CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[ecrabb]

Wow, very cool. Not my cup of tea, but awesome nonetheless.

Saw the MBL's at the AXPONA show in Chicago. They're insane looking in person.

So... Doctor, attorney, or CEO?

SC

[ElTopo]

Great room BUT that cinema needs a bigger screen !

[garyfritz]

$260k speakers, SC? I think that's beyond most doctor/lawyer budgets!! I'd guess CEO is closer. The guy must be dropping a couple mil on the whole install. And a couple of Lambos besides.

[Tom.W]

One review. As for the required cash big oil comes to mind.......

http://www.stereophile.com/content/mbl-radialstrahler-101e-mkii-loudspeaker

I like the Arnold Chase approach when it comes to to high end speakers and speaker cables.

https://www.curtpalme.com/forum_archived/viewtopic.php@t=6521.html

Quote:

achase

Tom.W wrote:
Welcome to the forum Arnold ! Can you give a little more information on the audio system and cables ?


Back in 1969, I had a part-time business selling stereo equipment (Sansui, AR, Kenwood, etc.) at a college in the Boston area. I had built what I thought was a really good stereo system until the day I walked into a McIntosh / Klipsch dealer ( The Music Box) in Wellesley, MA. They had a A/B speaker switching system, and started out playing the AR3a’s that I was using at the time, fed by McIntosh amps. They then switched to a pair of Klipschorns. My jaw dropped as I heard a sound unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was one of those ‘life changing’ moments as I realized that everything I thought I knew about audio before then went out the window. (Of course, my next thought was, “How in the world can I ever afford to buy a system like this??? Years of further stereo sales and a wholesale connection to sell the Klipsch commercial line to bars and hotels solved that problem)

Fast forward about 13 years, and I’m in the broadcasting business enjoying success and a new house with a “state of the art” E.S.P. industrial CRT video projector. I had assembled a ‘Surround Sound’ audio system using Klipschorns for the main Speakers driven by MC-2300 amps, and McIntosh speakers and amps for the other channels. I can’t remember what the ‘state-of-the-art” surround sound processor was, but I do recall the ‘matrix logic’ sounding very impressive for the time, especially if fed from the Laserdisc’s ‘digital’ output! All in all, the system sounded better than anything I had ever heard in the theaters, and I was quite happy with it.

Then…..I go out to Hollywood to a TV programming convention and stay at the Century City complex. Across the way was one of the movie theater chains “flagship' theaters showing “Ghandi in 70mm six-channel magnetic stereo. I decide to see the film, and as I am walking into this HUGE theater (the giant old fashioned type before “twinning”, with hundreds of seats, multiple balconies, etc) I see an easel at the doorway touting the fact that “This theater is equipped with a HPS-4000 Sound System”. I had never heard of “HPS-4000”, and THX was considered THE ultimate thing a theater could equip itself with. As I’m waiting for the movie to begin, I remember thinking smugly to myself how no theater ever came close to duplicating my “Klipschorn/McIntosh" experience.

The movie begins, and within minutes I am experiencing the same kind of audio 'revelation’ I had back at The Music Box years before. The bass, the dialog clarity, and the overall sound experience put my home system to absolute shame. And to do this in such a massive theater was a mind-blowing feat to me. I never forgot that day, and about 10 years ago when I was adding on to my present home, I contacted John Allen, the owner of the company to see if he would build a small version for my (then) new home theater. He agreed to do so, and for the last ten years I’ve been able to experience a bit of what I heard in ’82. My ultimate goal, however, was to recreate the ‘Ghandi’ sound on a larger scale, which brings us to the present question. The speaker cabling used in ALL of the HPS-4000 installations is ordinary non-metallic jacketed 10 gauge, 4 conductor electrical cable, with the wires ‘doubled’ to create one massive ‘pair’. I know at this point many of you are rolling your eyes, but let me share with you another story:

In the early 1970’s, I was friends with the owner of The Stereo Shop in Hartford, CT. Being the science nerd that I am, I questioned the real need for the super-expensive turntable cables that supposedly ‘changed the sound of your records’, or the silver-plated speaker cables. It was the latter that I took the most exception with. I just could not see the benefit of spending the $20 or so a foot for the fancy cable when logic told me conductor size was more important than having a hundred small silver-plated conductors. Every time I visited the Stereo Shop the arguments grew more intense. Finally, the owner agreed to bring to my house a pair of the largest McIntosh speakers made, as well as a MC-2300 amplifier to drive them. An A/B speaker switch was provided, and he hooked up his silver cables to one side, and I hooked up ORDINARY 12 GAUGE SOLID CONDUCTOR ARMOR JACKETED (“BX”) ELECTRICAL CABLE that I had left over after an electrical installation to the other side.

