Favorite Budget Tweaks
zombie boy 2000
Posts: 6,641
I know these tend to be overly system dependent and one man's "budget" is another man's "fortune".
Just curious what some of you are doing or using that might not make it into your sigs. Or what items you're using besides the usual source/pre/amp/speakers/cables. Hearingimpaired had me thinking today about this sometimes neglected aspect of our hobby. One which offers so much enjoyment -- beyond shelling out more cash to upgrade an existing component.
One tweak I've recently done was courtesy of a Versalab woodblock virtually given away by Russ. For pennies on the dollar, I saw my noisefloor plummet along with improved detail and clarity. Again, very possibly system dependent in that my rig (most nobably my amp and preamp) tends to greatly exagerate emi/rfi interference.
Anyone else?
Just curious what some of you are doing or using that might not make it into your sigs. Or what items you're using besides the usual source/pre/amp/speakers/cables. Hearingimpaired had me thinking today about this sometimes neglected aspect of our hobby. One which offers so much enjoyment -- beyond shelling out more cash to upgrade an existing component.
One tweak I've recently done was courtesy of a Versalab woodblock virtually given away by Russ. For pennies on the dollar, I saw my noisefloor plummet along with improved detail and clarity. Again, very possibly system dependent in that my rig (most nobably my amp and preamp) tends to greatly exagerate emi/rfi interference.
Anyone else?
I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
Post edited by zombie boy 2000 on
Comments
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Some of my favorites:
- Cable management (minimizes noise/black background)
- Good IC's & speaker cables (can change tonal character)
- Experimenting w/speaker placement (better seperation, soundstaging, and imaging; enhance or reduce bass, etc.)
- Putting floorstanders on tile or concrete if you have carpet (tightens up bloaty bass)
- Brass cone feet and brass isolation weights on top of equipment (enhances midrange/treble articulation/reduces bloaty mid-bass)
- Cardas RCA unused inputs shorting caps on preamp (minimizes noise/blacker background)
Here's some I have NOT tried yet, but look interesting:
- Disconnecting headphone circuit from CD Player transport (suppose to reduce noise on some players)
- Shorting unused digital outs from CD Player (see above)
These are relatively cheap (some free) to do and have made an audible difference to these ears.
One tweak I think all audiophiles who integrate video in their system should have is a Mondial Magic ground isolator to isolate cable connections from the system (if applicable). $99 and worth every penny.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 -
Cardas RCA unused inputs shorting caps on preamp
What kind of improvements did you notice with these? I'm guessing a cleaner signal via less emi/rfi interference...I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore -
I think they contribute to the black background my system has.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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And brother.. that is the quest I am on. Like I mentioned, the Versalab dropped the noisefloor significantly, but there seems to be always room for improvement. Beyond switching my components (which though obviously the problem, are much loved), I would like to tackle this issue via tweaks.I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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I think cable management is THE big one. Buy a **** load of ty-wraps and start seperating everything, ac/IC's/speaker cable/digital IC's. I can turn on any source in my system, turn the volume all the way up, and unless you get right up on the speaker, you hear nothing. At my typical max volume (about 2 o'clock on the knob for my weakest input), you don't hear anything without putting your ear an inch from the tweeter---then you'll hear a very faint hiss.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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All I have really are two pairs of IC's -- one from source to pre, another from pre to amp. And of course, speaker cables. You're saying just "tie" the pairs together and attempt to distance them from the other pairs -- be it IC's or speaker cables, right?I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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Don't ty-wrap them unless they're close to touching one another--then ty-wrap loosely. The "rule" I use is if there is 6" of airspace between them, I leave it be. The big thing is keeping ac away from IC's, and keeping digital away from analog IC's. You can go to Rat Shack and buy some stick-on ty-wrap hold-downs that will assist when you need to route the cable a certain way.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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Gracias Steve:)I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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No problemSource: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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My favorite tweak is to pull a good draw from the keg.
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... or draw a good pull from the bottle.I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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Merlot seems to work very well for me_________________________________________________
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SOPAThank God for different opinions. Imagine the world if we all wanted the same woman -
That's a good idea, in fact I'm sure the music sounds better when I'm lit.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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If you have monitors, get speaker stands that can be filled with sand. the difference is amazing.
Move around your speakers to find their sweet-spot in the room. With each review, it continually amazes me how each speaker requires its own spot.Review Site_ (((AudioPursuit)))
Founder/Publisher Affordable$$Audio 2006-13.
