Speaking to a hifi dealer yesterday in a record shop and he suggested using an anti static gun on cds before playing them.
Also recommended cutting a bit of sorbothane mat and sticking it to the IC chip in my old Arcam black box to stop vibration.

Not heard of either of these before but both are supposed to improve the sound significantly.

Any other suggestions for cheap but effective tweeks?

I have some snake oil for sale. It's only £1,000 a drop and will make your 15 year old DAC sound like an LP12.

Or you could ignore all that nonsense, and enjoy listening to your music instead.

HTH 😀

Keep the cds in the freezer!

Half a squash ball in between the seperates reduces the vibration between them…

😐

– colour in the inside ring of a CD with green pen.

– Vinyl sounds better (light blue touch paper…)

– You need to isolate everything from vibration

– make sure you twist the speaker wires one way rather than the other

God, Hifi geeks are even worse than bike geeks for spouting complete carp!

http://tafkac.org/misc/cd/marking_cds.html

God, Hifi geeks are even worse than bike geeks for spouting complete carp!

Mate of my brother's is monumentally obsessed by Hi Fi geekiness to a level that makes most people take a step back muttering "eerrr, ok, nice to have met you…" at parties.

U-bend section in your power lead. Traps sticky electrons from dodgy mains supplies so they don't clog up your power amp. Need to purge or replace it every week though.

Metal rods bolted on to both speakers connected to a clamp for your head. This will ensure you are exactly at the right point for listening

It makes a massive difference what's directly behind your head when you listen – if your chair is up against a wall that is. I just slouch with a cushion to lean my head back on. Means you don't hear everything twice. This one that everyone will be able to hear very easily.

I put an offcut from the wooden kitchen worktops under my turntable. Made quite a difference, I guess it benefitted from having a really solid base. But most of the tweaks I see for sale prove the adage that a fool and his money are soon parted. Apparently, there's a million dollar prize on offer for the first person to distinguish different speaker cables in a double-blind test. Hifi cable manufacturers and magazines seem curiously reluctant to try…

I remain mostly cynical about this. It all boils down to distinguishing something sounding better or just different. I bought a "sound enhancer" from Argos once. It was a passive box of bits that sat in between the amp and source. It just had an on/off button. There was absolutely no doubt it changed the sound, but whether it was better or not is sooooo subjective. Anyway, I took it back to Argos…I have enough boxes of hi-fi gubbins

"U-bend section in your power lead. Traps sticky electrons from dodgy mains supplies so they don't clog up your power amp. Need to purge or replace it every week though."

love it, will keep me chuckling on my ride home today!!!

Apparently, there's a million dollar prize on offer for the first person to distinguish different speaker cables in a double-blind test. Hifi cable manufacturers and magazines seem curiously reluctant to try…

Got a link for that? Sounds like bull to me. Speaker cables aren't too difficult to tell apart. Might not be able to tell the brand or whatever, but def can tell if it is different.

but both are supposed to improve the sound significantly

only if you have the necessary credulity

I was pleasently surprised what a solid pair of sand filled speaker stands did for the depth of sound out my modestly priced hifi speakers. Got the stands second hand, used blu-tac to mount the speakers to the base plates, and ensured the stands feet spikes were all level and in good contact with the floor boards through the carpet and you can really tell the difference. Probably cost me £30 to do but was worth every penny. So you see some of there geeky rambelings work! but there is some right sh!t too lol 😆 anti-static guns really! 😕

"Got a link for that? Sounds like bull to me. Speaker cables aren't too difficult to tell apart. Might not be able to tell the brand or whatever, but def can tell if it is different."

http://gizmodo.com/305549/james-randi-offers-1-million-if-audiophiles-can-prove-7250-speaker-cables-are-better

Just because you think you can detect a difference, it doesn't mean there really is one. If Hifi magazines are so sure of the differences, why don't they do double-blind tests?

Some great suggestions above 🙂

Of course, despite being a cynic about the vast majority (and it sounds like beanum is keen to justify what he's bought…), some tweaks obviously will make a genuine differene (though how significant they really are is debateable – again double blind tests when I was at uni with various hifi geek mates suggested that while some changes changed the sound they didn't necessarily 'improve' it…).

Eg a solid base for a turntable may help if you're somewhere that's suject to vibrations – eg a block of newbuild flats with people walking around/slamming doors/etc) since a turntable works on very small vibrations.

Similar, a solid base for speakers should in theory give them a better base for producing sound (effectively less damping).

That offers a million to anyone that can prove they are better, not anyone who can tell the difference. Obviously no-one can prove their superiority because it is subjective, but anybody at all can hear a difference.

Hi-Fi magazines do blind tests. Limited value though. I think you are better off listening for if it sounds enjoyable, rather than all the whizz-bang hi fi effects.

I notice the prize relates specifically to a set of cables worth $7250 which is a bit "esoteric" to say the least

"I notice the prize relates specifically to a set of cables worth $7250 which is a bit "esoteric" to say the least"

Quite so. Given their exorbitant cost, you'd think that detecting their superiority would be easy…

I think you are better off listening for if it sounds enjoyable, rather than all the whizz-bang hi fi effects.

I couldn't agree more. If you prefer it, that's all that matters. But I take issue with the unsubstantiated claims made by Hifi snake oil salesmen.

Personally, a whacking great huge amplifier and some similarly huge Mission floorstanders does it for me……..

Because, to use an old American adage – "There aint no replacement for displacement"
🙂

Yea, but read the subsequent exchanges – the cable manufacturer seems convinced that the other guys are going to slag them whatever happens and basically there's just several hundred words of ner nery ner ner.

