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"Family First" Home Theater - March 2005 - page 3  In the rear corner of the theater there is a fully functional wet bar with a sink, a refrigerator, a soda can dispenser and glass shelves for putting decorative glasses and other items for display. Beside the bar is a mantle and fireplace that actually butts up with the backside of the fireplace in the living room on the wall behind it. If you didn’t see the theater seats behind you and you were standing by the fireplace, you might think you were in a toasty ski lodge when looking at this cozy fireplace. Above the fireplace mantel, the cherry wood stops and a smartly positioned series of mirrors makes it appear as if the room behind the fireplace is done in the same look and feel, effectively making an already large space seem that much bigger. Most of the walls have fabric on them, so this actually provides a reflective area to contrast the amount of absorption.The cherry wood walls and beams look extremely expensive and I overestimated the cost of the room in my head before learning from Gilmore that many of them are actually fabricated pieces, made by a company called Penwal Industries. They specialize in “themed environments,” such as those you see in stores in mega malls and in many casinos in Las Vegas. They were brought in by Gilmore to do the design of the room and create the panels. The result is a slick but warm and inviting room.  Showing off for friends was not the clients M.O, so there is no fancy automated drape that drops down to cover the screen when not in use. However, the impact of seeing the 100-inch Steward Firehawk screen as you sit down to watch a movie is just as impressive.To the left and right of the screen, there are a pair of B&W 703 floor-standing speakers that ironically are lifted several feet off the ground. Gilmore certainly does install flush-mounted on wall speakers in many applications where appropriate, but nothing gets him there sonically as well as a big pair of properly powered floor-standing speakers. He wanted to impress the client with the sound of this theater and the B&W 703s are his go-to speakers for an application of this size and budget. Between the two racks of gear is a third cabinet that opens up to reveal a B&W ASW 750 Subwoofer and a B&W HTM7 center channel. While photographing the theater, I walked around the room looking for the rear and side channel speakers. I looked for covered panels on the sidewalls and then looked up at the ceiling and the back wall. After several minutes of searching, I had to finally give up and ask Gilmore where they were. It turns out that two pairs of B&W CCM80 speakers had been so strategically flush-mounted in the blue ceiling panels that they were almost invisible to the casual observer. The illumination from the rope lights only extends a few inches and the in-ceiling speakers are just far enough from the light source that it does not illuminate the speaker grille. The lesson to be learned here is that you can hide something that you don’t want seen by highlighting other things around it. 
The final piece of this little entertainment Mecca became evident as I opened a second set of French doors to the outside patio to see the pool, guesthouse and sprawling parkland like property that the home is situated on. Summers in Southern California can be blisteringly hot at times and having a beautifully landscaped pool, complete with a waterslide, a large cabana, a guest home and room for large-scale parties only a few steps from a theater of this caliber is quite a luxury. On a lazy weekend afternoon, the client can hit the pool for a swim, towel off and be sitting in the lap of luxury in the theater in a matter of moments. Or he can open the French doors and relax to the sounds of his favorite music or movies outdoors while catching some rays. It’s enough to make those East Coast basement theater owners long for the sunshine of Southern California.
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