AudioCircle
Other Stuff => Archived Circles => General Archive => Topic started by: miklorsmith on 16 Jan 2007, 04:40 pm
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Maybe on the lighter side - here's a place to post cheap or free tweaks.
I'll start - For two different vibration isolation ideas:
1) Cut a piece of flat wood into a 1.5" square. Glue some thin cork sheeting onto the wood (I like Gorilla Glue). Use a Dremel tool to sand down the rough corners from cutting, if you go crazy, your isolation puck could be round. Oooooo.
Make 3 or 4 of these and suspend gear. Listen and immerse.
2) Advanced alternative - Cut handle off spoon. Sand rough edges from cutting on bowl of spoon. Glue bowl onto blocks made under 1), above, using a glue gun. Obtain large, lead shot from sporting supply store. Place one ball into each spoon and carefully place equipment on top. Voila - your CDP will "float". A variation would be to use steel shot instead of the lead balls which would increase the lateral float but decrease advantage from varying material density.
Try this before spending lots of money on roller balls.
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also these work remarkably well under my amp and cd player - resolution baby!!
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=11559662
they also sell round pucks made of cedar that are a little smaller that fit perfectly under my cd player. Below is the link that you will see the picture of the puck - with the hole in the middle - they also sell these seperatley although i can't find them on the web site.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/EnlargeProduct.asp?SKU=13481920&ZMPHT=380/4512113481920P.JPG
regards,
smargo
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I was thinking of trying hockey pucks
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Sweet!
Here's another one for spikes:
Get some threaded furniture feet from a hardware store. Cut them down with a Dremel to say 1" total height. Grind the cut edge down to a point. Get a little blu-tack and stick to the big, flat side and stick to whatever you're spiking.
This works better when you can use 3 spikes instead of 4, as getting the lengths exactly the same is a pain. Furniture feet are super burly so the final product is actually quite stout.
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92557
large speaker/equipment feet - solid brass too
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1 pound each brass spikes for $8....awesome!!
The cedar block kits....awesome!!
i started into footers simply by cutting up 2x4's into blocks...
Mapleshade sells 2" sq maple blocks too, they sound great for 2$ each. Not sure about the sonic attributes now that they are $5 each though.
Best free tweak I know of is using a maple cutting board under an amp or turntable...
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I've been curious about possible DIY room treatments on the cheap. This may be better posted in the 'acoustics' circle, but the cheap factor applies here as well.
Things I've considered:
- large corkboard panels covered with fabric or behind a tapestry
- foam rubber salvaged from old furniture - cut to size and/or glued into shapes, then covered with fabric and used in corners, etc.
Has anyone tried this?
Warmly,
Michael
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Soft furniture or pillows can act as first-reflection assistance or possibly bass traps when placed in corners. I have no solid information on the trapping potential of a big, puffy chair but you could try it out. It definitely works for first reflections, as I have a friend that rearranges his room a bit for critical listening.
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I was thinking of trying hockey pucks
I use them for my amp (Sonic Frontiers Power 2) that weighs over a 100 Lbs. Think I paid $1.50 each from a Sports Supply store (American Hockey Supply ?)
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That makes sense.
My wife and I have hung tribal carpets (hand knotted wool), with far better acoustic benefits than with flatweave tapestries.
Nice decor, BTW! :thumb:
Warmly,
Michael
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/53/Q_Tips.jpg/200px-Q_Tips.jpg)
Once a day keeps the ear wax away. :thumb:
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also these work remarkably well under my amp and cd player - resolution baby!!
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=11559662
they also sell round pucks made of cedar that are a little smaller that fit perfectly under my cd player. Below is the link that you will see the picture of the puck - with the hole in the middle - they also sell these seperatley although i can't find them on the web site.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/EnlargeProduct.asp?SKU=13481920&ZMPHT=380/4512113481920P.JPG
regards,
smargo
Looks like the pucks are only available in their 'value pack' http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13481920 (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13481920), but for 15 bucks (sorry John) minus the weekly BB&B 20% off coupon, you could try them everywhere. BB&B also has a variety of hardwood cutting boards for under ten bucks. Racquetballs cut in half as isolation devices are worth a try as are hocky pucks under your speakers on hardwood floors.
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[/quote]
Looks like the pucks are only available in their 'value pack' http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13481920 (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13481920), but for 15 bucks (sorry John) minus the weekly BB&B 20% off coupon, you could try them everywhere. BB&B also has a variety of hardwood cutting boards for under ten bucks. Racquetballs cut in half as isolation devices are worth a try as are hocky pucks under your speakers on hardwood floors.
[/quote]
no - i bought the pucks seperately in the store for under $10
thanks
smargo
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My two favorite cheap tweaks:
1. Pillow behind my head
2. Beer :beer:
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Russta,
Unfotunately BEER doesn't meet the price criteria of the thread. It needs to be reapplied every time you want to hear its value! Can get expensive over time.....
Enjoy,
TIC
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Have not bought from these folks but the prices for hard maple cubes seem low
http://www.barclaywoods.com/craft_parts.htm (http://www.barclaywoods.com/craft_parts.htm)
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The Mapleshade cable website offers a few free tweaks. I am kind of surprised by a few things that the site has suggested.
For folks who haven't visited their site, here are the URLs:
http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/freeaudiotips.php (http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/freeaudiotips.php)
http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/turntableupgrades.php (http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/turntableupgrades.php)
http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/tubeupgrades.php (http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/tubeupgrades.php)
P.S. I am not affiliated with Mapleshade Audio.
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Some of the Mapleshade advice really flies in the face of conventional audiophile wisdom (wow, a triple oxymoron!)
Like sitting as close to the back wall as possible for best bass and a huge soundstage.
Now what has Ethan been tying to teach us about comb filtering?
But hey as always, if you like it, that's what counts!
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Vinyl self stick floor tiles applied to the inside of any gear that isn't already damped. At about 75 cents apiece at Home Depot, it doesn't usually take more than 2 to cover. Worked wonders on my Toshiba 3960.
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Vinyl self stick floor tiles applied to the inside of any gear that isn't already damped. At about 75 cents apiece at Home Depot, it doesn't usually take more than 2 to cover. Worked wonders on my Toshiba 3960.
zacster,
That's a nice tweak. However I am afraid the tile will deteriorate and eventually will fall off due to the heat generated by the components inside the gear, especially inside an amp. Do you think those felt pads works better?
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I realize this is about twice the $10 budget but Parts Express used to sell these speaker spikes in packs of 4 for $19. Unfortunately the guy I found carrying these is charging $12 each for them :evil:
(http://www.oregondv.com/Gold_Brass_Component_Points_Cones.jpeg.jpg)
I use the heck out of these. They go under my CD player, one of my turntables, under preamps, amps, whatever you want to couple and drain vibrations. I've turned on several people to these and they use them under their turntables and love them.
Hey, and don't forget Vibrapods. They work great under equipment too.
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I realize this is about twice the $10 budget but Parts Express used to sell these speaker spikes in packs of 4 for $19. Unfortunately the guy I found carrying these is charging $12 each for them :evil:
(http://www.oregondv.com/Gold_Brass_Component_Points_Cones.jpeg.jpg)
I use the heck out of these. They go under my CD player, one of my turntables, under preamps, amps, whatever you want to couple and drain vibrations. I've turned on several people to these and they use them under their turntables and love them.
Hey, and don't forget Vibrapods. They work great under equipment too.
I used these extensively too and I bought them from www.supercellaudio.com for $3.50 - $3.85 each. Very nice customer service. I have a question on the screw and thread size of the spikes and they mailed me samples of the screws free of charge, and gave me a discount on my order without me asking.
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For turntable lovers, the mat is the returning tweak, and they come in extraordinary prices. But the cheapest method worked best for me:
(self-adhesive) felt pads, the ones that you can glue under your chair! Just glue them on the platter, preferably in a way that looks geometrically intriguing. Do not fill more than, say 50% of the surface, to keep your records decoupled and Hurray! inproved PRAT! True!
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My two favorites.
1. P&S 5252 outlets
2. The use of aluminum foil to eliminate static charge from CDs. Take a piece of aluminum foil and fold it in half like a book. Open it, place CD on the foil, close it, and run your hand over the CD. Then play your CD.
