You’ve got to hand it to Jeremy Kipinis – in terms of taking the biscuit for the most outrageous home cinema set-up, his $6m (£3m) system must surely be an entire truckload of chocolate covered Hob-Nobs ahead of anything else out there.
The six-million dollar system is called the Kipinis Studio Standard, and its owner proudly claims that it’s the “Greatest show on Earth.” With no fewer than 16 18” Snell sub-bass units, 30 McIntosh MC-2102 Amplifiers, eight Snell THX Music and Cinema Reference towers, a Sony SRX-S110 4K projector capable of producing 4096 x 2160, and a giant 18 x 10-foot Stewart screen it’s certainly an impressive beast.
In addition to screening movies from Blu-ray, HD DVD or standard DVD (up-scaled, naturally), the KSS can also be used to watch TV, browse the internet, view photography slideshows, or just listen to music with. It really can do everything bar wash the dishes. Better still, its many functions can all be accessed from a single, touch-screen tablet.
Naturally a home cinema this big is going to require some sophisticated housing and so it is with the KSS. According to its owner the KSS sits inside a custom-built 2250 square foot, two-story hall with a vaulted ceiling. The floor is one-inch-thick solid maple flooring on four-inch tall pine studs, which sits on a solid 16-inch reinforced concrete foundation isolated on solid steel girders all the way down to bedrock. Clearly, Mr Kipinis doesn’t like to do things by halves.
While most journalists who’ve been lucky enough to receive an invite have been wowed by the KSS, the system is not entirely without its critics. No online article about the KSS is complete without more than a few negative comments from home cinema enthusiasts. Many centre on the fact that $6m is simply too much for the benefits, while others have questioned the logic of placing vibration-sensitive tube amps directly in front of 18” sub-woofers.
Whatever your own view, it’s certainly the most over-the-top home cinema set-up we’ve seen and for that alone, Mr Kipinis should be saluted.
