[Ray Cruz]

You are a Home Theater Consultant. I am your client. I have infinite resources and money. Your mission is to design a Home Theater Dream system for me and convince me why your design is the best choice for my money!

[MrPorterhouse]

Rarely does one get a chance to design a "Dream System" where funds and resources are unlimited, so this is an exciting proposal. Here we go.

Front Projection: Sony Qualia 004 - $30,000

This FP produces a picture that rivals $100,000 projectors of only a few years ago. Home Theater is about recreating the Film experience at home, and the Sony Qualia surpasses that goal and within the FP market, this can actually be considered a "Value" because there are far more expensive projectors, but you'd be hard pressed to find a better result.

Screen: Stewart Firehawk Luxus Deluxe 110" - $2000
A top-of-the-line screen from an industry leader, Stewart Filmscreens. The Firehawk offers setup flexibility and is availible in microperf for mounting the center channel behind the screen, if prefered.

Custom Lighting: Ideal-Lume Pro - $500
Maximize picture detail while reducing eye strain and eye fatigue. What good is a state-of-the-art Home Theater when you experience fatigue and strain.

DVD Player: Denon DVD-5910 - $3500

An absolute stunning DVD player that stands tall amongst many competitors. Great performance and worth every penny.

Video Scaler: i Scan HD+ by DVDO - $1500
Let's face it, once you've experienced the stunning resolution of High Definition, going back to SD is just a total letdown. By adding the i Scan HD+, you'll be spoiled forever as any video source is scalled to HD resolution with amazing results that will have you smiling every time you turn it on. This is a must have item.

Surround Sound Preamp/Processor: Lexicon MC-12 V4 - $13,000

The brain of the surround sound experience is the controling factor of how good your system is able to tie your system together and maximize each component. You don't want to skimp out on the Pre/Pro. The Lexicon MC-12 offers unmatched flexibility with the ability to fine tune your exact listening environment. The room correction software that comes with the V4 addition ensures that you will acheive perfection in sonics tailored to your particular room and listening profile.

Amplification: Bryston 7B SST $3000 each times 7

The Monoblock Bryston offers up 600 Watts into 8 Ohms. Creating Movie Theater dynamics in a home environment requires the proper selection of clean, distortion-free power and a silent noise floor. You certainly could spend a lot more money in amplifiers than these Brystons, but you wouldn't gain any more dyanmic ability or stunningly clean performance.

Speakers: Egglestonworks Andra II - $9500 each times 7

Nothing can alter the sound characteristics of your system, with the exception of the room itself, as the speakers. The Andra II from Egglestonworks are perfect choice for mimicing source material, as they produce an exact duplicate of the artists intent. The Andra II can extend down to below 16Hz with dramatic presence, have an absolute dead-on accurate midrange, and smooth, yet crisp treble character. The cabinets are as solid a 100 year old Oak tree. By adding 7 identical speakers all the way around, you guarantee perfect voice matching, although the Andra center channel is availible if not mounting behind an acoustically transparent screen. The option is yours.

Subwoofer: Velodyne Digital Drive 1812 - $15,000

No other subwoofer can come close to the Velodyne DD 1812. What makes this sub so forcefull is not the combination of 18" and 12" drivers, or the 2500 Watts RMS or 6000 Watts Peak power output, but its the on board digital room equalization package with 8 bands of digital parametric EQ. Who knew a subwoofer could be this smart?

DVD-audio/SACD/CD Player: Onkyo DV-SP1000 - $2000

No modern day Home Theater could be complete without the addition of High Resolution audio playback. The Onkyo DV-SP1000 could double as a second DVD player in your system, and offers amazingly accurate DVD-audio and SACD playback.

Line Conditioner: Panamax Max 5510 PRO - $1500
Having a good, clean supply of power is absolutely essential to not only the longevity and protection of your system components, but also for the maximum in performance.

Remote Control: Philip iPronto TSi6400 - $1700

A versatile solution to tie in your Home Theater with all of your Home Automation processes. It combines a color touchscreen remote, wireless internet browser, and electronic program guide.

