Old World Movie Palace Home Theaters

http://www.hemagazine.com/taxonomy/term/40

Very cool to look at but would you ever use some of them? I think not, too large and claustraphobic. Most of the seating plans are terrible in all honesty.

 

I love this design because its vintage yet has a touch of modern in the archways. Personally I would have gone for some simpler windows and different sofa/recliners. Whats with the stupid ass phone

 

 

I would much rather see the homes. Some of them sound incredible.

Very cool to look at but would you ever use some of them? I think not, too large and claustraphobic. Most of the seating plans are terrible in all honesty.

 

Isnt that an oxymoron?

 

BATCAVE FTW!!!!

These all are SICK!

 

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...%26tbs%3Disch:1

Isnt that an oxymoron?

That was my immediate reaction.

Several more cool ones here... http://www.tktheaters.com/portfolio.html

Very cool to look at but would you ever use some of them? I think not, too large and claustraphobic. Most of the seating plans are terrible in all honesty.

 

I love this design because its vintage yet has a touch of modern in the archways. Personally I would have gone for some simpler windows and different sofa/recliners. Whats with the stupid ass phone

 

 

I would much rather see the homes. Some of them sound incredible.

 

Check this website: www.homesoftherich.net

 

As for the theater being too large, well what you do when you have this kind of money is have the big theater like this for family get-togethers, and then you have a smaller, more cozy custom theater for yourself

Isnt that an oxymoron?

 

 

Thought exactly same and opposite thing.

Kinda hard to explain...

 

Yes it's an oxymoron, maybe I should have explained in more detail. Do you guys never feel isolated in such vast rooms? Some of them look larger than your average Cinema.

 

If the room was filled with people I would feel claustraphobic because its very cramped. On the opposite end of that, if there is a handful of you, I would again feel claustraphobic because there is nothing around you.

 

I hate going to the movies if there is nobody else around, to me it just feels odd. In the same kinda way you wouldnt live in a large 6 bedroom house by yourself.

 

Rather than defining it as a "Phobia" it's not like I get the shakes, it's just an odd feeling.

 

When you get to the level of these high profile people and what-not, you would probably only use the theater once or twice a year anyway, inviting everybody you know: family, friends, business associates, your dr, dentist, tax consultant or whoever just for the sake of it.

 

However if I invited everybody I know it would probably fill only half the room, but would I want half of them there? No...

 

The Batcave is simply amazing and imo perfect, just WOW!

I'm sorry but the audiophile & videophile in me just simply do not get "theme" home theatres.

 

IMO and with all honesty, I dare say the majority of the owners are posers rather than actual hardcore HT fans. Sure, there is the "I got $$$$, I can and therefore I will" attitude. N/P, whatever turns their crank. But HT like these were built for the sake of showing them off to one's friends (enemies?) and relatives rather than for truly appreciating the advent of private HT technologies. Further argument would dictate that the owners simply want to recreate the ambience of the old school theatres and stages --- like owning/recreating a bit of nostalgia/classic in one's den; instead of being a videophile; just wanted to watch a movie in the right atmosphere so to speak. Ok, then why show it off in a HT-related magazine then?

 

To further prove my point, look at the the majority of the hardware --- hardly high-end calibre to tell the truth. Ok, the guy has a killer projector, but a Denon 3-series BD/DVD player? That's like having a Lambo V12 engine with the car running on Firestone tires! More precisely, it's actually like putting Pirelli P-Zero Corsa's on a Prius. Half the projector will be wasted and it will only reveal the short comings of the Denon. A LG plasma?! And 5.1 surround? Welcome to the 90's! It's 7.1 at the very least now; preferably 9.2. And I agree with Rix that the seating is quite terrible. The $6M theatre? I think I wrote about it before but that's just a joke altogether. You'll save a ton on the heating bill with all those huge McIntosh tube amps running and they aren't really that great. I know because I had 2 but ended up selling both because they don't sound good enough. And seating so close to such huge speakers is just completely wrong: you don't need to be an audiophile to tell that the sound will be like each of the speaker's driver unit has its own segregated sound rather than coming out as one single integrated and coherent sound from the speaker as a whole. In fact, looking at the hardware, I dare say it won't sound great altogether.