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http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92557
large speaker/equipment feet - solid brass too
Is the top of this threaded or did you just place the equipment on top?
Both my integrated and my turntable have threaded feet - would be nice to thread the brass cone directly into the component.
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Never mind - just looked a little more closely at the picture.
It looks like the insert that the string attaches to threads into the weight.....
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Neoprene Mouse Pads under the feet of your CD Player and Pre Amp. Cheap and effective vibration control.
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Remove ALL connectors you can.
This includes male/female RCA connectors, loudspeaker terminals, loudspeaker binding posts, etc. All you need is a soldering gun and solder. Imagine the benefits of removing a few or more of noise, the possibility of insertion loss, etc. PER EACH CONNECTOR and the benefits thereof :)
FYI: the RCA is perhaps one of the worst connectors... ever! (imo)
Yes i am serious... and perhaps have been spending too much time sniffing synthetic racecar fluids, 101LL gas, brake cleaner... and many hours talking to aerospace engineers while setting up my new car's data acquisition system and electricals.
The fewer the connectors the better! The more solid/gas tight each connection is the better. Use a multi-ton press (cheap from Harbor Freight) to 'crimp' wire so the metals crush into one another to the point that no air pockets are present and said connection can easily withstand incredibly harsh environments including aggressive chemicals, harsh vibrations and temperature extremes.
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I got some really cheap, plastic adhesive hooks and stuck them to the back of my rack. I use them to keep the power and signal cables separated.
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On carpet, get casters for your rack and let them roll on ceramic tiles from the hardware store at about a buck a piece. I can roll my rack up against the wall and back out to get to the rat's nest.
Here's a tweak that I KNOW works.
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Neoprene/cork pads for vibration control (similar to those from MapleShade).
$3/pair from Grainger (Grainger only sells to businesses)...
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1611629511
(http://images.grainger.com/images/products/5C027.JPG)
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but mapleshade and one other seller claim they designed these! aa
i have a local electrical supply store that sell the 4x4 in. ones for $3.91 each.
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Blu-Tack or Plasti-Clay shoved into the gaps underneath a cheap, plastic CDP tray makes the mechanism feel 10x more solid and damps the tray considerably. Just make sure you don't put in so much that it interferes with the slider. There are little, structural ribs underneath - if you keep the damper inside those ribs you should be OK.
Also, if you remove the lid of your CDP you will likely see a cheap superstructure that is the transport. With the lid off, if you open and close the CDP door several times you'll see there are some parts that move and some that don't. Put some of this same material on the parts that don't for some vibration damping "at the source". Or, the source of your source.
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take at look at the Isoblocks on mapleshade's website and you'll see they
aren't much like the hardware store pucks. For starters, mapleshade's are 2 of those pucks glued together, so if the hardware stores are $24 total (you would need 6 to equal mapelshade's 3) and mapleshade's cost the same, why is there a debate about isoblocks all the time? 1 Isoblock is heavier than 2 hardware store pucks by 1/2 an ounce.
also, mapleshade's are glued together something fierce, the cork is difft (squishier) and the neoprene is MUCH softer on the isoblocks. those hardware pucks are not comparable in reality you guys...
i used about 60 of the hardware store pucks to suspend a 3500lb drywall party wall in my condo...they worked great for that but sounded like shit compared to the Isoblocks under my TT.
best cheap tweak i've found lately? Stick unused LP's in between your gear's feet and your rack, especially if your rack has mdf or glass or stone shelving (anything that sounds bad).
I've spent $100 on a maple platform to do the same thing 2 crappy LP's have done under my channel islands vpp-1/vac-1 combo. Take the plastic outer sleeve off, but leave the Lp and cardboard cover intact.
matt
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This is a very interesting thread, please keep it going...
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Matt/gooberdude,
A ream of paper (Office Depot $3.99 the same as fancy Xerox brand for $7.99 :)) under your component will accomplish much the same thing.
Ditto for rolling up masses of (dry) newspaper around a paper towel or bathroom tissue tubes, and placing them under your component.
The energy (ie, vibrations) from your surface/rack and the energy stored in your component and drained off and damped by all the paper (wood based, of course).
It's not pretty, either one, but they work. And, they are cheap and or free, of course :wink:
Personally, I think bamboo might be more effective than maple for isolation purposes - if you want that 'wood' look about.
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Thanks TCG, i'll defintely give paper a try. i've had an LP under my phono pre & external psu for a few days now, the sound is perfect. The tiny ci audio chassis are so small there's little to be done in terms of footers and the stock rubber feet are on both chassis.
The old LP jackets look quite cool on my rack. At some point i might dismantle the rack and line all the shelves with 'em. it would be great to get cooler LP jackets though...
What's weird to me is that the stock shelf (mdf) affects the sound of the stock chassis w/ stock rubber feet. My system is pretty tweaked out though, so nothing really shocks me anymore. Still, i've had this rack for almost 4 yrs.
I wonder if heavier construction paper, or even different thickness cardboard would work??
Instances where vibration draining are crucial, for an amp or turntable, the tonewood platforms perform incredibly. Cool to know that for the less critical applications there are really cheap alternatives.
matt
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Gooberdude,
Good idea, went on a search for cardboard and found some in the form of honeycomb.I placed the CDP on 4 layers of 1/4" th. corrugated cardboard over the honeycomb which sits in a sand box.
It works and works well.I am getting more info than before and the soundstage opened up a bit more.
The shelf and equip rack vendors are NOT going to be happy with this tweak.The only problem I see is looks.However, ugly does not equate to poor performance.
Tried just 1/4" cardboard[[8 pieces] worked just as well
rollo
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Very cool Rollo!
I'm planning to run to some used LP stores here this weekend and pick up a bunch of trashed LP's with
cool jackets, oddball stuff that i won't mind looking at but could care less the condition of the LP itself.
Right now the 2 covers that are under my phono pre & external PSU are death metal and a tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. not album covers i want to be staring at and they fly in the face of the PWB tweaks that strive for positive energy!
Honestly, i think the cardboard (thick paper, whatever) works incredible for me because i have a cheap beginner rack with mdf shelves. I hope and pray that when i shell out for a good rack, like a SAMSON, that these measures won't be needed. I kinda wonder though if this isn't more of an issue with damping, or isolation, rather than accounting for ill-sounding rack material?? any which way, i'm glad i went out on a limb...my turntable sounds so sweet these days.
what kind of rack/shelf material is on your rack Rollo??
i'd also 2nd earplugs Kevin...but just for those that stop by to demo my rig!
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Gooberdude,
Actually I do not believe in commercial racks.I feel that they do not allow for separation of components to reduce or eliminate the magnetic field interference.I try to keep the components two feet apart minimum.
I built sand boxes from MDF and mounted them on target speaker stands filled with sand as well.To couple the component to the shelf[which sits in the sand] I use SoundFusion Soundboosters.
The plinth that sits in the sand for the CDP is Corian over clay tiles.For the preamp[active] it is corian as well.For the SET amps, Arcicci Air Heads to great effect.The Linn TT is on a Sound Organization Table which resides on 6 concrete blocks filled with sand[3 high] with rubber walking mat in between to make blocks sit better.
My latest try for wood plinths is spruce with violin lacquer.Actually this may be the best so far.I am now comparing the cardboard and spruce and to be honest I just can not hear a difference.This can probably could be measured but I will use my ears.
rollo
PS wonder if the vinyl contributes to the scheme
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I'm kinda wondering if the vinyl contributes as well, it certainly isn't hurting things. :D
If i had the room to spread all my gear out, i certainly would... Just getting my amp off the rack and onto the floor was a big thing. Glad i did that though.
last weekend i had a chance to check out another AC member's system. In addition to amazing gear
and a great time, the guy (Tim Babb) broke out several interesting doo dads that i'd never seen.
One was an EMI detector & was about the size of a large cigar. It beeped & lit up every time it sensed electrical fields, and as if on cue, could detect an unshielded interconnect compared to a shielded one.
The gist of the experiment was to see how far these fields emanated from the gear. With amps & other gear with transformers the thing squawked over 2' away from the chassis in some cases. quite amazing... keeping components separated is definitely in everyone's interest.
