First came the family room with the color TV. Then, in the `70s, it was the media room with the really big color TV. Now the really big color TV takes pride of place in what the electronics people call the ”home theater”: all manner of interconnected audio and video equipment, often housed in custom-designed cabinetry and pulsating with Dolby surround sound, just like at the best movie theaters.
In fact, sales and rentals of videos hit the $11 billion mark last year, surpassing the $5 billion box office take. VCRs and state-of-the-art audio systems have had an enormous impact, and the changes wrought are as much about design and lifestyle as technology.
There even is a new national trade group, less than a year old, called the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association, which requires its members to be licensed, insured and operating for at least two years. It also includes manufacturers such as Sony and Mitsubishi. And the organization`s membership is taking off, growing by 25 percent in the first two months of this year alone.
Audio and video ”components and systems now are enjoying feature status” in the home, said Chris Esse of Audio/Video Interiors, a new, glossy bimonthly publication that spotlights drop-dead interiors as it touts top-of- the-line equipment. ”They`re no longer shunned by everyone as terribly difficult to use-awkward, high-tech boxes that generate as much fear as they do entertainment.”
Indeed, as the technology advances, ease of use is becoming a higher priority among electronics manufacturers. But styling has been less critical. ”Every time we do a survey and ask what`s important,” said Bruce Huber, vice president of marketing for Zenith Electronics Corp., ”styling finishes dead last. Ninety-two percent want picture quality, followed by brand preference, sound, price and so forth.”
Most attempts at styling have been modest, with the exception of the pioneering design and technology of Bang & Olufsen and a few others. A few years back, Sharp tried vibrant colors for its TVs, dishing up a range of offbeat hues. Maybe too offbeat: The more neutral almond was scooped up more than strawberry or pistachio.
Black is the hot ticket these days, part of the clean, minimal design pegged Eurostyle that dominates the market. Sleek Eurostyle components can disappear into cabinetry or be displayed, freestanding, for their sculptural or architectural form.
Eurostyle minimalism has overtaken attempts by TV manufacturers to disguise the set. ”Big screens used to be embodied into cabinets,” Huber said. ”But consumers don`t want to take up space with their televisions. Now TVs have been disembodied so consumers can put them into cabinetry of their own choosing.”
Console televisions still sell, but most television manufacturers have left aesthetics to the furniture manufacturers. The problem of where to put all the electronics first was addressed with simple carts or low cabinets, then with the still-popular wall systems, which allow you to mix open and closed shelving and create a configuration to suit your needs.
These days, the wall system has been taken a step farther by custom manufacturers who will design one to your precise specifications.
Any number of armoires have been fitted with swiveling tables, requisite shelves for VCRs, slots for audio- and videotapes and chests that allow TVs to rise from within. Henredon is one manufacturer that even custom installers laud for its adept tailoring for pieces of audio and video equipment.
In spite of such innovations, another problem lingers: how to hide the speakers. Interior designers long have fretted about how to disguise the basic rectangular box that houses those woofers and tweeters. Some have painted them or given them fancy finishes, then changed the fabric on the fronts to blend in.
Speakers as art
Some even have tried to design speakers that themselves are objets d`art. Pearl and Oakley Acoustics developed a ceramic speaker shaped like a ginger jar. The Cerca Victoria speaker stands 35 inches high and radiates sound in a 360-degree pattern. Reviews of its sound quality have been mixed. The speakers are priced by the pair at $1,495 and are distributed by the Asti Nikko Technology Corp. of America.
Nearly four dozen manufacturers have decided to go the route of no-fashion fashion, with unobtrusive, cabinetless, wireless loudspeakers in the wall. Sonance led the way about four years ago. What`s perceptible is only the grille covering, which is mounted flush. When walls are papered or painted in fancy finishes, all it takes is an artist to duplicate the pattern, and-voila-the speaker all but disappears.
This more affordable option is borrowed from what arguably is the biggest happening in audio and video design: custom installation (Fosgate`s 5-inch, two-way speakers run about $300 a pair). Industry sources estimate that consumers will spend more than $250 million on custom-installed home electronics this year.
Many custom installers combine technical expertise with design know-how and craftsmanship, often collaborating with interior designers, architects and builders. Most installers will work within a budget; average installations cost $20,000, but ”really fabulous systems,” in the words of one member of the custom electronic association, are $50,000 and up. What you get is a sophisticated home theater-big screen, surround sound, audio options-plus the ability to interconnect rooms.
”Audio-visual systems are becoming more an integral part of the home rather than an afterthought,” said Yves Richarz of Interior Systems Design Inc. in Burbank, Calif. ”There`s no reason you can`t enjoy music from your main system while you`re cooking in the kitchen.”
Audio components are nearly invisible in some installations. In the gracious living room of baseball star Jack Clark of the San Diego Padres, where the walls mimic marble, Phoenix System installers mounted speakers in a soffit above the windows.
