Certified: AV-Holic!

HCC reader John still heads out to a dedicated room in the garden to get his movie thrills but an Atmos upgrade and overhauled projector system make the trip even better

Welcome to the AV-Holic Hall of Fame - introduce yourself!

Hi. I'm John Morris, 50 years old, and a car sales executive.

How long have you been into home cinema, and what was the first setup you had?

I have been into home cinema for as long as I can remember (and mainly because of your publication!). My first bedroom setup was a Sony 20in widescreen telly, and a Yamaha 3090 AV receiver, which was one of the first Dolby Digital amps - or AC-3 as it was called back then. From then on I was totally obsessed with having my own proper cinema, with projector, etc. One of the main reasons being the ability to watch at any time without annoying anyone.

Your cinema featured in HCC # 183, over a decade ago. What's changed?

My home cinema is still in a soundproofed outside building - I get the benefits of not disturbing anyone and the feeling of actually going out to the cinema - but it has had a total decoration change, plus a new projector, AV receiver, speaker system upgrade (to Dolby Atmos, which sounds totally awesome), and even a new Screen Research projector screen and Daikin air conditioning system.

What kit's in your system now?

I've replaced my previous InFocus projector with a JVC DLA-X500BE model (still in a custom-made 'hushbox'), and swapped out the Projecta Homescreen for a Classic model from Screen Research (fixed frame, with SolidPix grey 0.9 gain fabric).

My AV receiver is now an 11.2-channel Onkyo TX-RZ3100. This handles Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and is THX Select certified. The Onkyo drives my expanded sound system - I've added four Polk Audio V60 Slim in-ceiling speakers to the previous Jamo models (three D6-LCR THX Ultras for the LCR and four on-wall D6-SUR THX Ultras for surrounds), and REL R-505 subwoofer.