Custom Home Theaters Become McMansion Must

A dedicated media room with a movie theater atmosphere complete with theater seating, Surround Sound and a big screen is becoming a must in upscale housing.

A total 3.6 million video-product units were sold from manufacturers to dealers nationwide, representing an increase of 25 percent compared to the same month last year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The trade association also reports $6.1 billion in revenue from digital television sales last year, which amounted to almost 4 million units. Estimates for 2003 revenue from plasma television sales were at $1.5 billion and LCD television revenues at $651 million.

A record $101 billion in consumer electronics products will be sold to dealers in 2004, according to estimates by the CEA released in January. That’s a 5 percent increase from the estimated $96.3 billion sold to dealers last year.

Custom Home & Commercial Electronics in Springdale started out 30 years ago in the camera business as The Camera Shop Inc., which sold the first Betamax machine in Arkansas from its Fayetteville store in 1974. It sold for $1,500, weighed 86 pounds and there was a waiting list for more, said Butch Coger, CEO of Custom Home & Commercial Electronics. He has watched home entertainment systems evolve ever since.

“The proliferation of computers and consumer electronics going digital” led to the convergence of two media, Coger said.

A basic home theater systems can be had for about $5,000, but adding the favored amenities and a full-room design can bring the total to $250,000 or more.

“We are doing a lot of home theaters now,” Coger said. “In a lot of homes, we’re doing two or three. We’ll do one in the master bedroom, one in the media room, which is dedicated with theater seating, and maybe one in the family room on a smaller scale.”

The most expensive theater room Custom Home & Commercial Electronics has completed was $123,000. Coger said the cost is completely determined by the preferences of the homeowner. Ceiling-mount projectors, for example, come in a variety of qualities and can be purchased for as little as $1,000 or as much as $26,000. The most expensive one, which is from Sony, has the capability to be connected to the Internet. Custom Home & Commercial Electronics is a certified audio and visual specialty company for Sony.

The company will do about $3 million in business this year, and about 40 percent of that will be in home theater systems, Coger said. They also do structure wiring, and burglar and fire alarm systems.

Total Control Systems of Springdale has been doing both residential and commercial custom wiring and systems integration for the past seven years.

Jay Chappie, owner, said the business is pretty much split evenly between commercial and residential with about 30 percent, much of the commercial work, in card-access systems for businesses.

Chappie started out specializing in home automation, which includes centralized controls for heating and air, lighting, security, sound, etc. Since then, the company has also developed a niche for home theater systems as the systems have become popular. They handle everything from a simple home theater in a family room to the complete high-end home theater system.

“The price range is just huge, it’s like buying a house or a car,” Chappie said. “It depends on what you want, and you get what you pay for.”

One homeowner may think $5,000 is a lot for a home theater, but another may spend $50,000 on a system without hesitation, he added. Price has a lot to do with quality when it comes to electronics, Chappie said. A plasma television might be purchased for $3,000, but another $1,000 gets the buyer a much better piece of equipment, he said.

Derry Berrigan, chief operating officer of Don’s Home Theaters, said it also handles centralized systems for home electronics and home theater systems.

Derry Berrigan & Co., a partner firm of Don’s Home Theaters, handles the room design side of the business and has recently launched a new line of furniture.

Berrigan said the room design needs to work with the electronic and media aspects.

“It allows you to create a functional but livable space,” she said. “We create entertainment environments from the concept to the complete finish. We bring both the technical and the aesthetics together.”

The company’s Rogers office includes displays of three examples of home theater rooms Don’s and Derry Berrigan & Co. have designed. They’ve been named for automobiles and include a $250,000 “Rolls Royce,” a $50,000 “Corvette” and a “Jaguar” that falls somewhere in between, depending on amenities.

Typically, Berrigan said, theater rooms range from $150 to $350 per SF and the rooms include customized woodwork, furniture and home electronics in a range of options depending on price.