Hours later, after listening to all sorts of source material from the intimately familiar to the Lincoln Mayora ‘Direct to Disk’ series, I could detect ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE between the two, and frankly neither could he. Thus with this background, I found complete comfort years later with John Allen’s approach: let the end result do the talking.

John uses custom designed BGW amplifiers for all channels.

http://www.hps4000.com/pages/Project440.html


Sorry for such a long winded answer to your question –

Arnold

[Spanky Ham]

Damn, get a room! You have a serious man love for Arnold.

[AVphile]

Only in Texas Problem I had when house shopping was to find such a "great room" without having to buy a mansion and all the crap that comes with it. This is in stark contrast with most "audiophiles" that cram giant speakers into a bedroom in their parent's house, right up against walls, etc.

[ecrabb]

[CIR Engineering]

[Curt Palme]

[Curt Palme]

[CIR Engineering]

Hey guys, I'm not going to divulge any personal information about this client no matter how inconspicuous it may seem other than the fact that what he does for a living is perfectly legal and legitimate. I need to keep personal information about clients like this completely confidential. I already said the setup is in Texas and that's as far as I will go. No other information that could lend clues may be provided. Most of my clients in this league would never allow me to even post photos (I have asked many), but he was kind enough to say OK.

I will say this, obviously this client is well funded. However, he is not one to waste money. He's a very sharp guy and he does his research thoroughly on all his equipment. He buys the best that he can afford just like the rest of us, but he is frugal in the sense that he wants to get good value for what he pays. To most people the equipment in this theater is outside of their means. But that doesn't mean that this client is into wasting money. In fact, quite to the contrary. He likes high end things, but not gimmicks and I think most here can appreciate that. For example, it may surprise many of you that his control system is a simple URC that he programs himself and there is no Crestron, AMX, C4, or even iRule.

He knows his stuff and he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty helping with setup or anything else in the media room. He helped lift the G90 and spent a lot of time in the attic running wires and adjusting the G90 mount for me while I worked.

He's a cool guy and we get along very well. I really enjoy working for him.

craigr

[CIR Engineering]

[Curt Palme]

The room is pretty big for sure. I agree, I wouldn't go larger than that for sure..

[Curt Palme]

The room is pretty big for sure. I agree, I wouldn't go larger than that for sure..

[CIR Engineering]

His room is a lot wider than it is deep. He's not doing rows at all. There is going to be a sofa and some other seating. But with multi-purpose he didn't want to "ruin" it with rows of seats. He felt as soon as he went with rows it would turn into a theater room.

craigr

[ecrabb]

[CIR Engineering]

[AVphile]

I would stick with URC if he's already into programming it. Nothing wrong with "simple" although I would never call URC simple (like Harmony). With those Spectral amps I would guess he is a long-time audiophile first, not a gadget guy.

As for screen size it is hard to judge scale from a picture, in a room like that with speakers that big. Like I said before not your average low-ceiling basement "man cave".

[CIR Engineering]

[Tom.W]

Well to be honest I could care less about how this guy got the money for all those seriously cool toys but Craig is the man to choose for making sure they all work together in perfect harmony !

I do find the crystal chandeliers a bit distracting though....

Sorry if this has already been asked but what is the screen size ? A big room can make any screen seem smaller.

P.S. Craig do you see a Dune in this guys future ?

[CIR Engineering]

[Tom.W]

Well to be honest I see very little difference between the Dune and My Oppo BDP-93. Never tried one of these though...

https://store.kaleidescape.com/hardware/details/cinema-one

The screen size looks perfect to me for one G-90.