It was cool to see (and hear) how the beeping changed depending on what side of the trannie the detector was on. Uniform transformer leakage is a real thing.
The 2nd gizmo he broke out was the Audioprism line noise detector...this thing is nuts! We went to one side of his bsmt on a circuit with no gear plugged in, and the box made awful noise. He grabbed just one Quiet Line wall-wart thing and plugged it into that outlet, instantly ALL the noise disappeared. I could sell these things door-to-door, probably convince housewives their vacuums & microwaves are being poisoned by Com-Ed!
I now have the Noise Detector box at home, and have ordered a few of the QuietLines. Even though i've spent big $ on Oyaide outlets and plugs, the box squeaks like a stuck pig in every outlet in my condo. Not that the Oyaide stuff is supposed to reduce the crap, i just wish it did.
shoot, i'm way off topic...this is for cheap tweaks...
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I'm kinda wondering if the vinyl contributes as well, it certainly isn't hurting things. :D
If i had the room to spread all my gear out, i certainly would... Just getting my amp off the rack and onto the floor was a big thing. Glad i did that though.
last weekend i had a chance to check out another AC member's system. In addition to amazing gear
and a great time, the guy (Tim Babb) broke out several interesting doo dads that i'd never seen.
One was an EMI detector & was about the size of a large cigar. It beeped & lit up every time it sensed electrical fields, and as if on cue, could detect an unshielded interconnect compared to a shielded one.
The gist of the experiment was to see how far these fields emanated from the gear. With amps & other gear with transformers the thing squawked over 2' away from the chassis in some cases. quite amazing... keeping components separated is definitely in everyone's interest.
It was cool to see (and hear) how the beeping changed depending on what side of the trannie the detector was on. Uniform transformer leakage is a real thing.
The 2nd gizmo he broke out was the Audioprism line noise detector...this thing is nuts! We went to one side of his bsmt on a circuit with no gear plugged in, and the box made awful noise. He grabbed just one Quiet Line wall-wart thing and plugged it into that outlet, instantly ALL the noise disappeared. I could sell these things door-to-door, probably convince housewives their vacuums & microwaves are being poisoned by Com-Ed!
I now have the Noise Detector box at home, and have ordered a few of the QuietLines. Even though i've spent big $ on Oyaide outlets and plugs, the box squeaks like a stuck pig in every outlet in my condo. Not that the Oyaide stuff is supposed to reduce the crap, i just wish it did.
shoot, i'm way off topic...this is for cheap tweaks...
Gooberdude,
If you thought the Quietlines are good,then PS Audio Harvesters.They are more effective.
To stay on topic of cheap tweaks I put 6 albums under the power supplies for my preamp.I am in SHOCK as to the improvement. Veils have been removed.I just just cannot believe what I am hearing.So much more info= more music and the clarity has improved.This could be one of the best finds in a long time. I still cannot believe it .
However it is so.THANKS for eating that mushroom. How did you even imagine to try it ot out?
rollo
rollo
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Did you notice any immediate difference with the Quiet Lines in place?
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Please keep this posting alive! Maybe the paper/cardboard isolation approach is a major discovery, like the ultimate mouse trap aa Can you post some pictures so we can see what this looks like and keep on experimenting until there is a consensus about what works bets and where.
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Did you notice any immediate difference with the Quiet Lines in place?
HumamMedia,
Quit Lines have an effect that some hear off the bat.It takes about 24 HRs to settle in.These devices are excellent for use in circuits that have either major appliances or TV connected.I found that the Quiet lines rob some of the dynamics when connected to a circuit that the components are in.They will soften the sound somewhat.The PS Audio Harvesters can be inserted in the same circuit without ill effects.They clean up the line by converting NOiSE to energy which is dissipated by the LCD NOT back into the ground or neutral.This is PS Audios claim not mine.
The Harvesters when used in gang form plugged into a cheap power strip and then into the circuit are very effective in lowering the noise floor.When you see the blue LED blinking there goes the line noise.
Music Direct offers a 30 day MBG, so check them out.
rollo
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I have not received the Quietlines yet, i just have the damn Noise sniffer box that makes my wallet
shake violently.
i ordered 3 QuietLines from Musicdirect on Tuesday, hopefully i'll have them today.
I was about to buy 2 used pS audio noise things, but i've been spending SO much on audio lately, and
last weekend i heard what the Quiet lines can do...so i went that route. if i knew i just needed one of these, i'd buy PS audio. Since i'm experimentin', i needed a few.
OK, last night i did stick an empty album cover (the LP wouldn't fit - long story) under the Isoblocks
that support the maple plat that holds up my TVC preamp...a good change is audible. Then i stuck 2 fully stuffed LP's under the Isoblocks that support my turntable....i haven't been able to test this one out though, ran into a slight obstacle.
This could be another thread: Do you ever go out looking for the free tweaks and the result costs you major $?
Case in point: last night i disassemble my TT to get the LP's all setup. While i did this, i decided to fire up my cdp (which had not been powered in months). Right away i knew the LP's had done their good thing, and i realized my sub digs cd's....the cdp has a stronger output than my phono pre, and with the TVC the output is crucial. SO, i removed the nice pointed footers that reside under my TT and set them under my sub, which had unpointed footers (same mfgr) on them for a while. the change is ridiculous, but now i'm going to drop good $ on a new set of pointed footers so my TT will once again be fun.
One step forward, 2 steps back...
To me, using paper or album covers or posterboard or whatever hasn't changed the bass one bit, which is a great thing in my tweaky world. What it has changed is the top end, hi frequencies seem so smooth now. When i tweak i always concentrate on the bass, to listen for a change...if it gets thin i did something wrong. If it gets stronger or stays the same, i did something right and then listen to other areas of the sound.
Now cymbals really shimmer and have a decay (or reverb) that lasts and lasts...but the sounds don't run together, they are all indiv and sharp. If i had a recording of a person slapping a tambourine, and nothing else, it would enthrall me for a 1/2 hr i'd bet! i must be smokin' the good stuff these days...
i'll see if i can post some pics later, but this is a simple tweak to conceptualize...just lay album covers (with or without the LP's) under your gear. Under the feet of your gear, on top of the shelf those feet used to touch...
matt
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Please keep this posting alive! Maybe the paper/cardboard isolation approach is a major discovery, like the ultimate mouse trap aa Can you post some pictures so we can see what this looks like and keep on experimenting until there is a consensus about what works bets and where.
Shep,
So far, I have tried the albums under the tubed power supplies and S/S power supply for preamp and CDP.The results are positive. More music is coming through. Clarity has improved and the soundstage opened up even more. NO change in tonality or harmonic structure. Basically a quieter background with more information. Like someone lifted a veil I did not know existed. WOW.
Then I tried different configurations of cardboard under the same pieces and found similar results. Today I will be searching for corrugated cardboard approx. 2"-4" th. in strip or sheet form. Will also try ream of paper. I did remove the stock feet from the components and rested them directly on the cardboard.[ if you have ventilation holes on bottom DO NOT REMOVE FEET].
Have fun guys.
rollo
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Guys,
Clean your connections once a month with ProGold. The most effective tweak there is IMO. It is so simple its stupid.
rollo
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On the subject of isolation feet, I've tried quite a few(ebony pyramids, sorbo, BDR, ceramic etc)
One that is <$10 and I would highly recommend is using Pumice stones.
You can get these at Walmart or any drug store, just look for those square, flat ones.. you can also cut/saw them to size.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/sblocks1e.html
You can read about them here also; there is a long list of cheap tweaks here..
http://audiotweaks.com/collection_ascend.htm
Have Fun
DS
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This is a serious discovery!!! Right so I had this cold and my hearing went all weird so I thought, I've never had my ears checked so..today I did that. They were clean as a whistle and then I had the infamous tests.. oh boy did I have a shock...I am blissfully normal for a 62 year old, meaning, it's way down and my pretentions of still hearing like an audiophile bat were shatterd :evil: So I go home suitably chastened and think to myself, "hey no self-respecting audiophile is going to take that as an answer, I can hear thru my deficiancy (right) Wanting to take the sting out of this totally unnecissary blow to myself-esteem, I set about cuting carboard sheets into neat rectangles and plopped them under my CDP and under my T-amp. I put five sheets per, which equals about an inch in thickness. Put on a cd and BINGO! better highs, more extended (clean, less grain?) Even the upper mid benefits. Way to go! No I'm wondering feverishly about different thicknesses, how many layers, what kind of cardboard etc. best remedy for the post ORL appointment blues ever discovered. What does he know anyway? I told him I have this neat hi-fi and I want to know if I'm hearing everything and he looks at me as if I were a Martian. Man has no class whatsoever. More! More!
