The following information is courtesy of the 2007 CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Designers’ Choice Awards. For more information on how to become a member of CEDIA, or information on its awards program please visit www.cedia.org or call (800) 669-5329.

2007 CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Awards Entry: Best Large Home Theater, Level IV: $347,000 - $415,00

“Party Palace!” That’s what the client wanted us to create due to the fact that they planned on having several formal dinner and cocktail parties a year at their home. “Design a system that will blow our guests away” was the order of business and we were confident we could meet, if not exceed, the clients expectations. All we needed was a blazingly bright 178in. screen and about 7000W of gut-kicking power to deliver it.

We did encounter the challenge of providing enough seating for the homeowner’s request. We ended up coming up one seat short. In the end, everyone picks quality over quantity.

A complete set of construction documents were developed including a detailed set of room acoustics that called out for isolation of the room’s framing. This was accomplished by decoupling the walls and ceiling from adjoining structures. After the room was separated, sound suppression and wall barriers were put in place to help keep the room’s four 18in.THX subs from disturbing neighboring rooms. Then came the interior acoustics, and the designer called out for a plaster-type dome ceiling. Normally, this is impossible and strongly discouraged in any area when sound is important, but an innovative, mineral-based acoustic plaster-type product (BASWAphon) was located and installed to remedy this issue.

After it was all said and done we equalized this space and found the rooms response curves to be near perfect with over 130 decibels of reference quality sound we knew this room would be the hit of the party thanks to JBL.

Equipment List

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: SEDE2500A Digital Equalizer

Qty: 2 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: S1000IC Interconnects

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: SPD40 THX Surround Processor/System Controller

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: S7150 7×160W THX Power Amplifier

Qty: 7 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: S800 2×200W 1 x 800 Watt THX Power Amplifier

Qty: 4 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: S1S-EX 18″ (457mm) THX Ultra2 Subwoofer

Qty: 6 Manufacturer: JBL Model#: S4AI Vertical or Horizontal Multipolar Flushmount THX Surround Loudspeaker

Qty: 3 Manufacturer: JBL Synthesis Model#: SK2-1000BT DUAL 10in. three-way LCR Loudspeaker

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: Digital Projection Model#: Mercury 5000HD three-chip DLP Projector

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: Stewart Filmscreen Model#: 178in. 16×9 Micro Perforated Studio-tech 130 Screen

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: Crestron Model#: TPS 5000 Touchscreen Remote

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: Escient Model#: DVDM-100 DVD video and CD Music Manager

Qty: 1 Manufacturer: Sony Model#: DVP-CX777ES 400 Disc DVD/CD Changers

Qty: 15 Manufacturer: Cinematech Model#: Valentino leather theater seats with motors

Task Hours

Client Interviews: 16

Electronic Design and Engineering: 120

Proposal and System Documentation Preparation: 40

Project Management: 110

Pre-wire/Rough-in: 40

Trim-out: 32

Shop Time for Racking and Testing: 26

Programming: 42

Final Installation and Calibration: 180

Client Instruction: 6

Interior Design and/or Architecture by your Company: 4

Interior Design and/or Architecture by Others: 0

Project Management by Others: 30

Other time: 0

Total Hours to Complete: 646