In the family room of the same home, a motorized lift brings the Sony TV up for viewing. The bass sound comes out of the recessed area beneath the custom-built cabinetry, and the other speakers also are cleverly concealed.
Everything blends
Some of the most artful work integrates systems into the decor. A media room designed by Audio Command Systems of Rockville Centre, Long Island, is architecturally pristine, with glass block used as a nearly sculptural element, and high-gloss laminate and stone seemingly scored in gridlike patterns. All audio and video equipment has been kept flush or hidden in the wall, echoing the surrounding geometric and horizontal elements.
Esse of A/V Interiors is convinced that such ”whole-house” equipment eventually will filter down. Indeed, nationwide, home builders are pushing audio-video packages because wiring is much easier during construction. A basic package (large-screen TV, VCR and extension speakers throughout) may cost as little as $5,000.
”Twenty years ago you might have had just one phone,” said spokesman Richard Roher of the custom electronic association. ”Today, many people have phone jacks in every room. Ten years from now you might not buy a home without a central audio or video system.”
Yet, as technology advances, you may not have to build in such a system. Last year Bose, which enjoys an excellent reputation for its loudspeakers`
acoustical quality and design, came up with its Residential Sound system, a custom stereo interface that permits operation of your own conventional hi-fi components with sets of Bose speakers throughout the house.
Amplified and equalized Bose speakers for each room range from $400 to $2,000 per pair installed; the interface costs $450.
Smart houses
Taking the whole-house idea yet further is a project on the horizon called Smart House, a new wiring scheme that will, in effect, manage all the electrical needs within the home: lighting, heating, air conditioning, audio, video and security.
Through a common system, the homeowner would be able to operate almost anything by remote control. And, in what seems to be a notion dreamed up by Isaac Asimov, everything in the system would be capable of ”talking” to other elements of the network.
”That eliminates the need for 10 different subcontractors to do the job,” said Richarz of Interior Systems Design. There`s a safety bonus, too.
”An outlet would not be live until you put a device into it that identifies it and how much power it needs. If a child stuck his finger into it, the outlet wouldn`t recognize that.”
One manufacturer currently offers a similar system based on a 13-inch television with a touch-screen overlay that controls heat, air, security and lighting but not audio-video; it costs $15,000 to $25,000.
Some major players are participating in ”smart house” development:
General Electric, Westinghouse, Honeywell. For such a system to be successful, Richarz said, manufacturers must keep it simple.
”There is a system called Home Minder that was introduced for $700 and now is sold at Radio Shack for $100,” Richarz said. ”It allows you to control lamps and appliances by plugging a module into the wall and the appliance into the module. But it`s extremely cumbersome. If you are sitting in the media room and you wanted the lights on, you might have to go through 16 different functions.
For now, Richarz said, ”if it`s easier for me to walk across the room and turn on the light, that`s what I`m going to do.”
System sources
For more information about sound and vision systems for the home, here is a list of sources:
– Asti Nikko Technology Corp. of America, 5816 Corporate Ave., Suite 170, Cypress, Calif. 90630; 714-821-3875.
– Audio Command Systems, 46 Merrick Rd., Rockville Centre, N.Y. 11570;
516-766-5055.
– Audio/Video Interiors, 21700 Oxnard St., Suite 1600, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91637; 818-593-3900.
– Bose Corp., The Mountain, Framingham, Mass. 01701-9168; 508-879-7330.
– Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association, 10400 Roberts Rd., Palos Hills, Ill. 60465; 800-CED-IA30.
– Design Presentations Ltd., 2310 Skokie Valley Rd., Highland Park, Ill. 60035; 708-433-7011.
– Fosgate Audionics, Fosgate Inc., Box 70, Heber City, Utah 84032;
801-654-4046.
– Henredon Furniture Industries Inc., Box 70, Morganton, N.C. 28655;
704-437-5261.
– Interior Systems Design Inc., 7774 Shady Spring Pl., Burbank, Calif. 91504; 818-767-3162.
– Mitsubishi Electric Sales America Inc., 5757 Plaza Drive, Cypress, Calif. 90630-0007; 800-527-8888, Extension 245.
– Phoenix Systems, 363A Vintage Park Drive, Foster City, Calif. 94404;
415-341-5686.
– Sharp Electronics Corp., Sharp Plaza, Mahwah, N.J. 07430; 201-512-0055. – Sonance, 32992 Calle Perfecta, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. 92672;
714-661-7558.
– Technics, Matsushita Electric Corp. of America, 1 Panasonic Way, Secaucus, N.J. 07094; 201-348-7000.
– Wharfedale Ltd., 1230 Calle Suerte, Camarillo, Calif. 93010;
805-987-1312.
– Zenith Electronics Corp., 1000 Milwauke Ave., Glenview, Ill. 60025;
708-391-8181. –
(copyright) 1990 Universal Press Syndicate
