Home Movie Theaters

The move from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma was a momentous occasion for Tennesseans Scott and Shelley Ward. From the patio of their new home, they enjoy a picturesque view of Lake Tullahoma and can stroll down to their private dock and jump into a paddleboat. But it gets better: A topnotch golf course is literally around the corner and the family-run custom-packaging business is just a few miles down the road. It’s the perfect location.

Spacious and stately are words you might use to describe the Ward residence. From the impressive brick and stone façade and multidimensional roof to its vaulted ceilings and extensive crown molding, there’s a lot to like. Even so, like any new homeowner, the Wards had a few updates in mind. At the top of their list: A dedicated entertainment space where they could enjoy movies and sports on a big screen—and host company training events and business meetings in a relaxed setting with serious PowerPoint potential. A house-wide tech makeover was also high on the Wards' to-do list, but first things first.

Wish list in hand, the couple reached out to Cobb Home Innovations, a full-service home technology firm in nearby Woodbury specializing in home theater design and installation, smart-home automation, motorized window shades and specialty lighting, whole-house music systems, and more. Owners Hugh and Joyce Cobb have been in business for more than two decades and have an impressive portfolio to show for it, including this theater setup we wrote about in early 2024. Hugh oversees sales, installation, and an in-house shop that can “fabricate anything”—including electronics—while Joyce heads up the firm’s interior-design team.

Cobb met with the Wards to learn what they hoped to accomplish and come up with a plan to meet their needs. He invited the couple to visit the company’s Smart Home Technology Experience Center—an appointment-only showroom he says is unique to Middle Tennessee—so they could experience the latest technology in a real-world setting. Offering an enticing taste of home cinema possibilities, the Center boasts two Dolby Atmos theaters that showcase MartinLogan speakers—one assembled around an ultra-big-screen TV, the other around a theater-like projection system in a “man cave” setting with all the trappings—even a fiber-optic-lit night sky. “We rarely have a client who doesn't hire us after they visit our Experience Center,” Cobb noted. The Wards were no exception.

A Multipurpose Theater
Starting with the entertainment space at the center of the Wards' wish list, Cobb’s initial proposal called for a 5.2.4 Dolby Atmos theater setup featuring MartinLogan’s acclaimed Motion XT Series speakers and Dynamo subwoofers, Epson’s excellent LS11000 4K Pro UHD 4K laser projector, and a generous 120" (diagonal) screen from the projection specialists at Screen Innovations. The theater would occupy a sizable 30×30' room in the home’s expansive, 2,500-square-foot finished basement and accommodate seating for 10, with four comfy leather recliners and a couple of roomy storage compartments up front and a row of six recliners along the back wall on an elevated and double-insulated platform.

The Ward’s signed off on the plan but wanted to keep the room’s décor simple—a decision they would later revisit.

Step one was to create a soundproofed space using standard 2 x 4 wall construction with sound-deadening foam board between the studs and concrete walls, R-13 insulation between the studs, and two layers of ½-inch drywall with staggered seams to minimize sound leakage. But the plan had one unexpected and ingenious twist: Cobb built a projection wall a few feet out from the front of the room to provide easy access to the system’s main speakers, subwoofers, and electronics.

The wall is the perfect size for the 8.6 x 5-foot Screen Innovations Zero Edge Pro screen with just enough room for three main speakers and two subwoofers: a MartinLogan Motion XT F100 tower speaker on either side, a Motion XT C100 center speaker below, and a pair of Dynamo 12 powered subwoofers flanking the C100; the speakers and subwoofers are set into the wall with their front panels flush to the screen side and covered in black-knit material for a seamless look.

Six additional MartinLogan speakers were positioned strategically around the room to create an enveloping, you-are-there surround-sound experience: a pair of Motion 4i speakers high on the back wall and four Motion MC8 speakers, mounted flush in the classy designer ceiling tiles and aimed toward the seating area.

Gaining access to the electronics is a simple matter of walking around the projection wall, which runs floor to ceiling and extends across three quarters of the room with an opening on either side. Everything is neatly organized on pull-out roller shelves embedded in the front wall of the room for quick and easy to access to a Sony UBP-X800M2 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player and Roku Ultra 4K streamer as well Yamaha’s flagship Aventage RX-A8 AV receiver, the beating heart of the system and its primary source of power. The RX-A8 is a tour de force featuring state-of-the-art sound processing, support for the latest HDMI connectivity and high-dynamic-range standards, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+, and eleven channels of power. There’s not much it can’t do.

As a long-time MartinLogan dealer, Hugh Cobb has experienced the outstanding sound quality of ML products time and time again, so deciding which speakers to recommend for the Ward home theater was a no-brainer. The pièce de résistance of the Motion XT Series speakers is an innovative Folded Motion Tweeter (FMT)—a rectangular thin-film diaphragm folded like an accordion and suspended in a magnetic field. The unusual-looking tweeter delivers many of the same performance benefits of the electrostatic speaker technology that has been a hallmark of MartinLogan speaker design since the company was founded way back in 1983. ML calls it “a miracle of audio engineering that delivers much of the high-frequency detail, speed, and response of a large, dynamic electrostatic panel in a small space.” Simply put, the FMT deserves much of the credit for the lifelike sound this home theater is capable of delivering.

