Hope you saw on HGTV the guy in Redding Ct with a $6 million system. It included $1 million of tube Mac amps, $1 million of speakers and his own dual NASA power supply transformers. The electric bill was $1,000 a month just for the system, which when you think about it was rather inexpensive. We need to get this fellow to put up his system on the 'gon, as it will assign all the rest of us to the hopeless class.
What do you think. After watching the HGTV show of million plus homes, I would go for the one with the indoor shooting range, unbelievable what our passion will lead you too.
I'm thinking that he could greatly improve his sound by upgrading his speaker cables?
Did the story say anything about how much effort/research was put into choosing the gear/setup or did he just want a bunch of speakers?
The odd thing is that most blu-ray disks are still only 5.1 with a few being 7.1 and even less possibly more than that? So what's the point of having more speakers that possible channels?
I also doubt that much 2 channel listening goes on in the room so the term audiophile probably is somewhat misapplied.
Looks a bit like a "mine's bigger than yours" type of rig.
Having said all of this, I'd be happy to watch a movie there, but I'd probably bring ear plugs just in case it's too loud.
Reminds me of an old saying my Grandpa used to throw around "that boys got more money than sense".Of course he only said it when he was jealous of something he couldn't afford!!
It is in the typical American tradition that money can buy the best, when really it is the typically in the execution and refinement. I cannot see how this system would sound much better than "impressive". Shoot, he put a glass table in front of the couch. He really cannot understand/care that much.
Cryro'd circuit breakers and yet speakers pointing at the tube amps?
I'm pretty tolerant of cluttered listening rooms but it would be hard to relax in that room. Plus, it must get up to about a kajillion degrees in there after a while. NASA derived air conditioning?
4est It is not a typical American tradition, this is complete nonsence. You should see the excesse in Asia and Russia.So leave your bias against America at the door.
As always, the 'goner crowd spotted some simple things in the set up that tells this fellow has a lot of work yet to do. I liked the heat, glass table and speakers blowing on the tubes comments. Well, he is only on his first six million, wait till he spends the next six million.
Elizabeth has the right idea, separate rooms separate systems, separate sounds. But I would have a McIntosh room, just thinking of basking in the glow of all those blue meters...mmmmmcintosh......
Not that it has any particular significance, but it may be of interest to note that the owner's late father and grandfather were both famous classical performers.
I venture to say that many here could design and put together a room of this size with proper acoustical treatments and equipment at one quarter the price. We could also accommodate more than three friends on a leather couch. Where is the popcorn maker?
Must be super Bright with that Benchmark DAC, or have ton's of tubes to mellow out the glare.
Your strongly worded remark reminded me that you have been struggling with your digital setup.
You may have an issue with your room or speakers, as I understand it you have gone through 11 DAC's and sold them all - even the highly reputed Bryston. The DAC 1 may indeed be a little bright for some tastes but your description above and your inability to find a DAC that works for you suggests you have a setup problem or equipment malfunction or you hear things so very differently from others it may be worth consulting a specialist.
I am not saying the DAC 1 is perfect nor is it the best but I am sure that most will agree that it really isn't as bad as you describe.
Tom6897, the popcorn maker is in the 12 million dollar kitchen and is delivered by the butler( 7.00/hour) as needed. And I agree 6 mil. and I would build a new home on 20 acres with a view of the front range in Colorado as well as a couple a great sounding systems and still have money left over.
I think the owner has a business selling HT to the well heeled. The way everything is laid out in an ostentatious mess would be a hazard for any home and impossible to clean. The whole thing, including the ridiculous price tag (for such an ugly setup), is aimed at impressing people who have more money than sense.
Shadorne you are correct in your thinking about his business and aspirations. Hifihvn has a link in his post that explains alot. For those of you interested his website http://www.kipnis-studios.com/ adds further info.
I think his credentials with Chesky and Epiphany records lend credence.
From the HGTV picture it sure looks like he could have done a better job in cable routing. I'm surprised he didn't do any cable elevation. Some really nice systems I've checked out in the Virtual Systems area use risers. I did notice though he didn't have the latest and greatest Blu-Ray Players. I thought he would have gotten Bryston's new one or something more expensive. Pretty amazing set up still though. Also I like Elizabeth's idea. An audiophile house with a room designated for ones favorite designer or manufacturer. I'd love to have a McCormack room, Nelson Pass room old and new gear, etc etc.
