Octet11, I've been wondering if better power cords can actually make any difference. Not to say that they can't, but the idea of it is so conter-intuivitive to me I've hesitated to commit the resources to get any to replace what I have. The Shunyata Venom is my only power cord that is not stock. When I purchased the Shunyata Hydra Denali power conditioner used, it it came without a cord. When I called Shunyata they recommended the Venom so the conditioner would operate correctly. So I got it against my better judgement.
I've been meaning to pm Eric Squires who mentioned about a year or so ago in a post about his then new Luxman 507uX amp, that he had upgraded to a not overly expensive power cord. I was wondering if he noted any improvement from doing that. Maybe he'll catch this post and report how that worked out for him. Thanks for your recommendation about my system Octet11. You may very well be absolutely correct and I should stop being cheap.
Mike |
Tvad, sounds like you've made the rounds with isolation footers. I'd not researched the Grand Prix Apex Audio footers you mentioned, so I looked them up. Priced at $1400 for a set of four they are only only a pipe dream.for a plebeian like me.They must be nice.
My listening room is filled with wall to wall bookshelves, so there's hardly a square inch to acoustically treat. I seriously considered one of those Lyngdorf integrated amps with Room Correction for that reason since they could electronically deal with that issue
Millercarbon, thank you for all your ideas. It's going to take me a minute to research each suggestion and product you recommended, but I will. I'll have some follow-up questions for you too if you wouldn't mind following this thread for a day or two. Thanks.
Slaw, nice to hear from you. If I remember correctly I did follow some of your suggestions building my component shelving and thank you for that. Honestly, since replacing my 40 year old system in entirety the last year or so, the footers are my first tweak ever. I guess the shelving could be considered a tweak, having utilized many ideas garnered from that thread to foster vibration isolation. .
The AudioAcoustic footers have been such an unexpected success, I'm thinking the tweakers among you are on to something. So I'd like to identify among the multitude of tweaks what might be the best thing to try next. It's pretty amazing what you folks have come up with so far. If these tweaks are additive as Millercarbon pointed out in another thread, this could be a fun ride..
Bemused, I will look up your ElectraClear and Symphony Pro's tomorrow.I found there site a minute ago, but it's getting late and I'll better understand their product line after a night's sleep. Thanks,
Mike
|
Tvad, It would be interesting to compare the performance of the Apex footers with the IsoAcoustics to see how much improvement there might be with such a high end product. The IsoAcoustic footers made such a difference, it's hard to imagine getting even more performance out of such a simple concept as reducing vibration. I'm still awaiting the special 1/2"-13 studs needed to install the recently arrived IsoAcoustic Gaia feet on my speakers to get the full effect of having their footers under all components. You're fortunate to have those Apexs.
Geoffkait, following your suggestion I considered taking all my books
outside and starting a good-sized bonfire with them. I bet you nobody's ever thought of doing that before.
Williewonka, I will have to play around with the placement of the IsoAcoustic footers under each component as your second link suggested. The first linked described exactly how I set up my current shelving using non-slip shelf liner under a floating shelf, so maybe I did something right there. I'll try some of those blocks you and Millercarbon suggest under the wires.
Any suggestions by anybody about what your most effective tweaks have been would be appreciated. Thanks,
Mike
|
Tablejockey, the Gaia’s appear to be working pretrty well under the VPI Classic 2 although I’ve only had them on for one day so far. I played an old Riverside Cannonball Adderly with vibraphonist Milt Hinton album, "Things are Getting Better" last night. The vibes were so well articulated the footers had to be playing a part. I listened to a Sade album too and surprisingly heard a soft male backgound vocal that was buried in the mix. So far It’s been similar, but not as pronounced difference, as placing the footers under the CD player. It’s really to soon to tell though.
My Magico A3 speakers are good at revealing detail, details which the IsoAcoustic feet seem to help deliver to them less encumbered by whatever mess vibration might be adding to the signal. An older Gato Barbieri album on the Flying Dutchman label (before he went commercial) sounded great too with better separation between instruments and more transparent articulation apparent than ever before. If it wasn’t such a pain to get these footers installed I’d try some A/B testing with and without them to be sure. Please share your experience once you get yours. Thanks.