Of course, these sweet-sounding tweeters are aided and abetted by a formidable array of cone drivers—four 6.5" drivers in each of the 48" tall XT F100 towers and two in the XT C100 center speaker plus an 8" woofer in each of four ceiling speakers and a 4" driver in each rear-surround speaker. Though these drivers produce plenty of woof—the F100s alone are rated down to 31Hz—it’s no match for the depth and power of the bass you get from one Dynamo 12 subwoofer, let alone two working in tandem. Each sub can rumble down to 22Hz and houses a 12" aluminum driver, cutting-edge DSP engine, and amplifier built to deliver 800W of continuous power in a 16" cube, making it fully equipped to meet the challenges of Hollywood’s most bombastic soundtracks.

Easy Living
Simple system control is one of the hallmarks of Cobb Home Innovations. No matter how complex the system is, above all else, it has to be easy to use. For Cobb, that means giving viewers the ability to operate the system by voice or a single remote handset customized meet the specific needs of the client.

“We installed an RTI XP-8 control system, which supports Alexa voice commands and included an RTI T4x touchscreen remote with automated one-touch ‘scenes’ for watching a movie or sports or firing up a business presentation,” Cobb explained. Besides making it dead simple to kick back and enjoy a movie or a baseball game, the handset controls lighting in the room (and around the house) and provides ready access to the home’s security and HVAC systems.

The final step in finalizing the installation involved tweaking the Epson projector to get the most realistic image possible and using an AudioControl spectrum analyzer and other tools to calibrate the sound system to create a sonic bubble that puts viewers in the middle of the action, whether they’re watching MobLand or The Sinners – or cheering on the University of Tennessee Volunteers.

From Mundane to Majestic
Once the AV system was up and running and the room painted the medium brown color they selected, the Wards stepped back and paused… The audio/video system delivered an engaging entertainment experience for sure, but the look and feel of the room wasn’t quite right. Something was off. “They realized the space was too plain,” Cobb recalled. “They asked us to warm it up and create more of a theater atmosphere, so we went back to the drawing board.”

The couple met with Joyce and her design team who proposed a facelift that would elevate the atmosphere of the room from mundane to majestic. They would move to a slate-blue color scheme and add six wall columns, each custom-built and adorned with an elegant sconce. “They welcomed our recommendations and were very receptive to the idea of taking the project to another level,” Cobb explained.

It was a night-and-day transformation that gave the space a cool movie theater vibe. But there was one finishing touch that really sealed the deal: Illuminated movie posters, which are cleverly tied into the room’s Lutron lighting system.

A Tech Revolution
As alluded to earlier, home theater wasn’t the only item on the Wards’ wish list. They wanted to update technology throughout the house and were especially interested in smart-home applications Cobb proposed, so they hired the company to do multiple upgrades, starting with improving internet performance using a super-fast eero Wi-Fi 7 router and installing Lutron lighting and motorized shades throughout the house along a new Ring Alarm Pro security system with cameras.

The tech upgrade was far ranging and also included installing a Sonos wireless audio system that extended to the patio and four Samsung QN95D Series Neo QLED mini-LED TVs, each of which is equipped with a complete Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar system that includes a standalone subwoofer and rear surround speakers: a 55" model on the patio and in the family room and a 65" in the basement gym and sitting room just outside the home theater. The family room TV was mounted above a fireplace on a MantleMount MM815 motorized bracket that extends the screen out from the wall and lowers it to the optimal height.

In keeping with the theater’s simplicity of control theme, Cobb installed iPort iPad control stations throughout the home.

Whether they’re entertaining for business or pleasure, the Wards can enjoy the best of both worlds in their new home theater with no regrets—even if they did have to do a Tennessee two-step to reach their ultimate goal.

AV Equipment List
Home theater system designed and installed by Cobb Home Innovations of Woodbury, TN. Estimated cost: $150,000.

• Epson LS11000 4K Pro UHD laser projector
  
• Screen Innovations Zero Edge Pro fixed 120-inch (diagonal) Slate screen
  
• Sony UBP-X800M2 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player
  
• Roku Ultra 4K streaming media player
  
• Yamaha RX-A8 11.2-channel AV receiver
  
• MartinLogan Motion XT-F100 tower speaker (front left and right)
  
• MartinLogan Motion XT-C100 center speaker (1)
  
• MartinLogan Motion MC8 ceiling speaker (2 front, 2 rear)
  
• MartinLogan Motion 4i surround speaker (2, rear wall)
  
• MartinLogan Dynamo 12 subwoofer (2, front projection wall)

Control System & Additional Gear

• RTI XP-8 home-automation control processor
  
• RTI T4x touchscreen remote control
  
• Lutron Caséta PRO lighting-control system
  
• Alexa integrated voice control
  
• RowOne Prestige Home Entertainment theater seating
  
• AC Infinity Aircom T8 AV component cooling system
  
• Panamax MR5100 power-management/surge-protection system