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Free air, tighter bass - snake oil or cheap tweaks?

Usually when we talk about snake oil it's because some one is out to make a buck on the gullible.  In the case of these tweaks I want to recommend I'm not going to make any money, and you may not spend any either, but I find them useful.

Cover your Speakers

I don't know why a modest change in your acoustics can make such a difference but I usually find that covering my speakers adds a lot of air and room ambiance.  I like to use some thick curtains that I've had from a house a long time ago.  Works really well.

Weigh Your Speakers

I don't mean put them on a scale, but put a weight on top.  Of course, this doesn't apply to those with behemoths.  I find this especially useful with lightweight speakers that are on stands or very small footprints.  Think 2-ways, both bookshelf and floor standers.  I think the additional weight resists the tendency of the woofer to move the box back and forth, creating a kind of Doppler distortion in the bass. In some cases I find this tweak can really make a speaker sound tighter and clearer from the mid-bass downwards.

Clean up the Floor

We often pay attention to the walls, but not the floor, especially behind speakers.  I find that room treatment, cushions and blankets here can really cut out hash I didn't know I had. 

erik_squires

Showing 1 response by jonwolfpell

jonwolfpell
342 posts
 

Back in the later 80’s during my first real chapter of high end audio, I had a pair of Conrad Johnson Premier One powered Duntech Marquis’s ( forerunner of Dunlavys) which were very good & only missing the last little bit of full low end extension of his Sovereigns which are still considered amongst the very best speakers ever made albeit huge & expensive. 
 

They were in a large living room in a rebuilt old New England  horse barn w/ solid oak T & G ceiling & just for kicks I decided to try to better couple the speakers to the tiled floor as the large speaker bases did not have spikes. I took one foot square  3/4” plywood w/felt glued on one side & cut 2x4’s to the exact needed length between the speakers & the ceiling.w/ the plywood pieces at each end. I slowly wedged the 2x4’s between the plywood pieces top & bottom. It was truly stupid looking but substantially improved the dynamics & especially imaging as well which that amp & speakers were very good at. I 
 

When my wife came home, she shook her head, laughed & gave me a look. Needless to say, my little experiment was over by the next day but it was fun while it lasted. 
 

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