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So you're not yawning after all. I can only presume you're not humming. |
How about, not humming along improves perceived detail then? |
Touche Dekay! I fear you confuse effect with detail however. |
Khrys: Yawning (shortly thereafter) adds detail. |
Hiwaves, if you haven't tried it, don't knock it. But, your post does indeed exemplify itself. |
Khrys, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Sometimes its the bad speakers that are at fault , especially the million dollar ones. |
Try cupping your hands around your ears to varying degrees. Sticking your tongue out at bad recordings often helps. |
Some neat stuff, like the chocolate one! Why after midnight? Well think about it, if the industry is making a gazillion power conditioners because of all the EMF and noise created by your neighbors dishwasher and your hearing it in your system, and you are, try listening late its like buying the worlds best power conditioner! You will hear a more black background in your system in fact all resolution comes more alive if you can hear the spray on your cd this will blow you away. Also can't help but comment on the mass issue you know, the sand bags the cutting board stuff that changes mass, ponder this little fact every thing has a frequency even you! Your audio gear every piece vibrates, when you and an isolator (cone or platform) you change the frequency of the total vibration.That my freind is the same with adding mass the art to this is to amplify or play only the frequency that is on the souce material! Mass usually helps speed up the natural gravitational pull that takes the largest amount of vibration out of our system. But that answers, why all these huge chasis out there? If you want to maximize your tweaking potential use Audiopoints. These take vibrations wich are the cause of disstortion (added frequencies caused buy wires and transfomers and such) and transfer them to your rack instead of your amp. Otherwise they'll be amplified and played for you. If not you will knowingly or not, keep toe tapping to your buzzing transformer! I recomend adding the mass as well. Sistrum the new stuff by starsound who makes audiopints (www.audiopoints.com) is trully the altimate tweak. Anything you put on it becomes simply magical. Watch for info on this stuff or just buy one, I have and it wont ever go back. Merry Christmass god bless. Doc. |
Actually the tweak about the cups upside down is in a issue of Stereophile. I use dixie cups and lift my spkr cables off the floor with good effects. Good listening |
RADIO SHACK BUL TAPE ERASER- ELIMINATES STATIC FROM CDS- THE BEST!!! NOW DISCONTINUED BUT I MAY HAVE ONE TO SELL... |
That's interesting, audiokinesis. I've found that the chocolate actually deadens the vibrations in my stomach, much better than the bags of sand mentioned by Bozo. |
Turn your equipment on a couple of hours in advance; start your listening session after midnight; listen in total darkness (except for the glow of the tubes, if any) - which may mean putting electrician's tape over annoying indicator lights; and eat a bar of chocolate at the beginning of the listening session. |
Finyl. It s a clear liquid spray you spray on Cd s and then polish. I ordered some from ufh magazine audiophile store one day when I was bored. I was expecting nothing but know they wouldn't use it if they didn't hear an improvment of at least a little bit. Cautiously I took an old classical Deutsche Grammophon and followed the instructons. I was stunned to hear an almost unlistenable cd/ very bright/ become listenable. I seemed to take the top end grain right off. Next I tried my new Patrica O'Callaghan. The speakers just dissapeared. The sound stage moved up, out and back. Seriously. I was sitting im my chair trying to figure this out. I looked again at the back of the instructions and it said "smooths out brightness and improves sound stage". I thought maybe it worked well because I only have a Marantz 67se cd plaver and it could maybe use some help. So I Emailed UHF mag and asked if my this meant my player needed upgrading. They said they had heard improvments in very high end players. How much I dont know. I have done about 25 discs now and notice It affects some more than others but when it works its not one of these tweeks you have to strain to know if its better. It really stands out. Galen Carol has a product similar called Optrix. He says he has not compared the two but has been told Optrix works better. The products are supposed to prevent laser light diffraction. Cheers steve |
Sand in zip-lock bags to be placed on top of cd players, dac, speakers even sides of turntables to add some weight, this will cut down on vibration. |
