Home Theater Done Right: Millercarbon's System

Your three "embeddings" are my vibration control, electronics, and acoustics. Whatever they're called or however they're defined they are all vibrating with the music. People who think its necessary to change components are simply basing it on a weak and simplistic - and totally arbitrary- concept of what is a component.

Millercarbon, in my tweaks I added 3 Himalayan salt lamps, and their colors added something for sure that is pleasant to see...

But I really think that they also made a real enhancement of the sound, perhaps it is an illusion, in this precise case, yes, perhaps, because the effect is subtle but for me there...

But all my numerous tweaks one after another cannot be explained by placebos or increasing hallucinations...They worked way better than buying a new 2020 Krell amplifier to upgrade from my 1978 Sansui...And cost 50 dollars total for the 3 beautiful salt lamp...

The deluded one are those who thinks the electronic components are all there is about Hi-FI. I think and you think the contrary: the embeddings is all there is about Hi-Fi...

The deluded one, if there is someone deluded, are among those that must justify for themselves the too much high price they had pay sometimes for the experience of Hi-Fi; not among those who had pay much attention to the 3 embeddings of their electronic components, and less attention to the marketing of new electronic costly components...And certainly not those who bought 3 dollars tweaks liliputian herkimer diamonds... :)

millercarbon likes to see tubes glow and cables up on little stands etc. It makes him happy which makes his system sound better.

Actually its the system sounding better that makes me happy. And the tube glow, that's for photography. I listen eyes closed.I do hope you are kidding by the way.

I can explain that mahgister but I don’t think you will like the explanation.

mijostyn

Your remark made me smile(in a friendly manner)...

I know that placebo effect plays his function in all context...But Placebo effect cannot play in audio, like with the feeling body in a medical experiment, the exact same function when you add something to an inert piece of gear.....You can say that I delude myself at least it will be more exact...Hallucinations or misperceptions by auto programmation is not exactly placebo in a medical context, but it is what you want to say or what it is more exact to say for describing what you have in mind about my experience :)

In the last 2 years my audio system, without changing any electronic essentials components, same dac, same amp, same speakers, is going from crap  or disappointing sound quality, to top detailed 3-d imaging, in near listening or regular listening, with natural instrumental timbre, and a better dynamic, and a lived projected sound in the room, all that with my controlling methods of the 3 embeddings, it is in no way explainable by placebo sorry... I owned 8 pairs of headphone that I listened to before my tweakings because the sound was better, now it is the contrary, my speakers crush my headphones any one of them (Stax,Hifiman,2 AKG, Beyerdynamic, Q701, 2 Fostex)...

If an audible effect is added in a "cumulative" way with each experiments one after the other, mutiple times explaining that with a placebo effect or misperceptions is saying nothing serious at all... Sorry....

A better example of placebo effect or programmed misperceptions, choose what term you wanted to, would be some guy that after purchasing a 10,000 dollars amplifier must convince himself that the differences with his 2000 dollars amplifier was very, very big, and not a little one....

In my experience any good electronic component will be transmuted on another level completely if it is rightly embedded in the mechanical, acoustical, and electrical grids of the house and room... ( without illusive placebo effect) Any electronic components at any price... :)


Last remark:
"my illusion" cost me total, 500 hundred dollars maximum and perhaps less, for my Mission speakers, Sansui AU 7700 amplifier, and Starting Point System NOS dac...My controls homemade methods cost me peanuts also... Then who lives in an illusory hi fi world? Me or the crowd who think that paying is warrenty of Hi-Fi without anything to think about or work with for that and with only ready made costly product out of the box?

I will agree with any of your choice because I dont give a dam, listening music for the first time of my life in a good audio system created at no cost by me...

My best to you from the heart and with no rancor at all...

Is there an explanation why two channel could not sound satisfactory with movies? Aren't you watching it on the screen in front of you, after all? Isn't that where the action is?

