RAF Honington appointed TaylorMade TV & Audio Ltd to overhaul its tired old hall and turn this into a cinema for the base.

Located between Thetford and Bury St Edmunds in Norfolk, RAF Honington has been a military base for almost 80 years since it opened in 1937 as one of six operational airfields within No 3 Group Bomber Command.

Recreational facilities on the base are vitally important as this is where troops recuperate between military operations.  The AV installation was part of a wider refurbishment of the large hall and would provide cinema facilities for the service men and women with the capability to also hold presentations and even open mic nights.

As picture and sound quality were paramount for the installation, the Norwich-based AV experts chose Optoma’s new 6,000-lumen laser phosphor projector, the ZU650.

This high brightness WUXGA resolution ProScene model with 2,000,000:1 dynamic contrast provides 20,000 hours of impressive, virtually maintenance-free operation without the need for lamp or filter replacements.  

Stephen Taylor, Director of TaylorMade TV & Audio, said: “As well as image quality, reliability and minimal maintenance were key factors in choosing this projector as it would be mounted on the hall’s high ceiling and therefore fairly inaccessible.”

As well as inaccessible placements, the laser projector is also ideal for quieter environments, smaller rooms or those with low ceilings due to the fact it has no lamp – so needs less cooling.

Flexible installation is provided by 360˚ rotation and portrait mode operation, combined with an extensive lens shift range and five optional lenses. HDBaseT comes as standard and almost all functions of the projector can be controlled remotely across a network. 

The ZU650 was installed with a standard lens to project onto a four metre-wide screen.

For excellent cinema sound reproduction, the team at TaylorMade TV & Audio installed an ONKYO-TXRZ800 AV receiver.  Stephen explained: “Due to the size and dual functionality of the room, we used the AV receiver’s pre amp outputs, via a mixer unit and power amps.  This gave the room both an earth shattering cinema and venue audio with radio microphones for presentation.”

The speakers installed were EV EKX-12 with two EV ELX 118P active subwoofers for that cinema punch.

Stephen Taylor, Director of TaylorMade TV & Audio, said: “This was no normal cinema installation.  The pre amped 5.2 channels with mixed microphone and audio give a whopping 4,200 watts of cinema and venue sound.  

“And, with the exceptional brightness and a razor sharp image from the laser projector, we were extremely happy with the picture results. 

“The great equipment and stunning results has made this one of my most enjoyable installations.”

Nicholas Turk, Community Development Officer at RAF Honington, said: “The feedback I have had has been phenomenal. All positive.”