Well it's definitely a continuation of a young man's dream of building the ultimate audio system, somewhere down the line. He got the money, and said "I'm doin' it!". Good for him. Hope it's everything he imagined it would be, and more...including the cables on the floor, ha-ha! No really, "the ultimate system" certainly means something different to each person. If it were my money, I'm thinking I could achieve the same or better results with the similar "equipment only" all out system approach for about $4.5 million less! Oh, and It must get real hot in that room with all that equip, regardless of the size. Unless he's got a real silent HVAC system, he'll hear that drowning out his dynamic range on the bottom end, trying to keep things cool in the room. But for $6 million, I hope he's got that part figured out. If I were doing a high end tube system, with esoteric speakers and components, layin all about the room - ala, bachelor pad style" - I'd be looking for higher efficiency speakers, perhaps active, and going with lower watt high end tubes. The woofers would be handled with strong solid state. And, such as the case in this system, looks like he's got a small listening area, designed for 1-4 people at best. With that arrangement, I'm thinking I could get away with some Avant-gardes Duo's all around, get likely stronger dynamics, eliminate the acoustic reflections around the room, and let the sub towers be handled by the solid state offerings. As for the projector, I guess if you have a massive screen, you go his route. But, if you can move it closer in, such as for a small group, you can get away with 1080p and an anamorphic lens, and get the same effect as he get's - since he must be up scaling 1080p anyway on that 4k light canon for a projector he's using at $250k. I'd go smaller setup for 4 seats max, save on all the parts, and get the same or better effect I think. But, to fill a large space like his, I guess that's what he ended up with, obviously. If my room were that big, I'd be filling it in with more setting, custom decor, hiding the gear and isolating it out of the room, and going active probably. I'm sure there's a million roads he could have gone down. I just can't help but thinking how I would have managed the $6 million differently...came up with a clean nice decor look, and made it more, well, livable! It's a bit messy and cluttered up for being a civilized adult worth millions, I'm thikin. I'd a figured a cleaner looking system, for sure. Cool though
Yes, if I had the money, I would do multiple systems each designed to max out a particular room and each with a different approach rather than just waste money and overkill a single room.
An OHm room, an mbl room, a room with monster horns and tube amps, a cozy little room with a pair of good monitors, etc..
And I might consider paying someone to convert my records to high res digital on a massive music server.
What the name of this show???? I got to check THIS rig out....
And I love this hobby too.... but damn, how much is too much???? This is where excess rears it ugly head.... Like one other poster has stated, this guy has more money than he has sense.
I think I will stick with my $10,000.00 Stereo Setup..... It may not sound like a $1,000,000.00 and all of that. But shit, at least, it's mine, and I am happy with it. And in the end, that's what's most important.
Yeah, there ya go. I like multiple room setups, like Mapman suggested previously above. One custom theater setup for at least 12 people. But, if not, then he could easily get the same overall perceived immage on a smaller screen setup for 4 people, er what have you. (which is what he has anyway). Then, one 2 channel all out room. Another smaller 2 to 4 seater that does high end multi channel music and movie playback, with high end Runco or JVC 1080p anamorphic. (of course, the acoustics would be tweaked to the max). And the rest of the house would be high end multi zone party inwalls and subs and such. Then, a nice little tube and sat setup in the bedroom and a flat screen. All of that, and I'm thinkin I could still get it all under $1.5 million!! yeah, somewhere along the line I think dimminishing returns kicked in for this guy. But hey, you can always just double up in the stock market a couple more times and spend more! With all of that, I'm
Actually, you couldn't get an endless slew of "A list" performers in exchange for that money! I think some of the top people get like $100k per hour, if they do such part time gigs at all. At that rate, you'd blow through the $6 mil in a few weeks if you were to pony up ever night! Ouch! Yeah, that and of course you at least know you'll get their best when you buy or play a recroding. Live, you might be disappointed if they're not motivated or into it that night, off night, bad setup, and so on. Naw, the $6 bills is cheaper...plus you can choose your own agenda, and it's all yours. Yeah Diva's and moody primadonnas' needn't apply.
Glass tables, gear between sweet spot and speakers, obnoxious track lights and a polished wood floor that resembles a basketball court...can you say defraction?
My first problem in that room - besides all that equipment strewen all around the room - is equipment being in the same room with the sound system. No matter what, you're still getting feedback into the system. The floor reflection? Yeah, it's not as big of a problem with that style of speaker (especially if it's first order crossovers). With all that reflection/diffusion throughout though, unless there's enough mid/high absorption in that room, it can sound a little bright and thin in weight. The room probably absorbs enough bass overall, given it's size. My experience with a similarly large space -particularly the main sound dubbing stage at USC - is that mid/hi aborption is needed to balance out the sound in a largish space. The floor could, I agree, use a rug thrown down likely. But I'd have to listen to that system in that room, and see more of the acoustics, ideally. Still, from what I see, it looks like a throw rug, at very least, could only help between the speakers and seating, in an "equipment room setup" type of system like this. The little glass coffee table? Well it looks like it was intentionally kept on the small side, which is good. Better would be a firm aborptive padded top table, if you must have one. The lights are likely high enough above the seats to not be in the eyes, and will only break up sound on the ceiling a bit, if enough of them. I'd be more concerned here with making sure they didn't rattle, if anything.
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