Cables and Interconnects: Better Cables "Blue Truth" - $4000
By getting quality cables you take the guess work out of identifying problems...meaning that any potential problems will not be a result of poor cables. The "Blue Truth" line of cables and interconnects are the flagship line from Bettercables and are high fidelity in every aspect.

Room Treatment: Auralex Acoustics $250 per 2'x2' panel

Your room itself plays the most important role in creating an acoustically accurate environment. The wide selction of acoustical treatments from Auralex Acoustics is the perfect solution. Total price will very depending on exactly how well or how poor your room is to begin with. Estimate average $3000.

Furniture: Lazyboy "Matinee" - $8000
What could be more important than being comfortable in your new theater? Well, just the name Lazyboy makes me feel like I'm floating on a cloud, and you will be when you ease yourself back and recline in your new "Matinee" chairs from Lazyboy.

Various Labor Costs: $5000



Total cost for your new High End Theater: $178,200

[LeeS]

(I've taken a few liberties :) )

It’s a beautiful day as I stand overlooking the valley with a clear view of Mt Hood. Standing in the lobby of the HT looking out through a wall of glass that separates the lobby from the natural redwood deck the width of the theater.

The HT is on the lower level of three levels of the home designed and built by Ray Cruz, custom home builder extraordinaire. A beautiful 6,000 square foot home built on 3 acres. The three level home is built on the wooded, terraced hillside. The HT is built into the hillside under the upper two levels of the home with the lobby window facing east as are the other view windows of the home.

The theater was built to showcase the home. Ray’s obsession with perfection and love of home theater is clearly in evidence. No expense was spared in its construction or the equipment contained within.

Access to the theater is gained from wide covered stairs/breezeway that can be accessed from either of the upper two levels of the home. The breezeway cannot be externally accessed and contains windows that can be opened into hidden recesses or closed for inclement weather or for security purposes.

As I turn to look towards the theater I see the access doors on the left and right with a full featured snack bar between. The access doors are at right angles to the theater and once through require a right or left turn to enter the auditorium proper.

The majestic 25-seat theater is done in dark shades burgundy and blue, the 5 rows of seating in complimentary colors. Full-length drapes cover all wall surfaces. Egyptian columns and sconces matching the theme line both walls as the floor descends gradually towards the front of the theater. The indirect lighting casts a subdued maroon glow over the entire theater.

The theater is the showcase of Ray’s home. It was equipped not only with performance in mind but name recognition for the many clients who wish homes built with an ‘edge’. Although price was discussed briefly it was not a major factor in the decision to equip the theater. (Tax write off for his business)

The Da-lite Multi-Mask Imager currently hidden by drapes, occupies the front of the theater. This is a fixed frame screen featuring both horizontal and vertical masking. With all masking retracted the screen is HDTV, 1.78:1, 65” x 116” (133” diagonal). With masking NTSC Video1:33:1, Letterbox 1.85:1 and Cinemascope 2.35:1.

At the rear of the theater hidden in the back wall is the Runco Signature Cinema SC-1 3 chip DLP projector with a native resolution of 2048 x 1080 (1080p).

Around the perimeter of the theater hidden behind acoustically transparent panels are the Krell speakers:

2 LAT 1’s, a 4 ohm 3-way speaker that weighs 250 pounds featuring an extruded aluminum enclosure. Sensitivity is 91 db.

4 LAT 2’s, a 6 ohm 2 way speaker that weighs 75 pounds also featuring an extruded aluminum enclosure. Sensitivity is 87 db

1 LAT C, a 3-way 4 ohm center channel speaker weighin 100 pounds with a sensitivity of 89 db.

2 Master Reference Subwoofers. 20-100hz +/- 0.6db (14hz at -3db). Two 15in drivers with a Krell 2600 watt amplifier. This unit also features a solid aluminum enclosure.

Behind a hidden door at the rear of the theater is the equipment room with its dedicated air conditioning system. Access to the Runco projector is through this room.

In racks along one wall are the 7 Krell monoblock amplifiers, 3 750Mcx amps that weigh in at 140 pounds each and develope 1500 watts each into 4 ohms. The 450Mcx units provide 900 watts each at 4 ohms and weigh in at 98 pounds each.

