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It's no secret that Americans have long had a love affair with movies. We crave music and gadgets, too. With the quantum leap in entertainment technology over the last 20 years, these love affairs have moved out of theaters and concert halls into homes.

You say you don't want to spend your hard earned money on gas to go to the movies? No problem. Call up one of your favorites on a special hard drive dedicated to the storage of your favorite flicks, dim the lights, pop the popcorn, and spend two hours in your home theater.

Or maybe you want to relive that concert you saw last year. Pump it up and don't worry about the neighbors. Your acoustic panels will take care of everything.

What was long ago called the parlor, then became the living room, and later migrated into a separate family room, is becoming a higher-tech family gathering place. That family room is increasingly becoming the home entertainment center or media room, or in some cases, a home theater.

"We're talking about firsthand emotions through secondhand experiences," said John Baumeister of Baumeister Electronic Architects in Niles, one of the country's premier designers and installers of home theaters and media rooms. "Even though it's a bunch of boxes, you can create memories that people will remember for a long time. When done correctly, it really creates a strong emotion for people."

The residential media experience can be divided into two main categories: home theater and media room. Home theater may be described as a room dedicated to the viewing and enjoyment of home movies, usually with theater-type seating; sometimes raised, acoustic treatments on the walls; and large movie screens. There is a hybrid, of sorts, Baumeister noted, as what is essentially a media room can turn into a home theater with the push of a button or two.

Home theaters can be very pricey, running into the hundred of thousands of dollars with installations that include all of the latest high-tech gadgets, stages, custom kitchens for food preparation and just about any amenity you desire.

"Not everyone can afford a showplace that's over the top," said Joe Barrett, president of Barrett's Home Theater in Naperville and Algonquin. "But for $20,000 to $50,000 you can get a really nice installation."

If you're going to go bare-bones with your home theater, you may want to think modular, or in terms of individual components that you can add to and upgrade as your budget allows.

"You can get something for about $3,000 where it's not just some glorified speakers sitting on top of a TV," said Marc Cook, general manager of Abt Electronics in Glenview.

Systems in that price range, however, are generally installed more in media rooms that have a multifunctional purpose. For a basic home theater system, there are a number of components essential to any installation. These include:

• TV or other video display device

• Remote control

• Speaker system, generally Dolby or DTS with surround sound

• Receiver to drive the speakers

• Blue ray DVD player and/or satellite or cable programming source

Basic audio is at least a 5.1 surround sound system, which includes three speakers in front, two in the rear and one channel that goes to a subwoofer. Better 7.1 surround sound installations are becoming more common these days, with three speakers in the front, two on the side and two in the back of the room.

"These are important for psycho acoustics," Cook noted. "It's the perception between your mind and where the audio is channeled. There are less abrupt transitions with 7.1"

But because home theaters are basically enclaves unto themselves, there are a number of other considerations that go into creating one beyond selecting the basic video and audio systems, as well the theater-style seats that are all the rage these days.

"There are a lot of problems in doing home theaters beyond the execution of the installation," said Mike Abt, owner and partner of Abt Electronics. "You not only want a good programmer, you want someone who can repair the product, too."

A number of variables come into play when creating a home theater, namely size and location of the room as well as existing lighting and acoustic conditions. You may not think about how to darken the room to mimic the theater experience, but the company you employ should.

"Screen size is predicated on the size of the room," said Cook. "You generally figure that you should be sitting two times the diagonal length away from the screen, so if a screen is 100 inches, you're sitting 15 to 16 feet away."

Another consideration inherent in a dedicated home theater room is acoustics. This encompasses not only where you place speakers and whether or not they blend into the room, but how the room absorbs noise as well as how it the sound from the speakers plays inside the room.

"Not only do you want to isolate the room but you also have to know how to tune it, in other words how do you design the room so that the speakers sound right?" Baumeister said. "So many times I've had clients say, 'I've had surround sound, but I just can't understand the person speaking.'"

What all of these variables means is that installing a home theater is not a job for a do-it-yourselfer, no matter what information you find on the Internet. There are just too many things that can go wrong. First off, anyone recommending and installing your system should be CEDIA certified. The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association is an international organization of companies that specialize in planning and installing electronic systems for the home. CEDIA members will help you navigate the myriad possibilities and recommend what is best for your needs.

A typical mistake made by buyers is spending too much money on one aspect of the experience, such as an overly impressive projection system or television, or shortchanging the audio portion of the installation. Similarly, serious thought is often not given to proper venting of the all the electronic components. Specially designed racks to hold all of the gadgetry should be part of the setup so nothing overheats.

To that end, when making a purchase of this type, you need someone to visually assess what should go into the space.

"We'll actually come out to you and look at your environment and make recommendations and what happens there is we don't oversell," Barrett said. "In this economy, people don't want to make a mistake. They want to make the right purchase the first time."

This, of course, works on a larger scale too, where home theaters often double as actual performance sites with small stages for children to perform dances or small skits, or karaoke stages for in-home activities.

"Some of the larger theaters have a themed or fantasy aspect to them," Baumeister said. "It becomes a complete cinematic experience with lighting control and curtains that open and close."

Many of the considerations that go into creation of home theaters are also applicable for media rooms. The scale here is generally smaller and there is less acoustical buffering. Average range for a media room is $10,000 to $20,000, Baumeister estimated.

The television and home theater system, on a smaller scale, remains the focal point of the room, but because these rooms are multiuse, you can also find extensive stereo systems to satisfy audiophiles, as well as computers and gaming systems. In other words, the media room has become the electronic family gathering place.

"More people want to include gaming areas for kids as well as adults," Baumeister said. "It's about what kind of media people want to have. Sometimes it's having a computer in the room, or a TV that can interface with other aspects of media such as pulling up photos on a screen."

Another component of the media room, somewhat to the chagrin of those who have advocated electronic advances for years have been docks for iPods or other MP3 players.

"I wish this is a trend that wouldn't have happened," said Abt, noting the lesser sound quality of the devices. "But it's something that all the kids seem to want so it ends up being included."

Media rooms also tend to have more informal seating, chairs that can be moved around or not even resemble theater seating at all. Electronic components are often, but not always, hidden in cabinetry so the space can easily change back into an area for non-electronic entertaining.

In planning for either a home theater or a media room, it's also helpful if you have some idea of your budget. People rarely have a firm dollar amount in mind, but if you're honest upfront about what you can afford, you'll most likely end up happier.

"We love it when a customer comes in with what they actually want to do because we can find the very best system available at their budget level," Barrett said.

With all of this electronic gadgetry, the one component that is a key investment in your installation, no matter if it's a theater or a media room is the remote control.

"A good remote that everyone can use to easily program the system is worth its weight in gold," Barrett said.

Expect to spend $400 to $600 for a first class control.

Now if programmers could only find a way to prevent the remote from getting lost in the seat cushions, that would be the ultimate home media perk.