I also have my Classic 2 and CD player on a left-over 24" x 40" floating slab of marble, which does show off the VPI same as yours. It’s a nice touch and got the unused slab out of the storeroom where it sat for almost thirty years unused.
Geoff, too late now.
Millercarbon, I’ll be seeing how well these tweaks add up as you indicate they will, which does make sense from my limited experience so far. As this point I’m trying to prioritize which are the most productive. It’s a fun project to try and maximize what your components are capable of doing. I think I’ll try to put together a list of the myriad tweaks and see if I can get a consensus on what ones people agree on are the most effective, or the opposite.
You would think there might be limits to what you might accomplish in an additive fashion. For instance a lot of tweaks mention they widen the sound-stage. If they all worked you’d think the sound-stage would extend from one end of the house to another. The IsoAcoustic footers have so far helped define the placement of elements within the sound stage which seems a more realistic, but still amazing, accomplishment.
One other thing if you don’t mind my asking, since you’ve achieved good results, how many tweaks have you incorporated to get to where you are now? And do you have any more in mind to try? Thanks,
Mike
|
Oregonpapa. hopefully by making the right choices in tweaks, that will turn out to be true, before the bank account runs dry anyway.
SGordon1, I hear you, and what are HFT’s.
Geoff, what was your last tweak and which tweaks have you found to be most effective in your system. Hold that carrot out in front of me.
Mike
|
Millercarbon, thanks for the explanations and taking the time to write and post them. I still have to research the many tweaks you mentioned in your earlier reply, not to mention decipher the acronyms you and others have been mentioning. Hopefully I'll get on that tonight and tomorrow. I am learning things, which has been an ongoing project since reentering the audio equipment world.
Mike |
Thomas, I’ve never been into tweaks before, but I can see it would be possible to go overboard and get over involved with them like you say, listening to how the music sounds rather than the music itself. So I’ll keep your thought in mind. Thinking about tweaks recently has been an interesting way to pass the excess time being home-bound during this coronavirus pandemic. Tvad, thanks for the link to the Sumiko Master Speaker Set. I played around with speaker positioning a few weeks ago but could probably some more fine tuning and use of a test record. Millercarbon, I did look into the BDR cones you are using, so appreciate that suggestion. They are cost effective. Mijostyn, which tone arm lifter are you using? I don’t trust myself to smoothly lift the tonearm up each time anymore. I miss my old Bang and Olufsen straight arm tracking which did that function automatically. I’ll take a look at the Weber soldering station. I’ve soldered a lot of copper pipe in my day but done little with anything electronic related. That would be a good skill to pick up. I’m an inveterate DIY person, but have learned over the years to recognize when I’m in over my head and to try and learn from others, which I’m trying to do here. I’ll look up the HiFi News test record. What is a conductive sweep arm? Is it something to do with static removal.from record albums. Thanks for your ideas and description of your interesting system set-up. "Practical solutions with solid explanations and rational" are exactly what I’d like to find. Also I checked on eBay and found a Talisman Magnetic Optizmizer for you: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walker-Talisman-Magnetic-Optimizer-A-MUST-HAVE-FOR-VINYL-AND-CD-LOVERS-NEW/. Never heard of that "must have" before. Take it easy, Mike |
Aewarren, the price is certainly right. I'll give it a try tonight.. Thanks.
Mike |
Hleeid, thank you for your suggestions and describing how they worked for you. That's the kind of information I'm looking for.
Geoff, I'd still like to hear from you what tweaks, if any, have worked best for you.
Mike |
Geoff, I thought those were tweaks you were making fun of. Excuse me, Ill look them up,
Tantejuut, you've provided a number more to look up too. Thanks,
Mike
|
Sgordon, I do intend to fully research the suggestions made here. There are simply so many tweaks mentioned on past Audiogon threads, and elsewhere that I am hoping to winnow the field, categorize them, and focus research by drawing on the experience of those who have used some of these products.
