The closet audiophile

This current Media Room is the result of three previous media rooms, countless stereo systems, and quite a few years of planning, growth and tweaking :-) I still have a way to go and have several upgrades/tweaks planned for the upcoming months. It is a labor of love and  many hours of both  listening and watching have been enjoyed here. My goal was that the media room would be a dual purpose space for both listening to music and watching movies. For the most part I feel I have succeeded. 

We moved into our current home in 2008. The Media room was custom built over the oversized two car garage and is 18.5' x 22.5' with 9.5' ceilings at the center. All four walls have about a thirty degree tilted in soffit area where the side and rear surrounds are mounted. The ATMOS speakers are ceiling mounted and the front speakers are freestanding. Wiring for the surrounds were pulled by the builder/contractor and are 14 ga. I pulled the ATMOS wiring myself adding it later (now, THAT was a lovely job!). The front speakers (LCR) are wired with my take on "audiophile" speaker wire.

Signal Processing and Amplification
Marantz AV7703 Pre/Processor
Parasound Halo A21 - 2 Channel Power Amp -  See My Review!
Parasound Halo A52+ -  5 Channel Power Amp -  See My Review!
Parasound ZoneMaster 450 (for the ATMOS) - 4 Channel Power Amp
Yung 300 subwoofer plate amplifiers (2) for the Tactile Transducers

Sources
OPPO UDP-203 - UHD 4K Universal Disk Player
AppleTV 4K
DirecTV DVR
Yamaha CDC-755 - CD Changer
Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC Turntable with Ortofon 2M RED Cartridge - See My Review!
Apple MacBook Pro (circa 2019)
Mackie 12 Channel Mixer

Display
JVC DLA-RS600 Projector
Vutec Fixed BriteWhite 2.35:1 Screen 136" diagonal

Speakers
2 - GoldenEar  Triton  One.R  Speakers - front left and right - See My Review!
1 - GoldenEar SuperCenter Reference Center Channel - See My Review!
4 - BG Radia SA320i in-wall Planar Ribbon/Hybrid Speakers for surround and rear 

      speakers
4 - Polk CS-6 In-Ceiling Speakers for the ATMOS (Middle and Rear ATMOS)
2 - Rythmik F18 - 18" sealed box powered subwoofers (900 watts RMS) - See My Review!
2 - Earthquake Sound Q-10B Tactile Transducers (AKA Buttkickers) One mounted on the 

      rear row raised seating platform and one mounted on the front row shaker platform.

Note: all in-wall and in-ceiling speakers have custom backing boxes lined with 1-inch multi-layer damping material (purchased from Parts Express).

Custom shaker platform built for front seating Tactile Transducer.

Power Conditioning/Protection
2 - Furman Elite 20A Power Conditioners
3 - Leviton 20 amp in-wall surge protectors at equipment racks
4 - Leviton 15 amp in-wall surge protectors at all subwoofer positions.

System Control
URC MX5000 Remote Control
URC MSC400 Master System Controller

Passive Acoustic Panels
4 - GIK 2'x4'x2" Diffuser/Absorber Panels
4 - GIK 1'x4'x4" Diffuser/Absorber/Bass Trap Panels

Equipment Rack

Middle Atlantic 19" double width rack

• I've rack mounted all three Parasound amps and the Marantz Pre/Proc
• Everything else is either on a fixed shelf or in the case of the mixer and the computer on sliding shelves.

Tweaks and Gimcracks

Isolation Platforms - I've created isolation platforms for the  OPPO Blu-Ray player and the Pro-Ject Carbon DC Turntable. The platforms are 18"x18" concrete pavers sitting atop Penn Elcom rubber Isolation feet. In the case of the OPPO, it did nothing positive or negative to the sound or picture. For the turntable, it did help the sound in the respect that the sound is more defined at higher volumes. There seems to be less smear, and the sound is more "focused," for the lack of a better word.

Isolation Platforms for LCR speakers -

    18"x18" Concrete Pavers resting on Penn Elcom Rubber Isolation Feet.

Tactile Transducer Shaker Platform for the first row of seating. 

    Double ¾ Inch MDF Glued and Screwed together. Resting on Penn Elcom Rubber

    Isolation Feet   (18)

SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System on the Rhythmik F18's Subs 

See My Review!

