A small cupboard, so no power conditioner possible.
A smallish budget, so most probably no Gate to try.
One small request...
Can the negative knobs please refrain from commenting.
I’m not interested in what you think of me, the products you have not tried, or my spending habits.
Only those who have experiences of possible additions, would be much appreciated.
Upgraded over the last year:
Chokes on electrical items with a switched mode power supply Halide Bridge USB to coaxial reclocker Akiko Triple AC Power Enhancer Audio Prism Ground Control spades on speakers RCA shorting plugs for inputs on my amp. Akiko Tuning Caps on amp outputs. Akiko Fuse Box Tuning Chip. 1 x Shumann Resonator Chatres SE + power supply
1 x Schumann Resonator CHARTRES Mk3
Black Ravioli pads for amp, Dac and power supply
Vibrapod isolation cones and feet Akiko Universal Tuning Sticks on speaker cables. iFi AC iPurifier. MCRU Mains Filtration plug Mad Scientist Nitro Nano power cables. ’LOA audio tweak’ chip. Signal Ground solutions SGS-1 Groundng Box. 3 x Bybee iQSE - one on power board. High Fidelity Cables MC-0.5 XLR Noise Stopper Caps. Russ Andrews ’The Silencer.’ Audioquest Jitterbug. iFi USB Silencer. SR Orange fuses
I’m full of favourite movie quotes. My family gets them, but not others. "It’s the vibe" is a favourite from The Castle. At a meeting on Thursday, I tried "Give it to Bloody Gordon" from ’There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble’ to explain a point. That one crashed and burned.
Now, to my point.
Millercarbon ...what if there are people who really don’t care all that much for the whole listening to music aspect of it?
I’ve been in the upgrade/mod/tweak mode for 18 months or so. And all my listening has been to hear/evaluate changes for much of that time. I’m listening to the system, rather than the music. Flicking through songs, not waiting for tracks to finish.
There’s a scene in Grosse Point Blank.
Debi: You know what you need? Marty: What? Debi: Shakubuku. Marty: You wanna tell me what that means? Debi: It’s a swift, spiritual kick to the head that alters your reality forever.
So, Millercarbon, time for me to listen. And thanks. Simple.
Leonard Cohen Live in London, is sounding pretty damn good...
1. Demagnetize CDs, LPs and all cabling and power cords. I use the Talisman to demagnetize every CD and LP prior to play. I don't do my cabling as it is infinitely well shielded and has special anti-magnetic properties (GroverHuffman.com for details). 2. Isolate everything from the floor. Even Schumann frequency generators and power supplies. I do not isolate my stands or speakers from the floor. My floor is 12" thick, 1/2" steel reinforced, 3000 psi concrete and quite dead. I don't think the expense of further isolation is warranted for those items. 3. Clean all wall outlets in ALL rooms of the house with isopropyl alcohol. Why? I never heard of this tweak. 4. Always store all CDs and LPs vertically. I always do, all 42,000 of them in custom shelving for 40,000 of them. Same with 7,000 CDs, stored in roll out steel cabinets vertically.
fleschler3. Clean all wall outlets in ALL rooms of the house with isopropyl alcohol. Why? I never heard of this tweak.
>>>>It’s the ones you never heard of that come back to bite you in the 🍑 Unless you have dedicated circuits, the noise on one circuit migrates to the other circuits. You know, like noise caused by micro arcing in dirty connections.
Yes, I have a subpanel with 8 dedicated circuits of 20 amps each per duplex in the listening room isolated from the lighting and HVAC servicing the room which goes to another subpanel. So, thanks, but I guess I don't need to do it. I thought Deoxit would be a good cleaner if someone doesn't have dedicated circuits. Also, 99%, 91% or 70% isopropyl- I suspect that 99% is best since it has no water component.
Blew another $30 bucks on more snake oil. (Specifically the Ayre Acoustics IBE CD "System Enhancement Disk") Ran it twice through, louder second time, and grabbed one of my favorite CD's Elianne Elias 'Kissed by Nature'. Sounded pretty good but didn't notice anything special. FINALLY, I thought at last a true snake oil product has been properly identified. (I've tried about a dozen times to reinforce the "snake oil theory" since I psychological prefer being that kind of person. (character fault I know) BUT unfortunately or not each has made undeniable irrefutable improvements in sound quality. Apparently placebo effect has no numerical limits! My brain keeps believing it sounds better. BUT WAIT, why do my pals notice improvements even when they didn't know I'd made a "placebo" enhancement? So back to my report on the Ayre IBE disk. I got another CD to play, Jazz group Foreplay. Wasn't really paying close attention and then I noticed something usual. I'm very familiar with these CD's. The attack of the bass was clearer, and then I noticed that the inner detail and sound stage was clearly better somehow. Maybe my placebo mind took over again so I embarrassingly must withdraw my snake oil label from another irrational audio product. BUT Why would it begin to "take effect" on the second CD, and third....So I put that first CD back in. Shock....now its better too AND I haven't even started my evening drinking routine yet! Placebo effect works infinitely. Very ashamed of my apparent gullibility. I may need help Time for a small whiskey.
Bought springs for speakers and subwoofers. Upgraded power supply to Bluesound. Bought Audioman58 purifier. All three add up to great improvements. Better bass, better soundstage, in a nutshell WAY better. Might buy a ifi Silent Power for my router. Ideally, I would like a Network Acoustics ENO
My next tweak is a Core Power Deep Core. Said to go before the PLC, but one guy who came over and saw my Core Power Equi Core said he replaced his with the Deep Core
Add rubber anti- vibration pads from Amazon to isolate all your components and speakers with. Normally, used to control dryer and washer vibration bit works even better on audio.
Subtract the Ifi AC Purifiers. I bought 12 of these power gadgets and there is a difference but it actually adds DC ripples and EMI back into your system.. I've measured THD and distortion it adds and it's off the chart.
1) Novus plastic clean and shine applied to CD. Let it dry and polish radially outwards with microfiber cloth. If you see no Novus residue and no fogging up when you breath on it, you got it right.
7) Maybe not a tweak but low cost option is use 4 strands of 18-22 gauge twisted magnet wire for speaker cable.
8) Dry air has a higher density than humid air (is why clouds float in the sky) and I find my system sounds better in the winter because of this. So a dehumidifier would help in the summer.
9) Hospital grade outlets.
10) Caig deoxIT progold contact cleaner.
ProGold is a conditioning solution that improves conductivity and protects precious metal contacts and connectors.
Key Features
Ideal for gold plated surfaces
Pre-treat oxidized surfaces for better performance and reliability
1-5 I don’t listen to CDs much any more. The Auric Illuminator was something I considered though.
6. I have shielding on my Dac and streamer. Will investigate where else I can use this.
7. Speaker cables are in-wall, with no option to replace
8. I dehumidify in summer.
9. Seems no hospital grade outlets are readily available in my country. Have tried electricians, installers and audio shops on three seperate occasions, to no avail.
10. I use Mad Scientist’s Graphene Contact Enhancer
11. Speaker cables are in-wall. Looking eventually at Audience AU24SX, or Auditorium 23.
Sent amp away for $1000 of component upgrades late last year. Dac has had significant upgrades. Network switch has been modded.
I have no space for power conditioners unfortunately in my current house.
5) Depending on how big your speakers are, I use these under my bookshelf speakers as well as CDP and prefer them to spikes.
9) Can you find out from the hospitals in your country? I wonder what they use and where they get them. Yes, hospitals really do use them as I took a peek my last visit.
11) I would consider Audioquest as I found the solid wire sounds better than stranded. The better the grain structure and the higher polish also makes audible improvement. It's not just the purity of the copper.
But since you are into tweaking, why not give the magnet wire a try? You might be surprised.
that is too bad. But looks like you have everything else covered. Must sound amazing.
Maybe too involved to be called a "tweak". If you have the room for it, miniDSP allow for active crossover but need amp for each driver.
I am going with Dayton Audio model DSP4x8 from Parts Express in USA. It is actually much cheaper than paying for passive x-over components. And I can easily change whenever I want.
I like it because it allows digital as well as analog. Whereas the cheaper minidsp is now only available in analog. Unless you want to spend $600+
I liked the sound of my system. Most of the 'tweak' additions have added to this, without a doubt. I think it sounds good.
I've added many items, yet to put them together though, which in effect has changed my system. The only things that have remained are the interconnects, power cables, amplifier (but recapped, and SR Purple fuses added), speaker cables and speakers.
Amazing what I have managed to fit on three shelves of a small cupboard, 550x420mm.
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