Home Audio for the Rich and Famous : Technology: THX sound for the living room makes its debut at a chic Beverly Hills emporium, where a pair of speakers may cost a mere $62,000.

Forget that fax for your car. Drop all notions of a fleet of personal messengers. Scrap those plans for a birthday bash for your Lhasa Apso.

The absolute latest requirement in the film industry’s nonstop status derby is your own home-screening room equipped with nothing less than theatrical-caliber THX sound from George Lucas.

Home-style THX makes its California retail debut tonight at the opening of Christopher Hansen Ltd., the kind of shop “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” might do a segment on, or Architectural Digest might feature. After all, where else but this Beverly Hills emporium can a person drop $62,000 for a pair of speakers and $22,000 for an amplifier--amid understated Neo-Classic decor?

And if those prices aren’t exactly your taste, no sweat. Hansen and his staff can tailor a home theater and sound system that’ll cost as much as $200,000 or as little as $15,000 (for those who are strapped for cash).

At tonight’s invitation-only party, there will be no searchlights or parking sales a la high-volume marketers like Circuit City, Silo and Good Guys. Instead, as if to underscore the level of client Hansen seeks, the opening will benefit the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, raising money to aid onetime Motown recording star Mary Wells in her battle with throat cancer.

“It’s a showroom and it is different,” Hansen conceded during a recent interview. His business is housed in what was formerly the Rolls-Royce dealership building at 8822 West Olympic Blvd. Hansen enjoys the comparison.

“My showroom is not set up like a conventional store, because I want people to know when they walk in that when we build music or theater systems, that we’re not just selling boxes or pieces of equipment. We’re selling entire systems that have been designed to re-create music or re-create an entire experience.”

Indeed. There are several intimate listening rooms, in addition to the “home” theater room that can seat up to 40 people. “People think that for a room to be good for sound it has to look like a studio. But we just wanted to do some things that show people how you can build rooms that are extremely attractive and also work from the sound standpoint.”

In some of the rooms, the speakers are hidden in the walls. In others, they are placed strategically as furniture. Certain walls are upholstered for acoustic purposes. One high-ceilinged room, finished in soft earth tones and rich hardwoods, features a Swiss speaker system worth $62,000.

But why would anyone need to spend that much for speakers?

Hansen agrees one doesn’t, and ventures an analogy: “You can buy a perfectly fine auto for $25,000 and you can buy one for $100,000 . . . The difference is how you perceive it,” he said. “Some people simply find that high-quality equipment gives them enjoyment.

“When you come into my store, you can listen to systems worth $20,000 or $30,000--99% of the people have not even heard that level,” Hansen said. “They can’t believe what it sounds like. It’s not just a glorified stereo which you’re paying exorbitant rates for. These things actually perform better.”

Hansen said that most of the time, it isn’t the price of the equipment that matters as much as the combination of components and how they are connected. “It might be as simple as combining the right pieces so that they function well and are not fighting each other.”

Hansen, who has been in the audio business since 1976, has, at his previous Beverly Hills location, created home-entertainment systems for a number of show-business luminaries and audio atmospheres for nightclubs and hotels. One of his designs was a stereophonic bed that Paul McCartney gave Stevie Wonder as a gift after they recorded “Ebony & Ivory.”

For the time being, Hansen’s shop is the exclusive California outlet showing the THX Home Theater System. California’s only other announced location will be in Sacramento, but not for another month or so.

At Hansen’s, THX is demonstrated in a living-room setting that, in his words, “downscales the the theater experience for people’s homes.” In the showroom you can sink into a plush sofa and watch movies on a screen 9 feet wide and almost 7 feet high. The proportions are the same as those of a theater screen.

Hansen estimated that similar systems can be installed, with such options as hidden speakers and upholstered walls designed to detailed specifications, for prices ranging from $25,000 to $75,000. In the future, video systems can be adapted for projection of high-definition television, which only this month was introduced to the Japanese consumer market at 10 times the price of current top-of-the-line conventional TVs.

According to THX director of marketing Julie Petersen, the goal of introducing THX for the home was to replicate the moviegoing experience. And since the home-video market now provides half the film industry’s income, Petersen said, THX is betting that theater-caliber sound with all the comforts of home will become one of those luxuries we can’t live without.

THE SOUND OF MONEY You can easily drop a cool hundred grand on a custom-designed stereo system at Christopher Hansen Ltd. Or you can go the low-end route for about $1,000. Both suggested systems below include estimated installation charges. The low-end: Sony Receiver STRGX-40-ES: $350 Sony Compact Disc CDP 209 ES: 320 Energy 2.1 E Speakers, pair: 250 Custom Dressings (installation): 59 Total: $979 The high-end: Goldmund Apologue Speakers, pair: $62,000 Goldmund Gold Cube Amplifiers: 24,400 Goldmund Mimesis Two-Control Amplifier: 8,650 Wadia 2000 Digital Processor 64: 8,000 Wadia WT2000 CD Transport: 5,595 Goldmund Reference Turntable System with Goldmund T3F Tonearm: 30,000 Custom Dressings (installation): 5,000 Total: $143,645