Replacing driver screws with brass screws

Have you measured the speakers before and after to make sure its not your imagination? Don't be so silly.

+1 this is just "fuser" snake oil stuff from the same voodooists, SR are probably about to release cryo'd brass fixing screws for $500 a set.  

Cheers George

Hi Mapman,
That is the reason that I was so surprised at the difference. I tighten my drivers on a regular basis, and had just done so 2 weeks ago, so they were tight before I changed to the brass.

The drivers need to be mounted securely for sure. Loose screws/drivers not firmly mounted will negatively affect exactly the things the op mentioned. As will defective gaskets. Most screws will need tightening from time to time in that the vibrations from drivers naturally tend to loosen them over time. So don’t forget to make sure drivers are tightly attached from time to time. This surely will have a negative effect and I would expect to a much greater degree than the metal used in properly applied screws could.

Millercarbon,
Yes, all small things matter, and some matter a lot. I am now going to experiment with gasket material. I looked up the material that you are using...ouch! Pretty expensive.

Thanks squeak. I read those threads just now. I guess as expected, some believers, some doubters. Very surprised to see Peter from PBN saying it could make no difference. He's a smart guy, but he's dead wrong in this case. 

And now John you see how it is and how people earn their place on the list. Its a perfectly valid discussion to have. If originality was required the worst offenders would be the first to go. Couldn’t think an original thought if their life depended on it.

The sounds we are most concerned with, the cues that tell us which instrument, and where, and how big a space, these are supremely fine details. No one even comes close to measuring, yet we hear them easily.

When you dig into the details of speaker construction, or even just hold different drivers in your hands and look at them, its apparent the better ones put a good deal of time and money into controlling really small vibrations.

Its not just the obvious stuff like thick or braced baffles, or even less obvious stuff like laminates and composites. Even little details like the speaker spider and surround are designed to be both stiff and highly damped.
Which makes it all the more strange that having done all this more often than not they mount these engineered marvels to their sweated over design cabinets with ordinary screws and gaskets.

The way I see it the improvement you’re hearing isn’t all that surprising to me. The way I see it everything else is engineered better than the interface where the driver fastens to the cabinet. This is why mine were improved so much with fO.q TA-102 tape, and why you heard so much improvement with brass screws.

Best of all you described the main things I was looking to hear, "improved the detail in ambient trails, focus in general, complex harmonics in voices and stringed instruments, and instrumental separation. It is not subtle, and it is immediately noticeable." Reason I say best of all is because when I tried something like this many years ago I heard a similar improvement but was put off by it giving too much emphasis to brass instruments. Sax, cymbals, horns sounded a little too brassy.

But that was a very long time ago, and a very different situation. Now I just need to find the right type brass screws for my Moabs. Thanks!

it improved the detail in ambient trails, focus in general, complex harmonics in voices and stringed instruments, and instrumental separation. It is not subtle, and it is immediately noticeable.

Have you measured the speakers before and after to make sure its not your imagination?  Don't be so silly.