Also in the racks are the Krell Master Reference DVD player (HDMI version) and the Home Theater Standard Preamp/Processor 2. See the link below for complete specs.

The question could be asked, why the Runco Projector and Krell audio? Why not... Do you send a Ford Pinto to pickup your important clients? Why is there a Ferrari F1 and a 1955 Mercedes Gull Wing in your garage? You like nice things and you can afford them.

The equipment is controlled remotely from seat #3 in row #3, the sweet spot.

Equipment List:

Runco Signature Cinema SC-1 Projector - $225,000 Link
Da-Lite Multi-Mask Imager - $8,425 Link
Krell Home Theater Standard Preamp/Processor 2 - $6,500 Link to all the Krell equipment
Krell Master Reference DVD player (HDMI) - $8,000
Krell LAT 1 speakers - $37,500/pair
Krell LAT 2 speakers - $10,000/pair (2 pair)
Krell LAT C speaker - $18,500
Krell Master Reference Subwoofer - $35,000 each (x2)
Krell 750Mcx Monoblock - $27,000 each (x3)
Krell 450Mcx Monoblock - $18,500 each (x4)
Marantz RC 9500 Color LCD remote - $1,199 Link

Total cost of major pieces of HT equipment - $550,124.00

The result, a Home Theater that blends with the quality and uniqueness of the home itself. A showcase for prospective clients who desire a one of a kind home.

And he didn't even blink twice at the 1/2 mil price tag for the equipment.

Lee

[Mark Techer]

The Ultimate Home Theatre in brief – Part 1.

The room.

Regardless of the equipment chosen, the Ultimate Home Theatre can only be as good as the room in which it has been installed. Therefore to ensure the very best results first time, it proposed that the room shall be a new construction and shall include the services from the design offices at THX LTD. They have 20 + years of expertise in the field of designing some of the best sounding rooms in the world and now offer THX Certified Home Theatres.

Some of the specs for this project are to include –

Picture

• 16:9, ≥ 36°horizontal viewing angle.
• Native HD capable.
• Screen luminance ≥16ft lamberts.
• THX Certified, acoustically transparent screen.

Sound

• Mid-band pink noise ≤±3dBC between any two seating positions.
• No audible distortion from subwoofer playing program material at 115dBC.
• No audible distortion from satellites playing program material at 108dBC.
• Background noise ≤ NC22.
• At least four surround speakers, two side and two rear.

User Interface

• Remote controls with a logical user interface.
• All basic functions available with a single key stroke.

Measurement

• Video performance measurements taken using Sencore CP5000 quality gear or equal.
• Audio performance measurements taken using 1/12 octave RTA with four microphone spatial/temporal averaging or better.

For more information go to http://www.thx.com/m...calOverview.pdf

The best picture, the best sound, the very best home theatre experience…

Mark :D

[REWJR]

Well I would start with buiding a custom room that would be big enough to handle a D-Cinema NEC iS8-2K 3 chip DLP projector (2048 x 1080) with enough resolution to display images on Custom Torus curved screen 8 meters - 26' wide ( AMC Theatres use these ) . The D-Cinema would be housed in it's own custom projection booth with cooling and sound absorbing panels -



http://www.nec-pj.co...ema/is8_2k.html

NEC SELECTS THE REALTA HQV™ VIDEO PROCESSOR TO BRING QUALITY VIDEO TO PLASMAS AND PROJECTORS -

http://www.siliconop...4C6B83544210E72

Pixel Magic Systems SDI kit to mod all sources with Broadcast Industry standard digital output to match D-Cinema SDI input ( DVI-D / HDMI ports are for kids ) :)



http://www.pixelmagi...di/bt656pro.htm

Then to go with such an oustanding large D-Cinema picture you would need sound to match. I would recomend a complete matched 7 speaker Infinity Prelude system with 7 matching RABOS subs -



http://www.infinitys....aspx?SerId=PRM

This would be powered by a LEXICON MC-12 with matching 7 channel LX AMP -



http://www.lexicon.c...erview.asp?ID=1
http://www.lexicon.c...erview.asp?ID=4

The sources for this ultimate HDTV Cinema system would include :

