[warnerwh]

Just pulled the mids out of my VMPS Supertower/R SE's and replaced them after cleaning the contacts.  These are the little aluminum slip on types so it's very easy. Sound improvement was considerable, mids were richer and smoother by a significant amount. I notice alot of people clean oxidation off of everything but these little terminals.  This was more than a subtle improvement.  Everything is cleaner. When you see these little terminals you'll wonder how much large speaker cables are actually able to help.  Soldering wires directly to the speakers would actually be the best idea and if I weren't planning on upgrading speakers this year it would have gotten done.  

The next thing I tried was sticking an 8"x10" piece of acoustic foam in each one behind the mid/ upper woofer in the middle of the fiberglass.  Also made sure the fiberglass was even in each cabinet and also the same in both which it wasn't when I opened them.  Big difference. Detail is much better but more pronounced is the amount of air and depth.  Cleaned the terminals here too.  The difference is well worth the time invested.  Sounds like a much improved pair of the same speakers. NOT subtle.

Actually I was bored and was just dinking around as I had to tighten a loose terminal from the inside.  Then doing a search I found that these tweaks are already known by some.  Hope they help some other people out.  You'll be surprised how much different your speakers can sound by changing the damping in the cabinet. This of course could make them worse but is easy enough to try. Also taking some stuffing out is also a possiblity.

[manek]

A) A great tweak on the outside of the speaker which I have done myself :

Take two granite tiles one inch thick and slightly larger than the base of the speakers. Go buy some cork board about 12mm thick. Cut the peices to the size of the granite tile.

If your speakers have spikes put the cork board under the granite and put the speakers on the granite slab.

If your speakers dont have spikes put the cork board over the granite tile and put your speaker on top of the cork board.

This works with bookshelves and floorstanders. Its just amazig how mellow and gentle your sound becomes....your speakers will reveal more details and bass will be tighter, mids will be cleaner.

B) Take another peice of 12mm thick cork board the size of your CD player. Put it under your Cd player and put your integrated/preamp on top of the cd player for mass loading. You will immediately feel the smoothness in the Cd resolution of any kind of music.

Its costs nothing and works better than those other products costing hundreds of dollars. Home recepies for home stereo !!!!

manek.