Properly setup speakers in your listening space. It's FREE and will probably have a more positive effect than adding any single component to your system- outside of room correction, or an EQ.
Cheap tweaks...What would YOU reccomend?
Hey everyone, I am looking for some cheap tweaks, i just got done putting in a inner tube under my componets as an isolation device, and it works great. What else would you reccomend?..i am also thinking of an inner tube under the spkrs, with some sort of device to keep them stable. What do you think of Rf blockers..etc Please leave comments on your tweaks and how they turned out. i am looking forward to trying some. Thanks all
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Cdc.......I agree, the cable which causes less "grunge" would be prefered! My only point is, that not everyone has thousands to spend on ic's........and with cables like the Mogami Gold doing very well in comparison to some expensive ic's, people are able to put their hard earned audio money elsewhere in the system if finances determine. For me they are at least an acceptable option, until money is available to purchase cable that gets me the other 5% or so. |
i have dedicated ac and ps audio ac plugs. vibrapods, brightstar pods and black diamond cones, all upgraded cables. seperate power supplys to replace walwarts, room treatments, modified magnepans, furman conditioner and other tweaks i,ve forgotten. i wish there was a quick easy way to hear my system for 30 minutes in a stock condition setup to subjectivly experience the cumulative effect of all these tweaks. any opinions? btw i really enjoy the present setup and it would take hours to undo my handiwork. haha |
Tbg........absolutely, agree! Everything on here is worth discussing.....perhaps I phrased it wrong! Hifisoundguy, synergy is so important, again I absolutely agree. I have auditioned two cables and found cable #1 to trounce cable #2 in my system.........while in someone elses system it has been the other way around! What sounds good to you in your system is the right answer! |
Bullot, actually, I've never experienced a situation where cables did not make a difference, with the possible exception of years ago when lamp cables were used for speakers and cables that came with the equipment were used with it. I must say that I have heard absolutely awful cables and many that are not worth what they cost. I have also heard cables that I am sharply at odds with what some reviewers rave about. Like everything tastes and systems vary greatly. Thus for this reason, I have always said little is worth discussing. Why do I post? Once in a while I learn something from others' experiences and guess that others may do similarly from mine. |
DAKIOM feedback stabilizers which control vibration electronically is the BEST tweaks you can have and I have 30 plus years of tweaking experience and a former high end home theater installer and electronic tech. I have used dbx, omnisonic imagers, hughes, srslabs,bbe, behringer, carver sonic holography, peavey, aphex and many other sound processors, dakiom stablizers coupled with any of these sound processors including acoustic research tds 202 is the cheapest and most effective tweaks in cleaning and expanding the soundstage of a system. Tube rolling is also helpful in solid state. Cables makes very little improvement unless your gear is that high up in the food chain. For the most part, most cables are just for aesthetics |
Yes Bullot, the Maestro ac outlets are an AMAZING BARGAIN....Price vs Performance !... You can read my review here... http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?raccs&1280581691 |
Upgrade your fuses! This may have been mentioned before in this copious thread. I cannot emphasize and recommend the difference this simple, relatively inexpensive tweak can make highly enough! If your system is HARSH this will make it smooth, if you desire more definition this will improve it. If you desire greater clarity, cohesiveness and bass control these can help. I have upgraded the fuses in every piece of equipment own an have yet to hear a definite improvement. |
Just tried this and it worked like a charm... I've been wrestling with speaker placement of my rear ported speaker - toe-in the speaker and the bass is detailed, but the image sucks - the closer to no toe-in and the bass becomes boomy and muddy, but the image is great. Room size and WAF is the limiting factor! (no big damping screens allowed) Enter the PERKO boat cowl vent... Just attached this over the rear facing vent to direct energy downwards and VOILA - can toe-in for the best image and the bass is consistent http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/perko/boat-cowl-vent-21871-50697.html Cost $55 - and they look nice - other makes/sizes are available from your local marine store Guess you could try firing it at any angle. but down seemed to work great Have tried damping the speakers rear port with foam, but the sound was not great - this solution allows the speaker to perform as designed Not really cheap - but less expensive than replacing the speaker |
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Cheaper than cheap: Turn off the lights. I don't know why this works (probably by removing distractions?), but I frequently find I enjoy the sound more with the lights out. I also find that cleaning my ears with one of the ear wax removing drops from CVS usually helps when my system doesn't sound as involving as usual. I recommend trying this if you've never done it before, especially if you wear earplugs occasionally. |