1. DTV HDTV PVR STB MPEG4
2. BEV 9220 HDTV PVR -



http://www.bell.ca/s...N/62129.details

3. JVC 's SRDVD-100U ProHD DVD player -



http://www.hdtvbuyer...le.jsp?id=32909

4. Samsung SIR-T165 OTA HDTV tuner -



http://product.samsu...=SIRT165X%2fXAA

with Channel Master UHF atennae plus Titan II amp 7777 -

http://www.channelma...om/pages/u1.htm
http://users.rcn.com/starkel/titan.htm


5. XBOX 360 HDTV game console -

http://www.xbox.com/...0/factsheet.htm

6. Niveus Media Center Denali Edition records from OTA HDTV -



http://store.niveusm.../it.A/id.469/.f

7. Linksys Media Center Extender WMCE54AG -



http://store.niveusm.../it.A/id.435/.f

Complete hi-speed internet available in a meshed wireless scaleable network combining all forms of digital media avalable to all zones within the smart home.

All this would be integrated with the latest MCE 2005 'digital furnace' with voice activated systems controlling lighting , heating and security aspects of the smart home .

The HT furniture would be laid out in 3 rows each on 2 feet high custom risers above the other row in a typical slightly curved seating arrangement -



http://www.la-z-boy....me_theater.aspx

The materials and layout of decore would be chosen from ROBB report and CEDIA award winners magazines showing a range of choices .

http://www.robbreport.com/
http://www.cedia.net...cognition04.php

Total budget : ( the equipment should be more than the room ) .

Consrtuction of HT room $100K
Equipment budget $310K
Furnishings and decor $100K
labour $100K

Grand Total for ultimate Hollywood has nothing on me system $610k :)

As for why my choices would be the right for you my confident answer would be that given unlimited resources combined with 25 years of Industry experience and contacts this is what I would own...:)

[Mike191]

Just keeping this thread in public view! Ray, put this where is will stay visible until this is over. Thanks..........

[Ray Cruz]

Will do - Good idea!

[Logic 7]

