The Inside Story

"As the saying goes, home is where the heart is — so why not fill it with fun things
that you love and that you can share with loved ones? You’ve worked hard; now it’s time to play."

Want to get together with friends to shoot some pool, play a little Pac-Man®, catch a movie or show your best moves on the dance floor, but you don’t want to go out? Fortunately, the latest in home entertainment lets you settle in—even when you’re not quite ready to settle down.

The Rhythm of the Night

Music is central to entertaining at home, whether you and your friends are playing air guitar to Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody," singing along with Jimmy Buffett, or enjoying a gourmet meal with Madame Butterfly playing in the background.

Audio Advice in Raleigh offers everything from high-quality individual speakers to whole-house audio systems. With the latter, you can store your entire music selection and connect all your music subsystems—your AM/FM radio, satellite radio, CD player and iPod—via a central computer, and access it from any room with the touch of a button.

"Once the party gets going," said Leon Shaw, founder and president, "people start asking for music. If you’ve got a big collection, you can almost be your own DJ, pulling songs up instantly. It’s a ton of fun."

The whole-house systems can control more than music. "If you wanted to," said Shaw, "you could push one button and have the lights on your main floor or your whole house go to certain pre-set levels that are set for your ‘Entertain’ mode. You can have it start playing a choice of music that you have pre-selected, even a playlist, in certain rooms at certain volume levels."

 Audio Designs is another Raleigh-based company specializing in stereo and whole-house systems. "What could be better than having your favorite music playing throughout the entire house in pristine quality?" asks Chad Lunsford, president of the company. "No matter what the occasion, you can set the mood with your favorite music in any room."

POPCORN ANYONE?
With the price of admission at movie theaters these days, not to mention the sticky floors and pricey snacks, the advantages of a home theater are obvious. Both Audio Advice and Audio Designs can set up a big-screen and surround-sound system enjoyable enough to match or even surpass any multiplex experience.

"For home theater," explained Shaw, "there’s the front projector, which has the projector usually mounted on the ceiling, sometimes on the floor, sometimes at the back of the room, and a screen that it shines onto. That, to me, is the most "like the movie theater" experience." The other option is a rear projector placed behind a glass screen, which gives more light output and is similar in effect to a large plasma screen.

You can’t just put in a big-screen TV, turn up the stereo and call it a home theater, though. A home-theater system is only as good as the sum of its parts, and to wow your friends and family with a "real" movie-theater experience, you’ll need components that work well together and work well with your space. "The thing is," said Shaw, "you don’t really know what you’re supposed to expect until you experience something really good," which you can do by visiting the stores to see sample systems and by asking for customer references.

The biggest question for many homeowners is, of course, cost. The range is wide, depending on what you put into your system. "A family-room system or dedicated home theater can range from as little as $10,000 to a cutting-edge, full-blown system in the $75,000 range," said Lunsford. Even better news? "The video equipment keeps dropping in price," said Shaw, "and performance keeps going up."

BLAST FROM THE PAST
While technological advances equal progress in the audio/visual world, many people feel that some kinds of entertainment were better "back in the day." "Arcade games help transport you to a time gone by, when things moved a little slower," said Jonathan Culverhouse, founder and owner of Arcade Games 4U in Raleigh. "These games were not violent and were really fun to play. You can’t replace the excitement of dropping that quarter in the slot and hearing the sound it makes when the game comes on."

Arcade Games 4U has more than 500 such games in stock, and "if we don’t have it, we will find it," said Culverhouse, who travels the country to purchase games, bringing them back to Raleigh to restore and sell. "I love helping people relive their childhood memories by finding that special machine they played at the local arcade when they were a kid, refurbishing it and delivering to their home. Their faces light up as soon as I plug the machine in for the first time."

In addition to Donkey Kong, Galaga, Q*bert and the like, Arcade Games 4U also offers billiards tables and supplies, pinball machines, jukeboxes, neon signs, licensed team decor, coin-operated kiddie rides, bar glasses, and tons more to round out your game room. "What we try to do is give everybody options at all levels," said Culverhouse.

TABLE GAMES

Indeed, many homeowners would say no game room is complete without billiards. And one of the best-known pool-table manufacturers is Brunswick, which produced its first billiards table back in 1845. Brunswick is distributed in this region by Game World Inc., with locations in Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Wilmington and Myrtle Beach.

Beth Tarkington, vice president of Game World, said a Brunswick "is kind of like a Mercedes," she said. "Its engineering is what makes it different." There are a dozen important engineering differences, all outlined on the Brunswick website, that give the tables pro-level playability. Not only is the performance phenomenal, but so are the tables’ looks. The Raleigh location recently opened a Brunswick Pavilion with computer kiosks where homeowners can "build" their own tables, down to custom felt colors. Brunswick offers a myriad of table styles, including "traditional, transitional, contemporary, arts and crafts—basically anything for the home," said Tarkington. Brunswick tables run anywhere from $1,500 to $25,000.

Game World is also a purveyor of Mikhail Darafeev poker and card tables. Sure, you and your buddies could play around the kitchen table, but why not ante up for a real card table? Felt, chip trays and cup holders help you maintain your poker face, since you’re not distracted by cards sliding off the table, chips falling to the floor, or drinks getting knocked over.

As with Brunswick’s pool tables, homeowners can customize the Darafeev game tables, mixing and matching tabletops and bottoms. Dinner-table tops and bumper-pool tops are options as well. Price is dependent on the options you choose, of course. "I have some tables that go up to $15,000," said Tarkington. "Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has a Texas Hold’em from Mikhail Darafeev that was over $20,000. He did his in orange leather. It’s an exceptionally nice Texas Hold’em table."

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT

As the saying goes, home is where the heart is—so why not fill it with fun that you love and that you can share with loved ones? Crank up the stereo, turn down the theater lights, gobble some ghosts in a Pac-Man® game, sink that eight ball in the corner pocket, and lay your chips on the table. You’ve worked hard — now it’s time to play.

Karen Rhodes is a Freelance Writer