Home Theater Done Right: Millercarbon's System

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

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

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.

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

@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