When I was managing editor and later editor of old CE Pro consumer-facing sister publication Electronic House, I always envisioned us putting together a beautiful coffee table-style book in which integrators could show off their clients’ amazing smart homes and home theaters.
We gave it a shot and we certainly had plenty of fodder for the content thanks to our monthly magazine and glossy quarterly supplement profiles. The book just felt more like a glorified version of our magazine to me, however — no hardcover edition, for one thing — it did include lots of stunning images and educational content that benefitted both integrators and prospective customers.
Well, one industry veteran decided to steal my idea (kidding!) and create a gorgeous coffee table book centered on home theaters, called appropriately enough Home Theaterology: The Art of Creating the Perfect Home Theater. It Richard Charschan’s ode to a common industry passion and the kind of incredible projects he’s seen as president of AcousticSmart Home Theatre Interiors, which collaborates with integrators worldwide on theater projects of all types including themed rooms such as a Lord of the Rings cinema.
“We do whatever we can to optimize the home theater, both for audio/video and also to achieve the look that the clients want,” he told Senior Editor Bob Archer in a recent CE Pro Podcast. “Sometimes it’s a very simple, very clean room that looks almost like a living room and sometimes it can be very unique, modern. Other times a client can have an inspiration from a theater they went to as a child.”
Charschan shared the book idea with me earlier this year during Integrated Systems Europe in Barcelona (which is already open for registration for 2025), and I was truly excited. At CEDIA Expo 2024, with a strong promotional effort behind it he officially rolled out the book.
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The author held several book signings at the Expo in Denver and discussed Home Theaterology in a Smart Stage session on the show floor.
Charschan’s Opus Represents a Love of the Theater We Can’t Seem to Get Away From
It’s not just custom integration industry folks who supported Charschan’s ambitious project, though he did enlist home theater icons such as Theo Kalamirakis. Director Barry Sonnenfeld — who delivered the CEDIA Expo 2024 keynote presentation — and longtime E Street Band and Late Night with Letterman drummer Max Weinberg, a home cinema enthusiast, provided the forward.
CEDIA Expo (which CE Pro owner Emerald also owns) seemed fitting as the launchpad for Charschan’s book. The event touted its many sound rooms and demo rooms this year as another sign of home theater’s comeback among consumers.
That supports CE Pro’s research findings in our Home Entertainment Deep Dive from August’s issue in which the cost of a home theater room increased significantly from a year ago.
“The idea is that this is a place to really escape to, it’s like taking a vacation for two hours and then you’re back to reality and you’re back to work — it’s like a meditation,” Charschan enthuses. “And that’s kind of what we’re selling, that fantasy.”
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