I can explain that mahgister but I don't think you will like the explanation.
There are times when my system sounds even more magical than usual having done absolutely nothing to it. Barometric pressure? Voltage running a little hotter than usual? The alignment of the planets? More than likely it is just the physiologic state of my mind at the time. 
One thing I find interesting is that we have very different visual concepts.
millercarbon likes to see tubes glow and cables up on little stands etc. It makes him happy which makes his system sound better. Me? I like to see as little as possible. No tubes, wires, everything is hidden. It makes my system sound better. It shows in the turntables we buy. I like subdued designs like the SOTA but some people like more flashy Clearaudios or VPIs. All three companies make a good product but owners of all three will swear their turntable sounds better. In reality the visual differences are far greater than the audio ones.  

No argument mc. I have black out drapes in the room but because it is an open concept house and the room was designed to maximize bass performance there is no keeping ambient light out during the day time. No problem at night and there are no pilot lights, tubes or any source of light near the screen wall. I have toyed with the idea of wall papering the room with the same black felt like material our screen frames are covered with but other issues keep taking precedence. I guess in reality I am satisfied with what I have and do not feel the need at this time to spend money on it. I have had a Hi Fi since I was 13. I did't get a TV until I was around 28.
I had Krell amps before I had a TV. Get the picture?:)

Audio is not what we think it is at all, engineers, audiophiles or whoever we are; audio is a complex activity combining many artefacts in an experience always new, implicating way more than one science, and some unknowns to discover and perhaps even more than we think at the end....

I just finished an experiment with liliputian Herkimer diamonds of .125 or .200 grams that produce a change comparable to costly cables... Nobody know why or can explain that... The experiments cost me 2 dollars...I smile when someone say that without very costly electronic components HI-FI experience is not possible....This is marketing engineering not audiophile experience... :)

"God has 2 ears but no oscilloscope" Groucho Marx

The methods pertaining to these 3 embeddings TRANSFORM COMPLETELY the audio system, at any price, and does not only increase slightly a S.Q already there by virtue of the electronic component quality by itself. No I will repeat it: it transform it completely. Perhaps there is exception to this rule, but most of the times this rule apply, and I dont know any exception myself...

Me neither. Congratulations on being one of the few with the ears and the mind to have figured this out.

I'll side with millercarbon here. Two channel audio is king. I do not have enough room or money for a separate theater. I have found for myself at least that as long as I have a BIG screen and a patently ridiculous amount of bass power I am a happy camper as far as movies are concerned. I could put surround stuff in but I would rather buy another cartridge. We watched Ford vs Ferrari last night and the wrecks kicked you right off the sofa. Works for me. 

Right. And with a DBA not only is the bass super powerful, but usually the sound tracks are good enough it will be perfectly 3D holographically integrated with the soundstage and have all the same you-are-there qualities as any well-recorded audiophile music track.

Oh MC, I also use a Steward Greyhawk. Nice screen. It still is faded during daylight hours. Not sure if a laser projector will fix this. 

That's the industry standard. But you still need ambient light control. No projector made can compete with daylight. That's the first decision to face when building a HT, will it need to be good with the lights on? Because that will rule out projectors. The problem is the screen. It has to reflect light. And it can't choose which light, its gonna reflect it all. So the room has to be dark. A brighter projector will definitely help Mike. Putting it as close as you can will increase intensity. But as long as you have a screen nothing will ever be as good as a nice dark room.

“HT experts tell you.” Solid gold! 

Good one.

The way movie soundtracks are produced, you would need a minimum of 5 discreet channels, not including the subs.

Right. In order to reproduce 5 channels you need 5 speakers. 5 amps. 5 channels of everything. Right you are. Open and shut. Never argue an unwinnable position.

You do not have a decoder, a center channel, nor rear channels.

Right again. Been there. Done that. Sounds like crap. Not sure why. Don't care why. Only care about sound quality. Sound quality uber alles.Now to be fair there was one good thing about surround: the bass was a lot better. But that's because I was running full range surrounds.Now here's a question for you: do you run full range surrounds? Do you run all identical speakers front center and surround? Seriously. I want to know. Because if you don't, that's another compromise you are willing to make that I am not.

