The assignment: Transform a typical room into a great place to watch the Super Bowl at home. We asked four home theater installers to detail how they would turn one of four different spaces—family room, game room, den, basement—into a football fan’s nirvana. There were limitations: The installation would not be for a dedicated home theater, it could not involve major construction or renovations, and the project’s completion needed to be feasible in one month or less.
To say the experts picked up the ball and ran with it would be a vast understatement. Each provided every detail that would ensure a perfect viewing room—including specific mounting brackets, speaker wires, cables, and surge protectors. In fact, they provided so much detail that there was not enough space here to include the accessories (but a professional installer can provide help to fine-tune an individual home-viewing blueprint). Each of our consultants chose components carefully, ensuring everything complemented the other items and the room’s overall purpose. The result, as K.C. Wolbert of Inner Media Solutions sees it, "gives you a functional, practical place to enjoy the game with exceptional picture and sound quality—without ripping the walls down."
FAMILY DAY
Venue: A spacious, light-filled family room
Coordinator: Robert Busch, Busch Home Theater, Santa Rosa, California
Starting Lineup: Panasonic Professional plasma display; or projector (Samsung SP-A900), screen (Da-Lite JKP Affinity), surround-sound preamp and amplifier (Denon AVP-A1HDCI[A] and POA-A1HDCI), speakers (Revel Ultima Salon2), room-darkening shades (Lutron), seating (Cineak Strato)
Robert Busch has two approaches for game viewing in a conventional family room. Keeping it simple, you can mount a whopping big plasma TV (such as the 85-inch or 103-inch Panasonic) and be done with it. “When calibrated and set up correctly,” says Busch, “this can look quite nice and can serve as a stand-alone.”
“But,” he continues, “no display can compete with sunlight. For viewing the Super Bowl, you need to control that lighting.” After addressing the sunlight problem with room-darkening shades, Busch warms to the task at hand, envisioning a setup “to make your knees buckle.” For this type of experience, the essentials are Samsung’s front projector and a Da-Lite screen. According to Busch, this projector will reproduce all the detail present in the original video signal, and the screen provides unmatched uniformity, color fidelity, contrast, and detail.
GAME ON
Venue: A large game room
Coordinator: Troy Stuckey, Media Integrated Environments, West Haven, Connecticut
Starting Lineup: Six 50/65-inch plasma HDTVs (Panasonic Premiere TH-50VX100U/TH-65VX100U), AMX control system (8.4-inch Modero wireless touch panel and/or 17-inch Modero multimedia touch panel, Modero Viewpoint wall-mount docking station, NetLinx master controller, Autopatch Modula distribution matrix switcher), Sunfire in-wall audio system, Active Thermal Management System 1 (prevents heat buildup), Middle Atlantic Products racks
A six-screen wall is a fantasy come true for channel-surfers and multitaskers, so if the February 7 gridiron matchup proves less than compelling, even disinterested fans can be entertained on other screens with video games or movies. But thinking ahead, with a DirecTV satellite hookup, you could conceivably watch every football game running simultaneously on Sundays next fall.
For this setting, Troy Stuckey has considered a plethora of diversions besides the television networks, such as Xbox, Nintendo Wii, and Playstation 3 game consoles, and even a DVD server for storing and playing your movie collection. Crucial to this concept is the control system, beginning with a matrix switcher: “It’s basically the traffic cop,” says Stuckey. “It takes all the satellite boxes and sources and routes each to the proper TV.” You’ll also want a touch panel, either mounted on the wall (a larger device that allows for more control) or wireless for portability (or both, for versatility), to tell the switcher what to do.
“You need a big wall for this,” says Stuckey, but he also suggests spreading the TVs out on two adjacent or even opposite walls, perhaps having a 65-inch panel flanked by two 50-inchers, on two separate walls. Finally, he recommends a rack system to store all those satellite boxes, controllers, and game systems.
MAN CAVE
Venue: A wood-paneled den
Coordinator: K.C. Wolbert, Inner Media Solutions, Fountain Valley, California
Starting Lineup: 58-inch plasma TV (Samsung PN58B860), speaker system (Totem Acoustic Tribe on walls and ceilings, Storm subwoofer), amplifier (Onkyo TX-NR5007), iPhone control (Savant Protégé system), leather lounger (Image Improved Tycoon series)
You can hibernate in the den and still enjoy game day with K.C. Wolbert’s scheme, which employs discreet components to blend with a subdued, cozy viewing environment. The first essential is the flat screen, because, Wolbert says, “sports are meant to be watched on plasmas. Faster speeds means better picture.” He chooses Samsung’s 1080p plasma for its elegant, space-saving design. For discreet speakers, Wolbert recommends front on-walls, rear in-ceilings, and a subwoofer. The all-in-one receiver saves space and still amplifies.
Wolbert proposes some workweek options if the den performs as a home office. “You can impress your friends by using your iPhone 3GS to control your whole system. No more big bulky remotes that never work anyway,” he says. You also can use the new big screen as a computer monitor.
“In this case, less just might be better [to not] distract from the current décor,” says Wolbert. “A top-notch flat-panel, some sexy but powerful speakers, a great receiver, and the simplest controller will give you the ultimate package to enjoy the game to its fullest without having to feel like you’re ‘going to the movies’ in a home theater.”
SOUND CHECK
Venue: A capacious finished basement
Coordinator: Murray Kunis, Future Home Theater, Los Angeles
Starting Lineup: Dual 85-inch plasmas (Panasonic Professional TH-85PF12UK) and four 32-inch LED LCDs (Samsung Series 6000); speaker system (Revel Ultima2 series Salon2 towers, Voice2 center, S30 surrounds, B15 subwoofers; Revel IC80) and electronics (Lexicon MC-12 processor, ZX-7 multichannel amp); Crestron control system (V15 touch panel, PRO2 system processor, DM-MD8X8 media matrix switcher, DM-RMC receivers at each display); dual-processor PC with Nvidia Quadro and PureVideo boards; Middle Atlantic ERK racks
Murray Kunis is a music engineer, and he was asked to outfit a basement, where ceilings might be lower than in the rest of the home. To Kunis, this does not pose much of a limitation. “For true in-stadium realism, a Dolby Digital surround system is a must,” says Kunis, “and Lexicon electronics and a Revel audiophile speaker system fill the bill. Filling in the sound of those bone-crunching hits are a pair of B15 powered subwoofers.
“To truly enjoy the Super Bowl,” he says, “one must be able to view more than just the traditional single HD feed from CBS. With four alternate camera feeds and online real-time information, it can be a multimedia feast.” He proposes dual 85-inch plasma displays, color calibrated to ISF standards so their images match. One would display the network’s main feed, the other would select between the various camera angles and online feed. He also envisions four 32-inch LED LCDs above the large plasmas, for previewing all the alternative camera angles and online content.
Pulling it all together: a digital media matrix and a system processor to control HD channel selection, route the various sources, dim the lights, and turn up the volume. A dual-processor PC and boards enable you to obtain Internet video on your big screen.
Finally, Kunis says, “perhaps the most important feature: that spare in-ceiling Revel IC80 [speaker] in the bathroom, with its center-channel feed so that no one misses any of the action.”