By Dawn Gordon Luks

One of the most popular home theater options that my clients request is a hidden installation. Although, the hidden approach isn’t the best solution for dedicated home theaters with 100-inch screens and powerful subwoofers, it’s perfect for family rooms, living rooms, and especially, master bedrooms and baths.

Electronics such as receivers, cable boxes, and DVD players are hidden fairly easily. You can put an equipment rack in a nearby closet, or even use a decorative cabinet. Wireless remote controls can be used to send infrared signals to the equipment behind cabinet doors or in other rooms. How do you hide a TV? Well, there are various ways, each requiring a motor of some kind.

Auton, well-known for its extensive line of motorized lifts, has a unique flip down motorized plasma mount that only requires 11-inches of in-ceiling overhead clearance. This "car visor" approach to flat panel stealth operates quite silently.

Along similar lines is the disappearing movie theater. You can mount both a motorized screen and a projector in the ceiling and have them drop down into position at the touch of a button on your remote. This solution is perfect for family rooms, as you can have a flat panel TV for day viewing and a theater experience at night. A cutting-edge movie screen called the Black Diamond, from Screen Innovations, will even allow you to watch movies during the day or in the evening with your room lights on.

Another approach to the disappearing TV comes from Solar Shading Systems. VisionArt® brings state-of-the-art home theater into the living room by concealing wall-mounted flat panel televisions behind elegantly framed Giclee Limited Edition Fine Art Prints on motorized, retracting canvases. This dynamic design concept allows discerning homeowners to transform even the largest flat panel TV into an artistic focal point in any room of the house. When the television is turned on, the canvas quietly rolls up inside the frame, revealing the TV screen. When the television is turned off, the canvas rolls back down again, concealing the screen behind it.

Whether you have a plasma or conventional tube TV, and you want to hide it in your bedroom, take a look at Cabinet Tronix. This company specializes in motorized lifts that can be installed at the foot of your bed into hand-built furniture cabinets. There are many different styles to choose from - all very striking and beautiful.

If you don’t want to miss TV while brushing your teeth, you can opt for a flat panel built into a bathroom mirror. Séura, Inc. offers a number of styles and sizes to choose from and when turned off, you would never suspect a TV lived in your john.

We’ve covered (pun intended) stealthy TV products, but what about the speakers? Well, you already know about in-ceiling and in-wall speakers, but how about speakers that are completely invisible? It’s not secret government technology, but rather a bit of ingenuity.

Triad is a speaker company that hand-builds all of its speakers to order. Custom color matching is available to match just about anything, from your maple cabinet to your high-gloss red corvette. Along the same lines, Triad will color match in-wall or in-ceiling speakers to any paint sample you provide, making them almost disappear, and they sound fantastic.

Unlike conventional in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, ARTCOUSTIC loudspeakers hang on the wall like picture frames yet deliver the performance you'd expect from large "box" speakers. They are a perfect match for plasma and LCD TVs. The removable front screens are available in dozens of elegant fabrics, and can be printed with artwork or photography.

If you’re not an audiophile you can opt for speakers that are completely invisible. Stealth Acoustics manufactures speakers that actually go behind your drywall. While they aren’t appropriate for full-fledged home theaters, they sound much better than the speakers in your TV and are great for less demanding applications such as formal living rooms and bedrooms.

For additional information: Artcoustic    Auton    Cabinet Tronix    Screen Innovations    Seura    Solar Shading Systems    Stealth Acoustics    Triad Speakers   

Dawn Gordon Luks is a veteran consumer electronics journalist. In addition to her writing schedule, Dawn also designs home audio, home theater, and home automation installations in South Florida. Send an email to Dawn Gordon Luks.