Inuvik (Mar 14/03) - The bass creeps from the front of the room, charges across the floor and bowls you over in crescendo before quickly escaping behind the couch; your field of vision is consumed by the giant image from Hollywood.

For the next two hours, your senses of sight, sound and mind are under digital assault. No, you haven't just crossed over into the Twilight Zone, this is home theatre.

Mark Van Vliet and Mike Atkinson say they have always been "audiophile geeks." Since their teens, they have sought out the loudest, clearest sounding systems they could afford. As technology advanced and as they grew older, that fascination spilled over into video and eventually to home theatre systems.

Atkinson and Van Vliet met about three years ago, when home audio and video was on the cusp of something revolutionary.

"As soon as digital came out we both changed our systems over," Van Vliet said. "I've upgraded three times since then."

While it is a bit of a rivalry, the two have different goals for their rooms.

"Mark likes the dedicated theatre room and I have more of a media room/sitting room," Atkinson said. "It bridges a few gaps, because we sit in here and listen to music or watch TV."

His screen is eight feet wide and the image is beamed from a unobtrusive projector mounted on the ceiling. The sound is powered by a Yamaha 6.1 Dolby Digital DTS amplifier/receiver.

"The '6.1' means you have a distinct channel for each speaker and the sub woofer is the point one," he explained.

Atkinson figures he's spent about $15,000 on his system, while Van Vliet estimates about $13,000 on his.

Van Vliet has a nine-foot screen and, like Atkinson, a Plus Piano front projector.

He also has a Marantz DVD player and a JVC S-video tape player. As with Atkinson's system everything -- including the lights -- are controlled through one remote control.

Both guys are married and they say their wives are pretty tolerant of their hobby.

"My wife knows that even before we met, that I've always had stereo systems, so it's been kind of an evolution for me," Atkinson said.

"I always told my wife that I wanted a dedicated theatre room and I don't think she was that keen on it, but now that we have it and people come over and they are just in awe of it," Van Vliet said.

"She likes it and not just because it's good entertainment, but it also increases the value of your house."

They don't drink and feel the theatres are a better use of their disposable income.

"We could go to the bar and spend $200 a night, but we'd rather spend our money like this," Van Vliet said.