Home Movie Theaters

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Home Movie Theaters
Hearing Is Believing
Bob Ankosko  |  Jun 20, 2024  | 
When North Carolina-based home theater specialist Audio Advice finished converting a 12 x 20-foot attic space into a luxurious, high-performance home theater, the homeowner couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome — or more surprised to learn how room calibration can turn an already great sounding system into one that sounds thrillingly lifelike.
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Home Movie Theaters
Media Room Insider: Dream Theater
Bob Ankosko  |  Feb 15, 2024  | 
Imagine walking into a room with a colossal TV screen 7 feet wide by 4 feet tall, a surround-sound system you can hear but not see, smart lighting and shades, and a ceiling that mimics a beautiful star-lit sky. You plop into one of the six comfy leather recliners, kick back and say: “Alexa, turn on the theater.” Like magic, the lights dim, the shades draw, and a radiant night sky appears above. The popcorn machine turns on and the TV and sound system come alive.
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Home Movie Theaters
Hollywood Comes Home
Bob Ankosko  |  Jun 07, 2022  | 
How a sound-editor-turned-custom-installation-pro transformed his former home studio into a home theater.

Kent Oberlin had a great gig working in the post-production department at the sprawling Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, CA, former home of the legendary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) lot where The Wizard of Oz and many beloved films from Hollywood's golden era were made and where contemporary films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home are made today.

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Home Movie Theaters
Media Room Insider: Sedona Paradise
Bob Ankosko  |  Mar 29, 2022  | 
If there's a heaven on earth, it might well be Sedona, the town and breathtakingly beautiful region in northern Arizona famous for its reddish-orange sandstone formations— majestic creations that rise up from the desert landscape and glow brilliantly when the sun rises and sets. Sedona is serene, a place of mystical energy—the embodiment of America the Beautiful. It's easy to see why Wisconsin native John Hayward and his wife Bonnie were drawn there, and why they chose to build their dream home there in 2020.
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Home Movie Theaters
Media Room Insider: Apartment Theater
Bob Ankosko  |  Jan 18, 2022  | 
An Israeli A/V enthusiast faced a quandary not uncommon among home theater builders: Is the space I've set aside big enough for a no-compromise audio solution? The question loomed large as he pondered the entertainment options for a new luxury penthouse he was planning to buy in the heart of Tel Aviv. Making the situation even more challenging, the space had to be acoustically isolated.
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Home Movie Theaters
Media Room Insider: Seneca Cinema
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 09, 2021  | 
Mike Baturin is an avowed technology enthusiast and proud owner of a Tesla Model 3, one of his "favorite pieces of tech." As cool as the Tesla is with its cutting-edge all-electric design and ability to rocket to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds, it still ranks second behind his most prized possession—a dedicated theater he designed and built from scratch for his new home in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
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Home Movie Theaters
KEF Music Lounge Theater: A THX Certified Oasis
Bob Ankosko  |  Aug 18, 2021  | 
After almost a year-and-a-half in lockdown, I was honored to be the first member of the press to experience the KEF Music Lounge Theater. In late May, I visited the company's U.S. headquarters in Marlboro, NJ and received a warm—and long overdue—Jersey welcome from KEF VP David Kroll and marketing director Stephanie Scola.
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Home Movie Theaters
A Home Theater Dream Come True
Bob Ankosko  |  Jun 16, 2021  | 
For Michael Meeker, the road to A/V paradise was long and circuitous but also immensely rewarding as he experimented his way from cobbling together a crude setup almost 30 years ago to building the theater of his dreams—one most of us would die for. In those early days, the "marriage of audio and video" was a concept embraced by enthusiasts and a handful of audio companies as they inched their way toward what we would come to know as "home theater."
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Home Movie Theaters
AV Industry Makes a Home Theater Wish Come True
Bob Ankosko  |  May 20, 2021  | 
All photos courtesy of Make-A-Wish’s Mary Holguin and Screen Innovations’ Jason Russell (projection screen, AV rack, Cinema Now Showing sign).

ProSource was busy making plans for a fundraising event to support the Make-a-Wish Foundation (MaW) last year when the pandemic struck. The buying group, which represents hundreds of A/V specialty retailers and custom integrators around the country, was hoping to top the $110,000 it raised in 2019 but was forced to regroup. Then they received a fortuitous call: MaW’s Central and South Texas Chapter wanted to know if ProSource would be interested in making a donation to help make an 8-year-old’s wish come true. Turns out, Miles, who had been diagnosed with a semi-rare liver disorder known as portal vein thrombosis, thought it would be cool to have a home theater.

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Home Movie Theaters
Victorian Meets Modern Tech
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 13, 2020  | 
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.
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Home Movie Theaters
Subterranean Magic
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 01, 2020  | 
Basements are usually dank, dreary spaces reserved for storage but when the owners of a majestic home in the Milwaukee suburb of River Hills hired Deep River Partners to bring a cleaner transitional aesthetic to the traditional décor, they decided to extend the design magic below grade and transform a boring space into a comfy media room.
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Audio Video NewsHome Movie Theaters
Magic Is Possible When Modern Tech Meets History
Bob Ankosko  |  May 07, 2020  | 
When the owner of a magnificent mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota took on a remodeling project, he had something special in mind for his office — one that brought history and modern technology together in a most impressive way.
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Audio Video NewsHome Movie Theaters
The Story Behind this Intriguing Video Wall
Bob Ankosko  |  Mar 23, 2020  | 
You’re probably asking the same question we asked when we saw this tantalizing video wall: How’s it work?
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Home Movie Theaters
Swiss Home Theater Keeps it Simple…and Stealth
Bob Ankosko  |  Oct 29, 2019  | 
Photos courtesy of homecinema GmbH.

The key to this stealth theater is maximum comfort and an understated, all-screen design.

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Home Movie Theaters
This Home Theater Puts Acoustics Front and Center
Bob Ankosko  |  Jul 17, 2019  | 
Acoustical treatment is an essential part of any great sounding entertainment space but most people look to hide it or subdue it with panels that blend into the room, often masquerading as modern artwork.

Then there are people who crave the unconventional — in this case, a home theater with unique aesthetics instead of the stereotypical designs often seen in Sound & Vision and other magazines.

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