Home Theater Geeks 510: The Kipnis Studio Standard

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Home Theater Geeks 510 – The Kipnis Studio Standard

Podcast: All TWiT.tv Shows (Audio)
Host: Scott Wilkinson
Episode: Home Theater Geeks 510: The Kipnis Studio Standard
Date: December 4, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode, hosted by Scott Wilkinson, dives into what he calls "the most extreme and most expensive home theater I've ever seen": Jeremy Kipnis' legendary Kipnis Studio Standard (KSS). Scott walks listeners through the awe-inspiring details, equipment, and philosophy behind this one-of-a-kind home theater, while reminiscing on his interviews with Kipnis and reflecting on what made this installation so remarkable.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Jeremy Kipnis & His Home Theater

• Background: Jeremy Kipnis was a passionate audiophile, consultant, and home theater aficionado who built the Kipnis Studio Standard, once recognized as the most outrageous and expensive home theater globally (03:00).
• Purpose: The KSS served as both a demonstration lab for clients and a personal playground for pushing audio-visual boundaries (03:32).

“He called his system the Kipnis Studio Standard, also known as the Greatest show on Earth. It was actually a laboratory to advance the state of the art.” — Scott Wilkinson (03:32)

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2. The Room & Equipment Breakdown

Floor Plan Highlights

• Original Speaker Setup: 9 Snell THX Sub 1800 subwoofers (later upgraded to 16); 8 Snell THX Music and Cinema Tower speakers; 3 Snell THX LCR 2800 speakers for center channel duties; 10 Murata ES103A super tweeters for ultrasonic frequencies (04:10).
• Room Specs: 33ft (L) x 26.5ft (W), with a sloping ceiling from 8ft to 16ft (04:51).
• Seating: Central couch and coffee table.

Amplification & Power

• Amplifier Arsenal: 30 McIntosh MC2102 tube amplifiers, 2 Mark Levinson No.33H, and 3 Crown Macro Reference Gold power amps (05:29).
• Lab-Grade Screen: 18ft x 10ft Stewart Snowmat unity gain screen (05:44).
• Speaker Matching Philosophy: KSS featured identical side and surround speakers, underscoring the importance of timbre and model-matching for immersive sound (07:46).

“Jeremy subscribed to the philosophy that... surround speakers should be the same as the front, right and lefts. And he had the room to do it.” — Scott Wilkinson (07:46)

Source Components & Technology

• Sources Included: Sony 4K projector, early Sony/Toshiba HD players, Pioneer Laserdisc, JVC D-VHS (digital videotape), Sony PlayStation 3, Mark Levinson No.51 DVD/CD player, and a SATA drive with “a whopping 72 hours” of HD content (13:28–14:33).

"That was sarcasm right there because 72 hours is nothing these days. But, you know, that was 15 years ago." — Scott Wilkinson (14:33)

Power Demands

• Electricity Needs: Over 11,000 watts of amplifier power, necessitating two General Electric 13,000V 800A step-down transformers just for the theater (15:10–15:56).
• Audiophile Cabling: All cabling was premium, with each component protected by a "cryogenically treated 40amp circuit breaker" (15:56–16:10).

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3. The Experience & Impact

Extreme Frequency Response

• System Capabilities: Played from 10Hz (infrasonic) to 100kHz (ultrasonic), far exceeding human hearing (16:35).

"His system went from 10Hz – infrasonic for sure – to 100kHz – ultrasonic. And I would love to have heard that system with high resolution audio." — Scott Wilkinson (16:35)

• Debate: Speculation on whether audio above 20kHz is perceptible, and is it worth the money? (16:35–18:29)

Cost & Recognition

• Total Cost: $6 million — certified by Guinness as the world’s most expensive home theater for multiple years (18:29).
• Uniqueness: Recognized not only for the gear but the passion behind it.

"It's one man's passion, no question about it. And a lot of us have that passion. Very few of us have the resources to indulge it to that degree." — Scott Wilkinson (18:33)

Legacy

• While widely published and discussed, Scott notes it’s unlikely we’ll see another home theater of this extremity again (19:03).

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4. Listener Engagement & Community

• Call for Submissions: Scott invites listeners to share their home theater setups for possible feature segments (19:39).
• Contact Information: Email submissions (HTGWIT TV) with photos and descriptions are encouraged (20:10).

