The Best of the ‘Greatest Home Theater Moment Ever’ Contest

I've had many great experiences in my home theater but the most memorable was one about halfway through its construction before any movie had been watched. I had just spent 2 weeks building a large fiber optic star ceiling and turned it on just before my 8 year-old daughter came to check on me. She thought the ceiling looked so real she disappeared for a few minutes, then came back with blanket, drinks, snacks and a orange glow stick (for a fire).

We both sat under the stars and had a picnic! Totally cool and better than Disneyland!!

EASY PEASY on this one guys! The very first time my brother, father and two nephews came over for their first taste of "Saving Private Ryan" on dvd in DTS 5.1... After the first battle scene for Omaha Beach...Dad yelled "pause"...the whole group of guys got down on the floor on their knees, pointed in the direction of TV and gear, wailed and chanted, as if it were the Mecca of home-theater nirvana...saying, "All Hail the Ninth Wonder of the World!!!!"

It was absolutely hilarious but...it was the first time they had been exposed to good home theater with regard to both crisp video as well as rib-shaking audio assaulting the senses from all directions. My poor father looked like he was plastered to the recliner as he had never ever ever heard or felt the rumbling of a subwoofer.

Going forward my house became the central location for "first" with regard to seeing hi-def TV, Blu-ray, HDDVD etc etc...

For what its worth, the gear at that time was simply:

-Sony 35" XBR crt

-Pioneer BUDGET 5.1 avr

-Toshiba 2nd generation flagship dvd player

-JBL bookshelfs and 12"sub

Mine had to be the time my daughter (around 8) had a sleepover and they were watching some Pixar flick. I had each seating position in the couches hooked up to bass shakers, and my daughter thought they were the coolest thing. She called them "booty shakers" and asked me to not to say anything to the other girls. Well, during a particularly bass heavy scene, one of the girls leaped out of the sofa in fright screaming, "There's something wrong with the couch!"

We laughed so hard while we explained the setup to her. She liked it once she understood it.

My oldest son came home from college last summer and went with friends to see Iron Man II at the theater. When he got back home that night I asked how the movie was since I was not going to the theater to see this but was going to wait for the Blu-ray.

He shook his head in that disappointed way and said, "I should have waited until you got the movie and watched it here at home."

His overall review - The image quality and, more than that, the sound quality in the theater was a letdown.

OH YEAH! The home theater is a winner and I learned everything from AVSForum.com!

Took my rig on the road and set it up for a viewing room at a convention I help out with. When everything was set up, I queued up some demo videos and let 'em play. People walking by in the hallway outside literally stopped in their tracks and wandered in, and looking out into the hallway was like watching a groundhog community with other people popping heads out of other rooms in curiosity. Exactly the effect I wanted...My Hsu Research VTF-3 MK4 rumbled a lighting fixture loose during that same demo run, that kept rattling along the entire weekend and showed up in the list of repairs from the convention center's final bill.

Funniest moment was probably showing a roommate Band of Brothers for the first time. He fell out his his chair at the start of the first major fire fight, cursing and pointing at my surround system, saying "I wasn't expecting that from this setup. It's like I'm under fire here."