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GOLD WINNER: Best Home of the Year
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Our Home of the Year sits among the Hollywood Hills, where the stars shine as brightly inside the homes as they do in the night sky. We’re familiar with some of the A-list technologies here—CinemaScope theater, 7.1-channel surround-sound, intricate TV concealment, extensive automation—but we don’t often see them shine together in such a spectacular location, with equally stunning results. This home can’t settle for anything less than red-carpet treatment.
The residence was designed and built by Temple Home, whose co-owner, Xorin Balbes, has earned recognition for his restoration of famous Los Angeles-area homes. Balbes and architect Paul Ashley brought the vision, and left the audio-visual pyrotechnics to DSI Entertainment Systems.
“They developed it as the ultimate bachelor pad, and part of their thing was that they wanted all of the technology that a young Hollywood actor or director might want,” says systems developer and DSI co-founder Eric Thies. “Obviously, there were a lot of potential buyers here that fit that category, so for a 7,000-square-foot house they wanted a lot of technology crammed into it.”
As it turned out, this ultramodern beauty didn’t become the real-life set for Entourage types, but the nest of a young couple about to start a family. They might not have celluloid cred in Tinseltown, but they have some very cool toys at their disposal.
Three areas are filled by surround sound, including a rattling 7.1-channel JBL Synthesis system in the theater and an understated 7.1 Sonance architectural speaker layout in the family room. We’ll cut DSI some slack for only installing 5.1 channels of surround sound in the master bedroom—though the room features not one, but two televisions. There’s even a separate video game room that features a triple-screen auto racing simulator and a flat-panel TV that taps into a local PC for gaming fun.
The theater presents movies on a 125-inch Stewart Filmscreen in the superwide CinemaScope format (2.35:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by a Runco projector and CineWide anamorphic lens that fills the screen without black bars. Combined with the JBL system, which includes Synthesis processing, amplification and equalization, the theater rates with the finest of Hollywood screening rooms.
Says Thies: “We wanted a true cinema system, asking what a young actor would put in a screening room. The 2.35 screen was a no-brainer, and 80 percent of commercial cinemas are JBL Pro. The Synthesis system is basically a home version of it, so no one’s going to walk in to this theater and think we’re cutting corners.”
Systems Design and Installation
DSI Entertainment Systems
West Hollywood, Calif.
http://www.dsientertainment.com
Builder, Architect, Design
Temple Home
Los Angeles, Calif.
Equipment
JBL Synthesis SPD5 processor (1)
JBL Synthesis S7150 amplifier (1)
JBL Synthesis S800 amplifier (1)
JBL Synthesis S2S (2)
JBL Synthesis S4A (4)
JBL Synthesis SAM3H (3)
Activated Designs Custom Pop-Up Lift (1)
Altronix ALTW-248300 (1)
Audio Authority 977RPO (1)
Audio Authority 1365 (2)
Allen GB183A1 (1)
APC BH500NET (1)
CE labs AV400COMP (1)
Channel Vision C-0498 12 Leg Octopus Part 2 (2)
Chief MCSU (1)
Chief VCM Inverted Projector Ceiling Mount (1)
Chief PDDual Arm Wall Mount (1)
Cisco AIR-1242AG (1)
Cisco AIR-ANT-2485P-R (1)
Crestron CHV-TSATW (9)
Crestron CHV-RTS (9)
Crestron PRO2 (1)
Crestron C2ENET-1 (1)
Crestron CNX-BIPAD8 (2)
Crestron CNX-ASBK (2)
Crestron C2N-SPWS300 (1)
Crestron CEN-IDOC (2)
Crestron C2N-TXM (2)
Crestron C2N-TXM-C50 (2)
Crestron CNX-PVID8x4 (2)
Crestron CNXRMC (9)
Crestron CNXRMCLV (3)
Crestron TPMC-8X (5)
Crestron TPMC-8X-DS (5)
Crestron ML-600 (5)
Crestron CNRFGWA-418 (5)
Crestron TPS-6L (8)
Crestron BB-6L (8)
Crestron ABAR-1 (1)
Crestron CNXRMC (2)
Crestron C2N-CBD (6)
Crestron TPS-4L (4)
Crestron BB-4L (4)
Crestron CAEN-7X1 (1)
Crestron CAEN-BLOCK (1)
Crestron CLX-2DIM8 (1)
Crestron CLT-2DIM8 (1)
Crestron PAC2 (1)
Crestron C2ENET-1 (1)
