Lights, Theater, Action

Install a professionally designed and engineered theater in your home and life is changed forever.

At once, this is the family's favorite gathering place. Your parties are electrifying. Television is exciting again. Movies at home look and sound as good as they do at the cinema. And come Academy Awards and Super Bowl time, suddenly you're everyone's best friend.

But understand that creating a home theater involves more than hanging an expensive television on the wall, according to Mike Stram, president of Stram Electronics' Home Theater Gallery in Tampa.

"A home theater is a room dedicated to the total theater experience," Stram says. "Once you step inside, you're immediately transported. The space should have acoustical integrity. You shouldn't hear the dishwasher thrumming or the barking of your neighbor's dog. This should be the ultimate entertainment room."

Demand for home theaters is on the rise. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and related global turmoil, people are spending more of their leisure at home-and savvy investors are sinking their dollars into home improvements. In addition, the decline of the moviegoing experience may be a contributing factor.

"The palatial theaters of the 1920s featured luxurious finishes and lavish appointments," Stram says. "You dressed up on Saturday night and went to the movies. But we've moved from those grand, architecturally significant structures to stripped down, cinder-block bunkers at the end of the mall."

Factor in ringing cell phones, feet on the back of your seat, long lines and pricey tickets and you, too, may opt to bring Hollywood home in a Blockbuster bag.

As an electrical engineering firm, not a retail store, Home Theater Gallery creates holistic, integrated entertainment systems customized to the size and space of your room.

"This is not a store where you walk in, buy a television and walk out," says Stram. "Don't look to me for the quick fix. We have a full-time, in-house staff that will work with you to create the entire space, including lighting, wiring and every piece of technical equipment. We even have starlight ceilings and custom chairs. We educate buyers, present options and help them choose wisely."

THE (REALLY) BIG PICTURE

According to Stram, home theater design begins with two simple questions: Where will it be located? And how many people will it seat?

The ideal theater has no windows, only one entrance/exit and is not adjacent to the noisiest rooms, such as the kitchen or family room.

Room measurements and ceiling height are critical, but the location of the doorway will have the most influence on design.

Home Theater Gallery's own prototype was created in a room measuring 14-by-18 feet with a nine-foot ceiling. The theater seats seven comfortably with spare room for extra chairs, cushions and tables.

"You don't need a huge room for your home theater," says Stram. "You just need the right room."

Once the room is selected and layout completed, it is time to select equipment-starting with the screen.

Says Kate McKinnon, a spokesperson for Sound Advice in Tampa: "Obviously, customers look at the television first, especially since that's where the most dramatic changes in home theater technology can be found."

Perhaps the most talked-about advance is in High Definition Television (HDTV), which will be standard in all televisions by 2009. HDTV is a 16:9 format, meaning that the viewing surface is 16 units wide by 9 units high.

You'll want to go with a perforated screen or a weave to allow sound to come through, since the digital light projector (DLP) and the auditory system is placed behind the viewing surface.

A screen measuring 84 to 120 inches works in most home theaters. Experts say it should be positioned so that your head is about 11 feet away when you're seated.

At the very least, you'll want a screen frame painted black to fight reflection. But you could upgrade to a screen with a black velvet frame, which will absorb any spilled light that occurs when projected images are slightly larger than the screen's surface.

Screen Research and Stewart are two companies with reputations for quality products, according to Stram, and you can plan on shelling out $1,500 to $4,000.

A video projector is next, and your wish list should include a DLP, most likely made by a company called Runco. These babies are built to last, with an industrial steel chassis rather than molded plastic. They're also fully warranted and available in a 1-chip or 3-chip design. But go with the 3-chip model, advises Stram, because they break up the light spectrum and handle moving images better.

You'll definitely want to upgrade to a multiple lens projector that can handle short throw, standard throw and long throw with the appropriate vertical offset. Here's what that means-and why it's important.

Throw distance is the measurement from lens to screen. Vertical offset is how the beam of light from the projector is angled. Because the projector must be positioned either higher or lower than the screen's center, special lenses are used to bend the beam. So, a multiple lens projector offers greater flexibility for placement.

You can buy a DLP for about $5,000, but a really sweet one will set you back $15,000 to $20,000.

HEAR IT TO BELIEVE IT

Audio is paramount to the total movie-watching experience-and it's where spendthrifts could really blow up a bank account. "Even if money is no object," cautions Stram, "common sense usually is. You don't need to spend $750,000 on speakers-but you could."

Home Theater Gallery touts a package called the Synthesis system, which is customized to suit the size and surfaces of your home theater and sold strictly by cubic-foot volume of the room.

Audio processors, amplifiers, equalizers, synthesizers and more are calibrated for frequency response using real time analysis (RTA). And every piece of audio equipment receives something called a THX designation, which certifies that the sound quality you receive is professionally comparable to what you'd hear in a commercial theater.

Naturally, it's not cheap: expect to pay about $30,000 to outfit a 13-by-18-foot room with a Synthesis system.

Acoustic treatments run the gamut, from interior baffles and sound-absorbing wall panels to custom-built projector enclosures that camouflage equipment and ventilate heat with a quiet motorized fan.

High-density fiberglass boards covered in commercial-grade material and attached to the walls with liquid nails provide excellent acoustic absorption. Or you may prefer panels filled with natural fibers, such as cotton, that slide in and out of metal frames and can be recovered in new fabrics.

Floors are usually covered in high-grade commercial carpet with contrast edging to delineate stairs, steps, seating rows and aisles. When windows can't be avoided, they can be silenced and erased with motorized shades or curtains.

Soffits are often built out to allow for wiring, speakers, lighting and other technical necessities. Such details are then covered in materials designed for acoustic absorption and/or sound reflection, and become a significant element of the room's décor.

"There is a fine line here, because you want the room hushed but not so dead that you can't hear sibilant sounds," explains Stram. "Again, we have to create the right balance."

Budgeting for acoustic treatments should start at about $20,000.

SELECTING YOUR SEAT

Seat selection is a big deal, with vast choices in fabrics, styles, textures and arrangements.

Retro theater seats with velvet-covered bottoms that spring up when you stand cost about $600 each, while oversized leather recliners with padded arms and cup-holders can run $4,500 apiece.

Chairs can stand alone, or be joined together with shared armrests and staggered so viewing heads fit neatly between one another. Recliners can be motorized and articulating headrests can be added. Massage and heat are popular features.

Certainly, home theaters offer room for personal expression. Sconce lights, starlight ceilings, candy counters, retro posters and popcorn machines are all available. But the best advice experts offer is this: don't make your home theater a do-it-yourself project.

Says Sound Advice's MacKinnon: "You don't think twice about having Toys 'R' Us assemble a bicycle for your child's Christmas present, so why try to set up a home theater on your own?"