There's nothing like a room you can go into and leave the world behind. Perhaps you'd like to sink into a chair, watch a quiet movie and let your thoughts drift away to some exotic place. Or maybe you and your buds want to shoot some pool while watching the big game and enjoying refreshments from the built-in keg fridge. Perhaps you'd like to exercise with your spouse but need separate TV channels and audio to ensure that you both get the most out of your workouts. Then again, maybe you get a stimulating workout by dancing the night away or by belting out your favorite songs in your own ballroom/karaoke studio. Or maybe the best escape for you is to invite over a few dozen friends, turn on the strobe lights and haze machine and rock very loudly.

The perfect escape room, of course, is the one that allows you the most complete escape. Here's how some determined homeowners make sure they get away from it all—without ever leaving home.

Party Haze
What? A giant pool table, a 109-inch screen that descends from window trim, three other 32-inch HDTV monitors and 3,600 watts of power going to studio-grade speakers aren't enough to get you rockin'?

How about we press a button on the AMX touchscreen and fire up some robotic stage lighting that moves and changes color. And we'll make things even more dramatic by creating an ethereal atmosphere from a Martin haze machine.

Roger Norman and his family can use this 20-by-30-foot space to entertain guests. In some cases, 100 or more people have packed into this room. Or Roger can come in and relax at the bar, play a little pool or press a sports button and have four different sports channels appear on the 32-inch Sony Wega HDTVs and big screen. Six high-definition satellite receivers deliver the on-screen action to this room and an adjacent space. A Sony HDTV LCD video projector shines on the Stewart screen, and the powerful audio comes from four Bag End in-wall speakers and two subwoofers, each of which have dual 18-inch woofers. The room also has a digital equalizer, a 12-channel sound mixer for live music and a Pioneer karaoke/DVD player. Live music can play, and with cameras and whole-house audio, the music and video can be distributed throughout the house. Needless to say, all that can provide The Normans and their guests with some pretty powerful entertainment. "We can host fundraisers there, and turn them into really fun parties," Roger says.

System design and installation
Land & Sea Entertainment, San Diego, CA
858-467-1940
www.sterryo.com

Gym For Two
There's nothing like a great workout. It gets all that plasma going—both in the body and on the screen. That's especially true in this room, which features his and hers 42-inch high-definition plasma screens.

These suburban Boston homeowners wanted to be able to view separate programs in the gym, so each of the Runco plasma screens can have independent audio and video, including separate DVD players and Hughes high-definition satellite receivers with hard-drive-based digital video recorders (DVRs). Each TV can be controlled alone or in sync from a wireless remote. A pair of B&W in-ceiling speakers and a Triad InWall Bronze subwoofer provide the audio.

We know what you're thinking: How does the couple listen to different things on the plasma screens? By using wireless headphones, what else?

Whole-house audio is fed into the gym by Niles amplifiers and an AMX Landmark control system with an audio switch—though we think the dueling plasma screens might get the best workout of all.

System design and installation
Cutting Edge Systems, Westford, MA
978-392-1392
www.cuttingedgehome.com

Solo Act
A home office can be a great getaway. But this is no ordinary office. This one features a 50-inch high-definition plasma screen, speakers that are beautifully integrated into a wall of rare wood and one solo chair for some serious private time.

The homeowner normally works in his office, so the TV is turned to CNBC a lot. He also has the option of displaying his computer screen on the Runco plasma monitor. But when he wants to relax, watch out: The rest of the family may never get him out of there. A Pioneer Elite surround receiver provides surround sound to three B&W speakers in the front and two more in the back.

The three front in-wall speakers are set asymmetrically behind the lighter grille cloth. To compensate for the left and right speakers being at different heights, the installation team at Cutting Edge Systems of Westford, MA, mounted the right speaker upside down. That way, the tweeter that fires the higher frequency sounds, which need more directionality, could be on about the same vertical height as the left speakers. The center channel is offset above the screen. It's just another bit of escapism ingenuity.

System design and installation
Cutting Edge Systems, Westford, MA
978-392-1392
www.cuttingedgehome.com

Steppin' In
What do these northern New Jersey homeowners do for fun? Once a week, they and some other couples take ballroom-dancing lessons, and once a month, about 20 people fill the homeowners' large dance studio and take turns belting out tunes, karaoke style.

"That's what we do for our social life," says the homeowner. "We bought the house last year, and on the second floor there was a rectangular room with nothing in there." So they decided to make it their dance and karaoke studio. Four Triad in-wall speakers and a Denon stereo receiver provide the music for sambas, rumbas and fox-trots. The lady of the house also belongs to two karaoke clubs, so she follows the words on the 120-inch Draper fixed screen to her favorite Broadway show tunes and native Chinese songs. A high-definition Studio Experience LCD projector mounted to the ceiling provides the video.

That's not all. The screen and a karaoke/DVD player are also employed for dance class. "Couples always have disagreements (about who made an erroneous step or movement)." she says. So the lesson is recorded with a digital camcorder. Then a friend will burn a disc so the dancers can replay it and see who really stepped where. Watch out, guys.

Systems design and installation
Innovations in Home Entertainment, Montville, NJ
973-299-2384
www.innovationsinhomeentertainment.com

Pool Anyone?
The problem with building a "guy room" is that sometimes you can do too good a job, and then everyone wants to use it! There's a pool table, a wet bar, sports memorabilia, and a six-seat theater for watching the big game or a cool movie—all in a space about 27 feet long by 14 feet wide.

The owners of this home theater wanted a good entertainment system in their basement, plus a pool room and a wet bar that included a keg fridge. The theater and pool table areas are separated by a custom-made wood breakfront, and plenty of shelves show the owners' serious sports memorabilia collection.

The theater itself has the works. It features a high-definition 64-inch Pioneer rear-projection set built into the custom cabinetry and flanked by Snell speakers firing through the grille cloth. In-wall Snell speakers are used for the surround channels. A surround-sound processor, DVD player, 5-disc CD changer and amplifiers, all from Rotel, are built into the custom cabinetry and round out the equipment. All the audio/video functions and Lutron lighting control are operated by an easy-to-use Crestron touchscreen controller. Lights can remain on in the back of the room for playing pool while people in the front sink into the Bass theater chairs. Ahhhh.

System design and installation
Talk of the Town Video, Allendale, NJ
201-236-1006
www.talkofthetownvideo.com

Photography By Bill Inoshita

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

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