The $1.1million home cinema

I’m not sure this is quite the home cinema I’d come up with for the $1.1million that Ivan Messer spent on his DIY set-up but I’d be pretty damn happy with it. Ear-to-ear is the expression I’d use.

This 51-year-old, self-confessed wire-freak has made a collection of over 100 different, all McIntosh made, audio units at a cost of a paltry $800,000. With the pocket change he added $125,000 of video equipment and a mere $80,000 of software which includes a Hollywood-rivaling 6,000-strong Blu-Ray, DVD and CD collection. I want to be his friend.

“Ultimately, this past 5 years, building this theater to what it’s become today, it’s become both a labor of love and really I joke,” said the Cape Cod audio fiend and I love the way he refers to it as a “theatre”.

“I say it’s just a total disregard for the value of money. It’s pushing the envelope to see how far we can go. It’s not a question of how many boxes we can put in a room, but how good can we get the audio? How crisp and clear and real can we get the video? How can we increase the overall enjoyment?”

Have I already mentioned I want to be his friend?

Most of all, I’m glad to see Ivan hasn’t skipped on the detail with the wood paneling and these luxury leather bum cradles. I suppose to ask whether he’s got a stocked bar is a silly question – Cristal or Dom Perignon?