A Crestron touchpanel controls everything with ease, and dual THX in-wall subwoofers bolster the bass from a front-mounted dual 12-inch THX subwoofer. Photo by Michael Neveux.
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It may be best to describe this Southern California house by what it doesn’t have. It doesn’t have a Hubble space telescope, for one thing. And we don’t think it has one of those 60-mile particle accelerators—though we can’t be too sure. But this house has just about everything else. n It has a killer home theater with a 110-inch Stewart screen, a high-end Runco DLP projector and great sound from Meridian and M&K amps and Von Schweikert speakers. The theater also boasts a fiber-optic star ceiling, including two shooting stars. The side speakers are even housed in columns with backlit mica panels so they appear to glow.
The house has an “ESPN” room with four high-def plasma screens and four TiVo digital video recorders, each of which can show footage on any of the TVs. Each of the family’s four boys has his own bedroom TV with its own TiVo, and there’s a teen room with another entertainment system.
The master bedroom has its own surround-sound system, motorized blinds and draperies, and the master bath has a 13-inch LCD TV mounted behind glass in the shower, with a control keypad for selecting TV and music. Pressure sensors under the carpet trigger the bathroom and hallway lights to emit a soft glow when activated at night.
Outside is an “ESPN patio” with three TVs—and beyond that, a pool and loggia area, a spa, outdoor kitchen and barbecue, putting green, bandstand, tennis court, gazebo, a greenhouse, stream and reflecting pond, all linked by a golf cart path and sound from numerous outdoor speakers.
The property has a Crestron whole-house control system with numerous touchscreens and in-wall controls. It has a Vantage Controls whole-house lighting system and Sonance audio system for easy operation of an AudioReQuest music server, three Sirius satellite radio tuners, DirecTV receivers, FM radio and iPods.
Several housewide scenes, such as good morning, good night, entertain and vacation, are available throughout the automation system with just the press of a button,. “The homeowner wanted everything [to be] easy to operate,” says Josh Christian of Studio City, CA based electronics installer DSI Entertain-ment Systems. “Complicated user interfaces were not allowed. He was very concerned that his family and friends wouldn’t be able to operate any of the electronic systems if they were too complicated.”
So is there a time when friends can’t operate the systems? When the house is in party mode and guests are milling about, you need a four-digit PIN to operate the Crestron panels. They probably can’t control any space telescopes, either.
EQUIPMENT LIST
CONTACT
Systems Design & Installation
DSI Entertainment Systems
Studio City 91604 CA USA
818-906-2768
www.dsientertainment.com
Builder
Cornell Custom Homes
909-614-1672
www.cornellcustomhomes.com
Interior Design
Ryan Taylors Interior Design
714-256-7730
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Nice useful technology. What is the cost of the system?
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If you like this then another effect you may be interested in is Star Ceiling fibre optics. These effects are excellent, particularly in kids’ bedrooms etc. They are DIY fibre optic lights, with about 150 fibre optic stars, about 6ft in length. Place the LED light unit above the ceiling and you have a twinkling sky effect! It’s also completely invisible in daylight. I bought mine from Star Ceiling Kits (www.starceilingkits.net), who were really helpful and the product was absolutely excellent, I can’t recommend it highly enough, my kids love it!