Movies

Tim and Annie Brunson began married life 25 years ago with a 13-inch TV.

Hard work, success and a quest for visual and aural entertainment has brought the Oxford couple a spacious home that traces its origin in 2003 to their desire to watch movies the way directors intended them to be seen — without the accompaniment of rude cell phone yakkers.

That means nine speakers and a 103-inch screen in a cool, carpeted room built just for watching movies projected from the other end of the 23-foot space. Old couches will eventually be supplanted by leather furniture.

The goal, said Annie Brunson, is "immersion," so much so that a scary movie, even in the security of one's own home, evokes a visceral physical response.

A quick tour reveals that the large screen is only one element in an entertainment system that can transmit the same movie to other screens around the house, such as in an exercise room.

"The whole house is an experience. The theater is no different," said Tim Brunson, whose professional background includes engineering in the Army, real estate and, currently, as a doctor of clinical hypnotherapy. His wife is a professional musician who's been involved with independent films for several years.

Their son, Jeremy, is a university-trained film editor, so it's not surprising Brunson uses a film analogy to describe their surroundings, in which a separate computer server is the brain behind not just the entertainment but a security system, lighting and environmental controls all over the house.

"When you're designing a film, every scene has to be designed with emotion in mind. A home is no different," he said.

The couple moved into their home in December 2006, and concede that to an extent, they're still moving in, although that hasn't hampered their ability to entertain friends and business associates.

Unfortunately, the road leading to this technicolor palatte of technology was not paved with yellow brick. Without detailing their frustrations too greatly, the Brunsons say the process would have been a lot easier if the company they had hired hadn't gone bankrupt, among other complications — and this was a firm that had been recommended.

With the process nearly complete, however, the Brunsons enjoy the ability to entertain and even dazzle guests — and themselves — with 21st century technology.

Advice for building a home theater

Tim and Annie Brunson of Oxford have advice for anyone thinking about a home entertainment system more complex than a 48-inch plasma screen and two speakers. Specifically, that means any system that involves a screen, a projector, acoustical engineering and a half-dozen or more speakers, all in a dedicated room.

Oh, and figure on spending five figures to the left of the decimal point, maybe even six.

• Think of who you're trying to please with the system. Is it only for you and your spouse and a couple of lucky kids, or is it for a houseful of folks every month for "movie night"? Or something in between?

Pinpoint that goal and you'll be more resistant to sales pitches made by various equipment and installation companies who want to sell more bells and whistles than you might need.

"Make sure you're contracting for capability and description, not a contract list [of components]," said Tim Brunson.

• Do your homework. Even if you don't have kinfolk in the sound and light business, you can become knowledgeable by reading from many sources. Have the jargon down cold, starting with "woofers" and "tweeters" and ascending in complexity. That way, when a salesman/technician starts throwing interesting words at you, you can throw them back — with questions.

• Set up a realistic payment system to the company doing the work. Any contractor needs cash to get started, but after that, payment should be in phases based upon work completed, leaving some at the end that isn't paid until the job is finished correctly. Don't pay, for example, in equal fractional amounts based simply on the time involved.

• The dominant component in creating your movie-theater experience will involve not the size of your screen or even the acquistion of a commercial popcorn-popper, but acoustical engineering.

That's where you'll spend a lot of your money, because if you're doing it right, you'll be creating a unique space in your house, typically involving a double layer of sheet rock, special acoustic paneling and strategic uses of cloth. Some firms will insist on installing lead-lined walls if you live close to your neighbors — yes, the sound is that powerful.

And really, really cool.