Barco Residential's Freya+ SST is a 13,500-lumen DCI projector for private cinemas

There was no press release. The Barco Residential Freya+ SST came back into view in the first week of September 2026 because ProjectorCentral named it among its 2026 CEDIA Best of Show winners on 2 September; Barco's own CEDIA announcements that week were about LED walls, the Runar HDR and Vali NT-I series, so the projector news came from the awards.

Stated plainly, then: the Freya+ SST is not a new-model reveal. It is the current SST-engine configuration of Barco's Cinema at Home flagship, and one of the few DCI-compliant projectors a private client can buy.

The 13,500 figure, and its unit

Barco's product page headlines the Freya+ SST at up to 13,500 ANSI lumens. Its own specification table is more careful, listing light output as 13,500 lumens (typical), with brightness uniformity of 80% at the sides and 75% in the corners.

Both statements come from Barco, and the gap between them is informative. A typical figure is a centre-weighted rating for a projector designed to hit DCI screen luminance on a large screen, not a peak number for a living room. Anyone specifying this projector will be working backwards from screen size and gain, not from the headline.

Three DC4K chips, an Alchemy server and seven lenses

The light engine is RGB laser feeding three 0.98-inch DC4K DLP chips at a native 4,096 x 2,160 with a 1.89:1 aspect ratio. Barco quotes up to 8,000:1 sequential contrast, typical, and describes the colour gamut as DCI P3 compliant, covering 100% of Rec.2020 when measured in xy colour coordinates. That last qualifier is doing real work: xy coordinate coverage is a more generous way of expressing gamut than volumetric measurement.

Processing and playback are handled by Barco's Alchemy ICMP-X, with 3x 4TB of integrated SSD storage, JPEG 2000 up to 625Mbps, 2x 3G-SDI, 16 AES/EBU audio channels and two HDMI 2.0a inputs supporting HDR10 for consumer sources. DCI 4K 2D runs to 60fps, 4K 3D to 30fps per eye. Seven lens options are listed across the Type B and Type C holders, from 1.09:1 to 4.76:1.

105kg, 2.2kW and Risk Group 3: this is an installation

The numbers that decide whether this projector suits a given room are not the picture specs. The chassis is 710 x 1070 x 547mm and weighs 105kg. Power is single or three phase at 200 to 240V, 16A, with consumption of 2.2kW and 7,750 BTU per hour of heat to remove. Noise is quoted at 50dB(A) at one metre, which means a separate, ventilated projection room is not optional.

Barco also lists the Freya+ SST as Laser Class 1, Risk Group 3. Earlier Freya models were promoted as the first DCI projectors certified to Risk Group 2, which eased residential integration. RG3 brings restricted-access requirements back into the conversation, and any integrator quoting this projector will need to address that in the room design.

No list price, and a room to design first

Barco publishes no list price. Its product page shows "Price not available" and a quote request, with two order codes covering the ICMP-X build with either a B or C lens holder. That is normal at this level, and a useful signal: a dealer-specified, dealer-installed product, not something with a retail figure attached.

The Freya+ SST is the most literal answer to the question of what a real cinema projector at home looks like, complete with DCP playback and a media server built in. The constraints that come with it are electrical, thermal, acoustic and regulatory, so buyers at this end should be asking about the projection room before asking about lumens.

Sources

• https://www.barco.com/en/product/freya-plus-sst
• https://assets.barco.com/asset/26d9c991-0abe-4d67-8d86-643d025db009/Freya-en-Spec-sheet.pdf
• https://www.projectorcentral.com/projectorcentral-2026-cedia-awards.htm
• https://news.europawire.eu/barco-residential-targets-luxury-home-cinema-and-media-rooms-with-new-led-walls/eu-press-release/2026/09/02/17/18/01/180181/
• https://www.avpasion.com/barco-proyector-cine-profesional-casa-13500-lumen/