Traditional decor can coexist with audio, video and other electronic conveniences, as this high-performance New World home shows.

If Jay and Susan Goulliard could pick anywhere to live, it might be a small town on France's Normandy coast, where the old villages are steeped in history but seem to have a simple and timeless quality. "We really love the way of being there, the energy and the people and the whole way of life," says Susan. "They take time for holidays, while we work."

The Goulliards' new home in Minneapolis is several thousand miles and an ocean apart from that old-world simplicity—but you wouldn't know that by its appearance. The house is Old World in design, borrowing classical features that Jay and Susan admired from their travels to Europe. It reflects the simplified lifestyle of quaint European villages, complete with conveniences such as background music to make their home a true respite and haven.

And although the new house and its locale may not be steeped in history, it is filled with some of today's most convenient technologies. There's whole-house audio; a home theater with high-definition video and high-end music reproduction; a computer network; portable LCD screens and a way to see who's at the front door from anywhere. And, unlike those clumsy tourists laden with their cell phones and Palm Pilots and GameBoys clanking to the cobblestones, Jay and Susan's technology remains cleverly concealed or blended into their Old World surroundings, where life remains simple and joyful and with modern technical conveniences.

As a result, the homeowners enjoy an overall sense of well-being in a home that may as well be in a stony European village as in Minnesota.

Back to the Future

Relocating to Minnesota was a move toward simplicity for the Goulliards. They downsized their home needs when they moved from Atlanta, building a 4,250-square-foot house with only the rooms they felt were necessary, Susan says. That included combining a family room with an entertainment space.

And they had some priorities for enjoying a good life. First was having an Old World, timeless decor, with a Tuscan style and a courtyard and Venetian plaster walls to lend the home a patina of age, reminiscent of a more relaxed and less hectic time.

Their second priority was to enjoy great music throughout their home, but to have a high-quality system in a relaxing space where Jay and Susan could entertain themselves and others. Jay in particular likes listening to jazz singer Diana Krall and perhaps some Elton John. "Jay wanted really good sound," says Susan. "We lived in other homes where it's just been mediocre."

In addition to the sound requirements, the Goulliards wanted a good home theater system. They also wanted some convenience features throughout the house, such as the ability to use computers and LCD TVs in various spaces and to see who is at the front door from any of their three floors. But there was one catch in introducing all this technology into their simple life: None of it could intrude on the decor.

That's when Dallas Dingle and his team at nearby Supercalibrations became involved. He worked with the builder and interior designer to be sure that the audio, video and other systems worked properly—and that they worked with the design and feel of the Goulliards' timeless retreat.

That meant Dingle had to work some audio/video magic not only with the Tuscan-style decor but also with hardwood floors, walls of glass, archways and plaster walls—design elements and materials that can severely compromise audio and video quality. Integrating high-end speakers into an Old World-style family room proved a special challenge.

Challenges Big and Small

Not only is the family room huge at 22 by 28 feet and with 22-foot-high ceilings, there was only about 8 inches of width in each of two columns of the family room to place in-wall—or in this case, in-column—speakers. Supercali-brations looked at various speakers that could fit into the tight space and fill the big room with sound and settled on Bohlender-Graebener's Radia in-wall speakers.

The Radia speakers have a thin and slender profile largely because they are "planar" drivers that use an electromagnetically charged diaphragm or "ribbon" instead of traditional cone-shaped speaker drivers. Ribbon speakers like the Radias are also quite good for reproducing higher sounds such as those from vocals and acoustical instruments, making them great for listening to Diana Krall, for example.

"We were trying to get big sound without imposing on the room," says Dingle of the speakers. The Radia speakers are used all around in the family room, with two more as surrounds in the back of the room and a horizontally oriented center channel positioned above a 50-inch Pioneer high-definition plasma screen. The side walls contain two Boston Acoustics subwoofers to produce low-sounding bass.

Furthermore, while the left front speaker is located near the plasma screen, the right front speaker is located beyond a fireplace several feet from the plasma screen, creating an asymmetrical setup not recommended for producing good surround sound.

"I normally hate compromises like that," says Dingle, "but this is a nice speaker setup for stereo, which is what they wanted the most." Dingle also had some tricks for making the unusual speaker setup sound as it should. He also was concerned with the reflections in the room from the wood floors and windows on one side, until the carpeting and furniture helped provide some much needed absorption.

"Overall, the combination works," says Dingle. "And I think homeowners like their systems better if they feel it integrates well in the room."

The Goulliards absolutely love how all the electronic technology in the house is integrated and concealed. Besides PSB in-ceiling speakers and Boston Acoustics Voyager outdoor speakers that deliver whole-house music to several areas, virtually all the technology is invisible. The central control rack that houses the CD and DVD players for the family room is located in the basement. The Goulliards will even load their DVDs for watching movies in the family room by going to the basement level. That may sound inconvenient, but it's something they decided to do so their decor would not be compromised. A five-disc Sony CD changer makes trips to switch out CDs less frequent, and the rack also contains the brains of the whole-house Niles Gloria multizone audio system.

Even the cable boxes are downstairs. So how are they all controlled from the family room? With a radio-frequency remote control, in this case the versatile and powerful Niles IntelliControl, which relays signals wirelessly via radio frequency and allows for several macros, or series of commands executed by one button, to be programmed. Even the speaker grilles of the tall, in-wall Radia speakers were painted to match the walls, and Susan can't recall any guest pointing them out. "I don't think anyone has ever even mentioned them," she said. An oil painting on the other side of the fireplace is positioned to complement the plasma screen as well.

