[Closed] Your favourite HiFi 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

[i]God, Hifi geeks are even worse than bike geeks for spouting complete carp![/i]

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.

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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 [i]mostly[/i] cynical about this. It all boils down to distinguishing something sounding [i]better[/i] 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...

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...

[url= http://www.belt.demon.co.uk/ ]Peter Belt[/url]

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. 🙄

there was a Hi Fi separate a few years ago when I was in the market for such, in which the marketing blurb spoke solemnly about the fact they'd tilted the circuit board at 2 degrees to enhance sound quality. The HiFi press then repeated this with no sense of irony or comment.

The whole industry is built on smoke and mirrors, but calling the emperors new clothes would be business suicide for any trade magazine.

spoke solemnly about the fact they'd tilted the circuit board at 2 degrees to enhance sound quality.

IMO it would have to be an irrational fraction to avoid standing waves, say pi/29 radians = 1.975716535...

The whole industry is built on smoke and mirrors

Not in my experience, which is actually of working in the industry.

The answer to the original question is alcohol, by the way.

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vinyl does sound way better than cd.

Get shot of the wife for the evening have a few beers and relax with your favorite music

Or in my case Pink Floyd with brandy and coke

btw vinyl does sound better but do not mix with beer cos you bugger up your lp's (voice of experiance)

Get shot of the hifi and have a good shag instead :o)

simonfbarnes - Member
Get shot of the hifi and have a good shag instead :o)

or even a bad one hell who cares

Don't work in a fekkin noisey factory for 20 years 😥

I think the James Randi thing is confusing people. Speaker cable does make a difference to the sound, a fat cable has less impedence than a little thin one. Randi is challenging 'audiophiles' not electronics engineers...

I always found a big lump of hash made my hi-fi sound a million bucks 8)

a fat cable has less impedence than a little thin one

...which electronics says would have a slight effect on the volume 🙂

Speaking to a hifi dealer yesterday in a record shop and he suggested using an anti static gun on cds before playing them.

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

Utter nonsense.

Speaker stands is not nonsense at all though and you will almost certainly hear a difference.

but both are supposed to improve the sound significantly

only if you have the necessary credulity

How much is this credulity and what does it cost? Can I get it on eBay?

Richpenny, so defend or explain the claims of tilting a circuit board at 2 degrees in order to improve sound quality, and a Hi Fi magazine shamelessly regurgitating it as gospel.

I am sure there is some sound engineering and people within the industry with pride and passion. Unfortunately the press and marketing claims are smoke, mirrors and snake oil. Makes the marketing in the cycling industry look scientifically credible, modest and ethical.

Emporers New Clothes "oh, you can't here the difference? (sneers)"

Naim used to have a thing about using XLR mains connectors and the connecting cables (or snakes!) and were not cheap.
I fixed a friends NAP 250 and Hi-Cap psu. Inside they used cheap single screened cable for the inputs and for the hi-cap a 35p rotary mains switch from all available from Maplin.

Same friend had 6 individual 15amp sockets wired up in a radial fashion straight back to the fusebox.

I came across a review for supports for supporting equipment to avoid vibration coupling to things like amplifiers. They used two magnets in a like-pole arrangement to provide the separation.
The reviwer when using them on his amplifier swore "that they provided an extra something to the sound"

Teetosugars - Member

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

Tick 😳

I also stick lengths of that grey pipe laggin tube stuff into the bass tube thingys. I have no idea what it does or improves (if anything), but I was told to do it by the same hifi nerd who told me to do the half squash ball thingy.

Not sure how reducing vibration between the separates is likely to improve the sound quality, but putting stuff in the ports on speakers will reduce the bass and could potentially help with common problems with standing waves etc - it even says to stuff socks in the ports in the instructions for my studio monitors if you have to put them too near a wall or a corner.

Personally I've pretty much dispensed with hifi gadgetry and pretty much just listen to my Walkman mpwhatever.

I hear things I wouldn't at a personal volume and usually fall asleep to it most nights. Its also dead handy in the car. And I can play it through the microcube and strum along too...

Naim Audio. That's an amusing hifi tale in itself 😉

Getting the hifi properly serviced, especially amplifiers. Makes a huge difference!

No idea about your example MC. The physical positions of the components in a unit can have an effect on sound quality, due to things like transformer fields inducing currents where you don't want them.

