Along with other members of the BNC team, founder and managing director, Nick Caripis, has had plenty of success selling Meridian in-room loudspeakers. With many satisfied customers using various Meridian models, Nick chose to have a pair of DSP8000 XE loudspeakers, Meridian’s flagship model, on demonstration at the BNC showroom. However, the team also knew that Meridian’s in-wall loudspeakers shared the performance, technology and flexibility of their in-room cousins, so they had always aspired to adding the in-walls to their company’s portfolio. The snag was that the team also appreciated that such prestigious products require a room-setting that does justice to their performance. This was one of many contributory factors that emerged over a five-year planning period, culminating in the decision to embark on creating the third demonstration room, dubbed “The Platinum Cinema”, within the Johannesburg premises. Knowing what he and his team were aiming to achieve with the room.

"We wanted Platinum to show what luxury home cinema can be when design and technology work together from the start.” He reinforces the holistic approach to the project by adding, “A high-performance cinema is not only about equipment. It is about how the entire space is planned, engineered and experienced.”

- Nick Caripis, Founder & Managing Director

The technical design of the room was seen as paramount. The final interior design was determined, or at least heavily influenced, by the overarching importance of the dimensions and physical structure of the room. From the start, the team used their specialist room audio simulation software to model the behaviour of sound within the room. This ensured they could predict and avoid any potential problems before it was too late, saving them from having to carry out remedial construction (and deconstruction!) work.

An apparently rectangular room (more on that later), used by the previous occupants of the building as a boardroom, had long been earmarked for conversion to the new home cinema room. One early finding was that the ceiling was constructed with light-weight boarding: wholly unsuitable for a cinema expected to be capable of producing studio levels of sound pressure! Its replacement went straight onto the “to-do” list! Not so obvious, and contrary to first impressions, further inspection revealed that none of the walls were truly square to each other. There was no way a “wonky” room would align with BNC’s vision of what they could achieve for their customers, so the decision was made to build-out the walls to make everything perpendicular and parallel as appropriate – not a simple thing to do, but the right thing to do.

The ceiling height of the original space was around 2.7 metres. The tiered seating resulted in an eventual ceiling height of 2.5 metres at the screen, reducing to 2.2 metres in the entrance area at the other end of the room – that keeps it just about high enough to accommodate any passing basketball players who happen to drop in for a demo!

The BNC team worked with Meridian to calculate genuinely attainable sound levels and the extent of the viable viewing and listening zones for various combinations of speakers. This collaboration also extended to the design and application of acoustic treatment materials. The void above the new ceiling was given particular attention in this regard.

At the heart of the audio system is a Trinnov Altitude 32 processor and a Meridian 271 Digital Theatre Controller feeding Meridian digital active in-wall loudspeakers and Aurea subwoofers.

It was important that the system should be able to play loudly enough to satisfy customers looking for seriously high sound levels. To achieve this, it was decided that each of the left, right and centre channels should comprise of three Meridian DSP520.2 in-wall loudspeakers combined using Meridian’s “High Power Array” (HPA) technology. This proprietary processing avoids the interference that usually occurs when speakers are grouped closely together and fed the same sound as each other, meaning that an even frequency response is produced across the listening area. Regarding output levels, each of these three-speaker arrays can produce 122dB if measured at one metre, while at seven metres from the screen, 105dB is achievable.

To ensure consistency in timbre and sound quality throughout the room, the four surround channels are handled by four more Meridian DSP520.2 loudspeakers. The system also features four of the more compact DSP320.2 in-ceiling loudspeakers, taking care of the height channels. Four 15-inch subwoofers complete the speaker package, providing the potential for delivering prodigious low-frequency energy.

Naturally, the users of the room need not know anything about the equipment described above. Even with the lights on, it’s all pretty-well hidden out-of-sight. Then, once the lights dim and the movie starts, the kit disappears from the consciousness completely, becoming a mere conduit for the delivery of experiences.  

For the purposes of the project, founder Nick was treated as “the client”. This decision was an important aspect of the project. By following the same route taken by a BNC customer negotiating the whole process of designing, specifying, building and commissioning a home cinema, the team would have the perfect opportunity to experience everything from the viewpoint of someone choosing to work with them.

Nick’s brief included a stipulation for a minimum of five seats and, given the dimensions of the seats to be used, this steered the room’s design to be orientated with the longer walls as side walls with the projector firing down the length of the room onto a screen that, although it is mounted on one of the narrower walls, is still 4m wide and 2.4m high. The image is generated by a Barco Njord Cinemascope projector mounted within the ceiling void using a drop-down mirror-mount to direct the picture to the screen.

About those seats… They’re from Moovia in Germany, specialists in home-cinema seating. From day one of their relationship, the BNC team identified how well this brand aligns with their own values; offering customisable products and providing great support - in more than one sense of the word!

Elsewhere throughout the room, there are bold interior details, rich finishes and challenging surfaces that required careful acoustic planning and calibration. As Nick is keen to point out, The goal was to protect the design of the space while still delivering the level of performance expected from a world-class cinema.” He continues, “Platinum proves that luxury, atmosphere and technical performance can exist in the same space when every detail is handled with intention.”

Given the wide range of potential customers’ needs, room sizes, personal preferences and budgets, the team knew from the outset that their flagship cinema could not by a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Care has been taken to ensure the experience it offers is scalable; products have been chosen to allow the performance the room provides to be tailored to suit larger or smaller spaces. Furthermore, cognisant of the increasing importance of gaming requirements to many customers, the room has been designed to make it an incredible place to immerse yourself in whatever virtual scenario takes your fancy.

Nick’s enthusiasm for the whole project is apparent in his description of a demonstration, “The experience begins before you even enter the cinema. Guests are welcomed through a dedicated entrance foyer, designed to set the tone for what is to come. From custom-designed, handcrafted interior finishes to hidden speakers, a whiskey lift, popcorn machine, sweets and carefully considered details throughout, every element was created to build anticipation before stepping into the room.”

So, was it worth all the investment in time, resources and financial outlay? Well, every day or two since the room was launched early in 2026, Nick’s team been sharing its capabilities with potential customers (the team claim it’s “work”, but really?!) Nick sums it up, “What has meant the most to me is watching people step into the room, experience it for themselves and understand that a great cinema is not just something you watch. It is something you feel.”

But, as we asked above, was it worth it? Well, to borrow from the old proverb, this particular pudding has been well and truly proved. And thanks to the incredible immersive experiences available from just a few taps on a touchscreen, many of those potential customers enjoyed the taster so much, they moved on to order a main course!