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RP22 is the industry's long-overdue written standard for how a private cinema should actually be designed. It is a valuable document — and it is also routinely misused. Here is when it matters, and when citing it is a red flag.
Senior Cinema Designer, MERIDIAN
CEDIA RP22 — published jointly with CTA in 2022 — is the first widely adopted performance specification for private cinema design in the residential industry. It replaced a patchwork of vendor white papers and designer opinions with a measurable, auditable standard. If an integrator is serious about theater design, they know RP22 and can cite specific sections when pressed.
The document covers seating geometry, display size and angular coverage, reference SPL and dynamic range, low-frequency performance, reverberation time, isolation from adjacent rooms, and many other measurable properties of a room. It gives the designer — and the client — a way to evaluate whether a cinema actually performs the way it was sold, rather than relying on subjective impressions at the reveal.
A room whose only job is the movies.
Shared spaces with real AV ambition.
Repurposed attics, basements, historic rooms.
RP22 is a performance specification for a dedicated cinema space. Using it as a badge elsewhere is a common sales tactic, and it is worth knowing the difference.
RP22 is a standard for rooms, not an adjective for products.
If an integrator is genuinely designing to RP22, there will be written evidence of it — not just in the sales meeting, but in the delivered project. We expect the following on any cinema we engineer, and you should expect the same from anyone claiming adherence.
Deliverables
Without those deliverables, 'designed to RP22' is a marketing claim. With them, the client has a measurable, falsifiable contract for what the room is supposed to do.
If you are evaluating integrators for a private cinema, we suggest the following. Ask each candidate to cite one specific section of RP22 and explain how it changed a decision on a recent project. The response — or the discomfort of the response — will tell you more than any brochure.
And if you are evaluating us, please do exactly this. We would rather earn the project on the merits than on the marketing.
Tap any question to expand. If yours is not here, the consultation brief is the fastest way to get an answer — there is no pre-qualification quiz, just a real conversation.
No. RP22 is a performance specification, not a product specification. Any speaker, projector, or processor that can meet the performance targets is acceptable. We have built RP22-compliant cinemas with products ranging from Wisdom Audio to Barco to Trinnov.
Private cinemas engineered to CEDIA RP22 standards — immersive audio, reference-grade projection, bespoke acoustic design.
Every home we re-pull wire through has one thing in common: someone made a well-intentioned but under-planned decision at rough-in. Here is the mental model we give our own clients before the sheet rock goes up.