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Man, i need to get my hearing checked too. i think its pretty darn good,
but you never know.
For an experiment, just try one layer of cardboard....then build up.
So far I haven't placed more than a few millimeters of paper under my components.
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I've been using old business cards for shims to level my turntable height to level for years (something hugely important for suspended belt drivers, very important for non-suspended belt drives, and little importance for direct drives I've found). Some legs need 15, others need 3, etc.
Outside of the 'shimming' and leveling aspect, never did I consider any additional isolation they were providing.
Thanks for driving me audiophool nuts with something I hadn't though to before, Matt/gooberdude :wink:
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Ah yes well I usually put too much of everything. This makes such sense, especially the alviolated structure of cardboard. Well even if it's utter nonesense (which it isn't) it has to be the cheapest tweak ever discovered aa. I think I will try the pumice one after I've calmed down from my encounter with the evil doctor.
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shep
take the card board sheets back into the doctors office to put under his test machine - you may get an even stranger look from him, but who knows your hearing may improve! :lol:
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Hmmm. Actually I was so nervous and sitting in that soundproof cabin holding an idiot button, listening the the rush of blood in my ears, how's a guy supposed to here 18,000 thingys? I bet he was totally wrong!
But I still had to pay him...
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hey Shep,
i'm not knocking your first attempt! just chiming in to say i started with less material covering the
shelf, and i'm happy with just one layer of the album covers.
YMMV though...
my guess is each component is going to be a bit difft.
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This could get really complicated! "my cardboard is better than yours! it's NOS, from the 50's, found it in a warehouse, aged prime paper from old spruce". The combinations are endless HELP!
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For trade: NOS prime grade vintage 50's cardboard, zero humidity content, "first run batch", virgin pulp, sourced from 100 year old spruce in northern Oregon. This is the last, there will be no more. I would consider a trade for the magic clock or some of Peter Belts thingys, or if you have recent Wadia you hate the sound of. I will ship by hand delivered courrier on the next sailing of the QE to avoid contamination. Reasonable offers will be considered.
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TCG,
thanks for the business card suggestion! after i tore apart my TT to get some 'paper
under the Isoblocks, the TT wasn't quite level. very difficult finding 2 album covers that
are exactly the same thickness overall.
Just a few business cards and my bubble level is...level. Cool thing too, the cards hide
perfectly underneath the isoblocks, totally hidden from view.
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I just took 4 chemistry and biology text books and covered my cd player with them. Two were stacked under vertically and I put the other two on top horizontally. The effect was amazing and an unbeatable upgrade in sound as it dramatically improved my soundstage. incredible. thanks guys for hints.
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I put a piece of drywall under my turntable. It helped stop feedback from my speakers.
I think what we in the US call drywall is called Gypsum board in other parts of the world.
It is cheap. Readily available. More stable than cardboard. The edges look ugly, shouldn't be
too hard to fix. Part paper, part rock, convieniently bound together,
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I highly recommend the Ayre myrtle blocks that are also sold by Cardas. The Ayre versions are $6 apiece, so since one needs three of them, it costs more than the $10 limit imposed here, so...
Jenga blocks. They sound similar to the Ayre blocks, although they're a bit larger. I have Ayre blocks under my preamp, but Jenga blocks under the McCormack Audio UDP-1 Deluxe I'm auditioning and under my power amp. These are cheap enough by the bag to put them under runs of speaker cable as well as under one's components.
Beware however, that with all such tweaks it is possible to over-do the use of them. In a friend's system he has Jenga blocks under his UDP-1, and as speaker cable supports. When we put three under his preamp, his system sounded deficient in mid-bass energy. Still, they're cheap enough to give them a try.
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Have not bought from these folks but the prices for hard maple cubes seem low
http://www.barclaywoods.com/craft_parts.htm (http://www.barclaywoods.com/craft_parts.htm)
I just take a quick look at this site. 2.5" x2.5 " cube is a great for cable lifter.
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A while back mapleshade was selling 2" square blocks of their air dried maple for $2 a block. These don't work anywhere near as good as their footers, but for the $ they work admirably.
its my understanding these blocks are now $5, so much for the cheap tweak...
One way the simple wood blocks amaze me is under my computer speakers, M-Audio Studiophile D4's. A good friend also has these sitting on the floor and his PSB T5 floorstanders are spiked into them. a quick and easy semi-cure for the bouncy hardwood floor blues.
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Twl's hifi mod for the rega tonearms (see Audiogon thread). Bluetack/glue 2 bullet shaped fishing weights to either side of the main horizontal bearings (directly onto the "nuts"), like little outriggers or balancing poles going horizontally out to the side, and your RB250/300 becomes of OL Silver status, and god knows what OL Silver becomes, because I sold it before I did the mod to my RB300. The relief to have the sound of my OL Silver back was extroadinary!
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Another great free TT tweak is only for the 'tables that have the dangling fish weight for the anti-skate.
If the pole that holds up the weight is anchored to the base of the tonearm, remove it and re-locate it about 1 cm towards the platter. all the nasty vibes that were attacking the tonearm 24/7 are now harmlessly going into a blob of silicone and the deck.
Mine is now semi-permanently held in place by a glob of silicone RTV..room temp drying gasket material
that i bought at a Pep Boys auto shop for $2. Getting all the dimensions (of the support pole) to stock requires some tooling around, but its pretty easy and can be set by ear.
The change this tweak imparts is gigantic..the soundstage spread out. I had a tight center image before this, and afterwards the center image was about 4' across, compared to 2' across before the tweak. Now when 2 people are singing, they are side-by-side rather than occupying the same place on stage.
On that same note, last night i finally sat down for a listen to my TT after adding the album covers and
getting it level...i'm shocked! i've never heard vinyl sound this good before. Open & airy yet so dynamic and forceful & musical. the album cover tweak has really changed the sound of my stereo for the better.
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Yup, isolation (however achieved) and ruler flat leveling pays off tremendous dividends for turntables (especially belt drivers on the leveling part). Best thing of all, as you now found, it's practically free/gratis/zilch/nada/zippo to achieve with a few things around your home.
It really doesn't take much at all to get real music from vinyl...isolation, arm/cartridge geometry, and leveling are primary keys to it. Once you have a minimally acceptable cartridge after getting these factors right....other (more expensive) upgrades like a 'better' cartridge, vastly more expensive deck, record cleaning machines, 'better' arm, etc. add only little nuances of pleasure to vinyl's musicality. The van Alstine Longhorn, damping the coils of some cartridges with silicone 1000cst, and the Plast-i-Lator are all nearly free tweeks that will improve what you already have a bit further.
The more expensive upgrades/tweeks help the cause a bit.....but you're paying a lot for less return in musicality than you might hope for excess moola' spent.
Disclosure: I believe in arm damping as a general rule,own a record cleaning machine, have a bevy of cartridges I swap out from $60 - $200....so it's not as though I don't recognize benefits from 'upgrades'...only that they are working within a law of diminishing returns for money spent over the basic set up with good isolation, arm/cartridge geometry, and leveling done.
When I hear someone ditched their TT set-up for digital it's either because the convenience of CD was too hard to ignore, or they hadn't had their (even modest) TT/arm set up right in the first place. It's not because vinyl is in totality inferior to CD....it's just a matter of preference, convenience or incorrect set-up. Unlike CD, which is mostly plug in and play (wonderful in that regard) a Turntable is a mechanical device requiring far more efforts to get dialed in right. It's likewise the dual nature of turntables....it's a PITA to set up, but once you got it, you realize how much less musical CD playback is.
