Die Zwei is a small company located in Hamburg, Germany, specialized in design and realization of luxury private cinemas.Die Zwei takes care about all stages of the projects from room design, audio/visual design, building infrastructure, orchestrating 3rd parties and after-sales service and support.
About Flotopia
The Client is a huge film fan and already had an older DIY Cinema room with a Basic Sound System and a CRT projector. With the decision to renovate the whole house in a lovely setting in the Austrian alps, it was clear that the old Cinema room would get a full overhaul.
This private cinema blends high-end performance with everyday comfort, offering an immersive audio-video experience for the entire family. With two rows and a dedicated reference seat, the room delivers powerful, clean sound and stunning visuals, yet remains warm, inviting, and easy to use. All equipment is kept outside the space for a clean aesthetic, while sound insulation and thoughtful design ensure the room is perfect for movies, music, or relaxed gatherings — without disturbing the home above.
Which were the challenges and objectives inherent to this home cinema?
The circumstances weren't bad, but two limitations stood out: the room size was relatively small (< 20sqm), and the ceiling was pretty low (218 cm). To overcome the first limitation, it was quickly decided to an adjacent room to the cinema room, almost doubling the available room size. The other major decision was to dig down into the ground at the front of the room to add ceiling height. We planned some sort of "pit" in front of the screen to accommodate the first seating row. In the first drawings and renderings, it turned out to be one of the main design features of the room, instead of being just a workaround. Structurally, everything was removed from the two rooms, and we needed to build the new room from scratch including a new electrical system, ventilation, and heating (floor heating was added).
Did you face any particular (technical) challenges?
As the building is relatively old, and the basement wasn't really planned to be used as living space, a lot of electrical wires and water/heating pipes were running all over the walls and ceilings. This couldn't be changed easily. So we had to meticulously plan around them.
Tell us more about the speaker layout and technical journey/requirements
Despite the room’s asymmetric geometry and low ceiling, the team achieved excellent performance through careful loudspeaker and subwoofer design. The 11.1(8).4 layout—based on Trinnov’s placement guidelines—includes three screen channels, wides, sides, rears and four overheads, with angles optimized for the reference listening position. All loudspeakers are full-active “beckersounds” models, providing precise pre-EQ before Trinnov Optimizer tuning, and crossed over at 80 Hz to a 4+4 WaveForming subwoofer configuration.
Eight 18-inch subwoofers were placed according to WF/DBA calculations, offset geometrically but acoustically correct for the space. WaveForming was chosen over a traditional DBA to better control low-frequency behavior in this unconventional room, delivering smooth bass distribution at reference levels while maintaining usability and aesthetics.
Slight downward front-speaker angles and elevated surrounds ensure clear coverage to both seating rows, while compact Matiz chairs preserve rear and side surround performance. Multiple WaveForming presets allow the client to experiment and fine-tune preference before finalizing the ideal listening profiles.
How did the Altitude become the processor of choice for this luxury home cinema?
We are a long-standing partner of Trinnov for almost a decade now. We have special expertise in high channel count installations, and the Trinnov Altitude perfectly supports our audio design and workflow. As we do DBA-installations for over a decade now, the addition of WaveForming took this relationship even further.
How did calibration go? and how did the Altitude help on that particular project?
The uneven/asymmetrical shape of the room with was clearly a challenge, also the integration of the bar area at the front of the room. Regarding the subwoofer arrays, not using WaveForming would have definitely been a compromise. WF handles the irregular shape of the room much better than a traditional DBA could. This room is undoubtedly the proof, that the Altitude and its Optimizer technology can handle non-ideal setups perfectly. Calibration went smoothly and gave excellent results, especially in terms of seat-to-seat consistency for all speakers and the subwoofers.
Were the network or unique capabilities of the Altitude platform a key element?
We extensively use the IP control functionality of the Altitude to automate a lot of things and also give the client the possibility to adjust the configuration where desired. For instance, we've created a couple of different WaveForming presets, so the client can adjust according to taste and the current content (music vs. Movie). Also, the possibility to stream music to the integrated Roon endpoint of the Altitude is a huge plus.
How has been the response from the client to the sonic of the final project?
The client was blown away at the first listening session. We try to keep the client away from the room as much as possible during the final calibrations so that he just experiences the final result.
Even more important and satisfying than the initial reaction is the fact, that we still get text messages from time to time from the customer telling how much he, his family and guests are enjoying the room.