First and foremost I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to design a theater for you. Being unencumbered by a budget is an exceptional treat. It’s nice to work with a situation where it is more important how it turns out than how much it costs. Your room dimensions will be perfect. However since the room is almost as important as the equipment, there are some things that we will be doing to make sure you get the most out of it.
1) The room will be designed with walls that are not attached to the floor or ceiling in a conventional way. It makes for better sound inside and less sound outside. A big plus, for both the listener and the people who want to do other things elsewhere in the house and don’t want to hear the movie or music.
2) We will be installing sound dampening material in the walls and ceiling to further help with this.
3) We will be installing what is called a floating floor. The benefit of this sound wise is bass you can feel as well as hear. This will be covered in the charcoal gray carpet that you wanted.
4) We will be installing columns along the side and back walls that will be decorative as well as multi functional. Functionally they will have sound absorbing panels to cut down sound reflections as well having speakers hidden in them. On the decorative side they will be covered in an acoustically transparent material which will match the wall color.
5) The theater will have the multilevel riser we discussed with four rows of seating. Four chairs to a row. The chairs we will be using are from Dbox. Besides being very comfortable chairs, they have an adjustable system, which takes you along for the ride. If you want it to, this chair actually can take cues from the movie to vibrate the seat, swerve to one side if the car in the movie does. They are also great for video games. Speaking of which, between each seat there will be controller plug in ports for both Playstation and Xbox
6) The front of the theater will have a false front wall with remote control curtains. Again, acoustically transparent as two speakers, as well as one of the subwoofers, will be hidden behind it. This will also hide the automated screen masking system. The rear of the theater will have your home theater equipment in a flush mounted Middle Atlantic rack with custom face plates, made specifically for each component.
7) We will be mounting your projector on the ceiling in a self -contained compartment with exhaust for the heat. For the ceiling its self, we will install a heavenly fiber-optic starlight ceiling. Your view to the stars.
8) The theater room will have its own climate control.
9) We will be installing a Lutron Grafik Eye lighting control system. This will allow you to have different light level preset settings for the wall sconces, the walkway lights and even the starlight ceiling.
10) Last but definitely not least is the Crestron touch panel. This is your easy to use control for the whole room. It allows you to adjust the lighting and even the temperature of the room from your chair. Oh yeah, it runs your home theater equipment as well. With the touch of one button the curtains will open, the lights will dim to a preset level and your home theater will come to life. You get the idea.
The hall/entry way to the theater will have a concession counter with popcorn maker and soft drinks. The hallway will be adorned with six full sized, framed movie posters. We will also install over the theater entrance the back lit sign adorned with transparences of your name as well as Dolby Digital, DTS and THX logo’s.
For the equipment to be used for sight and sound, we have selected what we feel will give you the ultimate in your home theater experience.
For your display device we have selected a Runco SC-1 projector as the centerpiece of your home cinema. This projector has all the capabilities for current high def broadcast (1080I,720P)as well as being ready for the next level of HD(1080P)
The projector will display its image on a Stewart Grayhawk CinePerf 110” screen with their Directors Choice masking system. We choose this because of outstanding color and black levels for the picture, perforated so we can put your center speaker behind the screen in it’s optimal location and the masking system so you have a clean border no matter what you watch.
For the control of both audio and video we have selected the Lexicon MC12B v4.
This piece is Lexicon's flagship surround preamp/ processor. Featuring the latest audio and broadcast-quality video technologies, the MC-12 processor with THX Ultra2 certification, redefines the world standard for serious home entertainment and audio systems.
We have chosen the matching the Lexicon LX-7 multi-channel THX Ultra 2 certified amplifier. It has seven channels with 200 watts per channel. Offering great dynamics for both music and movies.
Following a trend is the matching Lexicon RT-20 DVD player. The RT-20 is Lexicon’s top-of-the-line universal disc player. Designed to provide superior audio and video performance with virtually any of the 5” optical media discs, it supports DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-R/W, SACD, CD, CD-R/W, MP-3, JPEG, Video CD and S-VCD. The RT-20 takes the universal disc player to a new level with a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), built-in video processing, and extremely precise Digital-to-Analog converters (DAC).
We are putting a VCR in the system, the JVC HM-DT100U
You can enjoy the convenience of recording your favorite over the air digital/High Def broadcasts (from the roof top antenna we are installing) thanks to the built-in ATSC tuner and with the firewire hookup that you can record in High Def from the cable box we are installing. The DT100 enables full enjoyment of prerecorded D-Theater movies (which are HD), and keeps you in touch with the analog video library you've built over the years.
For TV sources we have chosen:
HD cable box from the cable company with hard drive Recorder
Directv HD10-250 is a HDTV satellite box with a Tivo hard drive recorder. Great for the NFL Sunday ticket
Dish Network DVR942 HD satellite receiver with a hard drive recorder.
Richard Grays Power Company model1200S to supply cleaner power to all components as well as surge protection. This will make a big difference in your picture and sound as well as protecting your components.
We will be installing two Infinite Baffle subs in your walls. One in the front as mentioned and one in the rear. Each sub will have two 15” woofers and a 250 watt amplifier to drive them
For speakers we chose B&W for their beautiful reproduction of both movies and music.
For the left, center, right and rears we will be using a total of 5 801D’s which are a truly magnificent speaker.
For the two sides we choose the DS6 Series 3 which will give great dispersion on the side walls.
For all interconnects and speakers we will be using all THX certified cabling.
We will be incorporating your existing Playstation and Xbox into the system with the controller plug ins mentioned above.
As you can see we took a lot of time and care putting together this proposal for you but we want to make sure everything is just right. I also want you to know that we as always, we be there for you after the theater is completed and we shown you how much fun its going to be to use.

[Ray Cruz]

Great job everyone - lot's of work went in these write-ups :)!

[Ray Cruz]

3 Days left!

[Jade]

I've been building custom Home Theater Systems for well over 75 years and am experienced in every aspect of sound, picture and room design. I also have an unparralelled team of experts from around the world to assist not only with designing your system but also with implementing that design into a HomeTheater that you and your family will enjoy for years to come.

My list of clients includes many A-list celebrities, Polititions and Exucitives from around the world. I can't even count how many thank you letters and referals I get in given week. I normaly wouldn't be able to schedule you in but being that your a friend of, Well you know who, I made an exception this time. Now don't think I'm going to be rushing through this though, once I commit to a prject I cancel everything else and dedicate my entire team to the project until it is done, sparing no expence and taking no shortcuts.

