Home Theater Done Right: Millercarbon's System

“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?

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.

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

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?:)

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.