Anakin Skywalker is in the dune race of his life. His pod is dipping and twisting and when he’s bumped by a Tusken Raider, so am I. The announcer shouts, “Skywalker is spinning out of control,” and I whirl right along with him in front of a 13-foot screen. A shot ricochets off the pod’s windshield, and the headrest of my chair pops. Anakin steers over rocky terrain and my… View this story
Video Screen • Digital Media Servers • Multiroom Audio • Multiroom Video • Touchpanels and Keypads • Home Theater • Multiroom AV • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When it comes to one’s love of entertainment, home theater looks good in any language. Norweigian resident Bjorn Kristensen has shown us that there are true A/V enthusiasts all around the world—and we’d be willing to cross continents for a glimpse of his handy work.  Before this breathtaking room was born, Bjorn had a 42-inch plasma in his living room, which was complemented with surround-sound equipment. However, he couldn’t stop… View this story
Garage • DIY Home Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes

That’s right, it’s a black-and-white theater—as in black, and white. No gradients of gray. In fact, the whole house is like this. Just outside the theater is a black-and-white game room, a black-and-white bar area and a black-and-white exercise room. Elsewhere in the house, there’s a zebra suite (enough said), a black-and-white living room complete with a black-and-white globe, and a black-and-white puzzle room. Get the very high-contrast picture? We… View this story
Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

The first films Jeremy Hummer saw as a child had a huge impact on what he wanted to do with his life. He was obsessed with the idea that multiple images captured on a strip of film could reproduce moving images. In the 1980s he began collecting 8mm and 16mm films and converted his bedroom into a theater, complete with actual film projectors, a screen, and a multi-speaker sound system. … View this story
DIY Home Theaters • Cool Homes • Slideshows

The glitz and glamour of Hollywood seem a million miles away the second you step into David McCallen’s recently remodeled hillside home. That’s exactly what he and his partner intended when they set out to refurbish the outdated three-bedroom abode that’s tucked away in a quiet, wooded neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills. “We wanted it to be a place where we could escape the rush of the city and completely… View this story
Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When Tony and Penny Caciolo decided to add A/V into their Coopersburg, PA, home, they didn’t just want to get into the action; they wanted to be transported to a different place.  One of Tony’s favorite places is Italy, which is where the couple spent their honeymoon and Tony frequents on business. So instead of spending more time on the other side of the world, he brought that little corner… View this story
DIY Home Theaters • Themed Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

It isn’t the animal print carpet that makes this room a real tiger. A proscenium-styled setup, a sexy monogammed soffit, and dark subtle colors make this room pop—and the show hasn’t even started yet. As with all installs, this one had its challenges. Hiding the Marantz projector in an enclosure in the rear soffit proved to be tedious. “A few extra inches would definitely have helped,” says Jim Pearson, president… View this story
Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Adam Feldman is a doctor by trade, but what his patients don’t know is that he moonlights as an A/V hobbyist, having orchestrated a high-tech DIY theater in his basement over the course of six months. He started out like so many DIYers do: as a teenager interested in music. “I got my first speaker system in college,” says Adam. “They were so big, they took up the entire room.”… View this story
DIY Home Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

“It’s like a domino effect.” That’s how Dave Lavine, co-principal at Percy’s TV and Appliance in Worcester, MA, describes the series of decisions that evolved from a squat 71⁄2-foot-high home-theater ceiling. Once you’re locked into a vertical height by the dimensions of a space, you can then determine the throw distance of the projector, the distance from the seats to the screen, even the screen size. The homeowner originally wanted… View this story
Video Screen • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Most home theater owners have friends surrounding them, wanting to experience a night of home entertainment. Tom Hetzel, on the other hand, has his friends surrounding him—literally. This do-it-yourselfer built his home theater in the basement of his townhouse, with neighbors on each side.  “I did a lot of research on soundproofing on the Internet and used several techniques,” Tom says of the process. “I used what is called a… View this story
Acoustic Treatments • Basement • DIY Home Theaters • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows