Oh, sorry Retro. The Absolute Zero was the tip. Let's say really cold, liquid oxygen cold huh? |
Retro is being very serious, this hard freeze concept has been around for years. The theory I have heard is the hard freeze and slow thaw releases impurities introduced during CD manufacturing process, which can then be cleaned away. Also supposed to positively effect CD disc pastic/metal properties. This is too extreme for me even if it does have some benefit, I generally will not apply a tweak that cannot be removed or reversed, in case you later change your mind about the changed sound. |
I have to say it's a bit disapointing that it's not possible for people who want to make fun of an honest question to stay away! Most of us want real advise, not clever ridicule. What suppoedly happened to your disc frozen to absolute zero (not yet possible), the molicules fell apart and you bought a second disk to replace the first. What's amazing is all this happened without a single word in the news! Now if you please leave this thread alone. |
Museatex used to cryogenically freeze CDs to absolute zero. I had an Aaron Neville cd frozen, then went out and bought a duplicate. I never read any white papers concerning the theory, but what I heard didn't need one to explain. We tried doing an A/B test and EVERYONE who heard the comparison picked the one that was frozen as sounding better. If anyone knows what was supposedly happened to the disc when frozen, please let me know. The difference is amazing! |
I like the Auric Illuminator treatment for Cds, which I apply to any CD that I detect treble grain/hardness, which is over half my Rock/alt music section. Will give a slightly smoother cleaner sound without detail loss. Also like Kontak connector cleaner/enhancer. BTW I have both Bedini II and radio shack demag unit, but I have become less convinced of their positive effect as time goes by. |
I'm a little skeptical about tweaks, but I get great results and can enthusiastically recommend the following: 1) wrap any remote control devices in black Pashmina (cream, acqua and turquoise will NOT work for some reason), and while keeping them bundled, remove the parcel from the line of sight of your tweeters 2) using any HP calculator with RPN or reverse polish notation, affix it to the center of the top of your power amp using a roughly 50/50 mixture of Blue Tack and Play Doh. I have had especially good results with an old HP 12C. Most important, although not specifically a "tweak", ALL food past its sell by date MUST be removed from the house. Although trickier to discern in the 200-250 HZ region, this combination will dramatically improve most of 10-30khz spectrum and give spine tingling, holographic imaging comparable to systems worth 5-10 times the price. |
If you listen in a room with a suspended floor you can improve bass quality by stiffening the floor joists from below. This only works if it is pratical to position adjustable jack posts from a basement or cross base location, and if the expanse of unsuspended floor area is quite large. Two years ago I had a 16x20 addition built where the builder used 16' 2x8s 12" OC for floor joists. This allowed a lot of flex in the floor and was adding some boom to the bass. By positioning several adjustable jack posts underneath the floor joists I was able to improve the quality of the bass significantly. |
Marbles under amplifiers. I took 2 aluminum plates per amp and had them routed so that 4 marbles could be sandwiched between them. They can move slightly, but still have a ridged mass supporting them. I'm using this with Levinson Reference 20 amps. It's amazing how the background got quieter and there's virtually no grain (which I didn't know was there until I heard the system with the marbles). Total cost $20. |
Having heard them last week, the inner tubes under the components are a cheap tweak to isolate your equipment from vibrations and very beneficial, particularly for CDPs and tubed eqipment. Just play with the inflation level, you don't want to overinflate. Room acoustic treatments are also tweaks that will greatly benefit your system, and you don't have to spend large amounts for them (for example, cut a small pillow in half, sew the cut sides and you have two corner tunes). I've found plants to be effective at reducing reflections in my room as well (unfortunately, I use my living room as my listening room, so I can't put up devices I might otherwise use in a dedicated listening room). Finally, I've found the Top Hat tube dampers, while expensive, to be effective at increasing the focus of images and clarity of sound with the tubed units I have them in. Keep the tweaks coming, always good to hear of the ones that work and don't cost an arm and a leg! |
"Green edging" CDs works very well for me, as does using a Radio Shack bulk eraser. Hold the CD about 1/4" away from the eraser, hit the trigger and pull the CD away slowly to a distance of about 3 feet. I have not tried raising my speaker cables off the floor but will this weekend. A friend who has tried it tells me that some cables benefit from it while others don't. Go figure. Sorbothane under CD transports (or some other "soft" platform) always works for me. When I listen, I cover the TV and the coffee table with blankets. The TV or anything else between the speakers ruins depth and staging. Tweaks are like sex - if it works for you, it's normal. |
I've been messing around with my speakers lately (kiss, kiss). I don't have the precision to move my 1/16" 'cause i don't want to remove the spikes, but i've noticed a difference with 1/4". My desk chair also has to be in a certain place in order for the stage to center correctly. Because of my living setup I have to listen from my bed, and sit on it with my back against the wall. The arrangement of pillows between me and whoever, and the wall makes a difference. Sometimes I feel pretty neurotic, but that doesn't stop me |
Oops! Line two shoud read "electronic or mystical". |
I've tried a lot of tweaks over the years, mostly back in my analogue days. I've decided there are two kinds, those which are electronic or physical and taken mostly on faith like cones or raising wires off the floor which usually cause a difference with indeterminate rewards and the more physical ones like 25 pounds of lead on top of speakers or moving the tv from in between the speakers to the long wall which are no doubters. Hands down best tweak ever was running the air tubes from the ET II aquarium pump through a plastic 5 gallon gas can filled with wool batts; much better defined bass. Sorry, Sam, I find myself wishing the tube was a little bigger, I could at least take it to the beach. |
Thanks to Megasam who informed me about the inner tube under my cdp I am exremely happy with the results. By far and away the best $4 I have ever spent on audio... |
