 Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Traditional Posted Wed Feb 20, 2008, 4:25 PM ET — By Blake Jochum
An installer tackles his own home, including the attic. I get control over all the electronics, and she gets control of everything else. That's the deal we made with each other at the beginning of the project. After all, being the manager of the residential systems division and lead residential systems designer at All Pro Sound, would you expect me to not do something special in my own home? After 17 plus years of doing it for everyone else, I was getting to do it for me . . . and Laura, my wife. Filed Under: $$$ Installer Profiles Staff Picks Posted Tue Feb 5, 2008, 5:07 PM ET — By Steve Guttenberg
Kipnis' outer limits theater, or what $6 million will buy. When it comes to home theaters, I thought I'd seen it all. But nothing's come close to this. First, I'm going to try to describe the sheer magnitude of Jeremy Kipnis' theater. His Stewart Snowmatte laboratory-grade screen is the biggest I've ever seen in a home, and in the back of the theater, there's a Sony ultra-high-resolution (4,096-by-2,160) SRX-S110 digital projector. I'm looking everywhere, jotting down questions, and Kipnis sounds almost giddy talking about his theater's capabilities. He refers to his baby, the Kipnis Studio Standard (KSS), as "The Greatest Show on Earth." And from the looks of it, he may be right. Filed Under: $$$ Contemporary Pro Interiors Installer Profiles Posted Fri Dec 21, 2007, 3:04 PM ET — By Darryl Wilkinson
Trying to build the perfect home theater isn't easy, but it sure is worth it. After 42 years in the business, ListenUp's Steven Weiner is still learning how to put together the perfect home theater—and the more he learns, the more he sees how much more there is to know. But don't hold that against him. So far, he's spent nearly half a million dollars building the ultimate demo room as part of his mission to find out. Filed Under: $$$ Pro Interiors Casual Posted Mon Dec 10, 2007, 12:08 PM ET — By Krissy Rushing
A theater in Birmingham, Michigan, straddles the line between professional digital cinema and home theater. When we talk about home theater, we normally talk about equipment that is readily available and relatively affordable, as well as brand names that are somewhat recognizable to the mainstream consumer. Bradford Wells, owner of Bradford Wells + Associates in Los Angeles, takes a slightly different approach. Because his business is half home installation and half professional A/V installation, Wells takes some of the best concepts he creates in his professional digital-cinema installations and incorporates them into his home theater business. Filed Under: Casual $$$ Pro Interiors Posted Wed Nov 14, 2007, 3:00 AM ET — By Krissy Rushing
Who says a home theater has to be a dungeon? Inspired by the homeowners' backyard, this theater brings the outdoors in. In the quaint town of Danville, Pennsylvania, lies a gem of a home theater owned by Rhonda and Robert Seebold. While their 9,000-square-foot home is located in an exclusive development, they are situated on the top of a hill, which gives them access to several acres of pristine woodlands right in their backyard. It also gave Rhonda a private area in which to develop an award-winning water garden, which includes two streams, a waterfall, and a pond with koi fish. Filed Under: $$$ Pro Interiors Traditional Posted Wed Sep 26, 2007, 11:40 AM ET — By Krissy Rushing
An attic home theater, completely isolated from the master bedroom below, defies the laws of acoustics. Looking at the images on these pages, most people would think that this extravagant theater in an 8,000-square-foot home in Houston, Texas, was built from scratch with brand-spanking-new, top-of-the-line equipment and under the most ideal conditions. Not so. In fact, this gorgeous residential theater was not only built using primarily the homeowner's preexisting equipment, but it was built in the only room available for the theater in the home: the attic.
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Filed Under: $$$ Casual Pro Interiors Posted Tue Sep 11, 2007, 10:20 AM ET — By Gary and Kim Sekulow
This major re-do of a theater features actual props from the Star Trek Series and Movies. Recently featured on VH-1 The Fabulous Life, this home theater is out of this world. We acquired many of the authentic props from the Christie's Star Trek Auction held in New York in October of 2006. My wife and I were two of about 300 who attended this historical auction in person. Our winnings included a coveted Captain Chair, as well as two command consoles, a three-computer panel display and even the walls of the famed Starship USS Enterprise. Filed Under: Traditional $$$ Pro Interiors Posted Tue Sep 11, 2007, 9:28 AM ET — By Krissy Rushing
With a wholehouse Crestron automation system that controls everything from security to the dedicated theater, this home takes control to another level. Jay Basen and Lance David—programming manager and director of custom sales and installation, respectively, of Gramophone in Timonium, Maryland—see several new trends developing in the home theater market. The first is that more and more homeowners are not only putting dedicated home theaters into their homes, but they're putting in more advanced home theaters. "Many more options are available or are coming out. We now have access to new high-definition content, and price points are coming down. These factors, combined with the sophistication of customers, are driving high performance," says Basen. According to David, homeowners are now recognizing the value of systems integration with a centralized control system, and they're paying more attention to acoustics, as well as the less sexy but still very important aspects of proper ventilation and energy management. This gorgeous theater and wholehouse system in a 16,000-square-foot home in Highland, Maryland, embodies all of these growing trends.