That's been my experience at least :wink:
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a great Free Tweak can also be the decision to undue a previous tweak.
many times before its become apparent that as one part of my system improves, a tweak from a previous incarnation isn't needed or can be detrimental. items like record clamps, audio greases, weights & footers, etc.
the most recent case of this for me is the Dustbug, another TT tweak. I like its function
when the temp drops here in chicago and the air is dry as sandpaper. About a week ago i spun without it, hadn't done that in 4 months, and there was a lot of music i had not noticed before on familiar material. Removing the whole assembly has been a great move - the new AT cartridge and nice MS 4" thick platform were the right moves indeed. analog is now an 'aural sauna' kind of experience...and scary as hell now that LP's sound SO real (voices and instruments) and contain loads of information that until recently was hidden.
Grounding a spinning LP in a dry climate is the best thing since sliced bread, the noise floor drops quite a bit. hopefully a simple frame to hold a grounding wire and a carbon fibre brush to gently lay against the label on the lp's can be made for about $10. Reducing the heft that the Dustbug imparts on the deck and spinning LP but still retaining the grounding would be cool. the dustbug weighs about 1/2 a pound.
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Didn't want to see this thread die! I've been thinking about the cardboard/paper isolation tweak. I came up with a new one. Art supply stores: These come in sheets of varying thickness and presumably quality. They have paper on the front and back and some kind of very fine, tough foam-like inner layer. Easy to cut an shape. I'm not sure what this is called. I think it is used to make "montage". You could paste or pin projects to it. I'm trying it now. The thing is these tweaks are very system dependant and sometimes subtle. Also the varieties are endless and bewildering. Don't start on this road unless you are prepared for the long haul! Thank God it reads "10$ or less" :o
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This is an odd tweak and I can't really put a price on it . Two weeks ago I decided to change my diet to a healthier one . I quit eating red meat , sugar , white flour baked goods , cheese , chicken and cut back on butter & milk . My diet now is basically brown rice , fish and vegetables . Today I feel a lot better physically but I also noticed I'm more alert and my senses are sharper . Music sounds so much better . When I turn on my system I get totally immersed into the music even when I'm trying to do something else . In fact everything I do now is much more enjoyable .
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This is an odd tweak and I can't really put a price on it . Two weeks ago I decided to change my diet to a healthier one . I quit eating red meat , sugar , white flour baked goods , cheese , chicken and cut back on butter & milk . My diet now is basically brown rice , fish and vegetables . Today I feel a lot better physically but I also noticed I'm more alert and my senses are sharper . Music sounds so much better . When I turn on my system I get totally immersed into the music even when I'm trying to do something else . In fact everything I do now is much more enjoyable .
This tweek should take about 90 days to burn in. And after 9 months... :thumb:
:lol:
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I read most of this thread, but not all so if I'm added something that has already been added, forgive. My first tweek is a freebee. Make sure your speakers are absolutely centered in your listening room with the exact toe-in angle for each. As you know, these boxes are drastically affected by rear and side walls as far as bass response is concerned, and if your speaker geometry is scewed, so is the sound. Also the vertical angle is critical as well, I use a bubble level to set my 6 foot tall MartinLogan reQuests for vertical plumb as these speakers really need to be symmetrical to each other for excellent sound stage. Once achieved, it will be worth the work.
The next cheap tweek is for my fellow vinyl friends. Dow Corning 1000 centistroke silicone lubricant on the tone arm pivots (the ones that let the tonearm go up and down) will make the arm happier than hell. Some tonearms have next to impossible access to the pivot bearings and points, but many are right there for easy access. Just a drop on each and it's ready to go.
The last cheap tweek is also a matter of good house cleaning in regards to audio cables and power cables. I just had an experience with my AVA OmegaStar pre-amp and some interconnects next to an Adcom ACE-515 power conditioner. The cables from my pre-amp to the power-amp were close to the power conditioner 'cause I was moving some stuff around and the cables fell on top. I've also noticed that D.C. wallwarts are terrible sources of noise. Hum = BAD.
Hope this helps someone aa
W
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These guys have more experience than all of us put together!
http://www.infinitysystems.com/homeaudio/technology/whitepapers/inf-rooms_3.pdf
and room mode calculator for above Room analysis
http://www.harman.com/about_harman/technology_leadership.aspx
Loudspeaker imaging - room acoustics
http://www.infinitysystems.com/homeaudio/technology/whitepapers/inf-rooms_2.pdfhttp
Reading is free
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Lots of white papers for theoretical rooms. Doesn't account for real world stuff. Everyone's listening environment is different and the only way to dial things in is to tweak. I've read more than enough papers on how to from so many and in real life they don't work. That is because we all have different systems in less than perfect soundrooms with even more less than perfect furnishings.
W
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Lots of white papers for theoretical rooms. Doesn't account for real world stuff. Everyone's listening environment is different and the only way to dial things in is to tweak. I've read more than enough papers on how to from so many and in real life they don't work. That is because we all have different systems in less than perfect soundrooms with even more less than perfect furnishings.
W
Have you actually tried this?
I have - And measured before and after results, with my DEQX and It's calibrated mic and room measuring capabilities. In my room every thing worked as stated in papers.
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Hey Wayner,
have you tried other lubricants besides the 1000 cst Silicone? I have a tube of this stuff
from damping the coils on the Grado Gold cartridge and will give your tweak a shot.
My only issue is that it seems this stuff dries up at some point....or maybe it just disappears and
leaves a slick residue??
I placed a dab on the new stylus for the Grado Gold, but now its as if no Silicone was
placed in the tiny hole (a good thing since i sold it!). So, really just wondering if
other lubricants might work there as well.
before your post i'd never thought about lubing those parts. I have lubed the spindle on my TT though, that helped quiet down the spinning platter.
no doubt quiet bearings will help a TT's sound.
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I used Tufoil on my (prior table) JVC QL-A2's arm bearings with stunning :o effect (one of those hair-stands-up-on arms moment during playback). I can't find the dang bearing on my new table's arm (a JVC QL-F6)...but, if I do I, expect similarly terrific results.
The co-efficient of drag of Tufoil is probably many times better than silicone (it is or was listed in Guinness Book of Records as the world's most slippery substance) and would probably be a better tweek in the case of arm bearings (where reducing friction is the goal). In (Grado) cartridge coils, where damping is the sole goal, the silicone might work as well as or better (depending on it's molecular weight and or other damping properties relative to one another).
Hey, I wouldn't dismiss any white paper from Harman International so fast, Wayner. My buddy sells a couple of their divisions test equipment (he is an EE and now salesman for Agilent) for their R & D and says their research is impressive. He calls on a lot of speaker makers on the West Coast that never even buy 'measuring' equipment - they use their ears (there's a place for both, but some things must be measured). The Harman guys (Revel, Infinity, JBL, Harman-Kardon, Mark Levinson, etc, etc) are real serious about what they do.
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I read most of this thread, but not all so if I'm added something that has already been added, forgive. My first tweek is a freebee. Make sure your speakers are absolutely centered in your listening room with the exact toe-in angle for each. As you know, these boxes are drastically affected by rear and side walls as far as bass response is concerned, and if your speaker geometry is scewed, so is the sound. Also the vertical angle is critical as well, I use a bubble level to set my 6 foot tall MartinLogan reQuests for vertical plumb as these speakers really need to be symmetrical to each other for excellent sound stage. Once achieved, it will be worth the work.
I agree with you - I do prefer symmetrical speaker placement, but there are others that think that a slightly asymmetrical approach is better, I guess to even out room modes. Just to give another perspective.
I had an interesting thing happen as far as measuring speaker placement- I thought I was dead in the middle of my speakers, yet the image was skewed to the right. I swap the mid/tweet modules on the speakers. Same. I swap the L/R interconnects to the amps. Same. (Didn't swap amps, Hmmm...) But I found I needed to sit 2" to the left to get the soundstage centered. Perplexed, I pull out the tape measure and find that indeed (measured from the side wall), I was sitting 2" too far to the right when I thought I was centered. My central equipment rack was slightly askew, and I was sitting based on the visual cues that the rack gave me. Anyway, that's the long story. (And yes some may fault a system where 2" shift causes noticable soundstage shift, but I see it the other way, that the imaging is so accurate on this system that this was easily noticable. Ahhh, the price we pay for good equipment...)