I ... assert that he would have been further ahead to go lighter on the tweaks and pursue more earnestly superior components, particularly the digital source and the amplification.

The only reason that's even on the table is you're reading posts instead of listening. No one who's ever sat and listened would say that. Quite the opposite. I've had people tell me they will never again think an expensive amp is necessary.This is something I've been comparing and evaluating comprehensively for three decades now. One $60 set of BDR Cones elevates the performance of anything you put them under so much you'd have to spend something like ten times as much to get that improvement in a better component. This is not me talking. This is not me tapping the keyboard. This is me actually putting them under lots and lots of components and comparing.Replace Cones with Fuse, HFT, ECT, PHT, power cord, interconnect, etc etc adjust the values a bit (tweaks are not all created equal- and some are a whole lot better than others) the same idea holds. Its ALWAYS better to tweak than to upgrade.This goes especially btw with tweaks like diodes, caps, wires, etc. People who say otherwise, almost always it turns out they've never even tried to find out. Its rough, I know, to find imagination out of line with the real world. Oh well.

I have found tweaks to be insipid in comparison to the gains from superior components, cables and speakers.

Really? Which ones have you tried?

Oh MC, I also use a Steward Greyhawk. Nice screen. It still is faded during daylight hours. Not sure if a laser projector will fix this. I doubt if it would ever match a flat screen TV but nobodies making one 130" diagonal....yet.  

I'll side with millercarbon here. Two channel audio is king. I do not have enough room or money for a separate theater. I have found for myself at least that as long as I have a BIG screen and a patently ridiculous amount of bass power I am a happy camper as far as movies are concerned. I could put surround stuff in but I would rather buy another cartridge. We watched Ford vs Ferrari last night and the wrecks kicked you right off the sofa. Works for me.

millercarbon OP2,850 posts02-01-2020 2:47pm"....Dive weights....

Discovered years ago mass not only dampens vibration it also improves dynamics and slam and bass extension. Not to mention some stuff like the Oppo is so darn light and power cords so stiff it helps things stay put."

Vibration/resonance control on the cheap. I like it!

I am with douglas on this one. Best components you can afford and then tweak and I will add that Synergistic Research is near the bottom of my list for these items.

I also share the opinion that HT done right means that you absolutely have to have a center channel.  There is a loss of cohesion when you try to use a left/right for phantom center, and it actually causes the dialog to be harder to understand.  The surround speakers can be optional, but they do add a depth to the sound experience.

I sat in the Synergistic room at RMAF for 20 minutes (trapped in a closed door demo).  The HFT transducers did absolutely nothing to the sound.  Also, while the equipment was purposely chosen to be poor sounding equipment with hiss and ground humm, it actually sounded better with all that other Synergistic equipment "turned off".

What is a superior component?


There is 3 levels of price quality...

Any components in each rung of this level are almost equivalent, modulo some little differences...
For example the Zotl Berning amplifier is a superior electronic component compared to my Sansui AU 7700, on another rung than it, but I can assure you that the S.Q I create by controllings the 3 embeddings are so much, than my inferior electronic component is not too much backward in S.Q. not equal for sure but at his peak level the Sansui is very good but sound like ordinary in a non controlled embeddings...This Sansui is one of the best Sansui ever made tough...A Berning amplifier in a non treated embeddings will not soud at his peak level either...

I just want to say that when we speaks about "tweaks" people think most of the times about something that accompany marginally the efficiency of their audio system, a tweak being something that increase what is already there...


1-But is the controlled of the mechanical embeddings of an audio system,
2-The varied acoustical treatment of our room,
3-The cleaning of all the electrical grid of a house and of the gear itself,

rightly done and implemented,
are only some tweaks added to the Audio system for a slightly better audio experience?

