HES 2007: Cinepro/VidaBox Room

Filed under: Home Audio




The line to get into the Cinepro/Vidabox room was so long you would have thought it was a popular ride at a theme park. Well, it turns out that what the room contained was more jaw-dropping than any theme park ride I have ever been on.

More pictures of the room after the jump.



Vidabox had their LUX Media Center controlling the in-room demonstration and provided a nice little intro to show off the features of the unit. The interface looked great and appeared to be easily controlled via the remote. The LUX unit has integrated Tivo, DVD play/record capabilities, the ability to rip/play music and picture viewing/storage. The LUX is also upgradeable to Blu-Ray and HD-DVD capability. The LUX unit appeared to be top notch in every aspect and it was added to our own personal list of must own home theater products.



Cinepro had a pair of their Dual 15" Isobaric Subwoofers and were using their Mighty Powershelf speakers as surrounds with a Mighty Center Channel. Power was provided to the speakers via two Cinepro 3k6 Mk5 6-channel amplifiers. The Cinepro system sounded great on all of the demo material (movies and music).




We started the demo with the famous cannon scene from Master and Commander. It was breathtaking, literally. With each cannon blast I could feel my clothes move with the massive amount of air being pushed from the subs. The cannon blasts actually felt and sounded like real cannon blasts. The sound reproduction was so realistic I caught myself wanting to duck along with the crew members in the movie to avoid the initial volley of cannon fire. What was most surprising was how clean the subwoofers were while producing an ungodly amount of low-end.

Next we got to check out the helicopter chase scene from Mission Impossible 3. Again, it sounded great with very accurate explosions and every single person in the room jumped when the windmill blade hit the ground with an earthquake-worthy thud after it had been severed by fire from an attack helicopter.





The demo finished with some music from Brandy that was started in a 5.2 configuration and then switched to Stereo midway through the song. The front channels were extremely clear and dynamic with 3,000 watts going through the pair.

Overall this was one of the most impressive rooms in the whole show, and the line outside the room confirmed that the Cinepro/Vidabox room was the HES 2007 crowd favorite. Quite a feat considering some of the rooms had equipment that cost many times more than that of the Cinepro/VidaBox room.

The room consisted of:

Cinepro Evolution Mighty Powershelf System:
- Cinepro Mighty Powershelf two-way speakers ($3,295/pair)
- Mighty Center Channel ($2,695)
- (x2) Dual 15" Isobaric Subwoofers ($4,995 ea.)
- DTP-8 Processor ($6,495)
- RPC-30240 -30 amp 240 volt Regulated Power Conditioner ($6,495)
- (x2) 3k6 Mk5 (Newest Version) 6 channel amplifiers ($7,495)
- Cinepro Python Wire ($7.95 per ft)

VidaBox:
- LUX Media Center was designed as a full-function server capable of storing music, television programming, and movies on its hard drive. It is also capable of both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD playback ($7,000)*
- Projector SIM2 Domino Series D80 1080P DLP Projector ($8,500)
- Screen Innovations TMS-80 (Theater Mobile Sensation-80) ($449)
* The VidaBox Media Centers are available in many different configurations with pricing that caters to nearly all budgets.