 

It looks cool --- the Batcave for example and I admit that. And if that's what they are after, congratulations. But it's a show piece of construction and ownership; the presentation of the facility itself is the pride and joy rather than what appears on the screen and comes out of the speakers. And that, to me at least, simply violates the principles of what a home theatre should be. Function should overrule form.

"I got $$$$, I can and therefore I will"

 

Maybe "I got $$$, so I can do it exactly the way I want it".

 

To further prove my point, look at the the majority of the hardware --- hardly high-end calibre to tell the truth. Ok, the guy has a killer projector, but a Denon 3-series BD/DVD player? That's like having a Lambo V12 engine with the car running on Firestone tires!

 

Probably not the owener's fault, just bad advisors. Also I'm guessing that 95% of people would not see the difference in sound/image quality the way you do.

VCR I agree totally. I do not have the knowledge that you do when it comes to all things technical but I can tell most of the hardware is fairly old. It could be an old article though judging by the phone in the picture I posted above.

 

Here are some cool modern themed HT

 

 

This has a nice old school feel to it but again, horrible seating.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5hS287HuHqs/SSRX...e+Theater+2.jpg

 

This Opera Theme looks and "feels" fantastic. It actually entices you in which the other "Palace" themed ones don't. This on a larger scale I wouldn't mind.

I'm sorry but the audiophile & videophile in me just simply do not get "theme" home theatres.

 

IMO and with all honesty, I dare say the majority of the owners are posers rather than actual hardcore HT fans. Sure, there is the "I got $$$$, I can and therefore I will" attitude. N/P, whatever turns their crank. But HT like these were built for the sake of showing them off to one's friends (enemies?) and relatives rather than for truly appreciating the advent of private HT technologies. Further argument would dictate that the owners simply want to recreate the ambience of the old school theatres and stages --- like owning/recreating a bit of nostalgia/classic in one's den; instead of being a videophile; just wanted to watch a movie in the right atmosphere so to speak. Ok, then why show it off in a HT-related magazine then?

 

To further prove my point, look at the the majority of the hardware --- hardly high-end calibre to tell the truth. Ok, the guy has a killer projector, but a Denon 3-series BD/DVD player? That's like having a Lambo V12 engine with the car running on Firestone tires! More precisely, it's actually like putting Pirelli P-Zero Corsa's on a Prius. Half the projector will be wasted and it will only reveal the short comings of the Denon. A LG plasma?! And 5.1 surround? Welcome to the 90's! It's 7.1 at the very least now; preferably 9.2. And I agree with Rix that the seating is quite terrible. The $6M theatre? I think I wrote about it before but that's just a joke altogether. You'll save a ton on the heating bill with all those huge McIntosh tube amps running and they aren't really that great. I know because I had 2 but ended up selling both because they don't sound good enough. And seating so close to such huge speakers is just completely wrong: you don't need to be an audiophile to tell that the sound will be like each of the speaker's driver unit has its own segregated sound rather than coming out as one single integrated and coherent sound from the speaker as a whole. In fact, looking at the hardware, I dare say it won't sound great altogether.

 

It looks cool --- the Batcave for example and I admit that. And if that's what they are after, congratulations. But it's a show piece of construction and ownership; the presentation of the facility itself is the pride and joy rather than what appears on the screen and comes out of the speakers. And that, to me at least, simply violates the principles of what a home theatre should be. Function should overrule form.

 

 

I agree with you on that aspect about function over form, and I also agree for the most part on the theme-based home theaters, not really my cup of tea. However, I LOVE the Old World movie palace-styled home theaters, they are fantastic I think. Just make sure to get some world-class hardware put in there as well.

 

Could it be however that maybe some of these home owners simply do not know any better and were given lousy advice on what kind of hardware to get? Are these guys who design the home theaters also experts on the hardware, or would one need to hire a separate "hardware expert" in addition to the theater designer (assuming one isn't an expert themself?).

I agree with you on that aspect about function over form, and I also agree for the most part on the theme-based home theaters, not really my cup of tea. However, I LOVE the Old World movie palace-styled home theaters, they are fantastic I think. Just make sure to get some world-class hardware put in there as well.

