From the October 1994 issue of HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY If You Like What You See Here, Don't Miss The Real Thing! Subscribe Today To HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY Magazine On Newstands everywhere or Call (800) 264-9872 To Subscribe - $23.95 For A Full Year The Ziegfeld Classic architecture and state-of-the-art technology make this New Jersey Home a spectacular movie house. Story by Rebecca Day Eric Eidelman leads me past a work-in-progress home theater heÕs finishing in a magnificent contemporary home in northern New Jersey. ÒNice,Ó I tell him, before he whisks me away, saying that particular theater wonÕt be ready for awhile. Across the hall, we pause at a spot next to the kitchen that might be a dining area in a typical home. But this home is far from typical, and thereÕs no dining furniture in sight. Instead, the space is an airy, pearl-white theater with a 12-foot screen, Sony video projector, and Audio Design Associates (ADA) multiroom audio/video system. Eidelman presses a TV icon on the cyberspace-age AMX touchscreen controller, and the shades resting atop oversized windows roll down gently, perfectly choreographed and surprisingly quiet, while the TV automatically tunes to HBO. I position myself to sit down in one of the cushy seats for the movie (and the interview) when Eidelman, owner of Audio/Video Interiors, Ltd., a New Jersey-based custom-installation company, ushers me away. ÒItÕs not this one either,Ó he says as we leave the to-die-for theater for another which, he assures me, is even more spectacular. After a quick flight down a winding staircaseÑthe owners usually take the elevator for a more dramatic entranceÑwe arrive at a different place in a different time: Radio City Music Hall, circa 1930. Ahead are lights: fiber optics, chase lights, sconces, neon. This is not a theater; itÕs a theatrical experience. ItÕs the Ziegfield, by Kalomirakis. A composite of Art DŽco design elementsÑreproductions of elevator doors from the recently dismantled Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles, an original RenŽ Lalique Vendome chandelier, and various reproductions from the Radio City Music Hall CollectionÑare vintage Kalomirakis. ThatÕs Theo KalomirakisÑtheater architect and owner of Theatre Design AssociatesÑwho has devoted the latest chapter of his career to the creation of spectacular, off-the-scale home theaters in DŽco and other classic styles. Often featured in publications such as Architectural Digest and Audio/Video Interiors, Kalomirakis theaters are authentic, serious, and very expensive. ÒI create an environment, not just a theater,Ó he says. Kalomirakis, a devotee of faithful reproductions, feels compelled to point out that the soda fountain and concession case in the foyer are not authentic to the DŽco period. ÒTheyÕre anachronisms,Ó he confesses. ÒThey didnÕt have concessions in those days, but now theyÕre part of the theater vernacular. Today, you have to have a concession, so I made it blend in as much as possible.Ó From the neon and fiber optics-lit hallway, over the marble floor tiles with laser-cut triangles of stainless steel, past the movie poster cases (all with original posters from the 1930Õs and 40Õs, which Kalomirakis snared at auctions and antique poster shops) to the box office where the soft-sculpture ticket seller sits frozen in a bored stare, you are transfixed by the Kalomirakis experience. As you stand outside the entrance, you canÕt help but wonder whether the show can live up to the showcase. It does. You donÕt cruise into this theater, prop your feet up on an ottoman, and point the remote at the TV. First-timers are treated to Entry Mode, which Eidelman has programmed into the AMX control system. At the touch of an onscreen icon, the 20th Century Fox fanfare begins to play, the lights dim, and the projector eases down from its hiding spot in the pewter-leafed plaster ceiling. The AMX control panel asks you to select a source, and if youÕre smart, you pick laserdisc. The deep red curtain, also from the Radio City collection, parts to reveal a second, black curtain studded with hundreds of tiny fiber-optic lights that twinkle like stars in the firmament. To the left and right are floor-to-ceiling strings of fiber-optic lights, which the owners can program to appear in one of six colors. Footlights guide your way to the foyer. On this day, the feature film is Cliffhanger. A helicopter comes from somewhere behind me; I can feel the thumping whirl of the copter blades, thanks to a quartet of Boston Acoustics subwoofers mounted into the floor under my seat. As the chopper roars over my head towards the screen, I canÕt help but duck. ItÕs the you-are-there realism that gets the owner of this system every time. His laserdisc collection numbers somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 titles; out of those heÕs watched about 1,500 movies. It might have been a lot more except for Terminator 2, which has had more than a few feature showings in the Ziegfield. ÒThe special effects in that movie are incredible,Ó the owner says. ÒWhen thereÕs breaking glass in the first scene, itÕs like youÕre standing right there.