Originally built in the ‘80s, this entertainment space was stuck in a time warp. “The situation was laughable,” says Marc Heubner of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Enhanced Home Systems. “There was a giant three-gun Zenith projector hanging from the ceiling. It was as big as a Volkswagon. Plus, it was capable of a 480 resolution. On a 12-foot screen, the scan lines looked as big as my thumb.” The sound system was no better, with a 5.1 setup consisting entirely of car speakers.

To the previous owners’ defense, this was a time before acoustically transparent screens and low-profile projectors and speakers. Still, given how infrequently the new homeowners were using the 14-by-18-foot space, it was well overdue for an update. Enhanced Home Systems would end up replacing everything, right down to the remote control.

Renovation projects are often difficult and laborious, and this one was no exception, says Heubner. In fact, the largest portion of the homeowners’ $25,000 budget was spent on labor. It could have been a lot worse, though, had the homeowner not built his own cabinetry. Those cabinets would not only keep construction costs down, but would serve as a template for the audio/video design. The 100-inch Stewart Filmscreen screen, for example, fits snugly inside the cabinet, as do a suite of Triad Bronze speakers.

In addition to fitting the cabinet, the equipment also had to fit the homeowners’ tight budget. “Given the size of the screen, it was going to be hard to produce a bright picture without spending a lot,” says Heubner. The homeowners were willing to sacrifice a bit on video performance, but went with a better speaker package.

Almost 10 percent of the budget, meanwhile, went towards a new remote control. “He liked the fact that the RTI remote had a web browser and we could fit a lot of icons on its screen,” Heubner explains. The sophistication of the remote, as well as the addition of modern electronics, easily brushed 20 years off this antiquated theater. It’s now planted it firmly in the present, where the owners can finally experience entertainment as it should be.

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About the Author:
Lisa Montgomery - Contributing Writer

Lisa Montgomery has been writing about home technology for 15 years, with a focus on the impact of electronics on a modern lifestyle.