Audiophile Priorities and Recent Topics

I had to look I guess I'm over 30 posts but the phrase that I've gleaned from all the reading is "Everything matters"

I would think most of the people who found this site are aware of the importance of speakers but how to make them sound better would be a major  reason  for joining the forum so tweaks are really important to us newbies.

femoore1228 posts I couldn’t disagree more. The way I read the OPs comment he was talking to you specifically and your feedback is what was requested. I see your insight as very important to this discussion.

The reason for the increased interest in tweaks could also be related to all the marketing emails received when signing up to Audiogon.
I got one today spouting a deal on cables.
speaker cables are absolutely fabulous! The depth of imaging has increased substantially. Clarity and detail has improved across the entire frequency range

I would want to ask people in the know if this is true.

Tweaks are about a deeper understanding of how sound is being produced from the recording process all the way to the end result.
Tweaks also seem really counter intuitive and voodoo magic at times. How can six feet of wire dramatically change the sound when electricity has traveled 1000s of miles to get to your stereo. Honestly I have no idea. My latest theory with NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE is that it’s not filtering the electricity from the source but it’s effecting the electricity changes produced from inside the device... but I digress.

Cable lifters ungodly expensive. 8 little plastic foglifter devices $150 and do they even work???

Before spending your hard earned cash try an experiment.

Buy a case of beer (everything sounds better with beer)
Buy lots more broccoli (don’t just steal the rubber bands)
Go to the drawer that has all those rubber bands that came on the broccoli
I have two sizes thick and thin
put the thick rubber band near the bottom and the thinner rubber band around the top
wedge a piece of cardboard between the bottles so they don’t vibrate. (I cut mine from a pizza box... had to use the leftover beer)
repeat until you have enough to get the cables off the floor.

now just listen. Is it better?
If it is, buy Danager a beer. If it isn’t just drink the beer and eat the broccoli.
this sounds like a win win to me

Complete Guide to High End Audio

Chapter 15 

"Replacing all the stock AC cords with entry-level cords is probably the single most cost-effective sonic upgrade you can make to your system."

He went as far as rewiring his house

"Overall, I'd say that installing dedicated AC lines was the best audio investment I've ever made."

@Miller

I'm an IT guy and couldn't for life of me figure out where I could plug my computer into your system???

Power Cable... I get it.

I could compare my cheapo cable to a stock one.  The better test would be for you and wife to come to coast and compare them here

You're invited.

I was blown away. I have heard a difference form a stock cord to just one very high end power cord. On an highly optimized system and the difference was substantial.

In addition my power cord theory was at least supported by the same author

" From the perspective of your audio components, the AC cord isn’t the last few feet of a transmission system, but the first few feet. The AC cord is directly connected to the primary windings in the power transformer of your audio component"

That’s the only thing that could make sense to me is that the power cord is an extension of the component not simply an "extension cord".

Also mentioned in the chapter was replacing all the cords as every component adds its own interference and you might not get the affect with only changing one.

My experience with replacing cords was positive but I only have two components an integrated amp and a DAC. The other side of that is I I’m really cheap (I mean really cheap). I purchased two Chinese power cords that were cheaper than buying the plugs and building them myself. What was important to me was wire gauge. The cords are rated at 10AWG. If I’d seen the 8AWG cables prior to that I probably would paid more for the extra conductivity.

Again my thoughts on cables were supported by the author for better plugs and increased wire gauge.
" Good AC power-cord design minimizes the noise coupling between components described earlier, and ensures maximum instantaneous current delivery."

The cheapo 10AWG Amazon cables seem to make playback quieter and increased bass response. I’m not able to rewire my house but I’m currently using my sons power conditioner which may or may not have improved the sound but it gave me more plugs for all the other stuff and didn’t degrade the sound.

The cheapo that I am I trying to find a used medical grade power conditioner with enough amps to support my equipment. It’s out there in my price range hunting is the fun part.

I agree with your concept of sound per dollar. Is my system perfect? Nope never will be. For the money I have invested (not counting the myriad of amps, speakers and stuff to get here) is there another system that can touch it? I really don’t know don’t care. By doing a lot of research, listening to a lot of stuff doing a huge amount of comparison,  for the first time in the 40 odd years I’ve been working with stereo I’m happy with the sound. With that foundation I can now work on tweaks.

I apologize for the novel but hopefully ... what was your question again?

@cleeds 

It really has been 4 decades.  YIKES!  When I started I was chasing, learning and attempting to find the correct attributes with no real success.  That was due to many factors space, knowledge and finances.  I got to a point that music was no longer an enjoyable experience and all I heard was equipment.  I boxed up the components that I thought were correct and put them in storage for two decades.
From that point on I stopped chasing hi end and eventually just  sufficed with an AV receiver and some JBL bookshelves on concrete blocks until about a half a decade ago. 
For the last 6 years now I have been learning and listening again.   It kept sounding better but I never thought it was not much more than really good mid-fi.

Thanks to forums like this, stereo stores, craigslist and digital streaming I was  able finally to get a system that to my ears checked all the boxes.  I have enough new music to keep me interested in music and a sound system that plays it back with enough enjoyment that I rarely cringe anymore.

Everything is different now than it was 40 years ago.  My music tastes,  my hearing and my ability to research and afford the stuff I'm interested in.

It really isn't that mind boggling.  I have still have friends from 40 years ago who have gone through a similar experiences of chasing the unobtainable and coming back to it with a different approach to get to their final destination. 

I'm still going tweak stuff that's the hobby but I feel finally after over four decades feel the foundation is there.

it's all about expectations and priorities.  Was I ever happy with Sotify?  It never sounded as good as my other digital sources but I used it for over a year until something better came along.  I tried Tidal that wasn't it I never tried Qobuz but my initial research showed it like Tidal was light on the artists and music I listen to.  Amazon Music came out and it took me over a year to figure out how to integrate it into my stereo and work the way I wanted it to. For a whole year I saw its potential but couldn't get it work to my satisfaction. That didn't make me very happy until it finally came together.

Same with amplifiers and even more so with speakers.  

In my head I know the qualities I want from a system.  It took some time but it finally came together for me.  I have the ability to listen to almost anything that was ever recorded in a minimally compressed format that actually sounds good to me.  To be honest I'm surprised it didn't take longer.

@unreceivedogma 
Sotify is that music you buy from the Sot down the street that pirates 8 tracks.

I've done them all and who knew that the most fragile, hardest to store and most inconvenient  would be the media that retained it's value.  I will think of you every time I listen to an album (digitally) and don't have to get up every fifteen minutes to turn it over, clean it, de static it and make sure I place the needle down exactly and then carefully move away.  Digital streaming is just like having a turntable with a stacker only better it turns the records over.

On another note your Karen Dalton pick was spot on.  That would be a vinyl worth owning.