Absolutely not at all...The methods pertaining to these 3 embeddings TRANSFORM COMPLETELY the audio system, at any price, and does not only increase slightly a S.Q already there by virtue of the electronic component quality by itself. No I will repeat it: it transform it completely. Perhaps there is exception to this rule, but most of the times this rule apply, and I dont know any exception myself...

I have found tweaks to be insipid in comparison to the gains from superior components, cables and speakers.  

>>>>>>There’s one in every crowd.

This is HT done on a two channel HiFi platform, which does suffer some of the disadvantages of not being set up for a dedicated HT. That is not debatable. 

What is debatable is whether Chuck should have spent prodigiously on Tweaks. The thread is dedicated, imo, to his assertion that the pursuit of heavy tweaks is what is "done right". I disagree, and assert that he would have been further ahead to go lighter on the tweaks and pursue more earnestly superior components, particularly the digital source and the amplification. I have found tweaks to be insipid in comparison to the gains from superior components, cables and speakers.  

That is not to suggest it is not an extreme effort, or that it is not well-loved.  :) 

“HT experts tell you.” Solid gold!

Miller, you have much to say about many subjects. The way movie soundtracks are produced, you would need a minimum of 5 discreet channels, not including the subs. You do not have a decoder, a center channel, nor rear channels. You have an elaborate 2 channel system, that YOU seem to be happy with, reproducing home theater soundtracks. The best 2 channel systems, ARE, separate from home theater systems. Just admit it. But, you won't. Because......well....we know.....And, I do not need to hear your system to know the difference between good 2 channel and true, multi channel systems. I am done with this thread. 

HT experts will tell you that you need to have the left/right speakers set up so that the image is continuous when panned across the stage - to the center speaker - and to the other speaker. 

Right. Experts will tell you. That's the difference. Experts will tell you to do something, you will just go and do it. Me, I will see. What if the experts are wrong? Which they are. You should come and see and hear. Sounds pan and move across the sound stage beautifully. 
Anyway, look at what you just wrote: 

to the center speaker - and to the other speaker.

Is that what you want? The sound to come from the speaker? Really? Isn't it better if it sounds as if there are no speakers at all? As if the sound is part and parcel of the video? It seems to me that is a whole lot better. Everyone who hears it thinks so too.

Spread the speakers farther apart and guess what, music sounds better. Video soundstage suffers. It's all a trade off. 

Tell you what. You come and hear my system, and THEN tell me the sound stage suffers. Steve Clarke, the guy who first photographed my system 16 years ago, when contacted recently and asked if he remembered my system the first word that came to mind was "holographic". That was with these same Talon speakers in the exact same place as today. Only now with all the other improvements it is vastly, unbelievably more holographic. Vastly. Unbelievably.

I really wish you could come and hear it. If you really believe what you're saying, boy would I love to see the shock on your face when you experience just how far off what the experts have told you is from reality.

I prefer to have a big screen, soundbar and sub in the living room and NO video crap in the listening room. Car crashes and dinosaur stomps need not have the highest in fidelity for me.

Okay, so now at last we get down to it: you don't care about audio quality when watching movies. My standards are equally high for both. I simply am not willing to sacrifice quality in one for the other. You are. As are a lot of HT people. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify that.

Miller, I might be missing something here, but, if home theater is part of this package, other than the screen, I do not see it. As far as I can tell, I am with Ozzy on this. This is a 2 channel audio system, not a home theater system.

Which means they will be flanking the screen somewhat tighter than is optimum for good two channel stereo imaging.

You need a bigger screen. Hahaha. :)

HT experts will tell you that you need to have the left/right speakers set up so that the image is continuous when panned across the stage - to the center speaker - and to the other speaker. Which means they will be flanking the screen somewhat tighter than is optimum for good two channel stereo imaging.

Spread the speakers farther apart and guess what, music sounds better. Video soundstage suffers. It's all a trade off.

I prefer to have a big screen, soundbar and sub in the living room and NO video crap in the listening room. Car crashes and dinosaur stomps need not have the highest in fidelity for me.