Short story, as Wayner says is to use the tape measure!!
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some things I have tried:
1) Rosettes as footers under the pre-amp. From lowes at around 2.00 each for the hardwood version. I believe round hardwood cabinet knobs would serve the same function at around 5.00 each. They work better on my pre-amp than stock hard rubber or the aftermarket hard rubber cones or sorbitol feet. I believe wood or combinations of materials are the way to go to reduce vibrations at the feet. If you like rubber, hockey pucks work better than vibrapods IMO and are a whopping 89 cents each at Dicks.
2) The silicon rubber band type collars that go around the 12ax7 output tubes seem to work to reduce hum and microphonics. Sorry, I forgot the brand name but they were only around 6.00 each for the simple version. Silicon is good up to 400F so its low risk.
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I'm not farting off Joules or Harmon International and I thank Joules for the links :thumb: (the 2 Infinity go to dead links). I have down loaded the Harmon papers, just haven't read it yet.
The point I was trying to poorly make is that many articles I have read on aligning speakers to the room end up...in a pointless discussion because the room was too far off from the model or the placement of furnishings or room shape didn't fit the model that was designed around the calculations for speaker placement ratios and things like that. I will read the white papers. I also was just trying to make people aware of perhaps an obvious but simple tweak that they may have overlooked or forgotten about since the wife made them move the furniture the last time and they didn't accurately relocate their speakers again. :duh:
mfsoa, I have to have my MartinLogan reQuestes within 1/8 of an inch or I think I can tell the sound field is scewed in some way. My studio is a different story as there is no hope for it at all.
What I would really like to know is how many people have their speakers against the short wall and how many have them against the long wall of their listening room. I know what the experts say, but to me the short wall method sucks in so many ways, at least with my speakers.
W
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Long wall, necessary to avoid severe asymmetry.
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Hi All,
Everyone knows tht for best performance, all connections need to be clean. I found a great cleaner for metal connections. It is made by Eagle One, called Nano Cleaner. Its a paste designed for cleaning oxidation from and protecting mag wheels. I use it on the chrome on my motorcycle. It works great.
Tonight, I tried it on the connections in my system. Works great there as well. :P
You should be able to find it ar any auto parts store. Highly recommended at $5. aa
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Nobody ever tried glasses on vs. glassses off?
Maybe this doesn't count as a tweak, but it does change the sound.
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How's about laminated bamboo chopping boards as a support?
At my Chinese shop they are around $5 for the biggest size (35x40cm) that just fits under a standard size CDP.
I am tempted to buy some but would love to know if anyone has already tried them.
Thanks, Gordan
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You know, this may sound strange but... here goes.
If they are that cheap (5$ a pop), buy two and then place condoms between them! Not kidding here!
Unpack the rubbers (keep them rolled up though) and place them between the two bamboo boards , one in each corner, and voila!
That has gotta work!
I can't see how one could get it cheaper!
:thumb:
Imperial
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Errr, :roll: :), good point.
Alternatively one could use the little plastic discs found in coke bottles, inside the tops you know.
Imperial
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why 2 chopping boards and why a rubber in between? any explanations?
is this meant to be a support for a CDP?
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what about using those polymer/rubber vacuum tube damper rings instead of condoms? might hold up to long term use a bit better.
I bought a pack of 30 of these things on ebay years back for about $10, never used any of them.
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Take your glasses off.
Ah, my favorite one. Also, penny on top of my floorstanders.
As for the record sleeves/paper/cardboard tweak...tried them all and did notice an improvement. The best, however, came from squares I cut from 3/4" Homasote (a wood pulp sheet good building product I use in many of my jobs for sound deadening between common walls and floors/ceilings) and placed under my CDP.
Of course this maybe the best shock absorber ever:www.shockabsorber.co.uk/bounceometer/schock.html
:icon_lol: (http://www.shockabsorber.co.uk/bounceometer/schock.html
:icon_lol:)
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tvad, et al:
http://www.tweakshop.com/BlackHolePods.html
This guys sells sorbothane pretty cheap already....$1.00 for the smallest dots and $5-6.00 for the larger ones. Fair pricing based on what I've seen in the marketplace.
He's only 35-40 miles north of me - I really should visit one day.
You know, for less than $50 including shipping, a bunch of members could do a group buy on a 12"x12" sheet of sorbothane from mcmaster.com and cut enough "shock absorbers" to accommodate 10 or more platforms depending on the size of the absorbers. That comes to $5 a person plus the cost of first class mail.
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I have heard of some people using a small bicycle tire inner tube between two boards... you inflate it only partway and supposedly it makes for some great vibration dampening.
I also have another good tweak, for bookshelves that you might be using on a desk for nearfield, or any speakers that might be a bit "light", you go to the hardware store and grab two nice bricks in a shape that will fit on top of the speaker, and you set a brick on each of the speakers to help weight them down and tone down some resonance. The heavier the better but you don't want anything too large. I suppose you could use iron or lead if you are able to get blocks of it. I put little stick on rubber or felt feet on the bricks so they don't scratch the cabinet, but this really helps give lighter speakers a better footing.
Here is another one of my favorite tweaks. You take some cheap old RCA cable... most people have tons of this crappy stuff that comes in the boxes of A/v equipment, or you could to go radio shack and buy some cheap RCA end connectors... anyway you take the connectors and you short them out and plug each shorted connector into every unused input on your preamp or pre section. One seperate shorted connector for each of the L and R input plugs. I have used this to completely eliminate input and channel crosstalk if you might have any on your line sections.
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OK here is my contribution, which I discovered last night.
I have a reasonably old house and the ground post where the house's ground is attached is accessible and exposed to the weather. As such it was corroded with debris, rust and paint all over it. Ive had an intermittent buzz in a preamp which the manufacturer said is related to ground, so I thought that it couldn't hurt to clean up my house's ground post/connections.
I unscrewed the connector and filed the post back to clean metal, and did the same for the connector and the wires into the connector. I cleaned all surfaces with DeOxit, then with isopropol alcohol. Then I used a mallet to bash the post another couple of centimeters into the ground. I applied conductive silver grease to the surfaces to be mated and screwed it all back together. To stop the connection from being exposed I applied a large strip of heat shrink around the connection.
I was immediately disappointed as the buzz was still there, which is the whole reason why I did all this.
BUT something I wasnt expecting, is that it seemed to have had a noticeable improvement on the mids and highs of my sound. Everythings a lot smoother and crisper. The difference was greater than most interconnect changes.
If you dont have corrosion or oxidation on your ground post connections, this may not do anything for you but if you do, then a bit of effort and about $2 of conductive silver grease can make a great improvement.
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A connector cleaner/conditioner that seems to work is "Conducta-Lube"
which as the name implies is a conductive lubricant for model train brush contact with track current. It is about 7 dollars for a squeeze bottle with a neele tip. I used it for my semi-annual contact cleaning. I cannot attest to sound improvement. You can never tell if it is conditioner or removal of film from the connection points that makes the slight improvement. For what its worth. Its a cheaper option than the whiz bang connector cleaners which are not inexpensive anymore.
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Take some teflon tape and put around each of your fuse holders and the whole glass part of the fuse and on your ac plugs and on all wiring inside yor gear. This clean up alot of dirty ac power!............ aa
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On this teflon tape tweak I only used teflon tape from WalMart...brandname.. Oatey thread seal tape with PTFE Teflon $1.00 This stuff is hard to get because they sell it as fast as they get now!
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Here's another cheap great tweak....use hook- up wires to replace those binding posts on your speakers and amps.......
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Here's another cheap great tweak....use hook- up wires to replace those binding posts on your speakers and amps.......
Or just go hardwires to everything. Everytime I hardwire something, it makes a big improvement. I think it was Matt who first mentioned this to me. Get as much brass out of you signal as possible and replace it with copper. Usually free tweaks. Other things I've done for free is uncoiling old inductors that are no longer being used and use them as braided speaker cable to replace MegaCable braids. Made a noticable improvement. Not as big as going from megacable to magacable braids (AKA the MegaBraid), but an improvement in detail. A little loss in frequency extension though.
