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The big screen comes to

a home near you

By Tim Wood

The 73-inch, high-definition Mitsubishi television dominates the media room in this Harwich Port home, a wide-screen window to the world in Dolby-enhanced surround sound. To either side of the screen are banks of electronics: a McIntosh control center and amplifier, Pioneer Elite DVD player, XM Radio receiver, Escient DVD manager, 400-disk Sony CD changer and a digital video recorder. Strategically placed around the room are Thiel surface-mount speakers and a Sunfire subwoofer. It’s a state-of-the-art setup, the sort of home theater that makes movie buffs salivate.

High-end home-theater systems, which are tricked out with Internet access and other “smart home” features, can involve intricate engineering projects requiring professional design and installation. But home theaters don’t have to be complicated; high-quality, plug-and-play home theaters are soaring in popularity, although those systems often don’t take advantage of the potential of the technology now on the market.

“TV technology keeps getting better, just like computers,” says Ben Carreiro of Nantucket Sound in Hyannis, supplier of the Harwich Port home system. “And it’s also getting more consumer friendly and affordable.”

Affordability, of course, is relative. While low-end systems, often marketed as “home theater in a box,” start at around $100, full-room systems can run from a few thousand dollars to as much as your budget can afford.

“We’ve done dedicated media rooms for $200,000 to $600,000,” says James Carroll, president of Avix, an Osterville company that designs and installs media rooms and whole-house automation systems.

Americans are obsessed with duplicating the movie-theater experience at home, and it’s big business. Home theaters are now standard features in high-end home construction, and more and more people are retrofitting dens and family rooms with big-screen TVs and surround-sound systems. More than a quarter of all households in this country have some sort of home-theater system; 37 percent of those have TVs with screens larger than 30 inches, according to the Custom Design and Installation Association, a trade association for home-theater and media installers. Americans will spend $1 billion on home-theater systems this year.

Exactly what constitutes a home theater, however, is rather amorphous. Does a big-screen TV alone qualify, or do boasting rights require a seven-speaker surround-sound system, high-definition DVD, stadium seating and other pricey accoutrements?

Considering the potential cost, experts advise consumers to weigh carefully factors such as the space the home theater will occupy and their viewing and entertainment habits. Both Nantucket Sound and Avix will advise clients on the options available and help them determine what is right for them.

“Our job is to educate without confusing,” says Carroll. “A lot of people are spending a lot of money. They need to be comfortable with what they’re buying.” Founded six years ago by Matt Frias, Avix works with 14 “high-end” Cape builders and has three two-man teams certified to install home-theater and media systems. Nantucket Sound also has installation teams, and its pre-construction consulting fees can be applied toward the cost of equipment or labor.

The television set is obviously the centerpiece in any home theater. To enjoy the potential of both broadcast programs and DVDs, a high-definition set is a must. With a digital signal capable of much higher resolution, high-definition TVs produce a crisper, clearer image than standard signals, about five times as sharp. This allows the screen to be larger without losing quality.

HDTVs come in several different flavors. You can buy a true high-definition television, or an HD-ready TV, which requires a separate high-definition tuner. Buyers can also choose between rear- or front-projection systems—which require more space but allow larger screen sizes—or flat-panel displays, which are limited to about 73 inches but allow more flexibility in placement.

How your home theater is designed has everything to do with the type of television you choose. If you are building from scratch, it’s easier to work a projection system into your plans. In retrofitting existing space, flat-panel screens are often a better choice, since they can be hung on a wall or mounted on stands. There are two types of flat-panel monitors now on the market: plasma and liquid-crystal display (see sidebar).

“Both are really the dominant forces in the market right now,” says Carreiro. Prices are dropping rapidly as market penetration increases. Sets that cost $15,000 five years ago are now in the $5,000 range. Typical prices can run from $700 or so for a 17-inch monitor to more than $10,000 for a 60-plus-inch wide-screen TV.

Before determining the right TV, Avix designers ask clients about the room, its lighting, whether or not it is a dedicated home theater or will also be used as a living space. The answers can not only determine the size and type of TV, but also the sort of components that will serve the clients’ needs. For instance, if the home-theater system is going to be located in a living room, Avix might recommend the inclusion of an Apple Mini computer, which can send high-definition graphics or photos to the TV.

Sound is just as important as video and can represent half the cost of a home-theater system, says Carroll. Receivers designed for home theater, including the proper digital and component inputs, are essential. Avix works with ADA amplifiers and pre-amps, as well as AMX controllers. The company is also an exclusive area dealer for Bay Audio and Triad speaker systems. Nantucket Sound carries Paradigm speakers, among others, and its high-end amplifiers are made by McIntosh.

The right speaker placement is critical to obtaining the full surround-sound effect, says Carreiro. Today’s standard is 7.1 Dolby surround sound, which uses a seven-speaker and one subwoofer system, as opposed to the old standard of 5.1, which maxed out at five speakers. Speakers are placed directly above the television—where most of the dialog emerges—to either side of the set and in the middle and rear of the room. When playing a 7.1 surround-sound movie, the sound will follow the source, just as in the theater: A crash may come from one side or the other; a person speaking off screen may seem to be at the back of the room.

DVD players run the gamut from budget ($50 or less) to $4,000 or more, says Carreiro. A good, high-quality player, such as Pioneer Elite, runs about $500 and produces a superior image by using higher-quality processors than budget DVD players. It’s also important to remember, he adds, that standard DVDs don’t have the same high resolution as high-definition TVs. It’s possible to buy “upconverting” DVD players that boost the image quality, but true high-definition DVDs are still an emerging technology, and there is currently a format battle going on between Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

Other components—from DVD changers to digital recorders such as TiVo—can be added once the critical pieces of a system are assembled. To get even closer to the movie-theater experience, many home theaters also sport rows of reclining chairs with cup holders—which can run about $2,200 for a set of three, according to Carreiro—as well as automated room-darkening controls.

Above all, a home-theater system should be easy to operate, say both Carroll and Carreiro. Both recommend universal remote controls, which can cost up to $400 and require programming via a laptop computer. “It’s got to be a one-button push system,” says Carroll. “You don’t want to have to be Captain Kirk” to operate your home theater.

For a complete list of home electronics contractors, please see our Verified Directory.