Cool Homes: Inside 3 Custom Electronics Pros’ Homes, by Lisa Montgomery

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Inside 3 Custom Electronics Pros’ Homes

Electronics professionals reveal what types of tech make their homes and systems tick.

July 23, 2009 | by Lisa Montgomery

Marc Huebner, Enhanced Home Systems
Home: 4,000-square-foot, two story with a walk-out basement, Minneapolis
Family: Married with 11- and 9-year-old daughters
High-Tech Profile: Likes to entertain while cooking in the kitchen

“I’m like the shoemaker’s wife,” laughs Marc Huebner of Enhanced Home Systems in Eden Prairie, Minn. “I’m immersed so much in technology every day that I’d rather come home and do something completely different, like cook.”

Indeed, over the past few years Huebner focused most of his time and money on the kitchen.

“Last summer we dumped out the dining room by 10 feet to make the kitchen 10 feet longer, and added new appliances, cabinets, countertops, the works.”

That’s not to say Huebner has completely ignored the high-tech facets of his late-90s home. No piece of equipment is older than four years, and just last summer new TVs, speakers and remote controls were added to the upstairs. The most tricked out space in his home is the basement, which has been converted into a theater.

The 300-square-foot area features:

A Sony LCD projector
An 84-inch Stewart Filmscreen screen
A solid Anthem 5.1 surround-sound system
Five PSB speakers and a subwoofer

The space is complete with a Blu-ray player and high-def cable receiver, but most viewing happens on the 26-inch Sharp LCD TV in the kitchen.

“We might have as many as 25 people over and everyone still likes to hang out here while I cook up a meal,” he says.

A 55-inch Fujitsu flat screen in the adjacent family room is another nearby viewing option, and both TVs can be controlled via RTI remote (identical to the one in the theater). Huebner can direct video from an Apple TV media server, cable box or a DVD player to either TV, or have music distributed from a CD player, AM/FM tuner, Apple TV and a good ’ol turntable to several Sonance Visual Performance speakers that are recessed into the ceiling.

The kitchen