WOW!! That is the real deal.
I spent some time around the edges of the home theater industry back in the early 1990s. One of my business partners in my first business started a company that provided integrated control for super-high end theaters. He put a computer between the controller (typically a early 1990s version of today's touchpads) and the equipment. You pushed one button and it would lower the screen, close the drapes, dim the lights, turn on the Barco projector, fire up the Faroujda line doubler, figure out how to switch the audio from the laserdisc (the source of choice back then), route the audio through the surround processor, into the main amp, and then into the Dolby Surround sound speakers.
I remember going into the Del Sol house in Pebble Beach (the one that dominates the point that you can see from the 18th fairway) and talking to the installer. Back then, high-end home theaters were so complicated that without my friend's automation equipment, most owners couldn't figure out how to turn on all the equipment and get all the signal paths working. The installer said the homeowner would call every Friday night and have him come over to get it all turned on so they could watch a movie.
Back then there was a magazine (can't remember its name) that featured installations like yours. Having seen a lot of those layouts, and seen quite a few in person, yours is good enough to have been featured in one of those articles. In fact, it is as good as anything I've seen in Pebble Beach or in another high-end community that I used to visit, Bonita Bay, Florida.
Very impressive.
I wanted to have a nice setup as well, but could never find a space in the house that I wanted to dedicate to it. Also, back in the 1990s, the good projectors were so expensive that it was a huge financial commitment. Also, the darn things always got out of alignment and you had to have a professional ISF-certified tech come in and tweak it several times a year, with each visit costing $300-500.
Fortunately, these days you can get audio and video that is pretty close to the ultimate without having to spend money on $15,000 line doublers (obsolete) or $30,000 projectors. I have a DIY 5.1 sound system (built before the extra speakers were introduced) a nice LCD TV, but also a screen and an Epson projector I bought eighteen months ago in order to show a video toast I prepared for my daughter's wedding. When we really want the full theater experience I set that up (I don't have a ceiling mount or other permanent installation).
My only problem is that after seeing several thousand movies (I rated over 1,000 of them when I was active on Netflix), I no longer enjoy much that is being produced. I am not a big fan of CGI and, after watching a couple of Avenger movies, I gave up on that.
I look forward to seeing the final result of all your renovations.