Crestron C2N-CBD (1)
Crestron CHV-THSTATW (1)
Crestron CHV-RTHS (1)
Crestron PRO2 (1)
Crestron C2ENET-1 (1)
Crestron CNX-PAD8A (1)
Crestron CNX-ASBK (1)
Crestron C2N-SPWS300 (1)
Crestron AAS-1 (1)
Crestron CHV-THSTATW (11)
Crestron CHV-RTHS (2)
Crestron C2N-HBLOCK (2)
Dedicated Micros DS2AD-9-160 (1)
Furman Elite-15i (1)
Furman M-10 (3)
Furman PST-8D (2)
Furman Elite-15PFI (2)
Furman D10-PEP (1)
Integra DTR-5.8 (2)
Integra DPS-5.5 (1)
Jandy Aqualink Serial Adapter 7620 (1)
Key Digital KD-HDP50 (1)
Key Digital KD-HDP20X (1)
LG 60PG60 plasma (3)
LG LHT888 theater system (2)
LG 42LG60 LCD (3)
LG 32LG60 LCD
LG 26LG30 LCD
Liberty Wire CRESCAT (7,500)
Liberty Wire CRESNET (11,000)
Liberty Wire DSI-1RU (1)
Liberty Wire 14/4C-EX (4,500)
Liberty Wire CAT (3,000)
Liberty Wire RG59 (1,000)
Liberty Wire RGB5C (100)
Liberty Wire RGB3C (100)
RG59 COAX/18 Gauge wire RG59-18/2 (1,000)
Marantz SR6001 (2)
Middle Atlantic CBS-5 (2)
Middle Atlantic HTX (2)
Middle Atlantic LBP-1R (1)
Middle Atlantic 5-29 (1)
Middle Atlantic SP-5-29 (1)
Middle Atlantic RRF45 (1)
Middle Atlantic HB-1 (7)
Middle Atlantic VTP-1 (12)
Middle Atlantic HBL-2 (4)
Middle Atlantic HBL-3 (3)
Middle Atlantic HBL-6 (1)
Middle Atlantic HBL-5 (1)
Netgear FS726TPNA (1)
Niles Audio AVDA3 (1)
Panasonic KX-TDA50 (1)
Panasonic KX-T0151 (4)
Panasonic KX-TDA5172 (1)
Panasonic KX-TDA5180 (1)
Panasonic KA-TDA5193 (1)
Panasonic KX-T7633 (6)
Panasonic KX-TD7684 (4)
Pakedge WAP-W3-01 (3)
Pakedge PI-02-01 (1)
Premier Mounts CTM-MS2 (1)
Premier Mounts PSD-S (1)
Premier Mounts PP-5 (1)
ProMounts UF-PRO310 (4)
Runco VX-2000D-CW (1)
Siemens 66M1Block (2)
Siemens 66M2Block (1)
Siemens 66MC4 (3)
Sonance X6R (14 pair)
Sonance A6RMT (13 pair)
Sonance Cinema Sub RMF (2)
Sonance Mariner 82 B (8)
Sonance X4R (3 pair)
Sonance A4RMT (3)
Sonance A8RMT (4 pair)
Sonance X8R (4 pair)
Sonance 875D SE. (6)
Sonance B6R-5/8” (13 pair)
Sonance B4-5/8” (3 pair)
Sonance B8-5/8” (4 pair)
Sonance X6S (6 pair)
Sonance B6S-5/5” (1 pair)
Sonance A6SM (4 pair)
Sonance B6S-5/8” (7 pair)
Sonance A6SM (5 pair)
Sonance X8S (2 pair)
Sonance B8S-5/8” (2 pair)
Sonance A8SM (2 pair)
Sonance Cinema Sub RMF (2)
Sonance X6S (3 pair)
Sonance B6-5/8” (1 pair)
Sonance A800D (1)
Sonance Mariner 82 W (1)
Sonance DBRKT (1 pair)
Sonance X4S (3 pair)
Sonance B4S-5/8” (3 pair)
Sonance A4SM (2 pair)
Sonance A6RMT (1 pair)
Sonance B6r-5/8” (3 pair)
Sonance E1 (5)
Sony BDP-S500 (3)
Stewart Filmscreen 125” Diagonal Fixed Luxus Deluxe ScreenWall (1)
Vantage HA4803NX Btcino Axolute (10)
Vantage IC36 Infusion processor (1)
Vantage MDS8RW101 dimming modules (11)
Vantage MDR8RW101 relay module (1)
Xantech AV61 (1)
A little Info for the ignorant. The best Movie & Post production houses rely on JBL. And if Michael Bay has not one ,but two Synthesis system, I guess that an endorsment.
JBL Synthesis?? What a waste of money. That is totally overrated boomy sounding junk. I guess money doesn’t buy you ears.
HELLO I ve seen than Aliante Station Casino has choosen unrivaled JBL loudspeakers.
I m sound technician and would like to receive some photos of the system
Thanks a lot
There is a lot of stuff here but not a lot of it offers truly high performance. The Crestron is unbeatable for convenience and ease of use and it’s expensive. The Synthesis is loud and expensive. The Liberty wire is cheap stuff that is fine for your PC and some in-wall speakers, not a serious AV system. The Runco is truly awesome (and expensive). And the best they could do for Blu-ray was a Sony?
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You guys that comment on this stuff, seriously, grow up. Do you even know what the Liberty wire was used for??? How do you know the Sony Blurays were even used in the main theatre? Who cares about your thoughts on product lines. These systems are about performance and ease of use. Maybe this cuts it, maybe it doesn’t. Are you doing something about it or just complaining? It’s nut cracks like you guys that want to use pop bottles to acentuate your speaker signals and boast about your monster cable deals. Save your negativity for your mom when she cooks your dinner.