I added a turntable clamp/weight and replaced the felt mat with a nice new cork mat. Each of these tweaks made an incremental improvement (at least I perceived an improvement) in the sound I was getting from the turntable.

Record Pro Record Cleaning System - Inexpensive ($65) but effective record cleaning system. See My Review!

Leviton remote control lighting for the main recessed lights, Media Shelf lights, and the rear row riser lights. Controlled by the URC MX-9000/MSC-400

ART Ground Loop Breaker device used on the unbalanced inputs of the Parasound ZoneMaster 450 and the Yung plate amps.

A note on my cable philosophy.... I have been in the business of audio and electronics for a long time. At one time (ah... the 70's! )   I owned part of a 16/24 track recording studio (Analog  Baby!) that we wired ourselves (the exception being the AC power :-). We also ran sound for local bands and sold large-scale PAs (one of my partners continued in this business and has only recently retired). 

So, that said, I have some experience with cabling, grounding, and power distribution to large and complex audio systems. IMHO, and I do understand that it is JUST MY OPINION! High-end "Audiophile" cables are just not worth the very small differences and improvements if any, they provide. The job of a cable is to deliver, without undue change to the signal, that signal to the next device. 

However, with all of that said,  I am a firm believer in the idea that quality cables do matter!  Especially in the respect that all cables must be BUILT WELL (mechanically sound) of quality materials and components.  And, if they are, the cable will perform as well as anything out there regardless of price. 

I do admit that I have neither the time, patience, OR MONEY, to truly acquire, test, and evaluate the insanity of the high-end cable market. 

So, if anyone wants to send me some $10,000 (or even $1000) stereo pairs to compare, I will do my best to do an honest evaluation and return them to you. If you are right and I am wrong, I  will publicly admit to the world that  I  misjudged the whole cable thing,  at least in the respect of the cable evaluated.

And, if you have any of those $2500 per foot power cables lying about, I would love to give those a try as well :-) 

If you are inclined, you can "ENJOY" some of my rants and reviews by checking out the REVIEWS and COMMENTARY section below!

CABLES

Balanced cables between Pre/Pro and Amps - Mogami 3080 cable and Amphenol 

   XLR's built by "Worlds Best Cable."

HDMI by Blue Jeans Cable
 35' BJC Series One - Projector (2)
 6' BJC Series One - OPPO UDP-203
 all other HDMI are 3' or 6' BJC Tartan 24 Series cables

RCA type interconnects I built (well, most of them anyway :-) using Belden 1694A cable and solder type REAN RCA connectors.

Subwoofer Balanced connects - Hosa performance grade Microphone Cables.

Speakers in-walls and in-ceiling use Belden 14 Gauge contractor grade speaker cable

LCR - Belden 5T00UP 10 Gauge x 2 (7ga  equivalent) bi-wire/bi-amp capable with locking banana plug connectors (Wire Pair #1) and spade connectors (Wire Pair #2) at each end. See the Review on My Speaker Cables!

I built a "Audiophile" speaker cable that can be seen, and is  based on, the "Kohnnman Audio Extremes" "faux review" posted on my "Cables and Wiring Review Page".

They do look VERY nice and "audiophile-ly"! You can see some pictures below in the Gallery. As good as they look, it made, of course, zero difference in the sound over the simply separate wires.

"Audiophile" Power cables;
DIY 12 gauge Belden 83803 with Hi-Fi King and Aweking Red Copper AC Plugs and IEC

Connectors dressed up with Tech-Flex were built for main power amps.

DIY 14 gauge Belden 19634 with Hi-Fi King and Red Copper AC Plugs and IEC

Connectors and dressed up with Tech-Flex were used on pre/pro, ATMOS power amp, Yung

Power amps,  F18  subs, and Goldenear Triton One.R speakers

DIY “Audiophile” power cord using DH Labs Encore - 14ga three conductor – shielded - Audiophile Power Cable DHLABS-75520 Hi-Fi King and Red Copper AC Plugs and IEC

Connectors dressed up with Tech-Flex were used on Apple TV and JVC Projector.

WAudio 10 gauge Audiophile power cable used on OPPO Blu-Ray player (purchased from Amazon)

See my reviews on "Audiophile" Power Cables!

There are a few upgrades I have in mind;

• Put a safety railing on the back row.
• Plug the windows with acoustic panels to stop all light infiltration and as a noise barrier.
• New DAC
• Additional GIK Acoustic Panels to further tighten up the room sound