The home cinema experience

Hear the words "home cinema" and you might be tempted to think of the kind of hedonistic den JR Ewing would enjoy, with plush row seating, a proscenium arch and a flickering projector. That whole package is available at a price.

According to trade magazines, from Which Hi-Fi to International Smarthouse, hypnotized UK technophiles are spending up to £8,000 to £87,000 sterling on a projector Runco (VX5C), tens of thousands on speaker systems by Meridian and Wilson Benesch, and indulgent fortunes on acoustic chambers for their own domestic Odeon.

For most of us, a space solely dedicated to the cinematic experience is just a Lotto fantasy, but the line between glorified TV watching and cinema-inspired entertainment has been cleverly blurred. Today's home cinema is not only affordable but also perfectly tailored to a standard sitting room environment. With a great picture, a wide, flat screen and, most important of all, digital surround sound, a home cinema system can cloak the senses, plunging the viewer into the action and atmosphere of the movies in a truly involving way.