Things that I'd considered to be BS have been identifed in blind tests by people I've worked with. Equally, marketing (and the odd nutter) has a lot ot answer for! I'm firmly with Bill Hicks on that one.

I am sure there is some sound engineering and people within the industry with pride and passion.

So why did you say that the whole industry was built on smoke and mirors? It isn't.

Getting the hifi properly serviced

[b]serviced[/b] ?? I have a degree in Electronic Engineering and I've have no idea how to achieve this, beyond replacing the electrolytics after 15 years or so (perhaps). Oh and I suppose eventually the volume control pot might need replacing if it was noisy...

I have a Naim amp and CD and it's great so bu99er off! Perhaps the hicap is a bit OTT but I got it 2nd hand like the rest of the kit.

Amplifiers are VERY sensitive to the setup, including the voltages that the internal circuits run at. Most amplifiers do benefit from a service every 10 or so years, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are.

The differences are measurable with an oscilloscope.

Amplifiers are VERY sensitive to the setup, including the voltages that the internal circuits run at. Most amplifiers do benefit from a service every 10 or so years,

tosh - the idea is to design out the effects of component tolerance and drift!

solamanda - Member
Amplifiers are VERY sensitive to the setup, including the voltages that the internal circuits run at. Most amplifiers do benefit from a service every 10 or so years, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are.

The differences are measurable with an oscilloscope

sorry what are you on about service please explaine a amplifier has no moving parts bar the pot used for the volume control if is a solid state amp. As for the voltages for the circuits does that not depend on the input voltages that the instalation recieves from the grid which can swing by as much as about 25v ac.

As for the results being measurable by a ocilloscope yes maybe can I hear the differance well?

Ok I replace my valves once every 5 years but valve amps are a bit differant

As for the voltages for the circuits does that not depend on the input voltages that the instalation recieves from the grid which can swing by as much as about 25v ac.

Bollocks. For a start amplifiers need the correct quiescent current adjusted, tested accurately and the full frequency range checked for any peculiarities. I am NOT an amplifier tuning expert, I ask an expert to sort my equipment. I am not preaching about a service I have paid for and need to defend, as I get it for free. This expert has serviced equipment for the BBC sound studios for a start, and knows alot more than some forum geeks!

1)Tie a reef knot in your speaker wire for noise cancellation.

2)Make sure any books in the room have only an odd number of pages, to absorb standing wave harmonics.

3)With all your hi-fi sorted you can post about "What tyres....." 🙄

serviced ?? I have a degree in Electronic Engineering

Good for you 😉

You are correct, electrolytics tend to dry out over time. Tants can also start to become a bit leaky. Obviously the effect on sound quality depends on circuit location.

tosh - the idea is to design out the effects of component tolerance and drift!

No, the idea is to design the best sounding amplifier. If you are introducing additional circuitry, or selecting components for minimal drift, then you can compromise performance.

Saladdodger, as sfb points out, parts do not have to be moving to require service/replacement, just like your valves. Of course incoming mains varies, that's why you have local regulation for anything sensitive.

are you talking about the quiecent current at the star point of a diletham based crystal connected to a rearward facing foofoo flange via a bridge rectifier with an inductive load attached

please confirm

the idea is to design the best sounding amplifier.

if the amplifier has a 'sound' it is broken

rich

what local regulation for anything sensative

lodious - Member
Naim Audio. That's an amusing hifi tale in itself
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Do you want to elaborate?

What gets me is when I used to go to the bristol hifi show all the expensive kit sounded er poor except for the odd system / company room.

With the ammount of wonga some companys wanted for there kit it should of sounded fantastic anywhere without petty excuses about the shape of the rooms etc

SD, local voltage regulation. I.e incoming AC mains - transformer - psu gives you unregulated low voltage dc. This would then be locally regulated for separate circuit areas, thus isolating your sensitive bits from nasty mains variances. Some areas could also be double regulated.

line hi fi up perfectly north to south(it's all about the polarity man!!!) 😀

rich

a transformer gives a ac output unless it is rectified if I am not mistaken.

what local voltage regulation are you talking about, the regulated circuits within the amps?

if the amplifier has a 'sound' it is broken

Don't agree. Different topologies, different layouts do not sound the same. If we had electrically perfect components with no compromises required you might have a point.