 

Could it be however that maybe some of these home owners simply do not know any better and were given lousy advice on what kind of hardware to get? Are these guys who design the home theaters also experts on the hardware, or would one need to hire a separate "hardware expert" in addition to the theater designer (assuming one isn't an expert themself?).

 

 

I also agree that the "atmosphere" of Old World-themed HT "looks" or likely "feels" good. But to get great sound and image is quite a different story altogether to which both science and art are required.

 

The majority of the owners IMO falls in 2 groups: (1) they know nothing about the hardware --- just do an awesome HT for me so I can show it off, i.e. I press one or a couple of buttons, lights dimmed, curtains drawn, big picture goes on and sound blasts out, tell me the total and here's a cheque. (2) Similar to 1 but with some brand knowledge on the hardware (buying for the name so to speak). I.e. a well-known name is more important than the actual quality.

 

The fact is, the designers either sell the hardware themselves or they partner with an electronics distributor. Henceforth, they "recommend" hardware that maximizes their profit. I.e. the margin on high-end gears are quite a bit less than the mainstream gears because the high-end gears are expensive to start with and, like exotic cars, they can be temperamental: i.e. issues on set up, synchronization and compatibility. It takes a trained expert to match everything well and the tech himself has to have the passion for the thing (rather than just doing his job, hence, the "art" that I was referring to) in order to get that last nth degree of "correctness". Bottom line: making a quick buck from someone who really doesn't know what HT is.

 

Rix, the ambiance is definitely there. The last one: very nice but that's a "theatre", not a home theatre!

 

Nath4n: Agreed. I also admit that I am most likely the minority but it really is not difficult given the opportunity to have a side-by-side comparison. As you say, likely bad advices (see above on profits) but the owner should take some onus too.

 

At the end of the day, people who own these things are, by majority, motivated by the room decor, i.e. the "sight" of the room itself rather than the video and audio of what the room should demonstrate.

I'm sorry but the audiophile & videophile in me just simply do not get "theme" home theatres.

 

IMO and with all honesty, I dare say the majority of the owners are posers rather than actual hardcore HT fans. Sure, there is the "I got $$$$, I can and therefore I will" attitude. N/P, whatever turns their crank. But HT like these were built for the sake of showing them off to one's friends (enemies?) and relatives rather than for truly appreciating the advent of private HT technologies. Further argument would dictate that the owners simply want to recreate the ambience of the old school theatres and stages --- like owning/recreating a bit of nostalgia/classic in one's den; instead of being a videophile; just wanted to watch a movie in the right atmosphere so to speak. Ok, then why show it off in a HT-related magazine then?

 

To further prove my point, look at the the majority of the hardware --- hardly high-end calibre to tell the truth. Ok, the guy has a killer projector, but a Denon 3-series BD/DVD player? That's like having a Lambo V12 engine with the car running on Firestone tires! More precisely, it's actually like putting Pirelli P-Zero Corsa's on a Prius. Half the projector will be wasted and it will only reveal the short comings of the Denon. A LG plasma?! And 5.1 surround? Welcome to the 90's! It's 7.1 at the very least now; preferably 9.2. And I agree with Rix that the seating is quite terrible. The $6M theatre? I think I wrote about it before but that's just a joke altogether. You'll save a ton on the heating bill with all those huge McIntosh tube amps running and they aren't really that great. I know because I had 2 but ended up selling both because they don't sound good enough. And seating so close to such huge speakers is just completely wrong: you don't need to be an audiophile to tell that the sound will be like each of the speaker's driver unit has its own segregated sound rather than coming out as one single integrated and coherent sound from the speaker as a whole. In fact, looking at the hardware, I dare say it won't sound great altogether.

 

It looks cool --- the Batcave for example and I admit that. And if that's what they are after, congratulations. But it's a show piece of construction and ownership; the presentation of the facility itself is the pride and joy rather than what appears on the screen and comes out of the speakers. And that, to me at least, simply violates the principles of what a home theatre should be. Function should overrule form.

 

I agree with everything here.

 

Al, the hardcore audio/videophile market is so small relative to the other ways one can spend lots of money that sadly this will continue to be the norm.

 

A dream theater to me would be an acoustically optimized room with every channel with big woofers (ported or horn loaded) and horn loaded compression drivers run off high quality tube amps, and a few horn loaded subwoofer cabinets. The dynamic range and low frequency extension should be out of this world, and I don't see any reason why the best commercial movie theater setups can't be beaten in this regard especially considering the advantage of using a smaller room.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot...we need a screen.

