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Talk of the bay
Home theater chair mixes comfort with action
By DAVE GUSSOW
Published January 10, 2005
At theme parks they call them simulator rides. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it went by the name D-BOX Odyssee.
Imagine a supremely comfy recliner wired through your home theater system. When the ground shakes on the movie screen, you feel it. A hard right turn in that car chase, hang on. Like the Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, the idea is to synchronize the action on a movie screen with a moveable chair.
And the chairs are coming to Florida soon.
D-BOX Technology, the Canadian maker of this new home theater gadget, has signed a deal to test market the new chairs in Florida through Sound Advice "early in 2005." The home electronics retailer, which will be renamed Tweeter in the next two years, will be among the first to carry the chairs, whose starting price will be $6,000.
The chairs use a two- or four-point suspension system that is connected to a controller that translates the action in a movie into relevant motions.
In the early days of simulator rides, back in the 1980s, their popularity dimmed somewhat while the manufacturers searched for a way to make a ride that didn't make patrons sick to their stomachs. D-BOX must be confident they've overcome that hurdle. The Odyssee is also available as a love seat.
[Last modified January 7, 2005, 19:54:04]
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