It is not the exterior of the L-Acoustics Experience Center in the high-end residential neighborhood of Highgate, London, that makes it stand out. In fact, the building itself is limited in what can be done to it, as it is listed as a historic landmark.

“L-Acoustics purchased the building 10 years ago,” says Nick Fichte, business development director, home & yacht, global for L-Acoustics. “It was an old Royal Mail Postal Service sorting office that was used as a local depot for sending mail and parcels and whatnot. It was later converted into an architect’s practice and so on until we took it on.
“For us, it originally started life as a research and development facility for our L-ISA immersive audio technology, but the space was more targeted in its look and feel toward our pro audio customers. The speakers and subwoofers were on show. It was all integrated, and there was nice artwork and furniture, but there were still 18 speakers and 36 subwoofers in a room that had blue neon lights on them when you walked in. What we found is that, when you took architects, interior designers, or end users into that space, they felt overwhelmed and panicked about, ‘Where am I going to hide all these speakers and subwoofers?’”
When the design process for the re-imagined space was started, it was led heavily by L-Acoustics founder and president Christian Heil, who partnered with French interior designer Lyne B and the U.K.-based design and interior fit-out company Cinema Luxe, which specialize in cinema rooms and recording studios.

“Cinema Luxe were presented with mood boards and a design brief from Christian and Lyne B with technical drawings from L-Acoustics that allowed them to design the space technically and visually. Part of the Cinema Luxe offerings is full fabrication, so they were then able to manufacture all the wall panels and ceilings to really make it a true, complete turnkey experience,” says Fichte. “We did the installation of all of the L-Acoustics technology — loudspeakers, subwoofers, amplifiers, processors, and so on — but Cinema Luxe did the fabrication of the room and the lighting.”
Behind the Walls
The renovated space has resulted in a HYRISS (HyperReal Immersive Sound Space), which is a collection of L-Acoustics offerings — from design, loudspeakers, subwoofers, amplification, processing and software — that make a single, flexible solution that can handle a high-end 2-channel listening environment to a full immersive experience, and everything in between.
The large rectangular space has couches assembled around a television at one end and tables and chairs at the other. There are 16 Soka ultra-shallow in-wall loudspeakers throughout the room. The media area features a 98-inch Samsung television with an L-Acoustics X8i coaxial point-source speaker below it, which acts as a center channel. The low end is handled by 34 SB10 subwoofers, while 6-inch X6i coaxial point speakers provide the height channels.

“It’s like a grid,” says Fichte. “You have constant sound coverage wherever you are in that space because you’re never far away from a loudspeaker, which means that you never feel as if you’re in a dark spot. The L-ISA Processor also allows us to change the orientation of the content to any position within the room, so when we are watching a movie on the big screen we want to hear that Dolby Atmos soundtrack just as the director intended it, maybe when we are listening to Atmos Music from the Apple TV without the screen we want to be seated in a different part of the room; a simple UI on an iPad means we can move sound, whether it be mono, stereo, or Atmos, to any part of the space.
“That’s something that we’re really trying to get across to people — like lighting design for a space, they need to make sure there are no dark spots with the audio. Especially with the systems integrators, they sell Lutron, they sell Crestron, they sell Vantage, and they’re used to talking to their clients for years about having different scenes for different times of day and how they want to use that space. This is exactly the same thing, but you’re doing it with sound. So, you can paint your room with sound and light and you can integrate the two systems. When you recall that scene for your lighting, you’re also recalling the same scene for sound.”
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Driving the loudspeakers are three L-Acoustics LA16i 16-channel power amplifiers, which only take up a 2U rack unit each but provide 1300 watts per channel. “That’s mind-blowing,” Fichte enthuses. “There is nothing else on the market that can do that. They thump demos out all day long, and at the end of the day they’re cold to the touch.”
The amps are connected via Milan-AVB to the L-ISA Processor ii, which is the brain of the operation. “Within that processor, we have drawn the room layout — we say exactly where the loudspeakers and the subwoofers are and then we recall them every time we’re changing a preset within the room,” explains Fichte. “Essentially, the sound can move to wherever it may be needed.”
The L-ISA Processor ii is then connected to a StormAudio ISP Elite MK III via L-Acoustics’ LC16D to convert AES/EBU to AVB, which in turn has the source devices connected to it, including an Apple TV, a Kaleidescape, and a Bluesound NODE. There is also a Mac Studio computer attached for bespoke content and an HDMI cable in the wall if users want to plug in their laptops and have the content displayed within the space.
“One of the main attributes of HYRISS is that it can take a traditional stereo track and then, using a technology called Anima, spatialize it,” Fichte explains. “And I use the word ‘spatialize’ and not ‘upmix’ because it’s using machine learning and AI to pick apart whatever is coming into it live and literally separating each element of that music. There’s no center of the room anymore — wherever you are in that room, you’re in the sweet spot. The whole room becomes a sweet spot.”
Enhancing Live Performance
While the playback capabilities of the HYRISS system are impressive, it can also enhance a live performance in the space, which it did at the Highgate Experience Center’s grand opening with a pianist entertaining the guests.
“As well as Anima, HYRISS has another technology from L-Acoustics called Ambiance, which works using a grid of microphones in the ceiling,” says Fichte. “We have eight microphones in the ceiling that are connected to our P1 processors, which in turn are connected to the L-ISA Processor. By using a control system, you can recall different presets.

“Any room for listening to music playback should be a dry space — you walk into a home theater and it’s usually like walking into a vacuum. Same with a recording studio — the life is sucked out of the room acoustically. That’s because that’s how you can best hear everything. However, if you put a piano in there, for example, as we did for the launch event, the pianist playing will sound lifeless — and that’s because the best place to hear a concert is in a big open space with lots of reflections. With Ambiance technology, we can recall a preset called ‘Concert Hall,’ and the technology will amplify the natural acoustics of the room. It can change completely how that space behaves. We have different signature presets — Concert Hall, Theater, Cave, Cathedral — and every single one sounds slightly different, and it plays with your mind completely, making you feel instantly like you are somewhere else.”
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London Bound
With a system as sophisticated as HYRISS, hearing is definitely believing. However, you may need to get to London to experience it for the time being. “People ask us if we would ever do a demo like this at CEDIA Expo or ISE, but we can’t make this kind of experience there,” concludes Fichte. “And even if we tried to, it would be more cost-effective for us to fly everyone first class from around the world to come to Highgate!”
But if you can’t get to London just yet, hang in there — with the appointment-only Highgate booked and busy, L-Acoustics is looking to add experience centers around the world. Maybe even coming to a city near you!
For more information, visit www.l-acoustics.com.