While looking at your room I had alot of ideas and it wasn't easy to narrow it all down but I always say that there is only one truly right way to go about something and I feel we have found that one way for your room.


Now, I know you had told me earlier that you wanted something that would be fun for the whole family but would also impress your friends when they came over and I am positive you won't be dissapointed with what my team's got picked out for you.


First-
The Theme:

While I've created many specialized themes, from Jungle's and pyramids to Spaceships and Alien Planets, I wanted to go with a more contemporary theme for your Home Theater keeping the main focus on comfort and technical capabilities.
Sandra Keller has been working with our team designing themes and room asthetics for 4 years, before that she worked as a restoration engeneer for Williams Design and Restoration. You may of heard of some of the projects she worked on while with Williams. Remember when they restored the Cisteen chappel A few years ago? That was her. She was also responsible for the acoustical design on several broadway theaters. I've seen her work many times and am always astounded by her creativity and brilliance in Designing a room. I'm confident that you couldn't be in better hands than hers when it comes to designing a Home Theater for both looks and acoustic perfection.
For the seating we will be a couch set in a curved "stadium" configuration. These seats are custom built in Germany for outstanding comfort and durability. These are the same seats we used in Brad and Jen's house and they just love em'.


Second-
The Picture:

Of course the picture is going to be very important and that is why I have Jaqu'e Criswell. Jaqu'e has been designing and building video displays for nearly 20 years. He was a roadie for AC/DC for three years in charge of their concert displays and also worked as a theater design specialist for Cinima Perfection back in the late ninties. I don't know if you remember but Cinima Perfection built nearly 70 theaters world wide in just a few years and who do you think designed them? That's right Jaqu'e Criswell. We are very lucky to have him on our team and wouldn't accept any less. Him and I have gone over the plans thoroughly and I'm positive your going to be absolutly blown away by what you see.

Third-
The sound:
Rounding off this world class team is Ren'e Coultier. Ren'e studied Sound design at MIT and has a doctorate degree in Soundology from Princeton. He was one of the founding members of the Home Theater Sound Design Committee. About 20 years ago he was thrown off the board of the Foundation for the Improvement of Sound in Your Home Theater, or FISHT for short, because of some radical new ideas and theories he had on sound. Later he was re-enstated when it was proved that his theories were right. He is now President of that Foundation and has several patents on Home Theater Sound Design. You may of heard of the Coultier law of Home Theater Frequency Responce on a Defined Feild of Sound, that was named after him.
He has already started work on designing a superior sound system for your hometheater and has asked me not to go into the details of it right now due to its progressive nature. He is worried that some of his newer patents will be comprimised. However, rest assured that the sound you hear from this Home Theater set up will surpass anything you could ever even immagine.



I've attached pictures of some of the Equipment we will be using for this project. Please remember these pictures are just to give you an idea of what we can do and that the actual finished project will look alot better!

I expect you are going to have alot of questions and are as excited about getting started as we are.


Thank you,

-Jade-

[poorcollegeguy]

Nice entries everyone, it'll be tough to choose.

[kingkade]

I like the way everyone went.... will done.. So who could lend (well give) me the money to try out each and every set-up.... Will have to try each one to vote....

[Ray Cruz]

2 Days Left!!

[gundyrat]

Looks as though that Cast-ing couch has seen a lot of action :)

[Jade]

Don't you just love that couch!
I can't help but laugh everytime I look at it. :)

[LeeS]

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, at 10am central (8am for us on the left coast) is when a winner will be announced. Its waaaay to early to call a winner unless you are ABC, CBS or NBC :)

I don't want to see any of those 'hanging' or 'pregnant' chads either, this isn't Florida!

Hey, where's the exit poll information?

REWJR is very close, everyone else is closing the gap..... Got to see what all those last minute undecided votes look like. Glad I don't have to choose.

17 hours to go! Read the 6 answers to the final question, make your choice and vote! I'd love to see more like 60-80 votes cast..

Lee :D

(I hope you'll forgive me my multiple posting this one time :) )