CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

What would you put in it ? For me a blended set of 1209s or 909 series projectors , big Krell or Pass labs amps and B&W speakers Wink

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

What achase is building would be pretty close I think... Mr. Green

oliverg · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:25 am Post subject:

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/dreamgear.html

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

2 G90's

Blendzilla! Thumbs Up

Custom room w. appropriate sound treatment.

2 tiers, 8 leather recliners

1 pr Wilson Maxx speakers.
http://www.wilsonaudio.com/product/maxx/

wilson center and surrounds.

mark levinson 40 hd media console
http://www.marklevinson.com/products/details.asp?prod=no40

2 krell evoloution 302's Run as monoblocks
2 krell 403's for surrounds
http://www.krellonline.com/krell_component.php?id=86&page=EVOAMPS

Nordost Valhalla speaker cables for fronts, red dawn for rear
http://www.nordost.com/Cables/speaker-reference-valhalla.htm

Sony bdp S1 Blu ray player
Dishnet HD-DVR
Media player(?) for music playback. CD ripped in flac form to a server.
PS3

That should get 'er done!

oliverg · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:08 am Post subject:

Nice setup John E Wink

Nice Avatar too!!

Moose · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 788 Location: Minnesota

A pair of blended 909's for sure. A blender, Analog way or TVONE 7200 series - I don't know which is better. A rear projection screen if one is made of high enough quality. And the best calibrator in the business.

For everyday viewing, maybe a - gasp - digital something. I don't know what.

Video sources? The usual suspects from the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray world, I guess. I don't know enough about pro equipment to be able to make choices.

Audio - none of the speakers listed in the above link will do. Not that they're bad choices for someone, but they seem like such pussies compared to the speaker project I've had in mind for over 10 years using all pro drivers (JBL). Yes, including a horn. These will be tri-amped. Unless someone can point out something better, I'd opt for the Ashley Protea II 4.24C DSP 4.24 C crossover. I'd hire someone to design, build, install and calibrate them. I even know who'd I'd hire; hopefully, I will be able to throw enough money his way to decide to do it.

For electronics, yeah, that top-dog Lexicon MC-12 sounds good enough for me. For amps though, none of that conventional stuff like Krell, Levinson, etc., makes the grade. Too much money for what you get. I would try to find as many Crown Macro Reference power amps (I own one already but I believe the current version, the Crown Studio Reference, is no longer made) or, failing that, probably Lab Gruppen. I like a lot of power in small packages and Lab Gruppen amps really fill that bill. I'll need a lot of them.

Absolutely no vinyl. Reel-to-reel - maybe a Revox or a Studer or I don't know what - I'll have to do some research here.

Cables and interconnects? I don't care. I won't support the megabuck fairy tale manufacturers. Heck, I might even go all Radio Shack! Actually, whatever I can get from Blue Jeans will be fine with me.

I'd have a separate home theater and audio room. Same speakers though. For the HT room, I'd go with a Star Wars theme. I know it's been done and it's boring but that's describes me in spades, so Star Wars it is.

All hooked together and controllable from my central seating position. Which no one else is allowed to sit in. And someone to wake me up when I fall asleep yet again so I don't image burn the crt tubes. He also must be be able to throw anyone out who tells me it's too loud.

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

I think it still would be modest in size. I think I would line the room surfaces with "blacker than black" material. Also, a nice cold dedicated AC system so I could wear a black sky mask to reduce the light reflection coming off my face. Very Happy

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I'd bring Chris Stephens out of retirement, get Mike Parker involved, and Tim as well, and everyone else who has something of benefit to offer the Marquee chassis. Starting with two brand-spanking new Marquee 9500LC (whatever current version they're making) from VDC, these units would be given the best of the best treatments available including, of course, FrankenYoke Mark IIBs. (A special, one-off version
that doesn't exist yet except in the minds of those who are involved in the FrankenYoke experiments.) This pair would eat any G90s alive.

Video processing by Teranex or better.

Sources to be determined, but one would be the digital content delivery system feeding to the D-cinema theaters.

HD-DVD or Blu-Ray? Blu-Ray, of course. No question there!

