George and Teresa Devlin like to entertain. After all, George streams music for Internet Radio’s BostonPete, webcasting his favorite tunes to listeners everywhere. But what about after hours? “We wanted to create a space to accommodate our friends,” says George. “Theresa and I frequently have guests over, as well as host themed parties, and we wanted to create an inviting environment.”

The couple decided on a Caribbean theme in their basement, including a tiki bar and a home theater system. The budget would be around $13,000 to $15,000 for electronics and installation. That would certainly influence some equipment decisions, but having a nice theater in that range is entirely possible. Space was also limiting, as the theater area is about 12 by 16 feet and the tiki bar about 10 by 10 feet.

The Devlins and site developer Don Anderson of Home Smart Home in North Attleboro, MA, decided on a Sim2 Domino30 DLP projector that hangs from the ceiling and shines onto a 76-inch Stewart Filmscreen GrayHawk screen, with Sonance speakers planted in the walls for the front channel and in the ceiling for the surrounds. 

“We made it fit the budget,” Anderson says. “We would have liked to use more powerful speakers, but these were fine for this room. We also couldn’t put the surround speakers on the side walls, as I would have preferred.” One side is open to the tiki bar, so the surrounds and two music channels for the bar area went in the ceiling.

The other audio/video components, including a Denon receiver and Denon DVD player, were concealed in a closet so they wouldn’t interfere with the decor.

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Steven Castle - Contributing Writer

Steven Castle is Electronic House's managing editor. he has been writing about consumer electronics, homes and energy efficiency topics for two decades. He is also the co-founder of GreenTech Advocates.