Cinema, at home.

A dedicated theater is a sealed, light-controlled, acoustically-treated room built for one purpose — reference-grade picture and sound. A media room is a living space that performs cinematically when it needs to, with shades, seating, and acoustics tuned to coexist with everyday use. We design both, but the engineering choices diverge early.

Reference performance starts around 15' × 20' with 9' ceilings — enough volume for proper subwoofer behavior and an Atmos overhead layer. Smaller rooms are doable, but compromises stack quickly. We model the room before quoting.

Both have their place. A 100"+ projector on a properly black ceiling and treated walls delivers cinematic scale. A 97" or 115" MicroLED or short-throw laser display delivers brighter, ambient-light-tolerant viewing — better for media rooms that aren't sealed. We specify whichever survives your actual lighting conditions.

Almost always, yes. Fabric, rugs, and seating absorb high frequencies but leave bass and reflections untouched. Without targeted treatment — bass traps, first-reflection panels, broadband absorbers — even a $200,000 stack will sound thin and harsh. Acoustic design is what separates a theater from a TV in a room.

Yes — that's the default, not the upgrade. One press of "Movie" dims the lights, lowers the shades, fires the projector, switches the source, sets the volume, and routes audio to the right zone. We program it so it works the first time and every time.

Quality dedicated theaters start around $150,000 turnkey for the AV scope alone — equipment, acoustic treatment, calibration, programming. Reference-grade rooms with Kaleidescape libraries, motorized masking, and high-end seating commonly run $250,000 to $750,000+. The construction trades add separately.

Yes. In the Hill Country and DFW markets we frequently design interior theaters with reinforced walls, hardened doors, and no exterior windows so the room doubles as a family safe room during severe-weather events — the same construction principles that make a great cinema also make a great tornado shelter.

Yes. Kaleidescape Strato servers deliver reference-grade uncompressed video that streaming services can't match, and they integrate cleanly with Crestron, Savant, and Josh.ai control. We specify Kaleidescape on most reference-tier theaters.

Every theater we deliver is calibrated by an ISF-trained technician for video and measured with Trinnov or industry-standard tooling for audio. You receive a written calibration report so the results are documented, not just claimed.

On a case-by-case basis after a diagnostic visit. Send us photos of the equipment rack, seating, and screen, and we'll tell you whether it's a candidate for our service plan, a targeted upgrade, or a full redesign.

California from our Fountain Valley studio — Orange County, Los Angeles, and Riverside — and Central Texas from our Austin team — Austin, Westlake, Preston Hollow, Southlake, and Dallas.

Both are object-based immersive audio formats using overhead speakers. Dolby Atmos has broader content support and is the default for streaming; DTS:X uses a similar layout and appears on many UHD Blu-ray releases. We deliver both from the same speaker layout, so the format choice is content-driven, not hardware-driven.