials, the best products, in order to deliver that.