3D wide and immersive sound field. That’s gold, Jerry, gold!!

Okay. Good one. Or if not good, then at least valid.

So, speakers optimized for two channel listening. What does that mean? Well for one it means awesome rock solid imaging in a 3D wide and immersive sound field. Which is what I have. Check.

So now help me out here- how is that any different with a picture?

Well there's this.

Let's not even consider the electronics, which is also a factor.

But if you position your speakers so that they are optimized for two channel listening, they will NOT be optimized for HT. Now as long as you know that one or the other will suffer to some degree,  you can combine the two.

Home Theater done right means that your serious music listening system is in another room

.
So then I would have two rooms, each one exactly like the same, with the stereo exactly the same, only one would not have the screen on the wall.
Brilliant. Its this kind of thinking that has kept people from discovering just how awesome music AND movies can be.

I don't even want a dim pilot light near the screen as any extraneous light affects the picture.

 
Yeah that's covered in my System description. When watching a movie the vast majority of the light in the room is coming from the screen itself. The movie lights up the whole room. I have never in a dozen years been aware of any light other than the movie itself. Of course if you stare right at it you will see it!

This light scatter problem is one reason I chose the Stewart Grayhawk screen. I found an installer who let me do a beautiful side by side comparison. We hung different screen materials so we could see the same video on the different screens literally side by side. A white screen is only a teeny tiny bit brighter. Barely noticeable. Whites are a shade whiter, but you would never notice any other way than side by side. Contrast however is a LOT better with the Grayhawk. Light control with a white screen is paramount, as any stray light- any at all- washes out the image.

The walls are painted a neutral gray. Deliberately, because yes background colors around the screen affect your perception of colors on the screen. I did my research. Distance, geometry, the works. Its a first-class professional level installation in every respect- including lighting.

What you can't tell from the pictures, and this is almost impossible to photograph, is the one time light can be a problem is watching when its really sunny outside. The shutters aren't air or light tight, and even stray sunlight coming in is distracting. But this almost never happens, as its just not used much when its sunny outside.

Home Theater done right means that your serious music listening system is in another room.

That is all......

Oz

I sort of did mc. Your amp is right under your screen. Hard to hide when a movie is on. I don't even want a dim pilot light near the screen as any extraneous light affects the picture. Of course my old JVC DLP projector only throws 1000 lumens. I might not be as sensitive with one of the new laser projectors (3000 lumens) But still I would not put any equipment other than speakers near the screen. A lot of equipment now has a "lights off" feature. A bit hard to do with tubes. 
I suppose I am lucky having had a chance to build my own house. I only use balanced amps now and they are on a shelf up against the ceiling in the work shop right under the speakers and subs. There is conduit running from the equipment rack which is to the left of the listening sofa down to the amps. The amps are class A so I constructed a cooling system (fans) that blows over the tops of the amps. The common 12 volt power supply also triggers the amps. It is operated by a switch next to the equipment cabinet. Initially I could hear the fans (no good) so I put a potentiometer on each fan to slow them down which worked. I did make one mistake. There are two Lenox heat pumps just outside that wall. They are pretty quiet but you can still hear them on quiet passages. Every once in a while I'll get annoyed and turn them off for a spell. 
Anyway if you have a basement you could do the same thing but then none of your stuff would be on display.

Thanks to the guys who motivated me to get off my audiophile a$$ and take some pics, The System in only 2 days has 505 views. 

That's a lot of views... to have no one ask about the tube glow shots. ;-)

Right. Almost pure nostalgia- all working order but none connected.
That's a Pioneer TX-9100 tuner, bought new by me in about 1974. The Kenwood integrated has gone away but that tuner, between the looks and the memories its just too sweet to part with.The Technics SL-1700 is the reason I have the Miller Carbon. It sat in storage all through the 80's while I moved around after college. Then after building a really good CD based system Robert Harley said try records. So I pulled the Technics out of the box. Discovered the cantilever got bent. Straightened it out.  And sure enough, it killed CD. When a busted table beats your CD you know your CD is beat.Should probably sell both. They're worth more now than when new! But for now at least I will put up with the clutter... for the sake of the memories.