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Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Formal Posted Thu Sep 6, 2007, 10:59 PM ET — By Krissy Rushing
Room challenges make for an innovative design in this dream home theater, which sounds as good as it looks. When you think about growing old with your significant other, you probably think of retiring to a secluded community and maybe traveling together. But did you ever consider home theater as part of your future plans? It is for this couple in Chino Hills, California, who had the luxury of building their dream house—the house they will eventually retire in. They fitted it with all the amenities they know they will want down the road. Thinking long-term, they installed a complete home-automation system with lighting control, security cameras, an alarm system, climate control, and wholehouse audio, as well as a putting green and an elevator. Their plan also includes a dedicated home theater on the bottom level of their home, where they can enjoy their favorite movies in a perfectly controlled environment. Filed Under: $$$ Pro Interiors Traditional Posted Wed Sep 5, 2007, 11:28 AM ET
An all-McIntosh system is the apple of this homeowner's eye—and ears. A room has to be pretty impressive for the president of one of the leading high-end A/V companies to declare it "one of the best-sounding rooms in the U.S." That's what McIntosh Labs president Charlie Randall said about Donna and Ivan Messer's McIntoshed-out home theater in Parkland, Florida. When Messer got in touch with Alan Fromowitz, president of Stereo by Design in Pompano Beach, Florida, his home theater habit quickly escalated. "We put the bug in his ear to upgrade to the McIntosh XRT2K speaker system," says Fromowitz.
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Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Contemporary Staff Picks Posted Fri Aug 31, 2007, 11:47 AM ET — By Adrienne Maxwell
Nothing is quite as simple as it seems in this award-winning home theater. Don't let this home theater's classic design and clean lines fool you. It may look like a simple rectangular space that houses a high-end audio/video system, but closer inspection reveals that the real technological marvel is the room itself. A tremendous amount of planning, construction, and creativity went into the process of creating an acoustically optimized space that can serve as both a casual reading/viewing room and a thoroughly immersive home theater. Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Contemporary Posted Wed Aug 29, 2007, 2:15 AM ET — By Krissy Rushing
If you thought that the only place where you can achieve A/V perfection is a dedicated space, think again. As media becomes more entrenched in the way we live our lives, it logically follows that the way we listen to and watch media should fit within our lifestyles. And, according to Anson Fogel, COO and CTO of Electronic Systems Consultants (ESC) in Aspen, Colorado, that doesn't always mean a dedicated room. After all, while such spaces are certainly decadent, not everyone has the extra real estate to devote to such a room. Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Traditional Staff Picks Posted Wed Aug 29, 2007, 1:56 AM ET — By Krissy Rushing
How to fit 10 seats in a small room and still get amazing sound. Aspiration and enthusiasm are two of the key things that make a great magazine reader. While many of us read magazines like GQ or Vogue, a lot of us can't necessarily afford the wares we see on those fashionable pages. Why do we read them, then? We read them because we take cues from these highly regarded magazines on what to wear, social issues, trends, and more. We take those cues and we adapt them to our own personal lifestyles, as well as our budgets. Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Traditional Posted Wed Aug 29, 2007, 1:31 AM ET — By Aaron Dalton
Jerry Rice's dream family theater. It's no secret that Jerry Rice is a man of many talents. The Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia notes that many people consider this man to be not only the best receiver of all time but perhaps even the best football player, period. Ever. Not only that, but Jerry Rice can dance. A contestant on the 2005–2006 season of Dancing with the Stars, Rice and his partner scored a second-place finish, proving that Rice can not only catch touchdowns while dancing away from would-be tacklers, he can also do a mean cha-cha. Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Formal Posted Tue Aug 28, 2007, 5:28 PM ET — By Chris LeGrange
19 designers, 19 rooms, 1 installer. It's almost out of vogue to champion the merits of a hidden install in today's home theater magazines. As technology becomes more and more efficient and form factors shrink, blending interior design and technology has never been easier. At this year's Philharmonic House of Design project, however, sleek flat panels and discreet in-wall speakers were just the first step in creating a home where technology plays as important a role in the overall design as the gorgeous old-world Spanish fittings. Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Traditional Staff Picks Posted Tue Aug 28, 2007, 5:25 PM ET — By Adrienne Maxwell