Spend $35 for a copy of Robert Harley's book. "The Complete Guide to High-End Audio" (2nd Edition). There is so much great advise in there about absolutely everything it will be the best $35 you ever spent. |
See my DIY thread under the heading "Best wires for cost". The design that I explained costs less than $3.00/ft, yet it has beat up many $400.00 per meter cables, really! |
I had a problem with Sibilance with my Perreaux amp...the T's and S's sounding much too harsh and opaque. Then, a guy from this site named Sean who is a professional sound engineer set me up with Mobile Spec interconnect cables that were fifteen bucks a pair. I think this must be used in radio applications. He said that when he engineered the sound for several big name bands, he uses these as Sibilance busters. Plainly put, I COULD NOT BELIEVE THE DIFFERENCE. Sorry to harp time and time again about these things, but I think they just buried my more expensive audio interconnects. BURIED THEM. Others have theorized that what has happend is that the cables are poorly designed and they act as a filter for certain high frequencies. I don't know, maybe, but they made my solid state sound much more like my tube amps. And I could not notice any loss of detail. Mobile Spec Performance cables. Don't know where you can get em. Ask Sean. |
This doesn't help in every system, but this made a very audible improvement in my system. You need a voltmeter and a cheater plug(s) that will let you orient the ac plug(s) in either standard or reverse polarity. I made my own and used a grinder to remove metal from the thick sides of the ac adapter plug. Test the chassis voltage by touching the hot lead of the voltmeter to bare metal on the component chassis and the ground lead to a ground. Orient each component plug in the manner that gives the lowest voltage reading. I only had to reverse my cd player (Cambridge Audio CD4se.) It REALLY tightened up and extended the bass noticeably. Midrange sounded a touch more coherent and integrated. |
Vibrapods and a sheet of MDF or a Maple cutting board under the CD player are a cheap must do. I will be trying Mapleshade's Tenderfeet in a few days which are about the same price as the Pods. Keeping cables seperate and off of carpet and other surfaces as mentioned. My speaker cables run across the bottom of a doorway so I built a two channel box out of pine and brass screws to run them through (cut out the carpet and pad and cover it with a cotton rug that was always there). I hang my speaker wires with cloth ribbon from the bottom of standard bookshelves that are behind the speakers. I am also fanatical in regard to achieving the best speaker placement, which is free, within my limitations, as it makes loads of difference. If you have not tried isolation devices on the CD player though, start with the Vibrapods for $24.00, they greatly improved the sound of my old CAL player. Craig at Vibrapod will give you good advice on the setup. Oh, and Gthirteen is a real wierdo, just ask him what he does with the Planter's Peanut packs and the barf bag. |
I may be a wierdo, but I use clear plastic 4oz. "coctail" cups (think airplane beverage cart issue) with good results as cable suspenders. turn each cup upside-down, and cut a trough into the bottom of the cup. Make 8 to 10, and use it to keep the power, speaker, and interconnect cables off the floor. It is also not a good idea (in theory) to have cables pushed against a wall, as electrical fields develop in floor and walls, and having 3" of air between the cables and the flat, somewhat charged surface is a great insulator. Total cost, less than $5. |
Most tweaks dont come cheaply.Keeping your connections clean is maybe the cheapest but doesnt last long enough.Blu-tak is good for under small speakers/stands.When I had small speaker I used poster putty @ a buck or so a slab.I couldnt see spending $10 plus S+H for the real Blu-tak but the cheap stuff did work well.Before I broke down and bought BDR cones,Vibra-Pods,J.A.Mitchel cones and Bright Star Audio Big Rocks I used arrow tips under components.They even screw tightly in place of the stock feet that come with amps,pre-amps etc.They do work well too and are very cheap! $2 or so for 12 and avaliable at your friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart.Keeping your I.C.s,cables,powercords away from each other and off the floor is pretty cheap!! A 50 cent 8'x5'x2'concrete patio block painted black with 5 cent rubber grommets for feet on top of my CDP really helped to bring it into focus.If you cant afford the pricey room treatments try heavy throw rugs at the first reflection points and the front wall reflection points.Even this makes a large improvement in focus and imaging.Thats all I can think of now,hope this helps.Happy Hoidays!!! |