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$1.07 tweak: wrap teflon (PTFE plumbers tape)tape around any plug connector that has a screw on housing. I mean imbetween the threads, or any of the parts of the outer ring that touch the inner ring. $1.07 should do every connector you have of this type.
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The yellow plumbers tape is easier to work with because it is heaver gauge PTFE ( Mil Spec T27730A) to be exact. I am going to try that. Whats to loose.
I am goint to try to line the inside of the wall outlet plate with PTFE also. A little glue and PTFE tape layer should get the job done. Might cut down some EMF. Might not work at all. Wife and cats will be entertained.
I saw some rubber amplifier/speaker bumpers that look suspiciously like my favorite acoustic treatment, hockey pucks ( .89 Ea. Dicks ). With a cutting gig and a Dremmel tool or router, the edges of the hockey pucks can be treated to look downright archetectural....well a little better anyway. One of these days these tweaks will have a significant impact and then we will seem less flakey.
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Self adhesive felt pads around the tweeters can make a significant improvement not only to imaging but the overall sound in general. I have to give credit to texendo for this idea mentioned in another thread. I have two dime sized pads on each side and I'm really blown away by the improvement. Here's a link to a company that sells a huge variety of dots, squares, and strips:
http://www.durofelt.com/image_12.html (http://www.durofelt.com/image_12.html)
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What I would really like to know is how many people have their speakers against the short wall and how many have them against the long wall of their listening room. I know what the experts say, but to me the short wall method sucks in so many ways, at least with my speakers.
W
I have tried my home office/second system along a short wall and long wall (the room is 12.5ft x 16.5. ft.). Given my circumstances the long wall placement is superior - by quite a bit.
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Put a cutout square of that rubberized slipmat stuff under speakers.I think its mainly used in cupboards for glasses.Your speakers wont slide anywhere.
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I buy those stick-on 3/4" square X 1/4" high black bumpers from Rat Shack and put them under my bookshelf speakers. They work great also. I think you can by a set of 8 for just a few dollars.
Wayner
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Just a word of caution about some rubber non-slip mats. I placed them on my speakers and about a year later I realised that the rubber compound had reacted with the black varnish on my speakers, turning that part whitish where the rubber made contact with the enamel. :duh:
Best Regards
Dennis
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I came up with the idea (as far as I know) of these simple ambiance enhancers for speakers that have a rear ambiance tweeter, these are installed on Von Schweikert VR2's.
In my listening room, half of the sound of the ambiance tweeter is absorbed by carpeting and turning up the level overpowered the front speakers. I figured room ambiance is supposed to be up, not down around my feet, so I designed a stick on diffuser that redirects some of the sound back up. The ambiance level is enhanced, easily filling the space behind the speaker resulting in increased sense of depth and a slightly more focused image as a bonus.
(http://www.wghwoodworking.com/av/ambiance_enhancer.jpg)
Wayne
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Great idea! Opps, there goes your patent out the window. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Wayner
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Great idea! Opps, there goes your patent out the window. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Wayner
Yea, I know, but then it would be hard to enforce a patent for a tweak that will eventually be made in China.
The more I listen, the more I like what these enhancers do. I my room the treble has always been depressed, with the enhancers installed cymbal brush strokes are now clear and finely detailed.
Anyone who wants to give them a try can PM me, figure $20 for 2 + PayPal fees + shipping.
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Another tweak that will actually save you money:
Check Your Turntable Speed
Buy a compact florescent bulb ($6.50 for 2 at Safeway), then download and print the free Vinyl Engine Strobe Disk (http://www.vinylengine.com/strobe-discs.shtml)
Re-use the florscent bulbs in lights that are always on and save energy and money.
(http://www.wghwoodworking.com/av/turntable_strobe.jpg)
Wayne
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Just a word of caution about some rubber non-slip mats. I placed them on my speakers and about a year later I realised that the rubber compound had reacted with the black varnish on my speakers, turning that part whitish where the rubber made contact with the enamel. :duh:
Best Regards
Dennis
Plasticizer migration. It'll mess up a fine wood finish faster than you'd imagine. Try rubbing mayonaisse onto the wood where the damage is. Seriously. Might take some time but might work. Well known fix for water rings.
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Don't know if these have been mentioned in this thread yet, but I'll toss out the idea of playing with opamps. I play with tweaks regularly, and adjusting the opamps has made a bigger difference than things like my Dakioms and ERS Stillpoints.
1. Rolling opamps. Most opamps go for under $10, and if you put in a socket, you can easily put the opamp out and try another. Made a huge difference in my Constantine DAC to go to the OPA2107.
2. Bypassing and biasing the opamp. Can also do this for under $10 for the resistors and caps. Has made another large difference with the opamps I have in my equipment.
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I was thinking of trying hockey pucks
I've used hockey pucks often in my music career, especially in studio (very few better ways to do a floating floor) and in staging, excellent isolators !! Up until 1967 the Toronto Maple Leaf puck was the best, they have sucked tho since :)
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I've been joking about this one on another forum for a bit. Cotton swabs and cleaning your ears is a great system tweaks. The rumour is that manufactures are lining up to market high end cotton swabs and the 'C' rating standard for cotton purity is being established. :)
But seriously, your ears are part of your system and back when I took recording music a little too seriously I did test my hearing, then had my ears professionally cleaned and retested my hearing. The difference was quite noticable on paper and in what I heard. And what comes out of your ears will suprise you.
I spent a lot of last week setting up demo systems with a dealer who has been at for quite a while. Two of his 'no-cost' tweaks that made the difference between decent sound and a system that sings (and sells) are:
He calls it 'absolute phase' (he is also a guitar playing, studio and live engineer) and notes that many pieces of gear can be reversing the absolute phase. In his store you will find many of the amps with the speaker connection's negative and positive reversed, still in phase between left and right of course. What he explained and demonstrated to me so that I could hear it, was that speaker's soundstage should be coming forward from the speakers, as well as back. When out of absolute phase the soundstage is all behind the speakers. This made much sence to me as I know that JBL Pro monitors are out of phase, which is easy to test, by putting a small battery to a speaker and seeing which direction the woofer travels, it should travel forward with a positive to to postive connection and if JBL can't get it right on a speakers, then it makes sense to believe other manufacturers may be missing this one too(including my gear, checks have been instigated). When in absolute phase you can then find you don't need to toe in your speakers so much when doing free tweak number 2:
Speaker toe and soundstage, start with the speakers straight out and ignore the vocals, which are generally centered in the mix anyways, first check to see if the bass is centred (a good live mix will usually have the bass down the centre, except orchestra of course), get that centred by toeing in if neccessary, then listen to the soundstage of the instrumentation and see of there is a whole in the middle and toe in until the instrument soundstage just meets in the centre. The more you can keep the speakers pointing straight ahead, the more you can make your speakers dissapear and the better the soundstaging.
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The toe in needs to be exactly identical for each speaker, relative to the sweet spot listening position. From the listening position, looking at the inside side of each speaker should look the same ie same surface showing.
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When I was doing the vinyl thing, way back when (too lazy to spend all the time cleaning the things now), I'd check absolute phase on every lp and mark the label as to in or out of phase. Even though speakers might be wired 180 degrees out of phase, it's more likely the recording console. What is also possible, is that some mics are in phase and some out. Then you have to chose between better and worse, rather than right or wrong.
The human ear can definitely tell the different between a recording that is in phase with the real world and out of phase. The first inward movement of the microphone diaphram should result in an initial outward movement of the speaker cones, rather than vice-versa. The difference, as you pointed out, is in our perception of dimensionality. I also noticed a smoother, more liquid, texture to the recording.
I hate using banana plugs on my speakers, but that's the only easy, quick way to make the phase change.
