Taking the Big View The ceiling-mounted Yamaha DPX-1300 DLP projector (foreground) beams its image onto a custom-made 140-inch diagonal Stewart FireHawk screen.

A lot of us dream of having a room of our own, separate from all the activities of daily life, that can be transformed into a home theater where we can enjoy watching our favorite movies. But a dedicated home theater can have its drawbacks — especially when the rest of the family feels like the room is off-limits and you find yourself doing most of your movie-watching alone. Also, having to go down to the basement or to some far-flung area of the house every time you want to check out a flick can take the spontaneity out of the experience, turning an enjoyable activity into a bit of a chore.

Some enthusiasts are rethinking the whole idea of a dedicated room, instead creating spaces that, while optimized for watching HDTV and DVDs, are still inviting to other members of the family. That was the case with a Palisades, New York homeowner, who recently built an addition to his house that features a roomy, comfortable theater with a front projector and large screen, a fully functional bar area, and an area for playing poker, complete with its own 42-inch plasma TV. "I've been to other people's home theaters and it seems like they're underused," says the homeowner. "If you're not watching a movie, no one uses the room. I wanted a theater where I could have friends over and play cards, have cocktails, or watch TV."

Installer Barry Weiner, owner of Hudson Valley Home Media, the Sparkill, New York-based company that performed the installation, elaborates. "You can have the front lights down, the drapes closed, play poker in the back, and have both the plasma and the projector on. Or the room can be completely darkened and used as a home theater. It's a multipurpose space."

Since the room is used mainly for watching TV and movies, the video display was the most critical decision. When the installation was done, the largest available plasma TV had a 65-inch screen, which wasn't big enough to give the homeowner the movie-house effect he was looking for. "If you go bigger than the largest plasma, you want a front projector," says Weiner, "because then the size of the screen isn't dictated by how much money you spend, but by how far the projector is from the screen."

Up Close & Personal Essentially creating a room within the larger room, the back of this home theater includes a poker table with its own 42-inch NEC plasma HDTV and a bar area.

Mounted on the ceiling, Yamha's flagship DPX-1300 DLP projector ($12,496) beams images to a custom-made 140-inch diagonal (that's nearly 12 feet!) Stewart FireHawk screen ($5,500), the kind used by many neighborhood megaplexes. "It's an oh-my-God, mouth-hanging-open experience," Weiner promises.

The Stewart screen is positioned above a small stage — an unusual and dramatic approach, but one taken for purely practical reasons. "There's a huge boulder there that the contractor couldn't remove," Weiner explains with a laugh. "It's called Rockland County for a reason. So we just built a stage around it."

Since the homeowner and his two younger children really like to be up close to the action, a row of black-leather Berkline home theater loungers rests just 9 feet from the screen — which can make viewers feel like they're sitting in a roller coaster. For his wife, daughter, and anyone who prefers not to sit so close, a large, comfortable sofa is positioned 12 feet from the screen. Game systems and laptop computers can be connected to the system via a panel hidden beneath a hatch in the riser area, with all the action displayed on the big screen.

With the master bedroom sitting right above the home theater, it was important to make sure the surround sound system could deliver the appropriate wallop in the theater without rattling the bedroom's rafters. Fabric-padded walls and an acoustic-block ceiling provide all the necessary dampening. And rather than use a massive, high-power subwoofer placed at the front of the room, Weiner placed two ultra-compact, 1,500-watt Sunfire True Subwoofer Super Juniors ($995 each) next to the seating areas.

Comfort Zone The room features three black-leather Berkline home theater loungers for those who like to sit close to the onscreen action, and a large couch for those who prefer to maintain a comfortable distance.

Sound for the left and right front channels comes from B&W Signature 805 speakers ($1,750 each) on stands placed on the stage on either side of the screen. The Stewart screen's perforated material allows the Sonance Silhouette II center speaker ($2,400) to be placed out of view behind it.

Two rows of three Sonance 623TR ceiling speakers ($399 a pair), with one set over each seating area, handle the surround channels. "The perfect setup is when you're sitting down and the sound for the surrounds is coming from just behind you," says Weiner. "By using two sets of speakers, you hear the optimum surround sound and get exactly the same effect no matter where you sit. It's a true theater."

On the other side of the wall from the bar area is the equipment closet, which holds the A/V gear for the entire house, not just the home theater. Here the dual component-video outputs on a Yamaha RX-Z9 digital surround receiver ($4,499) feed the same signal to both the Yamaha projector and the NEC XM3 plasma HDTV ($2,799) by the poker table.

The homeowner decided not to have the option of feeding different signals to the front projector and the plasma TV. "I didn't want the sound to be confusing, and I didn't want to deal with two inputs — and I don't regret that decision. When I have friends over, there's not a bad seat in the room. If we're playing cards, even if somebody is sitting with his back to the big screen, he's got a great view of the plasma TV. Nobody ever has to miss a play when we're watching a football game because you can look at the big screen, the plasma, or both."

Control Central Components for the home theater include Yamaha's flagship RX-Z9 receiver (bottom shelf, left). Attached to the wall are routers for the home network and whole-house A/V system.

Lighting control for the room has been set up to enhance its multiple uses, whether it's a low-key gathering at the bar, a high-stakes card game at the poker table, or movie night. Weiner has filled a Philips ProntoPro TSU7500 color touchscreen remote ($1,000) with a variety of macros so it's easy for anyone in the family to control the lights, the projector, the plasma, or any other aspect of the room and its system with the click of a single icon.

Its versatility, ease of use, and many comforts have turned this space into an attractive destination for the whole family. Still, for all of its uses, the massive screen, state-of-the-art projector, and enveloping surround sound make it clear that the room is first and foremost a home theater.

THE GEAR

•Yamaha DPX-1300 DLP projector •Stewart FireHawk 140-inch (diagonal) projection screen •NEC XM3 42-inch plasma HDTV •B&W Signature 805 front left/right speakers •Sonance Silhouette II center speaker •3 pairs of Sonance 623TR ceiling speakers •2 Sunfire True Subwoofer Super Junior subwoofers •Onkyo DV-SP502 DVD player •DirecTV H20 high-definition satellite receiver •DirecTV Plus DVR •Yamaha RX-Z9 digital surround receiver •Philips ProntoPro TSU7500 color touchscreen remote

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