In a battle of the sexes, a wife convinced her husband that building a home theater will light up their lives.

Take an on-the-street survey in terms of which sex will do anything to own a breathtaking home theater.

It’s always the man, right? He’s the one who craves “the cave,” pimped out with stellar A/V gear. Convincing the woman to sign on is the tricky part, right?

Wrong.

A capacious mountain getaway, designed for family and business retreats, is sprinkled with technological treats that are easy to use.

There’s a certain ruggedness—a rough-and-tumble way of life—in Colorado that’s as irresistible to the locals who run the ski mountains as it is to the well-heeled who build vacation homes from the ground up.

A bachelor’s private home cinema in South Florida becomes an instant getaway.

We chat with Jeffrey Smith—owner of North Miami’s First Impressions Theme Theatres Inc.—about how he orchestrated every detail.

A painstaking interior renovation combines with whole-house automation and a/v systems to redefine an 1853 Georgetown brownstone for the 21st century.

Lured by the urban lifestyle of Georgetown, a married couple fell in love with this majestic home in the heart of Washington, D.C.’s historic district. The stately 1853 brick-row house offered three floors of living space that, while nicely proportioned, were slightly outmoded. The owners decided to transform the 10,000-square-foot residence with an extensive interior renovation to change it from dated to dynamic.

A long-time Malibu resident who doesn’t watch television turns his beach house into a flat-screen showcase.

Investment banker William J. Chadwick’s father lived by several rules: “Billy,” he said, "You can play football or play in a band, but you can’t be in the stands because spectators are losers.”

Little wonder that full-grown Billy, who became a football and lacrosse star at St. Lawrence University, has little patience with television.

Best Audio Installation

Carefree Electronics Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz.

Beating the Spread

The solution for an exceptionally large theater: towering speakers and towering amplifiers, all artfully concealed.

In the 20 years this home took to design and build, the architecture and technology become more modern.

In 1987, the owner purchased 42 acres to grow citrus in an agricultural community north of Los Angeles. Postmodern architecture was all the rage, so the owner hired Zoltan E. Pali to design a Georgianstyle residence.

The young architect, a disciple of the Case Study modernists, was just starting out on his own.

In the 20 years between the original drawings and full completion, both men, and the home, evolved in a variety of ways.

In a Difficult Housing Market, an Elegant Home Theater Can be Just the Thing to Turn “For Sale” into “Sold.”

When NHL hockey player Cory Stillman and his wife Mara started looking for a new South Florida home, they knew they wanted a home theater.

More importantly, they wanted one that they and their children would actually use.