Former Staff Member TONEAudio
2 Ch. System
Amplifiers: Parasound Halo P6 pre, Vista Audio i34, Peachtree amp500, Adcom GFP-565 GFA-535ii, 545ii, 555ii
Digital: SimAudio HAD230 DAC, iMac 20in/Amarra,
Speakers: Paradigm Performa F75, Magnepan .7, Totem Model 1's, ACI Emerald XL, Celestion Si Stands. Totem Dreamcatcher sub
Analog: Technics SL-J2 w/Pickering 3000D, SimAudio LP5.3 phono pre
Cable/Wires: Cardas, AudioArt, Shunyata Venom 3 -
Going balanced from pre to amp, yousa. I can jack the dial to max without any and I mean any noise, totally silent, now that is some equipment synergy.
Dave gave me a number of poor mans magic bricks for isolation I like those as well. And the good SteveAZ, Karma'd me some of the brass cones, i like those as well.
RT1 -
What about those mats that you place on top of the CD. Hearingimpaird had an **** with that tweak. Any one else tried it?Carl
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The Marigo Audio Signature 3-D Mat WORKS...
I'm not sure its a "budget" tweak" but Phil ( pearsall001 ) turned us on to it.
The tweak worked very well and I'm going to order it soon.
Joe (Hearingimpared) loves the CD mat. Maybe we should do a "tweak swap"... -
That mat costs two Franklins. But it does work. I'm going to get one.
One of my favorite budget tweaks is cleaning and de-oxidizing all of the connections. Usually two times a year I do a deep clean of the equipment with a micro dusting kit and go over all of the connections with Caig DeOxit and ProGold.
I like the shorting caps idea. For the big two channel rig. The HT would turn out to be expensive.:eek: -
I just added a few more "tweaks" to my rig. I wouldn't call them "budget" but they pay off big time in sonic changes all for the better. For my CJ tube preamp I now have it sitting on Mapleshade Ultimate Triplepoints & MS Heavyhat Triplepoints on top. This combination of these vibration control brass items has made a world of difference. Also for my amp I have a Shakti Stone on top to kill EMI/RFI pollution. Again a significant difference. I look at things long term. Equipment comes & goes usually at a loss, 'cause stereo gear really doesn't hold it's value. Once in a while you might come out ahead but it's rare. With these "tweaks" though they'll be around forever in my rig & will work with all new gear over the years. And yes the 3-D mat definetely does work. It was quite audible to Joe, Bill, Anthony & even my wife. Are we all nuts or what??? LOL!!!!"2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
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amulford wrote:I like the shorting caps idea. For the big two channel rig. The HT would turn out to be expensive.:eek:
Get those shorting plugs cheap here...
http://www.wallcoinc.com/Calrad_30_486_RCA_Shorting_Plug_Gold_p/wal22-30-486.htm
Use them ONLY on the inputs.
Here's a thread on audiocircle about shorting plugs....
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=29604.0HT/2-channel Rig: Sony 50 LCD TV; Toshiba HD-A2 DVD player; Emotiva LMC-1 pre/pro; Rogue Audio M-120 monoblocks (modded); Placette RVC; Emotiva LPA-1 amp; Bada HD-22 tube CDP (modded); VMPS Tower II SE (fronts); DIY Clearwave Dynamic 4CC (center); Wharfedale Opus Tri-Surrounds (rear); and VMPS 215 sub
"God grooves with tubes." -
I tried Herbie's grungebuster mat and didn't notice much of a difference (I had the previous version of the mat - not the new '07). PITA to keep clean imo.Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10 -
Dynamat in your gear. On a few of my pieces, to help kill some of the excess vibrations. You don't have to cover it, and make sure to leave the vents open.
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This is a great thread ZB how the heck did I miss it???? I have to read through it slowly.
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pearsall001 wrote:I just added a few more "tweaks" to my rig. I wouldn't call them "budget" but they pay off big time in sonic changes all for the better. For my CJ tube preamp I now have it sitting on Mapleshade Ultimate Triplepoints & MS Heavyhat Triplepoints on top. This combination of these vibration control brass items has made a world of difference. Also for my amp I have a Shakti Stone on top to kill EMI/RFI pollution. Again a significant difference. I look at things long term. Equipment comes & goes usually at a loss, 'cause stereo gear really doesn't hold it's value. Once in a while you might come out ahead but it's rare. With these "tweaks" though they'll be around forever in my rig & will work with all new gear over the years. And yes the 3-D mat definetely does work. It was quite audible to Joe, Bill, Anthony & even my wife. Are we all nuts or what??? LOL!!!!