 

Whatever works best to complement the room...and then use tasteful furnishings to finish the room and call it a day.

 

FWIW, the theater room may need to be in a special part of the house or in a separate building and perhaps a little more structurally reinforced than usual.

 

Watching an action movie in this room will be an experience sure to be remembered, even if it looks boring.

So when I get rich and build my home theater, I will need to hire a home theater design expert and then a hardcore audiophile person and have them work together??

A dream theater to me would be an acoustically optimized room with every channel with big woofers (ported or horn loaded) and horn loaded compression drivers run off high quality tube amps, and a few horn loaded subwoofer cabinets. The dynamic range and low frequency extension should be out of this world, and I don't see any reason why the best commercial movie theater setups can't be beaten in this regard especially considering the advantage of using a smaller room.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot...we need a screen.

 

Whatever works best to complement the room...and then use tasteful furnishings to finish the room and call it a day.

 

FWIW, the theater room may need to be in a special part of the house or in a separate building and perhaps a little more structurally reinforced than usual.

 

Watching an action movie in this room will be an experience sure to be remembered, even if it looks boring.

 

You are building an ultra-wide dynamic range system for jazz club music; not a HT. Tube gears can't "catch-up" with the rise time on the sudden frequency extensions. High-power solid state amps driving horns will make your ears bleed and low-power class-A one's, though good, moots the point. Keep in mind that 90% of the HT sound is effect, not music. The bass would be overwhelming --- you would "feel" it more than you hear it. And yes, added structural reinforcement would help I agree 100% on "whatever works best to complement the room...and then use tasteful furnishings to finish the room and call it a day."

 

So when I get rich and build my home theater, I will need to hire a home theater design expert and then a hardcore audiophile person and have them work together??

 

Well, you can always hire me. Seriously, no, you need not. To start with, if you are truly hardcore, a HT and a music room should never be together (sorry, you'll need 2 rooms). Contrary to what most say, current technologies have not successfully merged HT & hi-fi together yet. There's a huge difference between 2-channel hi-fi and multi-speakers DSP/time delayed sound effects. As afore-said in the last paragraph, 90% of HT's sound is effect, not music. So different application using different speakers altogether. And no, we don't have a true "universal" speaker either. In a nutshell, a "musical" speaker for music won't be able to reproduce proper sound effects for the movie; and a monitor speaker (for the HT) would make music rather "boring" (unless the music is superbly recorded). There are a few speakers which come close to doing both but there are very few and all are $$$ (try 5-figure per piece). Anyway, if it's just a HT you want, it's actually quite a bit easier. Any rectangular size room with a relatively high ceiling will do. A $80 sound meter can be a great help in setting up the speaker system. There are also plenty of software available for every budget that can help you on dialing in the proper acoustics. Some gears even have built-in software, signal generator and setup mic to assist. But you get what you paid for: more $ = better program/algorithm = better sound. But if you want to do a theme HT, that's a complete different story and from my posts above, you know I'm not thrilled about that. You can spend a silly amount of money to create a visually stunning room (i.e. the decor of the room) with mediocre sound & vision. I have yet to experience a room which is both visually stunning in both decor & video + amazing audio. Or you can spent the same silly amount of money on high-end HT hardware to guarantee a stunning HT performance. The last part can involve the room itself: not so much on the decor but the "room hardware":

 

e.g. dedicated & isolated AC circuitry for "clean" and stable power supply (separate circuits between amps, projector & front end gears). OFC AC wiring. Hospital or military-grade AC receptacles (the metals can be rhodium plated OFC and cryogenically-treated). Isolated light switches (no dimmers, fluorescent or power-smart bulbs as they degrade the sound). And that's just the room's electric supply. The list goes on... even the carpet, underlay and the door can and will play a role.

 

2-channel esoteric high-end hi-fi is a lot more complicated but could also be interpreted as a lot more fun pending on one's perspective. Add a turntable and the fun really begins...

