tweaks....

TroyD

OK guys, meestercleef brought up a good point, tweaks....

What are some of you guys favorite tweaks?


BDT

tonyv1

On my folks Sears console stereo (1963), 3 pennies taped on the tonearm for superior playback. Yes, they still have that thing only it supports family pictures.

RuSsMaN

Ahhh, the greatness of the console rig....

Good memories, thanks for the reminder....

Cheers,
Russ

tonyv1

I replaced the attached AC cord on my buddy's NAD 2700 amp with an IEC receptacle. He's using a custom AC cord that I also bulit for him. Next project is replacing the AC cord on his Adcom 555 II amp with another IEC receptacle.
All my AC power cords are home brew. Using 12 AWG shielded Belden cord and Hubbell hospital grade plugs.

nascarmann

Not sure if this is one, but it works for me. A pint of Seagrams and a six pack seams to make the music sound more detailed?:D OK, that's not one but here's something that I did do once. Cut out a thick peice of cardboard and taped it between the two speaker terminals. Someone or something I read said it would cut down on iterferrence:rolleyes: Well, didn't seam to make a difference?So, go ahead and get a big laugh Russman!:p

KING CRAZY

gidrah

I haven't TWEAKED in awhile, but a new Bic and some ice cubes works wonders for both audio and visual.

Seriously though, between working on a swing shift, 18mo daughter, general laziness and procrastination, I suck. Someday I'll replace the wires inside my speakers. Maybe crossover improvements, but I doubt it. I give all connections an occasional spay and scrub. Wash my LPs. I swear that when I remove and clean my knobs my system sounds better. Then again, when I wax the car it suddenly has more HP.

If anybody knows crossover improvements for 10Bs let me know. Maybe this will get my **** moving.

nascarmann

Then again, when I wax the car it suddenly has more HP.

Guess what? You are making a joke, but in reality you are closer to the truth than you realize. When you wax you car you eliminate drag. Back about 30 years ago I went to Talladega with my dad and uncle (who was freind with Harry Gant) and after Harry has the car setup right and had posted his best speeds, they waxed his car and went back out and ran if I can remember for sure, I think about 8 miles an hour faster? These were the Late Model Sportsman car then (Busch Series now) and the speads were in the 180 mph range, but this might be off a bit? So, you really might not feel the difference, but there is a little difference? Just a little store from my childhood!

KING NASCAR

mantis

God No Tweaker just Jokers,
Doesn't anyone Tweak there system???I wa expecting some good Tweaks when I started reading this Post.
Ok I will go first with some of my favorite Tweaks.........
My favorite tweak is speaker positioning.You can change the entire way the speaker sounds by moving it.Finding that sweat spot and rubbing it untill it shines.
Wire is another one of my favorite tweaks,they change the sound in alot of ways.
I can let you guys in on a little secret tweak that can work wonders for your system and won't cost you a dime(well you can send your checks to me,I will gladly except payment for my service....LOL)
There is on most speakers carpet spikes,or if you use bookshelf,spikes on the stands.
1)Level both speakers from front to back and side to side of the speaker.
2)sit and listen how they sound.
3)raise up the front of the speakers slighty with the adjustable spikes to tilt the level just off level from front to back but not side to side.
4) listen again.
Sound different????I should,you can find a new level of Image and depth with this Tweak,you have to experiment alot before you find the correct height of lift in the front.Moving the speaker from toe in and toe out also helps in conjuction with this Tweak.You got to play with it for a long time,youll find your sweatspot,when you do ,you won't believe the difference.

madmax

Open up your CD player and cut out those nasty little current limiting resistors between the power supply and circuitry. They are normally 3 to 15 ohms or so and protect the rest of the circuit in case of a bad component malfunction. Not generally a fire hazard, just enough protection in case a part goes bad to protect the rest of the parts. This is one I want to try.
madmax

RuSsMaN

MM, that tweek is right along the lines of what some have done to turn the $100 Teac 5 disk changer into what they say will compare to $500+ units....

I get antsy at the thought of hosing perfectly good gear though....

Cheers,
Russ

madmax

There are a lot of tweaks like that but you really need an o-scope and to be able to check operation before and after the mod was made to know if you made a reasonable and safe decesion. Lets face it, if you remove the limit resistors and prevent any sag but introduce more HF noise then you really have not done anything other than make your equipment more vulnerable to problems.
madmax

[Deleted User]

Hello,
This is not a new idea, by any means, but I believe cleaning CDs and DVDs with Rain-X really improves the sound on CDs and the picture and sound on DVDs. For those readers who have not heard of this, Rain-X is a product developed, originally, for aircraft windshields. Since these windshields are made of thick polycarbonate plastic this product was to allow the pilot to see better in inclement weather, getting the rain drops to move out of the way faster. Eventually it became a popular item for people to put on their car's windshields and get similar results. Probably about ten or so years ago discussions about using it with CDs and Laser Discs started going around. You'll need 100% cotton balls and a small bottle of Rain-X. Place a few drops around the circumference of the disc and, using small circular motions, cover the playing side(s) of the CD or DVD. Then with a second cotton ball begin buffing the surface, here again small circles. There have been times when a rented DVD will start skipping and breaking up, I use the Rain-X treatment and the skipping stops (this is, of course, assuming there isn't a scratch, but some kind of smudge on the disc) and the picture looks better.
If the plastic coating, on CDs or DVDs, is more optically transparent the laser can better read the pits on the substrate. Also the light has to make a round trip, it goes through the plastic reflects off of the coating and comes back through the plastic. Try it and see what you notice.
Regards, Ken

RuSsMaN

100% 'lint free' cotton balls or pads there Ken.....