Driven by his passion for movies, this homeowner truly went the distance to create his ideal home theater. So, you think you're a hard-core home theater fan? You read the A/V magazines, you can recite the performance differences between plasma and LCD in your sleep, and you constantly upgrade your system to make sure it features the hottest new technologies. That's admirable. But, until you're willing to build an entirely new home to accommodate your home theater, you ain't got nothing on this homeowner. Filed Under: Pro Interiors $$$ Traditional Posted Tue Aug 28, 2007, 5:01 PM ET — By Ford Gunter
How one couple pulled off a home theater that is completely independent from the house in which it resides. When Bob and Nancy Malone broke ground on their dream home in Lake Arrowhead, California, in 2002, they had no idea just how challenging it would be. Nancy's lifelong desire to have a home theater called for the help of Aaron Andrew of Audio Video Design (AVD), based in Mission Viejo, California, to design a home theater within, but structurally independent from, the 14,000-square-foot house. Aside from the three-hour round trip between Mission Viejo and Lake Arrowhead, Mother Nature threw her best at them, as well. After "the old fire" of 2003, which destroyed 350 houses in nearby Cedar Glen (and approached within feet of the back of the Malone house before a wind shift sent the flames east), the Malones faced a tremendous flood in December 2004, and then snow. As if that wasn't enough, the house's location on a mountainside presented a whole new set of logistical problems. After all was said and done, the project took three-and-a-half years to complete. Filed Under: Casual $$$ Pro Interiors Staff Picks Posted Wed Aug 22, 2007, 6:01 PM ET — By Rebecca Day
A wild theater with a sonic edge shows you how to balance acoustics, design, and living space. Building a home theater is a balancing act. It could be interior design and A/V equipment going head to head, or acoustics and building materials, or the desired number of seats versus available space. It could be all of the above, but, in the end, something's got to give. In this California project, the opposing forces were optimum acoustics, along with excellent A/V, gorgeous interior design, and ample living space. The homeowner wanted to eke out as much elbow room for entertaining while giving up nothing on sound quality—all under the watchful eye of a discerning interior designer. Filed Under: Contemporary $$$ Pro Interiors Staff Picks Posted Wed Aug 22, 2007, 1:38 PM ET — By Adrienne Maxwell
Creative solutions for a theater's, er, shortcomings. Every high-end home theater installation presents its share of obstacles, but incorporating a theater into a family or living room, as opposed to a dedicated theater room, is often particularly challenging. Homeowners are usually more sensitive to the equipment's visibility and less willing—or able—to rearrange the room to accommodate ideal gear placement. The more unique the home design, the more challenging the install becomes, and it's up to the installer to do some creative problem solving. Ambiance Systems (www.ambiancesystems.com), based in upper New York state, has spent the last 20 years figuring out creative ways to meet the needs of their clientele. The company has received several CEDIA Lifestyle Awards recognizing their ability to subtly integrate home theater systems into challenging environments. Ambiance president Marc Leidig recently told us about one particularly memorable job in a home on the shores of Long Island Sound. Filed Under: $$$ Pro Interiors Formal Staff Picks Posted Wed Aug 22, 2007, 11:34 AM ET — By Mark Elson
Integrating 21st-century home electronics into the architecture of a newly built 18th-century-style Italian villa would, at first glance, appear impossible. After all, about the only thing technological in the 1700s was the nutcracker. Add to this the advanced needs of a tech-savvy young couple who are inspired by the past but make their careers within the computer and video-gaming fields, and you have seemingly irresolvable conflicts. This property's sheer size further magnified the task at hand. It's a three-level, 12,000-square-foot home situated on 2.3 acres in the hills of Southern California. Enter Sound Solutions of Culver City, California, premier systems integrators with a 29-year history and a reception area full of national awards, including Crestron's first annual Biggest, Baddest Home Award and the CEA Mark of Excellence Award, both given for this project. 1 2 Older Posts >
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