The system on the right, looks way older and less fancy that the rest of the room, brings back some nostalgia. However, turntable (is it Technics?) is in a very unusual spot.

@millercarbon Would you please talk about the acoustic treatments in the room, particularly the wainscoting that appears to be soft fabric.
Also the room looks to be very absorptive and I don’t see any diffusers.

Room acoustics. Well first of all the room is 5/8" sheetrock over 1/2" sound board. Its a remodel so the back wall also has at least another 1/2" of siding under the sound board.

Learning is a process and what you see was mostly done 30 years ago. Yes the wainscoting is fabric, over a very thin polyester for appearance. Wouldn’t do it that way today but over the years I have learned there’s a lot more to acoustics than treatments. Everything you put in a room including yourself affects the acoustics to some extent. You can for example make a very lively room sound dead with enough furnishings. You can also diffuse sound as I have done with component placement. But yes I do have a diffusor or two in mind. To break up flutter echo between the front side walls.

But this is all just primitive old school acoustics. The REAL acoustic treatments are the tiny little Synergistic Research HFT things you see stuck on the speakers and walls. Forced to choose between full on professional cost no object GIK Acoustics remodel and full complement of HFT I will take the HFT in a heartbeat. My DIY acoustics is a lot better than nothing. But nothing is better than HFT. Read my review. Read David Pilchers comments.

Millercarbon, I find any lights near or around my screen very annoying but they do not seem to bother you. Did you have something done to your eyes?

Yeah in the rush to post I neglected to shoot some pics of a movie. Will be doing that this weekend. Hard enough getting the tube glow to show. But I have some ideas. The lights of course are off for movies.

Millercarbon, I find any lights near or around my screen very annoying but they do not seem to bother you. Did you have something done to your eyes?

@millercarbon Would you please talk about the acoustic treatments in the room, particularly the wainscoting that appears to be soft fabric.

Also the room looks to be very absorptive and I don't see any diffusers.

Thanks,
Barts

Erik you're looking at the 16 year old pics on theanalogdept. The new ones are here https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367#&gid=1&pid=11

That must have been a prodigious amount of work! The turntable materials you've machined are really nicely done.

The bearing, platter, and motor are a collaborative effort of advanced audiophiles led by Chris Brady who started Teres Audio to sell the parts and whole turntables they developed. The bearing and platter were machined by Chris's brother Bryce. You could buy the bearing, platter, motor, or whole complete turntable. 

I started with the motor, which at that time was belt or string drive, by using it on my Basis 2005 table. This was my "proof of concept" and when it proved to be a lot better than the Basis gave me confidence to build the table. 

I was at first going to upgrade the Basis with a BDR Source Shelf. But the Basis is a suspended table. The BDR plinth would weigh a lot more. And besides what is the market value of a piece of black acrylic? Because that's all it is. (VPI owners, are you getting this?) The Basis sold for $2500, almost exactly what I paid for it new nearly 10 years prior. (CDP owners, are you getting this?) This offset a lot of the cost of the Miller Carbon.

I worry that people see the pictures, imagine the prices, and miss out on what an extreme high value system this is.

Anyway, I did design the table myself. Cut the BDR Source Shelf on a band saw. Machined and cut the threads in the BDR "nut" that holds the bearing. Sanded and polished the finish. Modified the bearing and motor. Practically every step involved a trip to one or more machinists and/or composites professionals to pick brains and evaluate options. 

So I didn't do it all but still, yeah, it was a fair amount of work. Thanks for the reminder. After 16 years I almost forgot.

@millercarbon Good info on the transformer. I may try one someday. Have you tried it since without it?

