Custom Installation How-To

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James Robinson  |  Aug 28, 2007  |  First Published: Aug 29, 2007  | 

<I>From 30,000 feet to reality. </I>

Aaron Dalton  |  Aug 28, 2007  |  First Published: Aug 29, 2007  | 

<I>Jerry Rice's dream family theater.</I>

Chris LeGrange  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

<I>19 designers, 19 rooms, 1 installer. </I>

Adrienne Maxwell  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

<I>Driven by his passion for movies, this homeowner truly went the distance to create his ideal home theater.</I>

Tony Reimer  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

Although it took a total of two years and six months of hard work, an equity line is what really helped me finish my theater. Home Theater magazine, Audio Video Interiors, and the Internet were my main sources of information. The room's dimensions are 13.5 by 19 by 8.33 feet, with a closet in the rear that houses the component rack. I gutted the room to the studs, even the ceiling, and installed a dedicated power circuit for audio, video, and lighting. I ran all the wiring for low voltage in the crawl space and for high voltage in the attic. Some crossing was unavoidable, but, at 90-degree angles, I've had no problems. To begin color selection, I started with the ceiling. I simulated the night sky with Ralph Lauren flat paint in magistrate black. I took a paint chip with me to the garment district in L.A. and found curtain fabric. With those colors to work with, I picked out the wall and trim paint and the carpet to match. I already had the black leather furniture.

Nancy Klosek  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 
What's possible these days—and how much or how little money does it take?
Ford Gunter  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

<I>How one couple pulled off a home theater that is completely independent from the house in which it resides. </I>

Glenn Mosby  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

Having lived in our home since 1979, we are the third owners of this tiny 750-square-foot, 1.5 story, 1943 frame bungalow. In 1998 we decided on some major interior and exterior modifications, which I designed and we had done. The exterior changes gave the house a fresh, neomodern look without spoiling the home's original character lines, allowing it to still fit in with our neighborhood. The interior changes opened up our main floor plan. I have since caught the carpentry bug and now design and do my own work.

Dave Curlee  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

<B>The Beginning</B>
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I am an avid do-it-yourselfer, thanks to my father. We did everything around our home together, from electrical to plumbing to construction. I purchased my first home theater receiver in college back in 1989. It was a Kenwood with big and loud Cerwin Vega speakers. For the next several years, I pieced together this system as best I could with what money I had.

Kirk Bluth, Homeowner  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

My interest in home theaters stems from my father. Like anyone brought up by a good father, I wish to be like him and take interest in things that he finds interesting. One hobby of his is audio/video stuff. Several years ago, he turned a little-used living room in the basement of his home into a home theater. He had professional installers do the work, and I was amazed at the results: a drop-down tensioned screen, an HDTV projector, and top-quality picture and sound. I wanted to have a home theater, too. In the middle of my Air Force service at Hill AFB, Utah, my family and I decided to build a home. I had plans to build a dedicated home theater under the garage. Financial issues, including medical-school loans, a family of seven to feed, and limited military income caused these plans to end up on the back burner. Two years later, I finished my military obligation, and we moved to rural Webster, South Dakota. We built a new home, and this time I was determined to make the home theater happen! We designed our own home, and the basement home theater fit right into the plans. I had the contractor lower the foundation 4 feet to give the room some depth. I had read that square rooms are poor choices for home theaters, but, with a degree of oppositional defiance, I set out to make a square 25-by-25-foot home theater.

Tom J. Slager, Homeowner  |  Aug 28, 2007  | 

After several years of reading about the home theater experience, my family and I finally decided to convert some unused basement space into our own dedicated theater. Since I enjoy doing home-improvement projects, I chose to do most of the construction myself and to hire a reliable company to provide and integrate the audio/video components. I had constructed a small, built-in entertainment center a few years before in our home in Cincinnati, Ohio, but had never done a project as large as this.

Rebecca Day  |  Aug 22, 2007  | 

<I>A wild theater with a sonic edge shows you how to balance acoustics, design, and living space.</I>

Krissy Rushing  |  Aug 22, 2007  | 

<I>Harman engineer Dr. Floyd Toole's own home theater is surprisingly achievable. That's because he's a regular guy like you.</I>

Thomas Kern, homeowner  |  Aug 22, 2007  | 

I've always loved going to the movies. Most of my childhood Saturday mornings were spent at the Palace Theater in Winchester, Virginia, where I could watch two films, cartoons, a newsreel, a short, and coming attractions&mdash;all for a quarter. About three years ago, I was surfing eBay and ran across a listing for a movie poster from the 1956 horror film The Mole People. I became obsessed with that poster and soon found myself in a fierce bidding war. Later, I realized what was really going on. The Mole People poster had rekindled those childhood memories, and I somehow wanted to go back in time and relive those special Saturdays. That's when I decided to design and build an ornate 1950s style home theater.

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