 

A reputable hi-end hi-fi store nowadays is 99% guaranteed to involve hi-end HT as well. They would also have either an in-house design team or engineer to build the HT, i.e. completely gut out a room and start fresh; or to build the HT from the ground up in a new house. They would more than likely "encourage" you to buy the brands that they carry but this is where "reputable" comes in. If they are serious, then they should & would carry good gears to match up a great system or, for a fee, willing to get the gears of your choice and match them up correctly for you.

I have no idea of much of what you just said on the technical stuff, I have some learning to do!

 

However I wasn't referring to combining a home theater and music room, I just meant in order to get a great interior design COMBINED with fantastic hardware, would you want to hire a good designer and also hire an audiophile professional and have them work together to create the theater?

I have no idea of much of what you just said on the technical stuff, I have some learning to do!

 

However I wasn't referring to combining a home theater and music room, I just meant in order to get a great interior design COMBINED with fantastic hardware, would you want to hire a good designer and also hire an audiophile professional and have them work together to create the theater?

 

No problem. Hope you will enjoy it when the time comes.

 

I am aware of that and I think I answered your question in the last paragraph on my last post. The short answer is no; a reputable hi-end hi-fi store would also do HT and they should take care of everything from room design to hardware selection. Bringing a friend who's an audiophile/videophile when you visit the store would help immensely though as he can advise you on whether or not you are being ripped off and/or he keeps the store sales on their toes.

Coolbeans, thanks for all the information

Tube gears can't "catch-up" with the rise time on the sudden frequency extensions. High-power solid state amps driving horns will make your ears bleed and low-power class-A one's, though good, moots the point. Keep in mind that 90% of the HT sound is effect, not music. The bass would be overwhelming --- you would "feel" it more than you hear it.

 

Isn't classical music as demanding or more demanding than movie soundtracks? Tubes & classical go together.....now tubes can't keep up with explosions?

 

Yeah, I can settle for it's all about the sub & midbass....lots of cone area, enclosure volume and good amplification. Bottom line here is that I would imagine most of this would be custom (enclosures)....

 

 

Isn't classical music as demanding or more demanding than movie soundtracks? Tubes & classical go together.....now tubes can't keep up with explosions?

 

Yeah, I can settle for it's all about the sub & midbass....lots of cone area, enclosure volume and good amplification. Bottom line here is that I would imagine most of this would be custom (enclosures)....

 

 

Yes & no. "Explosive" classical music has high transient from the likes of large tympani and cymbal. (Ok, Tchaikovsky's 1812 has cannons ) But most are short lived. Tube gears are mostly low wattage but with high current (which also explains why most tube gears need higher quality parts to handle the high current swing). This also justify why tube gears go so well with dipole panel speakers which are high-current demanding by nature. But the slew rate of tube circuitry simply cannot match that of its transistors counterpart. Solid state gears are mostly high wattage but with relatively low current. Some esoteric high-end SS amps are "discovering" the importance of current now (such as the Krell Reference series); but you know those are $$$$! High wattage driving monitor type speakers for HT is more ideal since most sound effects on a movie sound track have longer duration than the crash of a cymbal. To achieve the same kind of "drive" from a tube amp, you will need a lot of output tubes plus huge transformers on the amps or --- if they are of OTL design --- even many many more tubes. Size, weight, cost, heat, safety and maintenance --- it should be obvious by now; whereas a Class AB or Class D SS amp can drive the monitors through the roof in multi-channels but cool enough to touch and with a footprint about 2/3 the size of a standard microwave oven. Can't speak much of the sound quality but remember we are talking about sound effects, not music. What you described is more or less like that guy with the multi-McIntosh tube amps which I LOL'ed a few post above. And what would you really rather have --- pairs and pairs of KT88's or 6550's for a powerful yet fairly coarse sound? Or a pair of 300B's or EL34's for a slightly reserved but extremely refined sound? But the 300B just isn't designed to be or have the capability of continuously high output which a HT system will be demanding. Don't think you want to replace 7 pairs of 300B's after just watching The Dark Knight, Ironman, Terminator Salvation and Spiderman 3. That cost alone for the "regular quality 300B's --- i.e. don't even think about the new Western Electric ones --- is enough to get a mediocre 7.1 HDMI v1.3b receiver altogether.

 

 

WheelsRCool: you are very welcome.

Hey VCR, what is a good place to start learning about all this stuff? Are there books I can learn from...?