Damn A Tweak!!

Early B.
Early B. Posts: 7,900
edited September 2007 in 2 Channel Audio
Have you guys ever made some tweaks to your system and they sounded great for a while, but on some songs (even songs on the same CD), the pre-tweaked system sounded better? Then you end up in this endless twilight zone of tweaking in order to fix the problems that led to the last tweak. And you finally come to the conclusion that if you had left your system alone 8 tweaks ago, it would have sounded better than it does now. But, of course, you continue tweaking, and eventually realize that you have no idea what good music is supposed to sound like anymore, so you sell some gear that you said you never sell and buy some more of the same ****, and the cycle repeats itself. Ever done that?

OK, I realize this is nothing new. Just ranting about. And don't tell me to just sit back and enjoy my music. I'm a incorrgible tweaker and I ain't attending those damn Tweakers Anonymous classes.
HT/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."
Post edited by Early B. on
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Comments

  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited September 2007
    Been there, annoying as hell.

    The REAL culprit of many, many frustrating listening sessions is the source material. As soon as you tweak for one recording to sound good another suffers. It's endless and can be extremely frustrating.

    I am constantly at the mercy of that little round reflective disc and what the authors decide to put on it. :(

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited September 2007
    I just bouhgt a $4500 dollar set of speakers after declaring 2 months ago that I had hit liquid with my Lsi15s. Hi. My name's Mike and I'm a tweaker.
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  • Yashu
    Yashu Posts: 772
    edited September 2007
    Yes.
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited September 2007
    The first step to salvation is admitting you have a problem :mad:

    I don't have no problems with upgraditus and tweakitus :eek:
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited September 2007
    two days ago my SDA 2B's sounded sweet and smooth and balanced.. now the left channel sounds louder than the right.. and the sound is way off.. I haven't really done any tweaking, they just sound like crap now.. what the hell is going on?

    So for two days i've been trying to recapture what good sounds... and nothing is working out right. I hate this.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited September 2007
    Yep that is a real pain in the ballinis. Ted gave me a suggestion that I've followed religiously. I make a change, I don't say anything about it, I just listen for at least one full week. If I like it, it stays, if I'm not sure, give it exactly one more week. With this philosophy, I've staved off the initial WOW factor and have really settled down and confidently kept some things and dumped others.

    At one point I had so many upgrades and updates going that I was telling some of the local Polkies that by the time all the **** in my rig burned in I would be 60 years old, that's eight years.
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited September 2007
    hearingimpared wrote: »
    Yep that is a real pain in the ballinis. Ted gave me a suggestion that I've followed religiously. I make a change, I don't say anything about it, I just listen for at least one full week. If I like it, it stays, if I'm not sure, give it exactly one more week. With this philosophy, I've staved off the initial WOW factor and have really settled down and confidently kept some things and dumped others.

    At one point I had so many upgrades and updates going that I was telling some of the local Polkies that by the time all the **** in my rig burned in I would be 60 years old, that's eight years.

    For this reason I never introduce more than I new thing into the system.. add something.. listen for a couple weeks.. add or remove something... that way you aren't left to wonder which thing had the most positive impact. ;);)
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • Early B.
    Early B. Posts: 7,900
    edited September 2007
    heiney9 wrote: »
    The REAL culprit of many, many frustrating listening sessions is the source material. As soon as you tweak for one recording to sound good another suffers. It's endless and can be extremely frustrating.

    I am constantly at the mercy of that little round reflective disc and what the authors decide to put on it. :(

    Amen, brother. Blame it on the music.

    In fact, the effectiveness of most "upgrades" are at the mercy of the source material. We control the gear, but we have no control over the source material. The best we can do is find "audiophile-quality" recordings, but that's limited and does not include a sufficient number titles for all genres.
    HT/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."
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited September 2007
    This is why you want to determine a tweaks success by playing a LOT of different music, not just the stuff that sounds the best currently. You normally end up giving up that last bit of perfection on the best sounding recordings to make everything else sound a little (sometimes a lot) better.
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • Early B.
    Early B. Posts: 7,900
    edited September 2007
    madmax wrote: »
    This is why you want to determine a tweaks success by playing a LOT of different music, not just the stuff that sounds the best currently.

    Agreed.

    I'll add that, if possible, do several A/B tests, going back and forth between different types of music. Otherwise, you can quickly forget what you liked about the pre-tweaked sound and get swept away by the "newer and better" sound.
    HT/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."
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited September 2007
    Just a shot in the dark Early, but could this have anything to do with a certain pair of new speaker cables?
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • Early B.
    Early B. Posts: 7,900
    edited September 2007
    treitz3 wrote: »
    Just a shot in the dark Early, but could this have anything to do with a certain pair of new speaker cables?

    Partly. But I'm mainly referring to an IC that I changed out. Sounds great and I have no regrets, it's just that some songs sounded better on the pre-tweak. This form of buyer's remorse typically occurs after most tweaks anyway. No big deal. It siomply reminds me that no audio system in the world will give you everything you want with each song you listen to.
    HT/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."
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited September 2007
    You may want to look at the songs listed on the album you are listening to. Many songs are not recorded in the same session so there may be some engineering and/or mixing changes done.
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited September 2007
    Early B. wrote: »
    It simply reminds me that no audio system in the world will give you everything you want with each song you listen to.
    Unfu(kingfortunately!!!:mad:

    I have been known to tweak my rig for a half an hour+ just to hear one song or an album the way I like. Next song/album......it starts all over again. It's frustrating, but I deal with it........

    And it's worth it!:D
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • Ern Dog
    Ern Dog Posts: 2,237
    edited September 2007
    To complicate matters worse, I find that my mood or state of mind has lots to do with my listening enjoyment. When I'm in the zone, everything sounds good and I'm blown away how good it sounds and when my mind is distracted then my rig just doesn't hit the spot. I'm usually floating inbetween these extremes.
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited September 2007
    Ern Dog wrote: »
    To complicate matters worse, I find that my mood or state of mind has lots to do with my listening enjoyment. When I'm in the zone, everything sounds good and I'm blown away how good it sounds and when my mind is distracted then my rig just doesn't hit the spot. I'm usually floating inbetween these extremes.

    I have the same problem. I can tell right away when it is going sour too; I start looking for something to read or start pulling at the wedgie that is forming, crossing my legs, recrossing my legs, oh yeah the symptoms are real.
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  • Music Joe
    Music Joe Posts: 459
    edited September 2007
    madmax wrote: »
    This is why you want to determine a tweaks success by playing a LOT of different music, not just the stuff that sounds the best currently. You normally end up giving up that last bit of perfection on the best sounding recordings to make everything else sound a little (sometimes a lot) better.

    x2

    With enough time you get an overall sense of something(s)
    added ,subtracted, loosened, tightened, warmed or brightened.
    Pouring a large amount of music through is a perfect all angles approach.
    "The Web is a monoblog"
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