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Put some PTFE teflon tape from (Lowes) on your AC plugs and on the center pin of the RF cable coming from your satellite dish and to your satellite receiver RF hook up. Take about 3 inches of tape and wrap it around each ac prong (all three AC prongs) and then push it all the way up to the base of the plug. On the RF cable take about 2 inches of tape and wrap it around the center pin of the RF cable (I used a Toothpick to hold one end of the tape down at the base of the RF cable and then used another toothpick to wrap the tape around the center pin tightly) and push it up to the base of the RF cable. This Tweak lowers the noise floor a little giving you a better sounding system and a better TV picture ! Update.....I put some teflon tape on both ends of my speaker cables and interconnects(I put it on the center pins of the interconnects) and this took my system to a whole new level ! Update..... I put teflon tape on the female RCA ground connection on the gear and on the ground connection of the RF cable too. I would like to get some feedback from you all on this tweak....... I also noticed that putting teflon tape on the AC plugs makes your gear RUN COOLER too, giving your gear a longer life!
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Whoops. Overlooked the price cap.
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:scratch: I noticed putting teflon tape on my AC plugs made my gear run cooler....but WHY?
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Have a carpeted concrete floor for my home theater and after talking to Mapleshade, they recommended I try putting 3/4" plywood boards under my Magnepan IIIa with Mye Stands to combat the effects of the concrete. Went to my local lumber yard who gave me two pieces for free and sure enough, my Magnepans had greater bass output while the mids and highs improved. Also, Mapleshade suggested I put my Velodyne sub on a stand so that again the concrete would not suck out all the bass. Had a stand available in the house and again, Mapleshade was right. My meter registered a 3dB increase in bass output but at the same time, the bass very much tighter and better integrated with my Magnepans. With these two free tweaks, it was like my home theater was transformed. According to Mapleshade, these two cheap tweaks only work on concrete floors that are carpeted.
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Mouse pad under my VPI motor! Worked marvellously cleaning up the bass! :thumb: :thumb:
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Russian TF3 Teflon capacitors @~$6.00 ea shipped. I doubt that any grossly expensive power cord could impact your system as much as a couple of these caps appropriately placed aa.http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=59361.0
--Roy
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Anybody got any experience with silver fuses of contact solution??
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Put some PTFE teflon tape from (Lowes) on your AC plugs and on the center pin of the RF cable coming from your satellite dish and to your satellite receiver RF hook up. Take about 3 inches of tape and wrap it around each ac prong (all three AC prongs) and then push it all the way up to the base of the plug. On the RF cable take about 2 inches of tape and wrap it around the center pin of the RF cable (I used a Toothpick to hold one end of the tape down at the base of the RF cable and then used another toothpick to wrap the tape around the center pin tightly) and push it up to the base of the RF cable. This Tweak lowers the noise floor a little giving you a better sounding system and a better TV picture ! Update.....I put some teflon tape on both ends of my speaker cables and interconnects(I put it on the center pins of the interconnects) and this took my system to a whole new level ! Update..... I put teflon tape on the female RCA ground connection on the gear and on the ground connection of the RF cable too. I would like to get some feedback from you all on this tweak....... I also noticed that putting teflon tape on the AC plugs makes your gear RUN COOLER too, giving your gear a longer life!
Wow you must have has a HORRIBLE system if a few inches of tape took it to "a whole new level!!"......
Seriously...I call MAJOR BS on this whole scenario.
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After years of ultimate speaker developement I`ve stumbeled over quite a few cheap tweaks. One of my biggest jaw-drops came from experimenting with solid core powercords. From earlier I knew that solid conductors is the one and only solutuion for audio, but I hadn`t in my wildest imagined that a multicore powercord really damaged current that much.
Uppgrading powercords inside boxes, like from rear powerintake to frontmounted off/on-switch and back to powersuppy is worth the job too 8)
Btw; if you`re running powerful transistor-amps on big multiway boxes some real solid conductors wont hurt the performance. For real woofers fun begins around 9awg single, no stranded junk :nono: :wink:
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Wow you must have has a HORRIBLE system if a few inches of tape took it to "a whole new level!!"......
Seriously...I call MAJOR BS on this whole scenario.
I too would be forced to agree with you, but people have done way more minor tweeks, and claimed a whole lot more....(not that I buy into them either.)
-West
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If you have a tweeter that is a little or a lot on the harsh or bright side, it could be that the crossover point is too low which allows too much mid-frequency sound to pass to the tweeter. Putting a small value (~1.0 uf/ 250 v) $2 inline radial mylar cap on the tweeter will block the harsh mids from reaching the tweeter but still allow the smooth and silky highs to reach the tweeter. This mod saved me $1000 by not having to replace the 20 sl2000 tweeters in my 4 pair of vintage polk sda speaks. See my sig for more detail.
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Put some PTFE teflon tape from (Lowes) on your AC plugs and on the center pin of the RF cable coming from your satellite dish and to your satellite receiver RF hook up. Take about 3 inches of tape and wrap it around each ac prong (all three AC prongs) and then push it all the way up to the base of the plug. On the RF cable take about 2 inches of tape and wrap it around the center pin of the RF cable (I used a Toothpick to hold one end of the tape down at the base of the RF cable and then used another toothpick to wrap the tape around the center pin tightly) and push it up to the base of the RF cable. This Tweak lowers the noise floor a little giving you a better sounding system and a better TV picture ! Update.....I put some teflon tape on both ends of my speaker cables and interconnects(I put it on the center pins of the interconnects) and this took my system to a whole new level ! Update..... I put teflon tape on the female RCA ground connection on the gear and on the ground connection of the RF cable too. I would like to get some feedback from you all on this tweak....... I also noticed that putting teflon tape on the AC plugs makes your gear RUN COOLER too, giving your gear a longer life!
Wow you must have has a HORRIBLE system if a few inches of tape took it to "a whole new level!!"......
Seriously...I call MAJOR BS on this whole scenario.
Or maybe he's just pulling our chains to see who falls for it. Isn't that stuff kind of an insulator?
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Put some PTFE teflon tape from (Lowes) on your AC plugs and on the center pin of the RF cable coming from your satellite dish and to your satellite receiver RF hook up. Take about 3 inches of tape and wrap it around each ac prong (all three AC prongs) and then push it all the way up to the base of the plug. On the RF cable take about 2 inches of tape and wrap it around the center pin of the RF cable (I used a Toothpick to hold one end of the tape down at the base of the RF cable and then used another toothpick to wrap the tape around the center pin tightly) and push it up to the base of the RF cable. This Tweak lowers the noise floor a little giving you a better sounding system and a better TV picture ! Update.....I put some teflon tape on both ends of my speaker cables and interconnects(I put it on the center pins of the interconnects) and this took my system to a whole new level ! Update..... I put teflon tape on the female RCA ground connection on the gear and on the ground connection of the RF cable too. I would like to get some feedback from you all on this tweak....... I also noticed that putting teflon tape on the AC plugs makes your gear RUN COOLER too, giving your gear a longer life!
Wow you must have has a HORRIBLE system if a few inches of tape took it to "a whole new level!!"......
Seriously...I call MAJOR BS on this whole scenario.
Or maybe he's just pulling our chains to see who falls for it. Isn't that stuff kind of an insulator?
Yes.
One thing he's right about is that your gear _will_ run cooler with this tweak. :)
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Proper use of this tweak can make every system sound much more clear:
(http://secondhandnation.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/06/qtip.jpg)
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Proper use of this tweak can make every system sound much more clear:
(http://secondhandnation.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/06/qtip.jpg)
I handed them out at the Vancouver Island diyFEST last year, but mine were 9N cotton and directional :)
Cheers,
Ian
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Proper use of this tweak can make every system sound much more clear:
(http://secondhandnation.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/06/qtip.jpg)
I handed them out at the Vancouver Island diyFEST last year, but mine were 9N cotton and directional :)
Cheers,
Ian
Should have sent them to me and had them cryo'd! :lol:
Peace,
Lee
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Tube socket cleaner, while browsing a make up store a couple of weeks ago ...
Came across some free sample eyeliner brushes, that does a great job of getting into all but smaller (like 9 pin) sockets. Spray a bit of your fav contact cleaner and poke and twirl away. Should make a difference having clean contacts, mine were clean already, so no difference. The kind staff informed me that I could grab a handful and that most make-up type store have them.
Cheers,
Ian
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Should have sent them to me and had them cryo'd! :lol:
Peace,
Lee
Next up is getting my head cryo'd again. I think it's wearing off.
Cheers,
Ian