I can't tell what kind of feet if any the A2s are equipped with stock. I've put my Visonik desktop speakers on Herbie's Thick Grungebuster pads. That damps and isolates them and the sound gets an inexpensive but worthwhile improvement. Herbie's Grungebuster pageThere's a limit to how much money you want to put into cables for little things like the A2s. For example the best mini-to-mini interconnect I know is the Zu Pivot but one of those might run you half the A2s' cost by itself. If you plan someday to upgrade the A2s, you might be better off saving the money. If not, well, try a Pivot then. Zu Pivot page |
Tobias,
Thanks for the reply and suggestions. Do your Visonik speakers have feet? |
I have the A2's, and the best thing I did, was to replace
the speaker wire with my Supra Cable, and it made
quite a bit difference in sound. |
Hi Headshrinker2, no they didn't, stock. I glued the Herbie's pads on with rubber cement ( my very favourite glue ).
FWIW the Visonik Davids aren't square and can be mounted upright, on their sides beaming up or on the wall with a matching bracket, and maybe that's why they don't have feet. |
As always placement will make by far the biggest difference. Experiement with
- how far apart
- height
- toe in or angle up
Ideally you want them on stands so the tweeter is close to your ears and so they don't reflect sound off the desktop |
Camelboy,
I think I will be making a modest upgrade in speaker cable as well.
Tobias,
The A2's do not have feet. Rather, there is a single large rubber pad on the bottom of each speaker.
Sunny_weather,
I would like to get the tweeters close to my ears, or at least angle the speakers towards the listener's head. Any premade suggestions to achieve this goal? Are there short speaker stands made to sit on a desk? |
Short speaker stands would be cool. Market opportunity here. You could also tilt the A2s upward. You could buy a sheet of Herbie's Thick Grungebuster and cut pieces to fit under the front edge. Maple platforms à la Mapleshade might be another option. They would not even have to be three inches thick, I think. |
Tobias,
If somebody hasn't already made these, I think you are right about the market opportunity. A small stand, in theory, could be relatively inexpensive.
Does it make sense to upgrade the single visible speaker wire that connects one speaker to the other? |
Wondering what the best way to adjust volume while using these speakers. The volume control is on the back of the monitors. "Quick start" instructions recommend starting with volume set at 3:00.
Let's say I'm using my iPod as a source. Better to lower volume on iPod? Or start with a stronger signal from the iPod and adjust volume as needed on speakers? If the second method is preferrable, is there a device that can be used/added to adjust volume on the speakers? |
You'll have to experiment to see which volume control method sounds better, if either one does. IME putting the source at max and adjusting the amp volume has been the best, but YMMV as always.
I'm guessing that adding a remote volume control would be a big, big pain unless you got very lucky with component sizes and working space. Most convenient scenario is using the iPod's volume control, hope that works out to be best-sounding.
I think that 'single visible wire' is a mini-to-mini cable and if it is, an upgrade would make a difference. |
I got my A2's to ear level by using an old trick from my penniless student days - it's sitting on a brick. Yes I know it's ugly but you can pretty up the brick by wrapping it in paper. The difference is phenomenal if you think about why:
- tweeters now at ear level
- remove the boundary effect from sitting on the table. This cleans up the midrange and bass immensely.
You can couple the speakers to the brick more firmly by putting blu-tak under the speaker. |
Tobias:
I was referring to the visible speaker cable that connects the R speaker to the L. I don't want to end up with two mismatched speaker cables.
But, I am also wondering about upgrading the mini-to-mini cable. I am wondering if there are any good audioending forums out there.
Amfibius:
Thanks for the brick suggestion. Nice makeshift idea. |
