First Impressions Theme Theatres’ ever-colorful owner/architect/designer Jeffrey Smith turns the tables on himself–and designs his own high-tech bachelor pad complete with, of course, a private home cinema.

A contemporary home with 11,500 square feet of indoor/outdoor living space is built for entertaining.

Interior designers Sam Ewing and Gail Winn discuss the details.

2009 CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Award Winner

Best Large Home Theater: Overall Winner

Electronic Systems Consultant: La Scala Home Cinema + Integrated Media—Vancouver, Canada

If a residential electronic systems consultant is so bold to offer a customer-service hotline 24/7—and a return phone call within 15 minutes—the firm is either crazy or confident. Or a little of both.

Best Whole-House Installation

The Big Show

With the push of one button, this home shows off everything it can do. And it can do a lot.

Best Innovation Installation

Reinventing the Wheel

Commercial cinema and home theater come together like never before in this amazing private screening room.

A new addition designed for lap swimming morphs into this nautically-inspired home theater.
 
The “six degrees of separation” phenomenon is happening among Home Entertainment’s readers and home-theater aficionados. Some owners of the private screening rooms that have graced the magazine’s pages actually know one another.

A case in point is the couple who built this contemporary movie space, nestled within a woodsy family compound in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

A New York business exec brings home the look of a favorite golf club as the setting for his elite A/V toys.

It’s not often that the decor of an exclusive golf club becomes inspiration for a private residence.

Such was the case, though, when a New York businessman and jazz aficionado found himself enamored with the lofty, masculine and streamlined atmosphere of Long Island’s East Hampton Golf Club.

Guilt-Free HT: Solar panels help get your theater off the grid.

All across the consumer electronics industry, manufacturers are looking for ways to make their products more energy-efficient. Power reduction is a great goal, but let’s talk about power generation.

If you could create enough clean energy to power all of your A/V components, then you could spend less time fretting over individual watts and more time enjoying the fruits of your theater’s labor.

In the 20 years this home took to design and build, the architecture and technology become more modern.

In 1987, the owner purchased 42 acres to grow citrus in an agricultural community north of Los Angeles. Postmodern architecture was all the rage, so the owner hired Zoltan E. Pali to design a Georgianstyle residence.

The young architect, a disciple of the Case Study modernists, was just starting out on his own.

In the 20 years between the original drawings and full completion, both men, and the home, evolved in a variety of ways.

A complete interior update of an Old-World estate satisfies the owners’ request for fresh, cutting-edge design and a choice of entertainment venues.

What is a sleek, contemporary interior design doing within a 1920s English manor home?

According to its owners, it’s doing very well, thank you. While the exterior of this home presents a stately and elegant first impression, the interiors have transformed this venerable estate home into the ultimate modern residence with 21st-century cool decor that’s fully compatible with the family’s active lifestyle.