What is your thoughts on the validity of the 'black marker' tweek on cds? Running it around the inside and outter rim.... I say black marker, I have seen kits costing $100+ that seem to be no more than a cheap marker and a 'template'.

Cheers,
Russ

TroyD

you suppose that's how Fabio cleans the KFC and vaseline smudges of his **** dvd's??

BDT

cletusmcgee

One of my faves is putting very lightly inflated 12" or smaller inner tubes underneith equipment. Turntables with poor isolation will beneift like crazy to this (kills bass feedback). Works well on subs too as isolating the sub from the floor keeps the vibration from travelling thru the floor and causing those annoying extraneous vibrations. however, some may not like the last one as it tends to reduce your feeling of the vibration because it isn't being transmitted through the floor and your couch/chair to your ****...

Ron-P

Slate Rock under speakers
Toe in mains
High beer consumption
Dedicated AC line

Basically all the (2-channel) tweaks I've done so far.


Peace Out~:D

[Deleted User]

Hello Russ,
I haven't noticed much problem with lint, using cotton balls, they are so inexpensive that you can toss a couple away and not accumulate much lint. The first tweak, concerning CDs, I tried was a green Magic Marker around the edge of the disc. On some really bad sounding early CDs I felt there was an improvement, but it didn't seem to apply to all CDs. Then there was the CD Light product that applied a flat green border to the edge. My problem with that was that it would flake off and I would find small green paint flakes on the CD drawer when I would take the disc out. Needless to say, I didn't think that was too cool. At around that time, CDs started sounding better, less strident in high frequency response so I didn't pursue any other green pen products. Another CD tweet was a flat inert disc that was placed on top of the CD when you put it in the drawer. I don't believe I felt that accomplished very much, probably different CD transports benefited more than others. But, the Rain-X has remained a significant improvement, here again different discs in different players might not notice as much change as others. One of the "tests" I have noticed is to look at your reflection in the CD, hold it up like a mirror and notice how clear your face looks. Then use the Rain-X and look again, to me the image seems bigger, don't ask me how the image could be larger, but I swear it seems bigger and more "mirror-like". The cotton balls should be used instead of the "man-made" fiber versions, if I didn't mention it.
Ken

TroyD

look at Russ puffing up trying to call a brotha out on the cotton balls.....

Then Ken coming right back to slap that **** back down.

Priceless, I tell ya.

BDT

RuSsMaN

I was hacking on ya with the Lint free issue, but I've found that anytime you get 100% lint free, you get 100% cotton. Sorta like with alcohol, I won't use anything but 99% Isopropyl (a lot of stores sell 80%), evaporates the fastest, with the least residue or film.... (found this to combo to work best for optic sensors in meter-reading devices)

Thanks for the info, sounds like something worth trying (rain-x). Heck, if it doesn't do anything for me, I'll throw it on the wife's windshield....

Cheers,
Russ

Troy, I've been testing cotton balls and alcohol out of (and on) my **** for years. Do you have hard data? DO YOU KNOW???? Want to TRY ME? ASK ME!!!

TroyD

Like friggin' Ray (Rain Man) Babbit over there....

Uh-oh, 5 mins to Wapner...

Definately lint free cotton balls, definately lint free.....

Yeah, KMart alcohol sucks.

BDT

Ron-P

If any thing brings a tear to me eye it's the thought of alcohol on my ****.


Peace Out~:D

mantis

I can't even mess with that post.You got me at a loss.(hold on I got to catch my breath from laughing).................................
ok
I got to get my Cotton Balls on and test my ****.

I will post back my results better or worse.

I will also have to look in those higher end Cotton Ball stores for the good ones.Anyone reccomend a place to start???Now that Kmart seems like a bad place to start.:D

rskarvan

Regarding tweaks for Monitor 10's.
I've heard that changing out the SL2000 tweeter for an SL3000 will improve the sound. I believe this too.
I have the SL2500's in my Monitor10 series 2 and they don't
sound as crisp/nice as the SL3000's in my SRS SDA 3.1TL's.
However, if you put in SL3000's (which, are currently out of stock at polk), I believe it is necessary to change a capacitor in the cross-over. If only Polk would post the necessary instructions for this tweeter upgrade.... Sigh.

Another tweak for the Monitor 10's would be to "SDA-ize" them.
I think that these speakers (by nature of their booby-driver arrangement) would be very easy to make into an SDA speaker with a little x-over work. I've read that people have done this with good results - and, I wouldn't mind trying it myself. But, lack of fundamental knowledge keeps me from altering them. Now, if somebody else tried it and posted his successful results - I'd be happy to duplicate his efforts. <hint, hint>