“If it gives you pleasure, I want to hear about it. Send me some pictures and a sentence or two about your room and what makes it special.” — Scott Wilkinson (19:39)

• Potential Guest Appearances: Selected listeners might be invited to Zoom in and showcase their systems on an upcoming "Home Theater of the Month" episode (20:10).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On obsession vs. practicality:
  “Is it worth the amount of money he spent? Well, I don't know. He spent $6 million... which I believe the Guinness Book of World Records cited it as the most expensive theater in the world, home theater.” — Scott Wilkinson (16:35–18:29)

• On legacy:
  “Will we ever see anything like this again? Hard to say, but I would guess not. Jeremy and his Kipnis Studio Standard were one of a kind.” — Scott Wilkinson (19:03)

• Audience encouragement:
  “It'll... if it gives you pleasure, I want to hear about it.” — Scott Wilkinson (19:39)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:00 — Introduction to Jeremy Kipnis and the KSS home theater
• 04:10 — Detailed overview of initial equipment and room design
• 05:29 — Power amplification and screen details
• 07:46 — Philosophy on speaker matching for surround environments
• 12:45 — Projection booth and vintage source devices
• 15:10 — Power demands and unique electrical infrastructure
• 16:35 — System frequency response and high-fidelity discussion
• 18:29 — System cost and world record mention
• 19:39 — Listener submission invitation
• 20:10 — Information on “Home Theater of the Month”

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Episode Tone & Style

Scott’s tone is passionate, respectful, and slightly wistful as he memorializes Kipnis and the grand experiment KSS represented. The episode is highly informative and technical, but accessible with Scott’s warmth and stories, inviting all enthusiasts to share in the passion regardless of resources.

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For Further Exploration:

• Watch Scott's 2010 full interview with Jeremy Kipnis (episode 39 of Home Theater Geeks; link in show notes).

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End Note: Contact Scott at HTGWIT TV to share your home theater and potentially be featured!
“Until next time, geek out." — Scott Wilkinson (20:31)

Transcript

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[Scott Wilkinson]

In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I profile the most extreme and most expensive home theater I've ever seen. So stay tuned.

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[Scott Wilkinson]

Foreign.

Hey there, Scott Wilkinson here, the home theater geek. In this episode, I want to share with you the most extreme home theater I've ever seen. Sadly, it no longer exists. Its owner, Jeremy Kipnis, passed away in 2019.

But in its day, it was the most outrageous and most expensive home theater in the world.

I interviewed Jeremy, in fact, on episode 39 of Home Theater Geeks way back in 2010. We'll put the link to that in the show notes so that you can watch that episode if you like. He called his system the Kipnis Studio Standard, also known as the Greatest show on Earth. It was actually a laboratory to advance the state of the art. And he was a consultant and brought clients in to show them what was possible.

So we want. I want to start with the floor plan, which hints at what the room holds. The legend is located sort of around the drawing of the room itself. It has nine Snell THX Sub 1800 subwoofers. Actually, after this drawing was made, he upped it to 16 of those subs, eight Snell THX Music and Cinema Tower speakers, three Snell THX LCR 2800 speakers, all three of which were reproducing the center channel.

And he had 10 Murata ES103A super tweeters to reproduce ultrasonic frequencies. Basically, you can also see in the diagram a couch and a coffee table in the center of it all. The room was 33ft long by 26 and a half feet wide, and it had a sloping ceiling that went from 8ft at the rear to 16ft at the front.

Now, the next view is from above the screen, and it reveals.

Us the staggering extent of the system. In addition to all the speakers I just mentioned, you can see a ring of Macintosh MC2102, two tube amps, 30 in all.

Also in the system are two Mark Levinson number 33H and three crown macro reference gold power amps. So there's a lot of amplification going on there. In the next shot, we can see the screen, which is a Stuart Snowmat screen measuring 18ft by 10ft. It's a laboratory grade screen with a gain of 1.0. So it's what's called unity gain, and it does not.

Accentuate the light reflection in any way. It reflects exactly what's coming onto it very evenly.

Now in the next shot we see a closer view of the three Snell THX LCR 2800 speakers that all reproduce the center channel along with the Macintosh amps that drive them. And these are all Mac amps on.

Highly sophisticated isolation stands. And the next graphic, you can see even a closer view of one of those Snell speakers and its Macintosh amp. These are all tube based amplifiers. Jeremy was, was into the tube sound, which many audio files are, and so he, he invested in that. Now the next graphic shows you a view of the left side of the room with three of the Snell, but actually six of the Snell subwoofers. They're stacked one on top of each other into these huge columns of two each. And two of the Snell tower speakers, one near the front and one as a surround speaker with a bunch of amps. And you can also see Jeremy's extensive vinyl collection in the shelves behind the speakers. I mean, that's thousands of albums right there.

This also illustrates something I said in the last episode about center channel speakers. I was answering a question about center channel speakers and Jason had also asked about surround speakers and should the surround speakers be the same as the front, right and lefts. And in this picture you can see that Jeremy subscribed to the philosophy that yes, they should be the same and ideally they should be, and he had the room to do it. Interestingly though, in as you saw in those pictures of the center channel speakers, they weren't the same. They were this from the same company, undoubtedly tonally, very well matched to the left and right and surround speakers.

