When Rick Jensen, president of Aspen Automated Lifestyles, 697 W. 1000 South, offered to show me a home theater his company built in a Davis County house, I thought it would be a large television set with some chairs sitting in front and maybe some fancy speakers to enhance the sound.
I wasn't prepared for what he and his company built for the family that owned the expensive home in Kaysville.We walked from the living room, where he showed me a nice entertainment center, to a downstairs room where I saw a huge television set and the aforementioned chairs. I thought that was nice and prepared to leave, but Jensen and his company co-founder, Brad Goodwin, said we hadn't seen the theater yet.
Opening a door in the lower level, we entered a space about 12 feet wide and 32 feet long that was decorated just like the theaters I attended many years ago. Jensen and Goodwin, who have been in the home-automation business for five years, are trying to focus on this type of system and gradually get away from other parts of their business.
To say the theater is astounding might be the understatement of the year. First of all, there are 10 plush reclining chairs located on three different tiers so everyone can see. On the walls there are movie posters, some from old movies and some from new releases, all encased in metal frames.
Above the door leading to the rest of the house is an "exit" sign just like those in most theaters, and the ceiling is painted to look like it is the outside on a slightly cloudy day. The walls are made of acoustical materials covered with velvet cloth that not only keeps the sound in the room, but also makes it look like the theater cost plenty of money (and it did).
There is an overhead projector operated by a hand-held remote that operates every system in the theater. It replaces 10 remotes from the various systems and does everything a visitor wants except maybe push back the plush chairs to a laid-back position.
Goodwin pushes the remote, the lights dim, the ceiling looks like the dark, starry sky outside and the lights sewn into the curtain in front of the screen light up.
Eventually the curtain parts to reveal a screen 101 inches wide and 55 inches tall. The screen hides five speakers. Two more speakers behind the reclining chairs provide sound more realistic than any regular theater can give.
Depending on what the homeowner wants to view that night, the theater system can show regular television programs, videos or laser discs. It can also pick up programs through satellite dishes. By using the single remote, the viewer can call a list of the programs available on all of these systems.
If movies or television programs aren't wanted, the system will play music from the radio.
Situated in a small side room is a popcorn machine that Aspen employees keep stocked with packaged popcorn that is easily popped before friends are invited over fora movie. There is a small refrigerator, and Aspen employees also keep a good supply of candy and popcorn buckets on hand - musts for watching movies.
When the movie is over, the lights come up and the curtain closes, leaving the viewer with a relaxed feeling and the impression of having been right in the action.
Jensen said that when he is contacted about building a home theater, he asks the homeowners for ideas on what they want, and then won't let them in while it is being constructed. He holds a ribbon-cutting just like regular theaters would and invites the homeowners in for the inaugural showing.
Naturally, there is a cost for this opulence. Surround-sound systems range from $3,500 to $6,000, Jensen said, and home theaters range from $25,000 to $300,000.
When a person approaches the house in Kaysville, the first of many automated systems comes into play. An unobtrusive camera near the front door allows people inside the house to switch on any television set and see who is ringing the doorbell.
A speaker near the front door lets the owners converse with the visitor from one of 20 speakers inside the house. Each room has a speaker with its own volume control.
In the upstairs family room adjacent to the kitchen, an entertainment center that takes up one entire wall. On one side of a fireplace is a 60-inch television set, and on the other side are the video cassette recorders and other devices to make this room a pleasing one to the senses.
Jensen said that in designing his automated systems his goal is to integrate them so they work with ordinary telephones and remotes.
Aspen also installed in this house an anti-intrusion system and other items in this house for convenience. For example, lights can be programmed so they go off at a certain time; the heating and air conditioning systems are automatically turned down at night; and the owners can program different systems by telephone when they are away from the house.
A big part of the automation at the Kaysville house deals with protection. The system includes detectors that will send a signal to police when someone has broken a window, and if someone makes it inside a motion detector, sends a signal to police.
Smoke detectors send signals to the fire department when they are activated, and flashing lights on the house help firefighters find their destination. If a fire occurs, the air conditioning system is turned off so smoke doesn't go through the entire house.
From Aspen's office in Woods Cross, Jensen and Goodwin can reprogram any of the systems in the Kaysville house by telephone, and they also can check on the systems to see whether they are functioning correctly. Jensen said monitors can be placed in houses so elderly people who cannot get to a telephone can get help.
A native of Bountiful, Jensen received an associate's degree in electricity and heating and cooling in 1987. He started his own electrical contracting business, Aspen Electric Co., and operated that for two years.
While attending a parade of homes, Jensen saw a home automation system demonstrated and was so fascinated by it that he asked the demonstrator dozens of questions. Goodwin came in as a partner and they changed the company name to Aspen Alarm and Home Automation.
Goodwin is a native of Spokane, Wash., and received a degree in psychology from Brigham Young University in 1990. He married Jensen's sister, so the company is truly a family business.
They changed the name to Aspen Automated Lifestyles to more closely match the direction of the company, and on Nov. 1 the firm will move from Wood Cross to a remodeled office at 375 S. 500 West in Bountiful.