It’s a fairly complex subject to investigate, considering the many categories of possible tweaks, the efficacy of various products, cost, and cons hawking expensive junk. This post is only one venue for starting research. Besides its fun to ask what each of you thinks, and it never hurts to ask persons more knowledgeable than you on any subject. The internet, and this site and it’s members, is a blessing in that regard.
So in short your idea is a good one and I’m on it. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time already researching isolation footers alone. And I did purchase a newer product recommended by a site member that I’d not come across while doing that research.
Tvad, thanks for the suggestion on sorbothane. I did use that on the edges of my floating shelves to keep their edges from contacting the component cabinet's vertical side walls. There must be other uses.
Mike
|
Thomas, I really like the IsoAcoustic Orea and Gaias and will not be adding or subtracting anything to or from them.
Now don't go trying to tempt me into purchasing new components after I just acquired an entire new system. My current audio plan has to include staying out of the poor house. Tweaks are it for the foreseeable future. I appreciate your suggestion none the less. Thanks,
Mike |
Mijoststyn, I appreciate your cynicism on tweaks, having been repeatedly criticized for being too cynical myself ever since being a teenager. On the other hand maybe there are a few things, like you've done with your system, that may be sensible and helpful. I aim to try and winnow them out, especially the low and no cost ones. My long career in Corrections has been an excellent training ground for weeding out BS. That is 90% or more of what you hear every day, and have to sort out the truth from in that setting. There's always someone inventive enough to get over on you though.
Mijostyn, In my reply to your first post on this thread I'd asked you a question or two. Would you mind re-reading those and let me know your answers, as I was thinking of following your advice on a thing or two you've done with your system. Thanks.
Mre28m5, I'll add your suggestions to my list of products to look up. Thank you.
Tantejuut, your ideas and products suggested are added to the list too. Thanks,
Mike
|
Audioguy, that book thing was some sort of joke. I think. I’m sure you’re right this hobby can earn you a divorce. Honestly if I wasn’t a widower in here, I’d never have this fancy system, much any tweaks at all. The cost of the IsoAcoustic footers alone would have have gotten me my head handed to me, much less providing fodder on the list as one of the things I’d done wrong since we were married. There were a few of those trotted out any time we argued. I don’t understand why someone my redecorate their home as a tweak to get better sound. But what the hey, it’s better that than many other far worse things you could be up to.
Millercarbon, I glanced at the content of your link. The article references Ernst Haeckl, an early, but probably by now obscure, Darwinian, a vintage copy of one of whose books is in my library. I did enjoy that reference. That volume will remain in my listening room/library doing whatever good or harm it may to the room acoustics, morphic or otherwise, along with the rest of my stuff. Audioguy would certainly approve.
(As an aside, Haeckl was famous for the "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" observation, re: fetuses having gills and the like during a portion of their development). I’ve always enjoyed Natural History and being in a room filled with everything you like, to include a nice stereo system, is the best.
Mike |
Try to play nice boys, although this last bit was pretty funny. |
Terry9, I know next to nothing about caps and mods but that sounds like an interesting subject to learn about. I once stumbled across a web site that talked a lot about DIY stereo and mods. I saved that site somewhere and you’ve reminded me to go back, find it, and try and learn about them. It would be interesting to learn something about the inner workings of our equipment.
Recapping my old Dahlquist DQ10’s always sounded like a good thing to learn about and do, but I hadn’t the background and knowlede to even think about doing something like that. Glad you brought it up. If I have the time left to do so learning about the electronics of our components is on my bucket list. That’s the kind of thing retirement is good, and gives you the time, for.
I do plan on building an ultrasonic record cleaner, maybe this winter. I’ve read up on them and it seems like a fairly simple DIY project. If it works even half as good as yours I'll be happy. I'm curious how well they work with records that have been well cared for, but still can be noisy. Any thoughts on that from your experience?
Mike |
Are you implying you weren't one of them or admitting to it? |
Yes I do. Take it easy Mickey. Just having a little fun with you as I'm sure you guessed.
Mike |