Timeless Enjoyment

The Goulliards' enjoyment of the electronics in their home goes far beyond the systems' seamless aesthetics. "The music is always enjoyable to have on, and it's nice when we spend a lot of time outside," Susan says. "We have speakers outside on the deck, and it's great because it helps kills highway noise from nearby."

There's also a wireless computer network, so Jay and Susan can move about the house with a laptop computer and do work anywhere. And, there's a camera at the front door. "We live on three levels, so when someone rings a doorbell, I can flip on a TV and see who's there," Susan says.

Lastly, Jay and Susan can carry around a portable Sharp AQUOS LCD TV that removes from its stand. "I can take it from the library and move it to my exercise room," Susan says.

In search of a simpler, somewhat downsized life, it seems that Jay and Susan Goulliard found some convenient and rewarding technologies—that don't get in the way of their home's timeless design.

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Blue Ribbon Sound

Jay and Susan Goulliard wanted great audio in their family room, but because the speakers needed to be concealed in narrow columns, Bohlender-Graebener's in-wall Radia speakers were chosen. The Radia speakers use a slender electromagnetically charged diaphragm or "ribbon" to produce sound.

How does this work? To put it simply, an electromagnetic force acts on the aluminum conductors and is evenly distributed over the entire surface of the diaphragm, eliminating unwanted resonance. Planar magnetic drivers, as they are called, are known to provide superior clarity, resolution and fidelity of sound and are especially good for listening to vocals and acoustic-based music. But that doesn't mean they can't rock, roll or reproduce big booming soundtracks in action movies.

Each of the speakers in the Goulliards' family room also contains woofers to produce lower-range sounds. Although one of the front speakers had to be placed on the far side of a fireplace several feet away, Dallas Dingle of White Bear Lake, MN-based Supercalibrations had a few tricks up his sleeve.

He used an AudioControl spectrum analyzer to make sure all the speakers were level and balanced in their sound output. He set the distance of the speakers in the Sony receiver so it can compensate for a speaker that is farther away. And he used a phase checker by Accele to make sure the speakers were "in phase."

If a speaker is wired improperly—with the positive part of the wire to the negative connection and negative to positive—that woofer will move in while the woofer of a properly wired speaker will move out, thereby canceling some sound (the basis for noise cancellation technology). This common mistake often results in a loss of bass response. "The phase checker sends a pulse into the system, then a microphone-type sensor determines if it's in or out of phase,"

Dingle says. Dingle says he uses the phase checker to check the speakers on all new speaker installations, including the two Boston Acoustics' in-wall VRi-SUB82 subwoofers in the room. "It's a pretty articulate sounding system," Dingle says. "The bass actually propagates pretty well in the room. The sound quality is big and it puts out a huge image. And that room is pretty large."

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Timeline

Planning
A couple months
Electronics installation firm Supercalibrations had an initial meeting with the homeowners to discuss where things would go, then went over blueprints, then gave a "first brush" proposal before talking in more detail.

Prewiring
Three to four days
Supercalibrations went in after the electrician so none of their own wires would be cut accidentally and so high-voltage wires would not interfere with the low-voltage Category 5, phone, coaxial video cable and speaker wiring.

Trim Out
About two days
Supercalibrations built a quasi-enclosure for the woofer in the wall but did not do the final installation until the customer was ready to move in, to prevent dust and debris from getting into the systems.

Training
2 to 3 hours
Dallas Dingle of Supercalibra-tions says the Niles Gloria and IntelliControl are very intuitive to use, so he usually lets homeowners use the system for a few days before a walkthrough.

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Equipment List

Great Room Home Theater/Audio System
Pioneer PDP-503CMX 50-inch Plasma Display
Premier PSM-50LT Low Profile Tilting Wall Mount
Sony STRDA4ES A/V Receiver, 110wx7
Boston Acoustics SA1 Designer Series Power Amplifier [for subwoofers]
Sony DVP-Ns755v Progressive Scan Single Disc Dvd Player
Sony SLNV900 HiFi VCR Wega Silver
Niles IntelliControl Automated RF Remote System
Bohlender-Graebener R-50i Radia Architectural Satellite Speakers (2)
Bohlender-Graebener R-LCRi Radia Architectural Center-Channel Speaker
Bohlender-Graebener R-20i Radia Architectural Satellite Speakers (2)
Boston Acoustics VRi-Sub82 Flush Mount Subwoofers (2)

Whole-House Audio
Niles Audio ZR-4630 Gloria Multi-Zone Receiver & Control Center w/AM-FM Tuner
Parasound Zamp v2 2-Channel Stero Amplifier 30 Watts x 2
Niles Audio SOLO4 4-Button Master Keypad
Niles Audio Numeric Control, Add-On Keypad
Niles VCS2D Decora Volume Control (outdoor patio)
Sony CD-PCE375 5-Disc CD Player w/Remote
PSB Custom Sound M6.1R Round Flush Mount Speakers (Kitchen)
PSB Custom Sound M6x1 Flush Mount Speakers(Dining, Library, Rec Room)
Boston Acoustics Voyager Pro; All Weather Speaker (outdoor patio)

Televisions & Misc.
Sharp LC-13E1U 13-inch LCD Flat Panel Television
Holovision 200 Intercom Face Plate w/B&W Camera
Channel Plus 5515 Single Channel Modulator
Middle Atlantic RR45 78-3/4-inch Rack Rail
Panamax MAX 4300 Line Conditioner/Surge Protector 7AC
Minuteman Pro700; 700VA UPS Battery Backup

CONTACT:
Electronics Contractor
Supercalibrations
White Bear Lake, MN
800-747-1261

Steven Castle is a Senior Editor and the resident wit of Electronic House magazine. Email Steve at scastle@ehpub.com.

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