|
|
 |
 |  |  |  |  |
|
“Safari!” Why not? New Wave Home Systems certainly had a lot of inspiration around the house, both inside and out. The owner had a lot of stuffed animal heads of long-time pets that had died on the farm to use as décor. He did not want a formal theater with theater style seating anyway, so putting some of his long-gone family friends in the theater seemed like a fitting homage. He had a ivory alabaster/marble mantle and fireplace on order that would blend perfectly with his ivory leather sectional La-Z-Boy furniture. He also ordered custom leopard print rugs and African accessories such as spears, wooden figurines, art, vases and bush hats. The homeowner’s wife helped out tremendously by custom-making the beautiful thick drapes, shears and valances that covered troublesome windows and kept out ambient light. This not only allowed her to have a big say in what the room looked like, but also helped keep the project on budget. The client’s coffee table has a beautiful antiqued map print for the top that fit in perfectly with the tribal/world theme that was taking shape. Johnson thought originally that the room’s biggest issue would be that it was too sonically live with all the hard surfaces, but the rugs and thick drapes, along with the leather furniture, really gave it a good mix of absorptive and reflective materials. When walls had been closed up and the owner put the animal heads up, it really made you feel as though you were in the bush. Where is that “Tarzan” DVD box set when you need it?  When it came time to install the system, the only major technological problem that New Wave Home Systems experienced was the length of the DVI cable from the DVD player to the projector. It was a 34-foot-long cable and the digital signal was not strong enough once it got to the projector, so the result was a lot of artifacts in the picture. A newly released DVI cable amplifier from Geffen solved that issue. In the pre-wire stage, New Wave installers had dropped enough subwoofer wire in the crawl space to allow them to place the subwoofer anywhere in the room that it needed to go. After calibrating the room, the signal meter told Johnson the subwoofer should go two feet off the right back corner. According to the signal meter, as well as anyone who is lucky enough to get to watch a flick in the room, the sub sounds great in that spot.The combo of B&K gear and James Loudspeakers has always been a reliable and excellent performing duo, but on this project they really shine, according to Johnson. Being able to tune the speakers once they are in the walls is a great plus of the James speakers that Johnson finds particularly convenient. The video portion of the design is just as impressive, according to Johnson. The Marantz DVD player’s picture is rich and crisp and, on hi-def channels, the picture through the projector is incredible for a DLP. A DVI switcher is planned, so that the homeowners can enjoy the DVI output of both the DVD player and the HD-Tivo, which will surely yield even more impressive results.  No one has ever said to an installer, “I’d like my system to be very complicated and hard to use.” This client, like all before him, told New Wave Home Systems that he wanted a system that was simple to operate. The budget wasn’t there for a full-on RS-232 controlled remote system like an AMX or Crestron. However, the Marantz RC-9200 color touch screen does many of the same things for a fraction of the price, if the installer knows his or her stuff. New Wave Home Systems used the radio frequency base station to turn it into a RF remote, providing a more reliable signal that is less likely to miss a command in a complicated series of button presses. Since the theme of the theater is “safari,” why not have a safari-themed remote, Johnson thought? That is exactly what the client got. Each device has a different picture of an animal and there are many favorite channel icons to choose from. With the press of the ON button, his Lutron Radio RA lights dim, his Makita electric drapes pull closed over his windows, his front drapes open to reveal his center channel, the Da-Lite screen drops over the center channel and his system powers up. He has to get his own popcorn.The client’s children started him down this path and he wanted them to use it as much as possible. They have their friends over now (instead of the other way around) and enjoy movies and videogames. Video gaming was not in the original system design, but it was an easy addition by putting in an in-wall jack pack under the equipment rack. Now the kids play on a much larger scale. When the speakers and subwoofer are really rocking the house while a great DVD is on or the latest videogame is being played inside, one must wonder if the four-legged animals outside are just a little bit jealous of their two-legged friends inside the house. See complete equipment list below...
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||