Ó The equipment for this cozy 15-seat theater is built into the left wall with service access provided by a small closet behind. In the closet are the various amplifiers, processors, and computer cards that make this extremely complicated system invisible and idiot-proof. Soundtracks are reproduced by a JBL Synthesis One Home THX Audio system. The left, center, and right front-channel speakers are mounted just as they are at your local movie houseÑdirectly behind the video screen, which is perforated to allow sound to pass through. Also located behind the screen are a pair of JBL Pro subwoofers that complement the Boston subs under the seats. ÒThe owner is a bass fanatic,Ó says Kevin Alexander, vice president of Audio Video Interiors, Ltd., adding that the room was also better served by the megadose of low-end frequencies. To extract as much bottom end as possible out of the subs, the installers added an Audio Design Associates (ADA) parametric bass amplifier. ÒIt allows them to drive the subs to ridiculously wonderful levels,Ó Alexander says. A THX-certified ADA surround-sound processor substitutes for the JBL packageÕs Fosgate-made unit. The ADA processor Ògave us the most flexibility in terms of the parameters we could set,Ó Alexander explains. That extra measure of flexibility helped solve a difficult equalization problem created when the cavity for the ticket booth on the outside of the theater made for less-than-optimum speaker placement inside the theater. The company also went to ADA for the audio/video switcher used in the system. Again, Alexander says, flexibility was the issue. ÒThe switcherÕs RS-232 interface made it compatible with the AMX touchpanel, and because itÕs a true matrix switcher, it can route audio or video signals anywhere. For the owners, that translates to easy access to any audio or video sources at any time via the touchscreen.Ó Pictures are courtesy of a Sony VPH-125IQ projector, which is well-disguised. In order to be able to hide more of the projector in the motorized lift in the ceiling, Eidelman modified the projector for a steep-angle convergence. A Faroudja LD100 line doubler boosts the resolution of the featured videos to near-film quality. There are two laserdisc players, a Pioneer Elite CLD-97 and a Panasonic LX-900. This saves the owners from having to get up to change discs on multiple-disc sets. It also allows a second movie to be cued up to the intro credits, bypassing the unceremonious FBI warnings and any extraneous material that might disturb the theater atmosphere. A Sony S-VHS VCR serves the tape collection, which numbers upward of 4,500 videocassettes. The tapes and laserdiscs are stored in a software library just outside the theater. Lined from floor to ceiling with nine shelves of laserdiscs and tapes, the library meanders down a long, well-lit corridor that winds around the lower level of the house. The collection is Òalphabetized, of course; otherwise, it would be overwhelming,Ó says the owner, who estimates he buys nine out of every ten new laserdiscs that are released. After the credits roll, a part of the show remains. If the nightÕs entertainment is over, the owner presses ÒoffÓ on the AMX touchscreen, setting into motion a series of events: the curtains close, the projector retreats to its nesting spot in the ceiling, and the lights fade out gently over 45 seconds, giving the audience a comfortable period to file out into the lobby. Then maybe itÕs out to the foyer for a chat on one of the Dakota Jackson lounges or to the soda fountain for a fabulous sundae. Then, maybe, itÕs time to hit the dining-room theater for a second dessert. © 1994 Home Theater Technology Magazine From the October 1994 issue of HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY If You Like What You See Here, Don't Miss The Real Thing! Subscribe Today To HOME THEATER TECHNOLOGY Magazine On Newstands everywhere or Call (800) 264-9872 To Subscribe - $23.95 For A Full Year