In a 1989 article, the New York Times described the 10-seat, 1,000-square-foot theater that Theo Kalomirakis had built in the basement of his Brooklyn home. He had equipped it with an 8-foot-wide screen and an assemblage of now-obsolete hardware that included VHS and Beta recorders and a laserdisc player. At that time, the ability to utilize such technologies in a home setting was considered quite a luxury.

Although Kalomirakis did not realize it initially, his $100,000 pet project represented an evolution of home cinema. Thus, he found himself at the forefront of what would become an extremely lucrative industry. By the end of 1989, he had founded a home-theater-design firm bearing his name, and since then he has become one of the most sought-after designers in his field. So how does the groundbreaking home-theater designer outdo himself?

Continue reading