Screen: I'd pick by eye. I want a screen that has no visible "character" of its own, with zero hot spotting and zero speckle or grain. I'm less concerned with light output than I am with purity of image.

Sound system: Though the processing would be yet to be determined, all amplification would be by Krell. All speakers would be by Aerial Acoustics, 20Ts being used for all channels except for the subwoofer channels. Subwoofers would be chosen competitively, with the Krell Master Reference subwoofer being among the contenders.

Some people might choose to go with pro audio gear, but as I have YET to hear pro audio gear that truly measures up
to the pristine sound qualities of the better "high end" audio gear, such as Krell amps and Aerial Acoustics speakers,
I would not choose to go in that direction. Put it this way...no pro audio gear, at ANY price point, whether JBL or
any other brand or type, has ever managed to send chills up and down my spine in the way that true high end
gear like my Krells and Aerials manages to do any time I drop in a suitably good CD or DVD and hit the play button.

A Krell power amp may cost 6000 dollars more than a Crown at the same price point, but to my ears, that extra
money is definitely making a difference. But since I'd rather buy used than new, so as to let me buy what's best
within my budget, I can assure you, it's not my wallet lying to my ears when I say that. There's really something
to top range high end audio amps that simply isn't matched by pro audio amps.

As for cabling...I'm not smoking dope and I'm not buying into the cable hype. There's a point at which the differences
are negligible for additional money spent. And that point comes pretty quickly. I'd probably just end up using all
Krell electronics and end the discussion by using the CAST system. Current mode signal transmission pretty much
eliminates cable interactions as a factor in performance.

The room would be designed from the start to ofer an optimized audio and visual experience for a small number of people. This would not be a 103 seat theater. It would seat maybe 15 people in great comfort. The room would be acoustically "perfect" to the greatest degree possible. The visual character of the theater would be restrained but elegant. Nobody would question my taste.

CJ

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject:

Moose · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 788 Location: Minnesota

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

Chris Stephens is the guy who boosted the Marquee far beyond what anyone else had ever done to date, and the Reference Imaging models (particularly the Nine) were his work. That's a PJ which has a PARTS COST of 7 thousand dollars, referring just to what the parts used in the modifications alone cost. His mods, at the top end, definitely
resulted in the best CRT projector going at any price. Which was about 70,000 dollars, IIRC.

But I think that one of Chris' Ref Ones could be further improved by what some of our own forum members here
have managed to cook up, Tim Martin and Mike Parker being chief among them. And my own FrankenYokes have
granted Marquees levels of beam control over a wide contrast range which have never been seen before on a Marquee,
and just about anyone who's done that mod is likely to agree.

The Teranex video computer is maybe a little bit dated now, but in essence, it is a video processor which dedicates
a powerful image processor to EACH PIXEL. The original application for the technology was military...to detect
whether or not a single pixel viewed by a telescopic camera was a bird or a plane or a missile launch.

Silicon Optix's Realta chip was a "Teranex on a chip", as it was described. And the Realta is a very well regarded
video processor.

The nice thing about our hobbies is that there are plenty of solutions for us to choose from. Our tastes and preferences
are different, and it's great that there are solutions out there that meet yours and mine both.

Variety is awesome. And what you think is the best way to do something may not be what I think is the best way.

So long as we maintain our respect for individual choice, all is well.

CJ

oliverg · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:52 pm Post subject:

OK.. there's some great ideas already Smile

This is what I've come up with so far:

Either 4 Barco 909s OR 4 G90s OR 4 9500LC Ultras (Mike Parke 'deluxe super mods'). These would be sitting on a special mounting beam that would straddle the front 3 seats. (like a mini mezzanine just for the projectors). They would be double stacked and blended and housed in husboxes

I tried to do a diagram but it ends up compressed to the left

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR <-roof
X G90 G90 X
X G90 G90 X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<- overhanging beam
X X<- wall
X X
X <SEAT><SEAT><SEAT> X
------------------------------------ <-floor

Its a view from the front (where the screen is) looking down to the back.

I would ferment some coca cola and 7up to 12-14% alcohol, then fly Curt in to do the setup.

