What Is The Darndest Thing That Made An Improvement Tweak Wise?

[Digi&Analog Fan]

With all the spare time many have now; it would seem this would be a great time for tweaking and experiments. I still would guess that the audiophiles out there with the greatest sound are not necessarily the ones with the best equip., but the most creative ones & the most experimental ones. While its true that most tweaks don't make as big a difference as an intelligent major component upgrade, there is a multiplication factor involved. 10 creative tweaks that each make a subtle but clearly audible difference; they could add up to more improvement than someone's expensive new power amp or even expensive speakers. What if someone has 70 or 80 tweaks that each make a small but noticeable difference in the right direction? Are there tweakers out there in hi-fi land that are listening through vintage Yamaha & Denon equipment whose sound would rival or surpass some of the most expensive & exotic equipment out there today? What are some of the things you have happened upon that made a nice improvement in the sound? The fact that many of these things are discovered by accident makes it all the more fascinating.

 

  Here is one of the things that I discovered just the other day. I use vintage Tekna Sonic vibration absorbing devices on top of my speakers. In addition to having weight, they have fin shaped things on one side that help dissipate vibration. Just on a sheer whim, instead of them facing forward, with their front being parallel and just slightly behind the front top of the speaker cabinet; I angled them so that if they were square instead of rectangular, they would have looked like a diamond shape from the front. Wow! It didn't take much time at all to notice the easily heard jump in sound quality on very familiar material. I realized I had tweaked a tweak; so to speak. What are some of your pleasant discoveries?

[Digi&Analog Fan]

I once completely removed the  mat that came standard on the Harman Kardon T65 turntable I was using and I preferred the sound of the vinyl record sitting right on the metal platter. Scratches to the lp did not occur. Everything got much crisper and more detailed. I thought about it,  and then realized that removing the thickness of the mat made the tonearm non-parallel to the record from the side, as if the height of the tonearm had been increased at the pillar. I once had a bookshelf speaker fall off its stand and land on something about 20 inches high and the bass instantly got so good that I realized that was the ideal height for the speakers. Many of our greatest discoveries have been made by accident. 

[Digi&Analog Fan]

After doubting it too much to even try it, after having read claims by many people, I finally tried unplugging my fridge and playing some very familiar music. A very noticeable improvement. I tried this fairly recently and now always unplug my fridge before a listening session. Now with summer near, I wonder if I will still do this if I have ice cream sitting in the freezer section. Maybe a good time to shed a few pounds.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

Replacing those metal U shaped jumpers does make a big difference. Not only that, but by carefully choosing the tonal qualities of the Rca cables that replace them, you can tweak your sound into being more warm, crisper, faster etc., as the actual character of the second interconnects used as jumpers does interject and blend its own character alongside the main interconnects tonal qualities.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

One of the best things that an audiophile can do to significantly  improve his sound is to make sure that his source has its own separate resting place; apart from all the other gear. It should be situated on something heavy that doesn't rattle and is well built. My CD player, which I am using as my source right now is sitting atop a multi layered arrangement which includes a heavy duty coffee table with glass removed, multiple layers of wood between springs and a long discontinued  VPI Isolation base, which is said to be their first product before they started making turntables. There is at least 120 pounds underneath my source, and I only have one source hooked up at any one time usually. That its perfectly level at the top is important, especially when using a turntable. Also in my main system, I make sure the source is as far away from the speakers as possible. Just moving your turntable across the room, away from the speakers will make it sound like a better turntable, but having something really heavy and solid underneath does wonders.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

It isn't that the fridge is making audible ambient noise from several rooms rooms away. On my particular system which has way into the high end sound quality, there is an easily audible decrease in grain and an increase in openness without the sound being brighter or any less bright when the fridge plug is pulled. I go by what I hear rather than theories. There is a whole lot we do not fully understand. Brain teasers give me a headache. I'd rather just listen. 

[Digi&Analog Fan]

 That is really interesting about the pads. Everything seems to vibrate and even though each thing only vibrates a little, lots of things in a room can add up. An acquaintance of mine left on a 2 week trip and forgot about some ripe bananas he had laying on a counter. When he got back there were many  hundreds of fruit flies flying around the bananas and in unison their sound was audible rooms away.

 

 The Tekna Sonic absorbers I use along with some products from Marigo, certain ones are meant to be placed on windows where the majority of the rattling takes place.  Some people once they treat their windows, cannot believe how quiet their rooms suddenly sound when playing music and before unheard low level details start coming through. Problem is with the Teknas they're old already and the adhesive under the peel off will soon give way and they will fall off the windows or walls. Thought about experimenting with other adhesives but I'm pretty sure it would leave marks.

[Digi&Analog Fan]

A lot of it depends on where in the room the piano is, especially in relation to your speakers. If its in between your speakers in back or even worse in front, you will prefer it was not there, when playing stereo.. The bigger the piano the worse. I once got a nice improvement in sound by removing a fairly small TV sitting on a medium size piece of furniture a few feet behind my speakers. Speakers like free space. How quiet your piano will be sitting elsewhere and getting hit by vibration is a question no one can really answer for you, since they do not know any of your particulars or have any experience with any of the potential sound degrading factors of your room or items or potential interactions within your room.