"These are buyers who want wine cellars and home movie theaters and private pools, and a high-end house in Bedford is perfect for them," Mr. Smolev said.
The home theater craze, which began in the 1990s, brought with it an ever-increasing array of components: Any respectable high-end home theater now includes a minimum of five speakers (one center, two front and two rear), at least one subwoofer for bass, an amplifier, preamp, tuner, CD/DVD player and VCR.
Mr. Feingold said the improvements were especially intended for high-end home theater equipment.
And so, in 2003 Mr. Siegel and a friend started Orb Audio, a maker of high-end home theater systems.
WHOEVER said that money can't buy happiness has obviously never bought a high-end home theater system.
The ScreenPlay 110, aimed at purchasers of high-end home theater equipment, comes with an upscale price, $4,999.
But two peculiarities of the Chinese box office have made it particularly attractive for manufacturers of high-end home theater systems.
The company, which has designed high-end home theater systems since 2002, just introduced an iPod dock that follows a vertical, rather than horizontal, format.
A FEW years ago I bought a high-end home theater system that promised to "surround" me in sound when watching Hollywood blockbusters — or, more likely, reruns of "Law & Order".
"Essentially, we saw there was a niche for a retailer who would cater to the middle- and high-end home theater market, selling products like plasma TV's and installing them in the customer's home," Mr. Leifer said.
