I will add the famous citation that resume all:
" The ears command, you obey" Groucho Marx
" The ears command, you obey" Groucho Marx
Home Theater Done Right: Millercarbon's System
Dual use, should probably be the title. Oh well. Finally posted my system. Someone’s always asking about how to do a dual use system. Well, here’s how its done.
Cinephile or audiophile, movies and music are the two things I have loved for as long as I can remember. I want my music to sound as good as possible, and I want my movies to look and sound as good as possible. Everything is a compromise and yet when it comes to these two the compromises are remarkably few. If any. At least that is what my system shows. Because it is a first-rate audiophile sound system, AND a top level home theater.
Whether music or movies an immersive experience is the goal. To lose yourself in the experience. To be carried away.
Studies show viewers consistently rate video quality higher when sound quality is high. Unfortunately the Home Theater industry has chosen to pursue quantity over quality. Which cannot ever work. No amount of surround speakers will ever make up for poor quality. Everyone knows this perfectly well. Being able to convince anyone otherwise is a testament to marketing.
But that’s not my main point here. Rather it is that everything matters. Seemingly minor little things like cryogenic treatment, HFT, ECT, Total Contact, fuses, cable elevators, etc when added together actually make so much difference it is almost impossible to build a truly good system without them.
Removing those tweaks from my system would lower it down to merely average.
Anyway, the system is posted. Enjoy the pics. I am not that good a photographer but Steve Clarke was busy. Tried to get the tubes go glow- how’d I do?
The system evolves. Here for reference are some pics from 16 years ago. https://www.theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm
Comments welcome. Enjoy!
Cinephile or audiophile, movies and music are the two things I have loved for as long as I can remember. I want my music to sound as good as possible, and I want my movies to look and sound as good as possible. Everything is a compromise and yet when it comes to these two the compromises are remarkably few. If any. At least that is what my system shows. Because it is a first-rate audiophile sound system, AND a top level home theater.
Whether music or movies an immersive experience is the goal. To lose yourself in the experience. To be carried away.
Studies show viewers consistently rate video quality higher when sound quality is high. Unfortunately the Home Theater industry has chosen to pursue quantity over quality. Which cannot ever work. No amount of surround speakers will ever make up for poor quality. Everyone knows this perfectly well. Being able to convince anyone otherwise is a testament to marketing.
But that’s not my main point here. Rather it is that everything matters. Seemingly minor little things like cryogenic treatment, HFT, ECT, Total Contact, fuses, cable elevators, etc when added together actually make so much difference it is almost impossible to build a truly good system without them.
Removing those tweaks from my system would lower it down to merely average.
Anyway, the system is posted. Enjoy the pics. I am not that good a photographer but Steve Clarke was busy. Tried to get the tubes go glow- how’d I do?
The system evolves. Here for reference are some pics from 16 years ago. https://www.theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm
Comments welcome. Enjoy!
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- 116 posts total
Mahgister You think YOU have a bad room? You need to try and tame mine...lol. About 16x12 with a heavily sloped ceiling about 12 ft high at the speaker end down to about 9ft at listener end. All glass walls, seriously its a converted Florida sunroom, double large French glass doors back into main house. Tiled floor but it is on solid concrete bed. Wooden blinds on every window, three large squishy sofas with cushions and throws, large near full size floor rug. Helps tremendously with taming all the stray reflections. Equipment is all off to the right had side corner due to the double French doors opening in. Speakers are out about 3ft from back and side walls. However that speaker positioning really works well with the Maggies, add a couple of subs front left and rear right and tbh the SQ has no right to be as good as it is considering the appalling room starting point. Be interesting to see what Miller could do with this room and I am not being facetious. |
uberwaltz Your description made me rethink about my room... :) Perhaps mine was not so bad from the start.... :) One thing is certain Any room can sound good, not perfect, but good yes... It takes acoustical non conventional methods and conventional one... It takes the ears to guide you step by step... One at a time...Without my non conventional methods my room will not be so good now tough... And congratulations for the most difficult room to treat contest and new thread to comes.... By the way with my 6 inches bass drivers Mission speakers, in my treated room, i had so much good bass that I connect my Kreisel subs one hour before disconnecting it without using it anymore....I dont miss 20 or 30 hertz vibrations so much...40 hertz is enough for clavichord and for almost all organ notes ….Without my non conventional acoustical room treatment at the times i have bought this Kreisel subs with excitation... But it is very difficult to adjust subs with speakers also in a rightful manner to gives homogeneous and clear mid frequencies, but we all love rumbles, the reason why I bought the Kreisel at the times :) Good and powerful room treatment sometimes eliminate the need for a sub... This was my case....And in my experience, cleaning the electrical grid of the house "makes room" for the acoustical optimal treatment of the room... All three embeddings are linked together... :) My friendly salutations... By the way millercarbon has one of the most good looking audio system I have seen here and with good sound I bet...I am a bit envious :) ...Hopefully my sound is amazing also, if not, I would kill myself after looking at it... I like the way cables are cleanly guided to the gear particularly...I cannot use this method here tough...All my cables are separated but on a wall near each other without touching ... My friendly salutations... |
Belief in ones own handiwork is a very powerful antidote to getting the best sound possible. Two obvious examples I can think of are Helmholtz resonators are easily overdone. And wires running together even though they don’t touch are still affecting each other electrically. “Because it’s what I choose to believe.” - Harpo Marx “You may think you know what’s going on Mr. Geddes, but believe me you don’t.” - Noah Cross to the detective Jake Geddes in Chinatown. |
geoffkait I know you are often right...This is the differences between me and some others about your sayings... :) Remember that I dont pretend my audio system is absolutely optimal, but that it converge asymptotically to this peak yes I know it... Is there other fields than the mechanical one, the acoustical one, and the electrical one ? Yes there is... Belief in ones own handiwork is a very powerful antidote to getting the best sound possible.I quote one of your best observation to date for me...This quote I makes mine deserve to be a classical one...My goal is the best musical experience possible and comes a times when I forget about the best sound...I am in this time or near it indeed... I listen more than I study now I confess... :) And to makes thing worst I am very proud of my homemade low cost solutions effectivity... :) For the Helmholtz resonators, I know what you speak about, i had to do several tests...For the wires you are right, but actually it is impossible in my space to do better... The end is near , the base camp is under my eyes, the summit over my head for sure...But compared to most at least I had taken the journey... :) " Why are you mute? Because I have choosen to believe my ears" - Grumman Marx My friendly salutations... |
- 116 posts total