About the Founder’s Design Approach

About the Founder’s Design Approach

Cinereo® founder Matt Morgan approaches product design from a simple principle: technology should improve the experience of a room, not dominate it.

Over the past decade, televisions have become increasingly minimal—thin displays that visually recede into the wall. Yet the audio systems required to support them often move in the opposite direction, filling living spaces with equipment racks, visible wiring, and clusters of speakers.

Morgan had long been frustrated by a simpler problem as well: cinema dialogue that was difficult to understand, even on expensive home theater systems.

One evening, after another film spent rewinding scenes to catch missed lines, a simple idea surfaced. The problem wasn’t just the electronics or the software processing—it was the physical relationship between the dialogue speaker, the room, and the listener.

That realization sparked the first concepts that would eventually become Cinereo®.

Morgan saw an opportunity to rethink the relationship between cinema sound and the living room.

Rather than designing another collection of components, he set out to create a system that could live naturally within the home—something that felt more like furniture than equipment.

Furniture First

The Cinereo® C57 TV Console reflects this philosophy.

Instead of treating the speakers as separate objects placed around the room, the entire audio system is integrated directly into a console designed to sit beneath the television.

This approach removes the racks of electronics, wall-mounted speakers, and exposed cables that traditionally accompany home theater systems.

From the outside, the console appears calm and minimal. Inside, it functions as a complete cinema system.

Why Mid-Century Modern

For the first Cinereo® design, Morgan drew inspiration from the clean lines and balanced proportions of mid-century modern furniture.

The movement’s low horizontal forms, warm materials, and architectural restraint offered a natural foundation for a product meant to live in the center of the room.

This low-profile form also serves a practical purpose.

By positioning the television lower on the wall, the console places the screen closer to the natural viewing line of sight—creating a more comfortable viewing posture for the head and shoulders during long viewing sessions.

The result is both aesthetically and ergonomically intentional.

A Platform for Future Designs

While the C57 represents the first expression of the Cinereo® design language, the company does not view it as a single stylistic direction.

Morgan sees the console as a platform that can evolve into different materials, finishes, and architectural styles while preserving the same underlying audio system and design principles.

Future Cinereo® consoles may explore additional design directions—from contemporary minimalism to other furniture traditions—while maintaining the same integrated approach to cinema sound.

Design That Disappears

For Morgan, the ultimate goal of Cinereo® design is restraint.

The system should integrate naturally into the room, quietly delivering cinematic sound without visually announcing itself as technology.

As he describes it:

“When the design is right, the equipment disappears. What remains is the experience.”

Danger Island

Cinereo® was born on Danger Island, Morgan’s private hi-fi auditioning studio and design workshop on the north side of the Big Island of Hawaii.

It is where prototypes are built, measured, and listened to—often late into the evening. Speakers are swapped, cabinets are adjusted, and long listening sessions test whether an idea deserves to become a product.

Danger Island is part laboratory, part listening room, and part gathering place for music, film, and experimentation.

The philosophy that drives every Cinereo® product begins there: clarity over complexity, elegance over excess, and design that serves real life.

Visit Us

If you happen to be traveling through Hawaii, we occasionally host visitors at the studio.

Guests have the opportunity to see Cinereo® prototypes in action, audition the systems, and meet the founder and engineering team that brought the project to life.

If you time your visit right, you may even arrive just as Pau Hana begins—a local tradition marking the end of the work week on Fridays around 5 pm. Beer might be involved.

Visits are by appointment only.

If you happen to be on the Big Island and would like to stop by, send us a note and we’ll do our best to arrange a time.