Custom Installation How-To

I have been an avid reader and subscriber to <i>Home Theater</i> magazine over the years, when the new issue comes in I thoroughly enjoy reading it and always refer to past issues. My favorite part of the magazine is the home installs, reading about what other people put into their homes and to what lengths they go. Crazy stuff!

Many video enthusiasts, al though they may have long wanted to destroy their cantankerous, tape-eating, low-resolution VHS machines, have collected large libraries of off-air programs or camcorder footage that they wouldn't want to be without. What better way to preserve your VHS library than to copy it to a far more robust and easy-to-use medium like recordable DVD?

Many home entertainment projects are called retrofits, which for all intents and purposes translates as a remodel. An installer needs to have the same skills that new construction projects require. But when a project combines both new construction and remodeling, the challenges intensify.

Reinforcing the brand’s commitment to provide the utmost elegance and functionality to dcor-conscious home theater furniture, OmniMount launched its new Karim Collection line of lifestyle furniture with the Prism 50. The new collection is in partnership with industrial and interior designer Karim Rashid.

One way to improve the performance you get out of your home theater is with a component that can be adjusted in so many ways, you can enhance the whole system just by setting it up right. That's what Denon's hyperadjustable DVD-3910 does for multichannel music and movie soundtracks.

At least some things in life are predictable. And one of them is the progression of value-added features in consumer electronics.

How many people have purchased high-performance sports cars only to drive them in bumper-to-bumper traffic? Sure, they might attract attention, but they certainly aren't taking advantage of the car's performance benefits. The world of home theater isn't all that different. Your listening environment can noticeably affect your system's performance, for better or for worse. Changing that environment may cost nothing, or it may cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Then again, we review plenty of subwoofers and amplifiers that cost thousands of dollars. Perhaps spending a little on room acoustics may not be such a bad idea.