Well that's the thing. Its one thing to say you used 4 ga wire. Its quite another to convey to people just what that means. A 4 ga wire is about as thick as a pencil. Even that doesn't get across how inflexible and unwieldy it is. Not to mention nothing is made to accept that wire. Its too thick to fit into practically any circuit breaker, to say nothing of a normal outlet box. Also its a 220V circuit. 

So what you're asking then is after going to all this trouble did I disconnect and bypass the transformer, and wrestle the wires around inside my panel to change it to 110V, all to, what? Double-check what I already know I heard? 

Please see my comment above. I don't play the same track twice. Work like that, I need a whole lot better reason. That transformer stayed put more than 16 years and would have forever except Tim and Krissy and Total Contact came along and gave me a good enough reason.

Hello, long term listener, first time caller. Hey listen, all I can find is a stereo with a TV hidden on top.

Can't wait to see your link to an actual home theater system.

I'll take my reply offline.

Thank you and please.


Erik

@millercarbon Good info on the transformer. I may try one someday. Have you tried it since without it? 

@millercarbon Tell that to PWB. He's the one who used the same tune. Although so do I for VTA. Otherwise, it's always over an evening. Unless, it's patently crap.

@millercarbon I'll PM you where.

That must have been a prodigious amount of work! The turntable materials you've machined are really nicely done.

My hypothesis is that playing the same tune twice will always yield a positive outcome for the second play as the brain has already laid down the initial pattern. 

Playing the same thing twice (or more!) is one of those things a lot of guys do, and I used to as well, but haven't done in many years. Michael Fremer doesn't either.
The second play advantage, could actually just as well go the other way. Had some friends over one time, asked the woman if there was one song she wouldn't mind me playing twice. In between I went out and flipped breakers off. She was excited how much better it sounded. But it left me with the idea, unless you really love the music you're just not gonna want to hear it over and over again.

Not long after that we had some people over and Caelin brought some power cords and not wanting to bore the non-audiophiles I would play a whole song and swap power cords and play a different song. Sometimes even a different album. This was before being triggered became a thing but let me tell you all the audiophiles in the room were triggered. Bigly.

Everyone else though was just amazed that a power cord could make that much difference. Plus there's things like VTA. What's the point of VTA on the fly if you have to lift the arm and move it back? Change the flippin VTA and sit back down. Learn to listen. Which is yet another problem with repeating, its a crutch, you learn to listen for little snippets instead of the whole organic presentation.
I could go on and on just on this one thing. It didn't help at all when I was starting out. It doesn't help at all now.

With HFT specifically, if you even need to play another track I will be surprised. Just one is noticeable. If you put a whole set up in one fell swoop you will not be needing to A/B to be sure. You will not want to take them down. Ever. You might tweak where each one goes. That is fun. You might take one down just for a minute. But if you are like me and really enjoy every little improvement you will never ever want to be without them again.

Thanks for adding your system and the insight. I did see your other profile on another site. All awesomely obsessive! So you have 2 transformers for the main rig? The step down and another in the 'Medusa' (I get it)? What's the rating you'd recommend for my rig? What benefits does it bring? I have no big hum issues.

Really? What site?

Transformers. Okay so this was all done more than 15 years ago. I no longer recall all the details. But it went something like this-
The room was originally wired normal code, 110V, outlet to outlet. Didn't know enough then to argue it very well. That was quickly changed to 110V direct. That was better. Then somehow I'm talking to a guy about wire and mods and he upgraded and has this Audio Consulting step down transformer for sale. The reasoning is high voltage transmission is more efficient. Which clearly it is when we're talking kv. From 110 to 220? Not sure how significant that is but its got to be something, I bought it, and sure enough it was another improvement. But at the same time replaced the 12 ga with 4 ga, so will never know what did what.
Anyway that transformer is all about voltage. The next one in the Medusa is more about isolation.
Here we have to get a bit technical, at least enough to understand what a transformer does and how it works. First off they only work at all with AC. The current must be alternating. Every wire carrying current produces a magnetic field proportional to the voltage. At the same time, when a wire crosses a magnetic field, or a field crosses a wire, either way it induces a current and voltage in that wire. In a cartridge the magnet (or coil) moves back and forth. Motors and generators are just the flip sides of each other.