Audio - rack mounted
Fronts: Martin Logan Summits - these make great listening speakers too for audio
Sides and rear: Martin Logan Scripts - wall mounted at ear height
Subs: Martin Logan Depths - isolated - in the front room behind the screen
P/amp: either the new McIntosh 7 channel or PowerPac 300s or Anthem Statement P5/P2
Processor: Anthem Statement D2 - not using the VP features though

Sources: - rack mounted
Sony BDP-S1 BR player with HD-SDI mod, outputting 1080i/96 to a new blend enabled Crystalio 2 video processor array (in development Smile

). These VPs will output 1080p24sf/48/50 (not 72) and the PJs will have the relevant config profiles for each output timing. The VPs are the best de-interlacers - and will use either Faroudja SD or Gennum VXP HD depending on source
Toshiba HD-DVD player - HD-SDI mod - same as above
Foxtel Digital (Aussie cable) IQ - modified with 1Tb HDD for storage - outputs component into the VP array
The Crystalio 2 array has a great media server that can access NFS mounted network drives
HTPC-using Zalman heat pipes (silent) -dual 8 series Nvidia cards (with hardware acceleration)-a multi TB raid 0 array (NFS mounted too for the C2's media player) - Vista Ultimate - relevant codecs (FFDShow etc) relevant players - Q6600, 4Gb RAM - touchscreen

Interconnects: chicken wire
Power cords: chicken wire (shielded)
UPS with AC regeneration - 20 minute hold up time

Pronto top of the range remote
Custom plush micro-suede reclining seats with cup holders and foot rests
The whole HT will have multiple dimming lighting zones with lots of sconses, all controlled by the pronto

A fully stocked bar - like what Kal has Smile

(at the back) with a popcorn machine and ice cream freezer.. a little bathroom out the back
DVD/CD/BR/HD-DVD disc library (like what Kal has)

Have I forgotten anything?? Smile

Kind regards

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Twice folks here have spit in my eye with regard to high end cabling.

Lemme just state my thinking...

The point of a best of the best, money no object system is to squeeze out the little differences between very good and best.

imho high end cabling does that, you may think its snake oil, maybe it is snake oil. But i have heard the difference wrung out between cheap cables and high end stuff. Would i buy it? Today, with my current budget level? Heck no!

If money wasnt an issue? Yup. It makes a difference to my tin ear. Wink

oliverg · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:00 am Post subject:

Don't take it personally John - I've had the same discussion on numerous occasions with 2 of my friends who are fanatical about their interconnects.

So one day, we got 10 people and did double blind tests (on a reference system) between cheap junky wire, mid end and high (very) end cables.

No-one (not even my golden eared friends) could tell the difference.

So as far as I am concerned, I am happy with Blue Jeans or even Monster. Because they are good quality. I would never spend exhorbitant amounts because I've seen first hand how little difference interconnects make.

Does that mean I don't respect your viewpoint? Absolutely not- If you can hear a difference, you obviously have better hearing than me, or even the other 9 of my friends. I don't begrudge you this at all.

But .. I would definately challenge you to a double blind shoot out and if you are able to tell the difference, I'd be surprised. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is on this one. IMHO very expensive, "high end" cables make no measurable perfomance gain over mid range, well made cables. One day, when you've got a spare moment - try it yourself with some friends. You will be suprised.

Even if money were no object

Kind regards

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:50 am Post subject:

oliverg · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 5:06 am Post subject:

Thanks for fixing my diagram, every time I went in to edit it, it looked OK!

As for the chicken wire, just the garden variety galvanized type Smile

I find the tonal authority they give compliments the dynamic range of all music. The flowery highlights of liquid, buttery vocals are also stamped with precision, giving a strong yet persuasive presence.

Oh, sorry I was referring to my glass of wine.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 8:40 am Post subject:

Just hit the 'quote' button and you'll see how I fixed it.

A wine fan huh? Never could drink that stuff myself. Surprised

Gary Murrell · Joined: 05 Apr 2006 Posts: 590 Location: Kentucky

my current system is my dream system, save for maybe a G90 in place of my 1352, which will happen sooner than later Wink

-Gary

Gino · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 11:00 am Post subject: