Tips From The Top

In a recent Residential Systems article, writer Sam Cavitt asks the question, will upscale home theaters go the way of the wild salmon? He describes how hatcheries – the lowest common denominator of salmon – have resulted in swelling salmon populations, but have overrun the great wild salmon, the most majestic of the fish. Regarding private home theaters, Cavitt wonders, will the mundane overcome the magnificent?

A brief browse on the Internet or through your local big box store will prove there’s a lot of low-cost, low-end home theater tech out there. It’s entirely possible to assemble a low-shelf ad-hoc home theater of gadgets that don’t quite work together, don’t quite give you the overall home cinema experience you want. It’s the “good enough” home theater.

Then there’s the premier home theater, a private cinema to match the aesthetics and values of the smart home owner and the elite standards of today's film-making industry.

Cavitt argues that since cinema is art, it should be valued as such – and given its proper place as a luxury pursuit. He quotes Renzo Piano, architect of the Motion Picture Academy Museum which is set to open this year in Los Angeles. “Moviemaking is the most complete, truly contemporary art form,” says Piano. “It brings narrative, acting, scenery, lighting, sound, and music together into the most marvelous machine for emotion.”

Fortunately for luxury home owners, a home cinema to fully showcase the art of cinema is not only possible, it’s one of the best parts of having an integrated smart home. Imagine a room in your home completely devoted to audio-video pleasure, with a top-of-the-line screen that best shows the work of premier film directors, in the way the film was meant to be seen. Imagine an audio system that engulfs you in sound; the sound of thunder in the film can actually fill the space around you, changing in distance and shape the way thunder does in real life. With a home cinema, you get to decide how the technology fits with your home’s design aesthetic and personal tastes, seamlessly integrating the hardware for a pleasing image all around.

And one of the best parts of a home cinema, Cavitt points out, is that it’s meant to be shared. Unlike solitary luxury items (he mentions how Paul Newman’s Rolex sold for almost $18M), the luxury home cinema is an experience to be had over and over, shared with family and friends.

To learn more about what a luxury private home cinema could offer you and your family, call us at Jackson Hole AV. We’d love to discuss the possibilities.