I'm a sad puppy.... or 'whats the best tweak you have done for least money?'

Mentioning the most cost effective upgrade is prohibited on this Forum. Total cost...less than £1. I`ll leave you to work it out


Laurie S

£3 for two concrete slabs from homebase under the Briks was a remarkable improvement on my suspended floor. It might not work for everyone but it was night and day in my sistem.

Yours in Music

Syd

B&Q slabs under the speakers.
Terry

blu-tak behind pictures?
does it really work

The best VFNM (Value for No Money ) tweak I recently did was:

Plugging the mainscable from my amp directly into the wallsocket, instead of plugging it in one those el cheapo mainsblocs I used for many years!

regards,
Alco

Hard wire my amp right to the fuse box, # 8 wire for fuses .....Geofiz, were are you

Shut all the doors and windows.

Disconnect and reconnect all plugs/interconnects. Two for the price of one.

Try them.

Regards

Mike

On the Yellow Brick Road and happy

Me, walking from room to room.
Room 1: Serie 5, Intro.
Room 2: CDX2,202,282,200,250 Allae or SL2.
Room 3: CDS3,252,300,NBL.
Walking cost nothing.

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

Removing all clutter (stuff that may rattle or resonate in some way) from my listening room and covering the mirror on a dresser with a towel. I suppose the mirror (and dresser) could have been removed but the towel upon it seems to work, and keeping funiture in my room that doesn't resonate deadens the sound nicely.



Regards,

Steve.

Agree Steve.
A no cost tweak: Borrow a subwoofer and play it loud in you listening room, fix or remove everything that rattles.

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

Manu,

Thanks, but I don't think I'll be permitted to remove stuff that will surely rattle outside of my listening room, notably in rooms downstairs.

My speakers go quite low as it is, so the sub would have to be pretty hefty.



Regards,

Steve.

Sent the wife & kids out.

Paul Rowlands

Go to the local dealer and hear the best system they have in the shop, then go home and hear your own system, set up and sounding good in your own room. Then phone the shop and tell them that your system is better than theirs.

The blu-tak behind the pictures is a great idea. I will do this tonight. It's so obvious really.

quote:

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Originally posted by Alex B.:
Do concrete tiles really help? If yes, what exactly do they do? Give you more bass but loosing a bit of mids and treble or taking away booming bass and tightening it to a clearer bass? I have a thick carpet too and am now putting pucks underneath the spikes as they are going thorugh the carpet into the laminat floor.

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A young grasshopper seeking help from the wise NaimNiacs with his Mullet sistem

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IMHO concrete slab, marble slab etc tightens bass - lose nothing.

Those of you who enjoy reading techy stuff and have devoured Vance Dickason's 6th Edition of 'The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook' will have noted that he mentions that "A new technique seen in the marketplace consists of providing some type of energy 'sink' for the enclosure to rest upon. This takes the form of a heavy stone or marble platform which simply does not vibrate in any fashion and cannot transmit vibration to the floor."
Terry
Terry

funny, i have blutac behind pictures in my office not for sonic purposes, but to allow me to adjust them straight. i suppose i get the sound quality benefits for free...

one of the most significant teak i have tried is to re-arrange stuff in my office so that for example, the cd rack wasnt too close to one of the sbl's (in fact i got rid of heavy cd rack altogether). further freeing space around the speakers has also brought about some benefits.

enjoy...

ken

Hey man,
This is called the £4 upgrade. You place a £1 pound coin under each spike of the hifi rack, and it sounds great. Honest.
If you have a tripod its a £3 upgrade.
Give it a go, good luck.
BillyJ
PS The ear syringing is also good and free from you local GP/Nurse.

quote:

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Originally posted by Laurie Saunders:
Mentioning the most cost effective upgrade is prohibited on this Forum. Total cost...less than £1. I`ll leave you to work it out

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I'm blowing a fuse trying to work that one out.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
Linn Binn Sinner

Undo the locking ring on interconnects - carefully - try it it works - have to thank Doug for that one. I didnt think it would work - I was wrong!
Martin

quote:

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Originally posted by billyj:
This is called the £4 upgrade. You place a £1 pound coin under each spike of the hifi rack, and it sounds great. Honest.

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Billy,

this tweak has never worked for me.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne at Dial.Pipex.com

Best free upgrade by far is board pulling

1. Nail a rug, throw, or similar big piece of material to the wall between your speakers. Gave deeper bass, cleaner mid for my SBLs.

2. Scrub the contacts on your mains plugs with Brasso. Works a little bit.

3. (Especially turntable users and M*n* owners) Make sure your racks and boxes are dust-free. M*n*, in particular, gets very dusty over time. It really does seem to make a difference to the sound.

PS Hope forum members aren't going to waste the valuable time of GPs and practice nurses by getting their ears sysringed for no good clinical reason...



Tim

Hi,
Re the Tim Jones comment about putting a rug up etc....
I shut my vertical blinds in my living room when doing a serious listening session - seems to free the treble up etc (obviously the reflections are not getting through to the window to be bounced off). Only problem is it goes dark!

Andy -

I guess there's a balance in every room. The more beanbags, rugs, sofas, learned tomes, voluptuous people, etc you have in a room the less 'zing' (i.e. reflections) and the deeper the bass, more focused the sound.

But if you go too far, the more subjectively 'lifeless' everything will sound.

The key thing may be to decide how to achieve the ideal balance for you and then to keep the room tidy in that context, because (as someone said earlier) the tidiness of a room has a definite effect on your perception of the music. That's why leaving old plates and cups, tissues, fag butts and beer cans all over the floor doesn't really count as 'room-damping'.

Or does it...

Tim

Tim,
LOL
Totally agree re room layout - furniture etc, especially large sofas etc