The male and female species are wildly different in how they communicate, how they interpret a conversation—and how they watch television. "He's the channel surfer," says Debbie of her husband Robert, a former music industry executive. "He's constantly moving, so we end up watching TV in different locations." Debbie's TV-viewing habits involve watching several TV shows simultaneously. If she wanders from her office into another room, she likes to stay tuned to the programs that are playing in her office. "It's hard for me to sit and just watch TV," she says.

Ah, the battle of the sexes, and the battle for control of the remote control, can drive significant others crazy—or it can drive them to design a home that accommodates how they watch TV.

Such is the case of this 3,400-square-foot San Diego home that overlooks San Diego Bay to the west, Mexico to the south and the Laguna Mountains to the east. While the couple did not completely base the design of their downtown penthouse around their love of TV, placement and recording options were high on their priority list. "She doesn't watch anything real time, but I watch television real time," says Robert, who retreats to the living room to take in his favorite shows and films.

"I'll put on a movie that I've seen 10 times, and it will be playing on every TV in the house," says Debbie, whose office, Viewing Central, is home to four his-and-hers high-definition DVRs, a VCR, a DVD player, and the rest of the home's A/V equipment. "Or I'll watch football while I watch two news channels." Revel Performa Series bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer form the foundation for the sound system in Debbie's office.

Luckily, the homeowners have similar design sensibilities, which means every TV must be treated like a piece of fine art. "We don't mind the appearance of a TV, but it has to be beautifully encased," Debbie says. "We love technology, but we also love fine furniture."

When the couple embarked on a four-year design and construction journey to build their dream home, making the most of the stellar views of downtown San Diego and the bay was paramount. "We gutted the house and created a situation where every room looks outside at least 180 degrees," Robert says. In essence, the couple turned the three-bedroom home into a one-bedroom residence with a spacious office. "We opened up all the spaces," Robert says. Removing most of the interior walls to accommodate the stunning views created problems, however. "When it comes to TVs," Robert continues, "you have to allow for some walls on the inside. We had to make sure we had the right size equipment for the remaining walls." As a result, the homeowners and their interior designer created custom built-ins for every TV so they integrate into the walls.

Such is the case in the master suite, which features a custom pop-up unit in Cuban mahogany and wenge wood that's topped with Blue Eyes granite. When the 50-inch Runco reference plasma TV is not in use, the custom unit doubles as a piece of fine furniture, and when the TV is needed, it rises gracefully and quietly—and it doesn't deter from the beautiful views. "I didn't want a piece of furniture at the end of the bed," Robert says.

That's a good thing, says custom installer Mark Gleicher of Modern Home Systems. "If the TV is at the foot of the bed, you can only use a certain size TV. The farther the TV is away from you, the larger it can be." Sound emanates from cabinetry-concealed speakers. "All of the TVs have individual speakers that are used only for TV—not for audio," Gleicher says. "That way the sound is coming from the area of the television."

In the dining room, a 42-inch Runco plasma TV vanishes and reappears magically from the custom buffet of Macassar ebony with carved, silver-leaf doors. Flush-mount speakers are tucked into the custom cabinetry and the ceiling, and are faux-finished to blend in with the home's exotic woods.

The remaining TV-viewing areas of the home take the full-wall approach. Debbie's office shows off all of the home's video and music sources, cable boxes, and switching and automation hardware in the custom-designed wall of Cuban mahogany cabinetry. This bold display also emphasizes her belief that the more TVs you have, the better. The office includes two Sharp 26-inch LCD TVs and a 34-inch Sony Wega TV; each has its own cable TV box and can also display any of the other video sources.The central rack is customized to match the two sets of flanking Middle Atlantic AXS pull-out racks; the graphics of the Crestron touchscreen mimic the tri-monitor layout. "They loved the look of having a rack system with all the gear and the TVs exposed," Gleicher says.

The living room revolves around the placement of a 61-inch Runco plasma television. "They wanted the best TVs, and it doesn't get any better in terms of picture quality," Gleicher says of the Runco. Gleicher coupled the Runco TV with Revel Ultima Gem left and right speakers and an Ultima Voice center speaker, which are tucked behind custom grille panels. "They listen to a lot of music, so we used the Ultima Gems, which are bookshelf-type speakers," Gleicher continues, adding that the client didn't want to see the speakers. "They're large for bookshelf speakers, but when you combine them with good Revel subs, you can't tell that you don't have huge speakers in here."

So did the homeowners need to earn Ph.Ds to learn how to work the system of nine TVs, 19 speakers, and four DVRs? "There's no learning curve here. The purpose is to make all the systems consistent with the Crestron automation system," Gleicher says. "The system is a no-brainer." Just press a button and go.

"This project has more video distribution than most," Gleicher adds, alluding to the large number of DVRs that deliver video to a large number of TVs in a home that isn't so large. "It's something we're doing more and more of, but this project was one of the first." Plus everything in the house—from an aesthetic standpoint—was taken care of at a very high level. "It's not just about high-end selection and installation. It's much more engineered.

"The homeowners like to record, but didn't like the restrictions of having to view it in one space," Gleicher says. "You can have your cake and eat it, too."

TECH TALK: A SAN DIEGO PENTHOUSE
By Dennis Burger
For Gleicher, custom installation isn't just about designing a great whole-house A/V system: It's about opening a client's eyes up to new possibilities—new ways of enjoying their home entertainment. "With this client, a good example is video distribution," Gleicher says. "They're really into recording TV, but they've always been hampered by the fact that a show recorded in one room had to remain in that room. Now they have multiple DVRs in one location and can send signals to any TV. This is something we now do for many of our clients on a routine basis."

The homeowners can easily access TV recorded content on the 50-inch Runco PL-50HDX plasma TVs in the dining room and master bedroom, and on the living room's 61-inch Runco PL-61cx plasma. The living room also serves as the home's main media room and features a sound system designed to accommodate the clients' love of movies and TV, and their passion for music.

"It's tough to find a speaker that performs well musically and performs well for video," Gleicher says. "A lot of multichannel systems don't perform that well with music. I needed a system capable of both." Gleicher and the client also found that Revel loudspeakers provided the perfect blend of musicality and punch for movies and TV. You won't actually see the Revels in this room or anywhere else in the house. "Aesthetics were of the utmost importance," Gleicher says, "meaning everything had to be hidden. Only the TVs could remain visible in most rooms."

But not in Debbie's office. Here, four massive Middle Atlantic equipment racks show off every piece of gear for the home—except for the home's other TVs, speakers, and Crestron remotes. It all stands proudly for people to see. And what a sight to behold, all of this cold metal gear displayed so boldly.

Without a doubt, the room's centerpiece is the custom-designed cabinetry, sandwiched between the racks, which houses two Sharp 26-inch LCD TVs and a 34-inch Sony Wega HDTV. Why three TVs? "That's indicative of how much they like to watch and record," Gleicher says. "This was an easy way for them to monitor what can be recorded while something else is being viewed. And let's face it: It's a very cool look, too."