Even though this installation was a won as a prize package, the installation process for the Ludlow's will be mostly the same. As with all new theaters, the first and most important step is meeting to define requirements for various elements, including:

• Desired Environment (or "Feel")
  A theater or media room is a place in your home, and should fit into your lifestyle. We discussed with the Ludlow's how they planned on using their new theater, to determine the best way to lay out the room and the equipment.
  The Ludlows really wanted the true theater experience, so we recommended that they go with a projector and a screen, as opposed to a plasma or rear-projection TV. Neither of those technologies would give a large enough screen size for the real theater feel.


• Desired Usage
  The way you are going to use the room can also help your installer to define the room. If your room is dedicated for watching movies and TV, we can design much differently than if the room has a lot of traffic, or will be used for different functions.
  The theater room here would have some traffic throughout, but not much traffic up front. This allowed us to use floor-standing speakers up front (providing the best possible sound for the left, center, and right audio). For the rear surround speakers, we used in-ceiling speakers that were matched in capability to the front. This kept the rear of the room free of clutter.
• Budget Limitations
  While we knew the budget for this job, this is always an important requirement. Home Theaters can come in a large price range, depending on several factors. From small media rooms to large, dedicated cinemas seating a dozen or more people, these rooms can vary in price from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars.
  This job had a budget of around $10,000, which allowed us to provide some very nice equipment, while still keeping the entire theater balanced.
• Personal Style
  Finally, your own sense of style defines many smaller touches to the room. For example, some home theater owners like to show off the equipment, while others would rather keep the room as clean as possible.
  The electronics in the Ludlow theater were installed in a nearby closet. This allowed the room to be free of some clutter, and really helped the room to feel like a real theater. The equipment is then operated by a custom-programmed wireless remote, which allows the system to be easily controlled from anywhere in the theater.

Now that we've designed the system, we are waiting to begin the next phase. The room is nearly finished, so the only wait in this job is due to ordering products and syncing up with XM and Polk Audio. Check back to see how we wire the room for the theater!