RCA jack cleaners (scroll down the page) |
OK I just finished reading all the tweaks listed here and would like you to consider the cheapest and best tweak I can think of. It is often used in the boating circles that some people find are real money savers. My brother in fact did this with his boat and although he is not known to be the brightest bulb in the room it does seem to make a lot of sense. He sold his boat and now goes out in his cousins boat. We can do something similar, short of selling all out gear. You simply do some research and find a few audiophiles in your area that are known to have really great sounding systems. Shoot them an email or phone call and arrange for a hookup. You can even invite them to your place for a listen to your rig. you can make new friends and enjoy listening to their systems they they have invested thousands of dollars in and untold hours of tweaks. You can save enough money dong this to even afford a few nice bottles of wine to share with your new audiophile friends. |
By far, the best isolation devices I've ever experienced are simple fiber scratch pads. They come in varying thickness and stiffness. They are almost 100% immune to vibration. I say "almost" because nothing is perfect. But when you put your hand on the component they're under, there's no detectable vibration whatsoever. They seem to be acoustically dead. They are awesome under a turntable. |
Inner Tubes are a joke. Here are ones that do work. 1)Speaker placement. For example with a 12 X 12 room place the listening chair/couch 3' for rear with speaker 3' from side walls and 2 1/2 from rear. Use this formula and toe in 3 imches. It will work. Spike and and all speakers and subs. 2) subs sound better up front on one side or the other cross firing edge of woofer parallel with edge of front speaker 3) Do not put sub or speakers in a corner 4)soft pucks helps cd players and transports 5)get a dedicated audio stand -fill with play sand 6)let equipment warm up stabilize before listening at least 30 minutes |
Jimjoyce25, I have an ear condition that causes me to have to remove the wax in my ears about every three months. The day after I do so, I am always aware of the rustling sounds and squeaks around me and I hear the tape hiss on many recordings. I did have a friend send me ear candles once that apparently do also remove the wax, but I never used them. |
Here in the Sedona area some twirl crystals around the object of attention, but you could just as well get some temporary audio catharsis by draining your bank account and imagining you hear a difference with expensive tweaks. There was a fellow on the 'gon who claims that under a dollar a piece Artgum erasers as footers under his components worked as well or better than the audio-specific footers he had. Seems many audiophiles ask questions that suggest they need positive reinforcement to spend more money, when in the final analysis it's all up to individual subjectivity anyway. Human nature, always fascinating. |
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Here is one: If you and your special someone drink a bottle or two of wine, then save your used natural wine corks. You can make them into a framed 2D abstract art poster and hang it on your wall. The natural cork will absorb sound waves and deaden the room just a bit. You can position it on a bright wall for example. |
Okay get off your butt and pick up the big cushion u were just sitting on. Now put it on a hard wood table thats in your living room and put your cd player on top of that. WOW IT REALLY MAKES A GREAT ISOLATION PLATFORM. The glare is almost gone from my Toshiba dvd player, and I have 3D hOLOGRAPHIC IMAGING, along with deep extended bass. My sofa cushion is nothing special just your old run of the mill yellow foam pads found in old cars, or RV's,But it is almost 2 feet thick. Onto another cheap tweak.Once u finish installing Deflex Panels to your internal speaker cabinents; Oh I guess that makes Tweak #2; #3 Tweak would be to stuff the remaining Deflex Panels in every bare piece of metal in your CD or Dvd Player depending on what u use for your musical source. Now u have a cd player that sounds like 3k instead of $300.00 Don C. Happy Listening |
Psacanli, do you know of any good cheaters? I have made them out of two pin wall plugs from Eagle with a three pin female and silver wire. They were better, but could not compare with going into the wall plug part of power cables and lifting the ground. Recently Synergistic Research took some Home Depot cheaters and zapped them (quantum tunneling they say). I compared them with ordinary cheaters which I bought. Wow, the SR ones were unbelievably better and better than my home made ones. Incidentally, the Home Depot cheaters are 89 cents @. |
Honestly, I think the cheapest tweak is to buy a better whatever component you're trying to tweak. Between the power cords, shelves, cones, blocks and other bullshit, you end up spending more than a better "whatever" in the long run. That aside, I really thought the Audience single-outlet power conditioner (ARp1?) made a really positive improvement in my system. About $300 and change used. I guess this is "cheap" in the world of high-end. I plugged it directly into the outlet and attached a $50 Wiremold strip to it. |