Well if the current is alternating then the fields are rising and falling and so they will generate or induce a signal in an adjacent wire. That's all a transformer is. A lot of wires wrapped around and around. Power goes in one that creates the fields, which cause current to be inducted into and come out the other side. The ratio of windings on each side determines whether the incoming voltage is the same, or goes up or down.
Now here it gets a little tricky, I don't know the math and nobody wants to see that anyway, but this doesn't just work all the same for all frequencies. If the frequency is very low it won't generate much if any current. Nor if the frequency is very high. When you hear people talk about the importance of transformers in tube amps, how much affect they have on the sound, this is the reason. If the transformer isn't wound in the right pattern it will still transform voltage and current, but not in the kind of nice flat way we want.
So that's the idea behind isolation transformers. They transmit the 60 Hz AC current just fine. They do not transmit the much higher radio frequency noise riding on the line. That long winded explanation is how they do this.
There's an additional smaller isolation transformer in the Medusa. That one is good only for about 35 watts and powers only the 2 Tesla MPCs on the CTS speaker cable. Makes a nice big difference too.
As for ratings, mine is 500VA, aka 500 watts. I would think that would be enough for just about anyone. It might not seem like it, if what you do is add up all the peak watts of all the amps and everything. But peak isn't from music. Peak is filling power supply caps at turn-on. No music will ever draw that much power. It can't. So I would say 500 is plenty, would maybe go 1kVA if a big HT with mega amps and high wattage projector. Anything north of that is serious overkill.
As for how much difference this makes, I ran (by accident and without knowing) BOTH of my TWO Dayton Subwoofer amps off the one tiny little 35 watt transformer. Well I forgot which outlet it was wired into. When I opened the Medusa and saw what I'd done I was staggered the amps worked at all. Also all that power was going through one thin little wire. Well it was SUPPOSED to be just for the Oppo CD player! Anyway, the amps did run, I did get very good bass, only it would clip at really high output. Now with bigger wire and no transformer the bass is better, but nowhere near as much as you'd think. If 2 big sub amps can run off on 35VA transformer then I would think 500VA will be plenty for just about anyone.

I wish someone would come over and demo all these Synergistic transducer thingys. I attended a number of Peter Belt demos in the 80s with foil triangles and, while skeptical, did hear changes. My hypothesis is that playing the same tune twice will always yield a positive outcome for the second play as the brain has already laid down the initial pattern. Reading a page twice in a book is much the same.

+1 brother

slaw-

We are similar thinkers, brother.

Yes and you have a lot of BDR too, right? So you can imagine better than most with every single thing on BDR just how deep into the recording my system goes.

There's actually at least three levels of tweaks operating at once in my system. Vibration control, to a certain extent with my own concrete and sand and lead, but primarily with BDR. Acoustic control, to a certain extent with my acoustic panels but much more with Synergistic HFT. And control of electric currents and fields with PPS Total Contact, E-cards and Omega E-Mats. There's also Synergistic ECT, which are called Electronic Circuit Transducers which are probably vibration control but look just like HFT so could be sonic I just don't know. Anyway that's three clear areas of tweakery.
Any one of these alone, well you can read the comments its pretty clear. Even back when BDR was the only thing in my system it was clear to one and all it was something special. Take all the BDR out and it was just another stereo. A good one, to be sure, but hardly special. BDR elevated it to a higher level.
Synergistic HFT, ECT and PHT were the same. Different approach, same result.
Finally (for now) Perfect Path Solutions has raised performance yet again. This time maybe even in a more across the board manner than any that came before.

You know BDR. So you know better than most just how high a compliment that is.

Am I feeling the feathers? Yes, it tickles.

@geoffkait ,

Are you feeling it?