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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!


128x128millercarbon
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon OP
12,531 posts
 
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

Thanks. It is indeed quite good. Has been for quite some time now. But the last year or so- Herron, Koetsu, Swarm, Atmosphere, and the acronyms CTS, ECT, HFT, PHT, and finally PPS - its on another level now.

The cables weren't always like that. Speaker cables yes, for like 20 years. The rest was a more gradual process. The one constant is they all started went from spacing/routing, to using wood or tape or whatever to hold them in what looked like it might be better routing, to finally replacing the jury-rigged stuff with ceramic insulators.

Then because I am such a pain, even to myself, I took it all out and put it back, just to see if it was worth it.

This really is a pain. First because I love it when the sound improves but feel physical pain when it goes the other way. Which it always does whenever cables are moved around. Even being careful there's still at least several minutes of settling and it could easily be hours. That part is a pain.

Especially when the differences are slight. Even if you're one who thinks this is all BS, think of it this way. Imagine there is a difference. But not "a" difference, but a whole range of differences. Because there is. So there is a range of changes when cables are moved around. And there is a range of differences when they are routed or elevated. So let's say elevating a power cord is an improvement. But its improved by an amount that is less than being moved around makes it worse. In that case you did something better, but it sounds worse at first, and only after an hour or so are you able to be sure it really is better.

All these things I have done. Over and over again. It really is better. 
 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon OP
12,531 posts
 
The idea that "Home Theater industry has chosen to pursue quantity over quality" is misguided.

No, its a fact. Unless you think 7.1=2.
With few exceptions less expensive equipment, designed to bring affordability to the market, should generally not be compared to components costing far more.

Right. Which is why I always talk value. I bet if you read through all my posts- which you should, its highly educational (and that’s not just me, I get PMs, okay?)- you will find I am borderline OCD on budgeting and value. It wasn’t more expensive gear that got me dissing HT. It was better sound for less. HT is a wasteland of bad sound- at every price point.

George Lucas has always maintained that sound represents 50% of the motion picture experience and music has always been a major contributing factor.

Yeah whatever. All the big video guys know people rate video quality higher when the sound is better. Just one more reason why if you want the best HT possible you need to ditch the HT dogma and go stereo.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
12,964 posts
 
Especially when the differences are slight. Even if you’re one who thinks this is all BS, think of it this way. Imagine there is a difference. But not "a" difference, but a whole range of differences. Because there is. So there is a range of changes when cables are moved around.
I think you are right...My audio system is good, now really good, but I bet that the one you owns and which I can see and imagine, with the 3 embeddings taken care of, is better than mine ...Each system has his own peak limit of resolution...Many people dont have the resolution necessary with their system to bother about cables impact because they cannot even hear it in their system... I am happy with what I have but I am not so fool to think that my audio system is the best... :)

But I listen music et dont care to the same degree than yesterday with the sound...This is the sign that a system is satisfying...

My friendly salutations...

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon OP
12,531 posts
 
Many people dont have the resolution necessary with their system to bother about cables impact because they cannot even hear it in their system

Yes and its a shame because many times its the cables that are holding them back. But for some reason anything that's not a speaker, amp, or other big box component gets short shrift. Even when people do go for cables its almost never with the same degree of effort they would put into speakers. Not a week goes by we don't hear someone say they listened to lots and lots of speakers. They travel to hear them. Compare that with how many times we hear about the guy who flew to a show to hear some cables. Never. Even though they are equally important.

I put a huge amount of effort into these things. The Synergistic CTS cables alone, hours of research selecting and getting them was followed by more hours of research on the MPCs, which even after having Michael Spallone modify them with better diodes and caps then I still modified them further being hard wired into my power center and connected to an isolation transformer and finally coated with TC. The whole process stretched out over months. All that for one cable! Which granted is one fine cable. When I got it, right off the bat, wow. Impressive. Just an incredibly fine cable. But now? Night and day. The CTS is so much better with these mods you wouldn't believe.

It is true that now its just so incredibly revealing its easy now to hear all kinds of otherwise buried in the mix kind of things. But they are there and always were. So I kind of wonder if its really just they are easy to hear because the system got better, or the listener got better at listening. They do tend to go hand in hand you know.
slaw's avatar
slaw
21,170 posts
 
Yes. The acoustics are so often overlooked as well. This needs to be addressed first IMO.
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