A word of caution here. . .you can over tweak!!! The vibrations in my room are thunderous so tonight, I placed six sorbothane pods on top of my Spectral pre, 4 on top of its outboard power supply, and two on top of my Oppo, one right above where I estimated the disc would be spinning. . .THIS SOUNDED LIKE PURE MUD! The image was smeared the intricate inner detail gone, the soundstage depth & width gone, the bass and midrange were as muddy as mud can be and the overall sound quality was so bad that I thought I blew a couple of tweeters I jumped up to turn down the volume cause I was sure I blew an output transistor on one of the Adcoms. I quickly removed all of them and jumped back into my seat . . . all was well.
I've found that when I am going to try to A/B a tweak, I start with the tweak first then switch to normal.
It is said that our audio memory is very short. . . I don't buy that. It had been a long time since I heard good music on a good system and Phil's was it. I still, and Phil can back me up on this, remember every nuance and note and engineering feat that the Jazz at the Pawnshop disc and recording had to offer and I am truly hearing impared. I commented on what was missing when he first played it on his rig. . . then he put the Marigo mat on the disc and everything I complained about was fixed. -
steveinaz wrote:- Cardas RCA unused inputs shorting caps on preamp (minimizes noise/blacker background)
These (not the Cardas) shorting plugs used to come with all good preamps and integrated amps in the 60s & 70s up to around the mid 80s. . . the reason they disappeared . . . drumrolllllllllllllllllllll to save money, a shorting plug here a plastic speaker post there . . .when it became about the almighty dollar
well what's the use.
I've got a dozen or so of them in a bag somewhere, they probably aren't made of the same material as the Cardas but they do the job.
You can get some here. http://www.tweakshop.com/Shorting%20Plugs.html -
steveinaz wrote:I think cable management is THE big one. Buy a **** load of ty-wraps and start seperating everything, ac/IC's/speaker cable/digital IC's. I can turn on any source in my system, turn the volume all the way up, and unless you get right up on the speaker, you hear nothing. At my typical max volume (about 2 o'clock on the knob for my weakest input), you don't hear anything without putting your ear an inch from the tweeter---then you'll hear a very faint hiss.
Not for nothing but I told Antny Mulford around 6:30 last night that I can turn the volume on my Spectral to full volume with every up but idle and hear absolutely nothing, even when I put my good ear up to the tweeters zero hiss absolutely nothing. That has to do with three things. . . and you are right about cable management, good clean power and a great preamp.
EDIT: I stand corrected with my statement about ZERO hiss with the preamp turned all the way up. Antny was over today delivering my HT speakers and my CRSs, I set everything up line to idle and turned the preamp all the way up. We heard nothing out of the right four tweeters, we heard nothing out of the top three tweeters on the left but on the bottom tweeter on the left speaker we heard a very faint, barely audible buzzing like hissing sound, I mean you had to put your ear right up to the tweeter and listen for a bit to hear it. I don't know if that is a cap buzzing in the crossover or if I have an IC running parallel to a power cord but it is there and boy oh boy am I gonna have a hard time not obsessing over it even though what I have together is a rough draft of my rig. -
steveinaz wrote:Don't ty-wrap them unless they're close to touching one another--then ty-wrap loosely. The "rule" I use is if there is 6" of airspace between them, I leave it be. The big thing is keeping ac away from IC's, and keeping digital away from analog IC's. You can go to Rat Shack and buy some stick-on ty-wrap hold-downs that will assist when you need to route the cable a certain way.
One more important point here with wire. If an IC must be close to a power cord, that is, you have no choice, then make sure it is perpendicular (90 degrees) to the power cord.
Never run power cords parallel in close proximity to ICs or digital cables.
It's funny, I was driving down I 95 with my wife today from Philly (can't seen to stay out of that place) and I told her to listen to the radio interference when we got to the stretch of I 95 where the high tension power lines run parallel to the highway. . . the interference was awful. When we ran perpendicular, the interference was short because we crossed the plain of the high tension wire quickly. It is extremely noticable if you are play AM. This was one of those thing we learned in basic electronics back in tech school . . . a long, long, long time ago.:p -
By the way did I mention that I LOVE TWEAKS
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I'm of the opinion, ABSO EFFING LUTELY NOT!
Any turntable manufacturer worth its salt should have, as part of the design of the turntable, a record clamp. I wouldn't buy a turntable that didn't come with one. It should be against the law to sell them without one. It would be like selling the TT without a platter or selling a turntable that was connected with a piece of iron to your speakers.
That is how much of a difference that intregal part of a turntable makes to the design. Just my opinion. -
Budget tweak 101. . .find a nice clean brick, spray paint it black, wrap in plastic wrap, place on power amplifier. Class dismissed.
