smoothing those sibilants...

Cable Company www.fatwyre.com has an audio grade Hubble wall outlet that I got for only $15; that helped. An improvement yes, but the Wattgate 381 is even better albiet *much more expensive @$250 list - the sale price was $189 when I got mine. Also get a sheet of crocus cloth at the hardware store (this is only very mildly abrasive) to brightly burnish the AC plug prongs of all your cords. Cut off a small 2" square piece; the whole sheet will then last you a lifetime. Don't burnish your good interconnects or silver/gold speaker cable spades though. Clean all AC & audio connections with fresh short pieces of pipe cleaner dipped in a recommended NON-residue solvent, such as Kontact, Audioquest Ultraconnect, etc. Refer to contact cleaning instructions on VansEvers.com, or etc. for specific guidelines. There are several good cleaning solvent alternatives available (check on Audio Advisor.com) all are pretty good. Other guys like Progold, but I stay away from the oily residue types myself. Do try to first audition a power conditioner, or filtering AC strip, before you buy one. These can be system-dependent & you don't necessarily have to spend a lot. Many options are available in that area. have fun!

If you would like to save the trip to the hardware store pick a piece of smooth cotton cloth add a little tooth paste and polish your AC plugs shiny don't leave solid residue by cleaning thoroughly with a damp piece cloth and use at least electronic contact cleaner swabed with a lint free cloth. Cones under your source components *i.e. CD player* if you look for the right spot might provide in certain cases better treble definition depending on the unit but worth a try

The first changes have been made, and I think I'm on to something. A friend has lent me a pair of Cardas cables, which has made a none-too-subtle difference. At first I thought that the system sounded "darker", but some careful listening is revealing details that were obscured before, just WAY less "sizzle". Right on! The other change made this morning is to remove the little mesh things that live over the tweeters, and reinstalling the grille covers on the speakers. Now why this shoud make such a difference, I don't know, but these two "tweaks" are exactly the type of changes that I'm looking for. Soon I'll have the opportunity to try some cables from Nordost and also Alpha-Core (or is it Goertz, I get confused), and will be trying improved vibration/isolation techniques as well. Better power, too. Anyone in doubt of whether or not cable can make a difference is sure welcome to come over and listen! Thanks again for the posts...

Aldenruss, I am not familiar with the Antique Sound amp. Does it use tubes or is it totally solid state? I ask the question because there are lots of tube changes possible.

For "albertporter", the Antique Sound is all tube, 2x15 (pentode) or 2x5 (triode) using KT88's for the power tubes, and 12ax7's for the input/driver tubes. The power tubes have been upgraded to Svetlana KT88's (thank you to Stewart at Sanctuary of Sound), the input/drivers to JJ Yugo's. You know, when I put up the second post, I thought for sure that people would say that I needed to change some tubes around to get the results that I was looking for. Interestingly, it was speakers, interconnects and power considerations that were mentioned, and if today's experiments were any indication they were right on. That being said, I have read that changing the input tubes of a tube amp will have more effect on the sound than changing the power tubes. Comments and advice are WELCOME!