Home Movie Theaters

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

The music industry has the Grammys to recognize outstanding contributions to the art of song composition. The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association, aka CEDIA, which you might know from our coverage of the annual CEDIA Expo, has the Electronic Lifestyles Awards to honor the creativity and technical skill behind some of the most advanced home entertainment and home automation systems on the planet. Here we profile two of the 14 home theaters that made the cut in 2014.

It's the perfect situation – a dedicated home theater and a completely separate room for critical music listening. One homeowner in Massachusetts was able to realize his dream of the 'perfect' audio system, and still provide the rest of the family with their own home theater.

This is one of those times when the pictures just don't do justice to the project. The winner of the 2009 Windows Media Center Ultimate Install is Vision Audio from Lubbock, Texas. The Media Center Integrator Alliance (MCIA), together with Microsoft, announced the winner of the 2009 Windows Media Center Ultimate Install Contest during CEDIA in Atlanta, Georgia on September 13. This impressive system uses Windows Media Center at the core of the home's entertainment experience in an extensive whole-home installation.

This installation, by Ed Gilmore and Gilmore's Sound Advice of New York City, is notable for its open, multi-purpose layout and clever concealment of audio/video components when the system is not in use. In its resting state, the main room is a stylish, comfortable loft area, complete with brick walls from the original industrial building and floor-to-ceiling windows that peer out onto NYC's Tribeca neighborhood.

Entering the oak-paneled foyer of this Victorian manor in Toronto's prestigious Rosedale neighborhood is like stepping back into the early 20th century. Built in 1901, the expansive estate has been meticulously restored to evoke the grandeur of the period— with a fantastic secret. Hiding behind the magnificent historical façade is a fully automated state-of-the-art smart home created by Moonshot Automation (moonshotautomation.com, formerly Custom Sound and Vision) in nearby Mississauga.

When it was time for this homeowner to have their third home fitted with electronics they returned to Audio Video Design (AVD) of Newton, MA. After going through the design process two other times, they had a very clear vision of what they desired. Quality installation was, of course, the top priority. However, they wanted the most cost effective, state-of-the-art solutions but not necessarily the most cutting edge products.