Sitting in your armchair watching a bullet speeding towards your head is the stuff of bad dreams, writes Dave Buckley.
But, somehow, helped undoubtedly by the knowledge that the bullet was not real and that I was only watching a movie ... I found it quite exhilarating.
The reason I found myself in this “nightmarish” situation was that I was visiting the offices of a company called TechWorX to discover what they were about.
My visit to their premises at the bottom end of Thepprasit Road was well worthwhile!
TechWorX describe themselves as being a residential/commercial electronic systems integrator company. Bit of a mouthful, huh?
So let’s try to simplify that a bit. They are wizards at creating smart homes (or offices or business premises) where the electronics do everything for you except walk, talk and chew gum.
Need that expanded a bit?
They can create home theatres, put in a system to control all your lighting, provide multi-room audio/video systems and set-up security controls.
Want to turn on the air cond when you are 30 minutes from home? They can do it.

Watching concerts
Want to watch a recording of a concert and feel like you are in the auditorium? No problem.
Want to be made to jump out of your seat watching a movie where bullets bend around corners before thudding bloodily into their victims? You buy the right film, TechWorX can deliver the feeling that it’s all happening in the room right in front of you.
The bullet-bending demo I was watching was from a film called Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, among others. It’s a film I’ve seen snippets from but never watched the whole way through.
“We quite often show the first few minutes of this film to prospective customers to give them a flavour of what having a home cinema can really be like,” said TechWorX sales director Nick Creasey.
For me, the visual effects of the film and the sound generated by speakers mounted in the ceiling was a better experience that sitting in a cinema.
I told Nick I was no stranger to ceiling-mounted speakers, having had them in my last UK home. I was a fan of both the sound delivered and also felt that not having to see lots of wires trailing everywhere was a major bonus.
But what TechWorX can offer makes my former home audio system seem pretty tame and outdated. The technology has moved on in leaps and bounds but, as ever, it is important to install good quality equipment.
Nick said: “Our main product is Crestron, an American-made line which is the leader in the field. We say it is the Rolls-Royce of A/V (audio/visual).
“Unfortunately, at one time smart homes got a bit of a bad name here in Thailand due to the use of poor quality materials and installers who didn’t know what they were doing.”
Nick, by his own admission, is not the technical man on the team. The techno boys are Daragh O’Higgins and Tim Margetts who, between them, have more than 40 years of experience in their field.
Daragh has worked across a broad spectrum of electrical systems involving luxury villas, resorts and super yachts in the UK, Holland, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Mallorca.

Sporting arenas
Tim has worked on projects in the UK, Africa and the UAE. In the UK he has been involved with the electrical systems at such well know sporting arenas as Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Manchester City’s Eastlands ground and Ascot Racecourse.
Tim has a first class BSc (Hons) in music systems engineering from the UK’s Bristol University.
So these guys know what they are about.
Of course, to concentrate on the residential side of things would probably do this company a disservice. They are not just about home systems.
“We have recently signed up to provide the whole set-up for a smart new nightclub (pictured above) in Bangkok,” said Nick.
“I think establishments like this have realised that they need to up their game and stop installing cheap systems that do little to enhance their image. Once this particular nightclub system is up and running it will get us noticed in the capital.”
So how much does a system cost? “We can provide a good lighting system for the home for between Bt50,000-70,000,” said Nick. “But, of course, the more you add the more it costs.”
Nick didn’t seem to thing that price was a barrier. He said with a confident smile: “If people see it, they have it, provided they have got the money!” I wouldn’t argue. Now how do it get hold of a copy of that film, Wanted? Ω