None of that means that there isn't a difference between some cables. Nor does it mean that it is worth spending over seven grand on a speaker cable. There again, what's the point of spending a hundred grand on a car? And so on.

Anyway. I bought a load of nice quality cable and twisted pairs myself and then soldered plugs on. They do sound good, and they certainly sound better than "bell wire". I've also got a few different interconnect leads, which also sound different to each other. Oddly the most expensive one is not my favourite (very bright) – I like another, which I also soldered up myself for not much money.

That offers a million to anyone that can prove they are better, not anyone who can tell the difference. Obviously no-one can prove their superiority because it is subjective, but anybody at all can hear a difference.

I think he was actually saying that nobody can tell a difference between $100 and $7000 cables in a double blind test, where no-one knows which cable is which. The manufacturers of the $7000 cable refused to take him up on this, so they're obviously not confident that they can.

But then maybe everyone should be using coat hangers:

http://consumerist.com/362926/do-coat-hangers-sound-as-good-monster-cables

Joe

Don't listen to them, none of that stuff works…..

You need to go down this route to audio nirvana…

Peter Belt

but,

Don't bother putting your amps onto things & zapping your CD's etc. If you have a turntable put it on a shelf if you have a bouncy floor or a half decent rack if it's not going to be prone to footfall. Decent stands for the speakers & yes, use spikes as it tightens up the sound somewhat.

Best advice is to….wait for it……. 😉

use the money you were going to spend to buy more music!!! Best tweak ever foudn that one 😯

"They do sound good, and they certainly sound better than "bell wire". I've also got a few different interconnect leads, which also sound different to each other"

Then you should get in touch with James Randi. There's a million dollars on offer!

Interesting article on the placebo effect here: http://www.badscience.net/2008/03/all-bow-before-the-might-of-the-placebo-effect-it-is-the-coolest-strangest-thing-in-medicine/

or £5 maplin cables or similar http://www.provide.net/~djcarlst/abx_wire.htm

I do realise that there may a placebo effect – its not as if I've only just heard of that reading this thread!

I also realise that you can waste a hell f a lot of money on the top end stuff.

None of that proves that there is NO difference between cables, or other tweaks.

Nice solid equipment support DOES make things better, esp speakers.

Everyone CAN hear a noisy clattery room – the instant you speak in an unfurnished room you can hear the harsh sound. So having soft furnishings in a hi-fi room DOES make a big difference.

If equipment quality was irrelevant they wouldn't have standards for recording and broadcast studios would they?

I do realise that there may a placebo effect – its not as if I've only just heard of that reading this thread!

I also realise that you can waste a hell f a lot of money on the top end stuff.

None of that proves that there is NO difference between cables, or other tweaks.

Nice solid equipment support DOES make things better, esp speakers.

Everyone CAN hear a noisy clattery room – the instant you speak in an unfurnished room you can hear the harsh sound. So having soft furnishings in a hi-fi room DOES make a big difference.

If equipment quality was irrelevant they wouldn't have standards for recording and broadcast studios would they?

All of which is true, but completely irrelevant to your contention that you can distinguish between different speaker cables and interconnects. And since your brought up recording studios, you might be interested to learn that they use modestly priced cabling. 😉

Agian, my experiences at uni were that people could tell that there were difference between components (including interconnects actually) but could never consistently tell which the expensive ones were (no more than statistically expected).

We would swap or not swap (but not let the subject know if we'd swapped or not swapped) cables over and they generally could tell a difference (though unsurprisingly sometimes spotted a difference when we hadn't done a swap).

you do know that it would be cheaper and easier to just buy the CD than try every magic potion out there to make a turntable sound better… flame away 😆

I've had (almost enough) of trying to get the best technology, its a waste of time when you spend more time on the technology than enjoying whatever it is your doing with the technology.

A bike example for me was the garmin gps things, it got to the point where when going out for a casual cycle i would strap the unit on just to see where i'd been and how far it was and how much climbing… even around the park. That got sold as it was taking away the enjoyment of the actual activity.

A camera example was buying an digital SLR and spending too much time fiddling trying to get the right settings rather than just taking some pics, yes i did get some good pics i wouldn't have got but for the most part the technology was taking over the event, I now have a simple little compact which is fine for uploading to flickr.

they use modestly priced cabling.

Soldered themselves by ham fisted sound engineers onto cheap plugs that were bought in bulk.

Joe

clubber & rs are spot on, you can spend far too much time worrying about getting better sound rather than just listening to good music.

If you really don't like the sound your Hifi gives you then find a dealer you can trust & get them to give you a good dem (with free coffee) & then a home loan to make sure it matches your expectations in your own room.

A camera example was buying an digital SLR and spending too much time fiddling trying to get the right settings rather than just taking some pics

just use A or P mode 🙂

Spend a decent amount on the components, get decent speaker stands if you don't get floor standers, don't put speakers in corners, bi-wire if you can, crack open your favourite beer, turn the lights off & enjoy…..

……never have the time for this type of thing nowadays.

I find the quality of the recording makes more difference than the kit. Some CDs are recorded truly terribly. Even on my car stereo I can hear albums that haven't been recorded very well.

I find the quality of the recording makes more difference than the kit.

Yes, I think a lot of music is recorded to sound better on digital radio and downloads – which tends to mean it's not great on a proper hifi.

I'm an old hand
File 2 or 3 (can't remember) lines across the brass pins on the mains plug.

Use a permanent black OHT marker to colour in the edges of your cds.

Oh yeah and make musicians wear cotton gloves when turning over sheet music to dampen the rustling.

Green marker pen around the outside of CD's was supposed to make them sound better by stoppign bouncing laser light or something like that. Black pen was ok but green was best, apparently. 🙄