But they had to exist under the screen. I don't think it was an acoustically transparent screen.

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So in the next graphic we can see a view closer view of one of the subs, two of them stat 1, 2 stacked on top of each other and the towers with a Macintosh amplifier.

In the next graphic we can see the projection booth and the equipment room which held all the gear. The main projector there at the top is a Sony SRX S110 professional projector capable of true 4K resolution that is 4096 by 2160. Now this was in 2008 I believe these pictures were taken and 4K was not a thing yet. But he had it at least in the projector. He didn't have any 4k sources.

But he was the projector upscaled them.

He also had a couple of Blu Ray player. He had a Sony Blu Ray player, a Toshiba HD DVD player, both of which I also had. HD DVD didn't last, but Blu Ray did.

Those are the first of their types, in fact, the Sony BDPS1 and the Toshiba HDXA1.

He had a Pioneer Laserdisc player, a JVC DVHS video recorder which recorded digitally. I had one of those as well. It was the only way to record high definition television at the time. He had a Sony PlayStation 3 console, a Mark Levinson number 51 DVD and CD player, and a SATA hard drive for serving content with a whopping 72 hours of HD content. That's exaggerated. I mean that's sarcasm right there because 72 hours is nothing these days. But you know, that was 15 years ago, more than 15 years ago.

Obviously this is all very outdated equipment.

And had had Jeremy lived, I'm sure he would have upgraded to all the latest and greatest stuff in his theater. And I'm sure it would have been fully 8k by now with Dolby Atmos, overhead speakers and. And everything else. So that would have been his dream. I'm sure.

In the next graphic we can see that his system was actually able to display four images at once, each of which I'm sure was 1080p high definition.

So you know, that was. That was pretty cool. Now the re. The power requirements for this system were enormous. The amps themselves delivered over 11,000 watts. 11 kilowatts of power to the speakers. Now this required some pretty sophisticated power at his house. He had two General Electric 13,000 volt 800amp step down transformers sitting outside the house, which we can see in the next graphic.

This, this was really quite astonishing to me that he actually almost had a full power station at his house.

All of the cabling was audiophile grade wire and each component had a 40amp cryogenically treated circuit breaker. I don't quite know what that means.

Obviously it means they were treated with cold somehow. But anyway, just the, the, the sight of those two step down transformers outside his house are really, is really quite something.

In the final graphic we see Jeremy and his wife Carolina sitting in their room in happier days, I'm sad to say.

Jeremy was a great guy, very enthusiastic, really friendly, as you'll see if you go back and watch episode 39 of this very show, Home Theater Geeks. I interviewed him and he, it was a real pleasure to do so. And I've, I conversed with him on and off over the years until his very untimely passing, which I was very sad to hear about that. Now, speaking of the amps and the speakers, remember I mentioned those super tweeters and those huge subwoofers, that whole system, the frequency response it was able to reproduce from 10Hz to 100Khz. Keep in mind that the human hearing range is 20Hz to 20Khz. And for those of us who are adults, we can't hear up to 20 kilohertz by any means. It's lower than that. His system went from 10Hz infrasonic for sure to 100Khz ultrasonic. And I would love to have heard that system with high resolution audio. We can't hear up above 20 kilohertz or in my case, and in your case, probably not as high as 20 kilohertz. But there is some evidence to suggest that if you reproduce audio, if you record and reproduce audio at higher than 20 kilohertz, you can sense a difference. Now is it worth the amount of money he spent? Well, I don't know. He spent $6 million. That system costs $6 million, which I believe the Guinness Book of World Records cited it as the most expensive theater in the world, home theater.

For two or three years in a row.

So, you know, it's, it's one man's passion, no question about it. And a lot of us have that passion. Very few of us have the resources to indulge it. To that degree.

But I wanted to show it to you because it's just so cool.

Now, this system's been written about many times. You might well have seen it already. And as I inter As I mentioned, I interviewed Jeremy on this show in 2010.

But I wanted those who might not have seen it before to see an example of true home theater extremism. Will we ever see anything like this again? Hard to say, but I would guess not. Jeremy and his Kipnis Studio Standard were one of a kind, and I hope you enjoyed taking a look.

Now, if you have a question for me, send it along to HTG.

And I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show.

And if you have a home theater, probably not as extensive as Jeremy's, but anything will do. It'll if it gives you pleasure, I want to hear about it. Send me some pictures and a sentence or two about your room and what makes it special. And I'd like to start featuring the home theaters of listeners in my Home Theater of the Month episode, which I do every month. Think of that.

And maybe I can even get you to come on the show. We can talk about it. You can show us around your theater with your phone on zoom. It could be a lot of fun. So if you're interested, send me a Send me an email to HTGWIT TV and I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time, geek out.