Best bang for the buck upgrade you ever did was-

Tim

If you don't mind a small suggestion, you may try putting small sand bags on the top of each ceiling tile to hold them in place. If you turn your music up loud frequently, the ceiling tiles may move a little up and down as the speakers move a lot of air.

A small sand bag like kids play with in kindergarten (bean bags?) will hold each tile in place and stop any 'flexing' of the ceiling. I heard this improvement in a suspended ceiling like yours back in about 1992 and I was impressed by the change. Cleaner transients and a little better focus to the sound. Cheap tweak : )

 

Called Con Ed to complain about brown outs and power fluctuations. The lineman came out worked on the power line in front of my house for a few hours. Bingo, huge improvements. I don't know what he did but he confirmed there were problems at the connection. Even some of the neighbors commented on the changes.

 

Don,
I really investigated the tiles before I purchased them. They are twice as heavy as the previous type. They are Glacier made by USG.
So what are listening to that you are blowing the roof off the house?!!!
Tim

 

I know that it sounds funny, as though I have a PA system blasting at 130 db, but it was actually at a dealer that I learned this. She kept fiddling with one of her listening rooms. Audio Research solid state amp feeding an Audio Research tube preamp, which was fed by a Theta DAC/Transport combo. All of this went to a pair of ATC SCM20 stand mount two way speakers. They are very clean and will play quite loud, but I don't think that we got beyond 90-95 db.

Over the years I have tweaked my setup for best sonics as well as quite a few friends and family members. I have read up on everything from the book on Acoustics by F. Alton Everest, to information on webpages by Cardas and ASC Tube Traps. I have had the most success with the classic live end/dead end and rule of thirds systems. In her demo room, we had the chance to listen to the setup before and after all of the little bean bags/sand bags were placed on top of the ceiling tiles (like you she had used the best ceiling tile that she could find). Because the tiles weren't moving up and down - however small that may be - there was much better clarity and focus. Just like a photograph that is truly in focus versus one that is slightly soft. In my experience it is the same as having a bunch of other speakers in the same room. Every time the speakers in use are pushing out, the others are being pushed in and damping the bass. It becomes softer and less distinct.

You may find that it doesn't make any difference in your room, but I would be surprised by that. It was a cheap and effective upgrade when I heard it. I personally would buy the little bean bags from a teacher's store : )

 

VPI 16.5 Record Cleaner, hands down.

 

SCE Harmonic Recovery System.

 

I worked in a stereo shop from 1994 to 2000. I knew that I wanted a pair of killer speakers that I would build into a poor man's surround system. The owner had an established second hand business and I fell in live with many speakers until I found out how expensive the matching center and surrounds would be.

I ended up buying a pair of $180 Paradigm Atom v.2 main speaker. My price was probably $90. I still use them every day along with the matching $200 center and $430 dipole surrounds. With identical woofers and tweeter every possible audio source sounds great. In 17 years I've never been bit by the upgrade bug.

 

Sound treatments. Specifically, corner bass traps. The first line of defense when placing large speakers in a small room.

 

My HDMI equipped Pioneer Elite SC-25 was on the nick, scratch and dent shelf for $550, or about 1/3 of the original price. Not exactly cheap but that receiver's superb construction and MCACC room correction combined with a $99 SACD/DVD-Audio player makes for a very distracting listen.

 

My Jungson JA88D-09 amp.

 

Building single point source speakers and having a modified Dynaco ST70. No crossover(though my first set had a notch filter) in a TQWT cabinet which was so simple to build. Set up properly, which was easy to identify, it had the best imaging and soundstaging I had experienced. For me, it was the first major and best move up I did. The speakers weren't expensive to build and the Dynaco amp was a jump in price for me but not expensive. Listening to Billie Holiday, Lady in Satin at 2:00 AM was such an intimate experience. Both are gone now due to the room I have but I have plans to bring back another single speaker set.

But for free I would say speaker placement the best bang regardless of buck.

 

For stylus or vinyl?

 

I was thinking for the stylus, but I've had some moderate success "buffing out" noisy passages and various non-scratch noise issues on certain records.

 

Products:
Black diamond cones under my DAC
Dedicated ground rod with an isolated ground

Effort:
Speaker placement
Playing with footer placement

 

The last one I did. ATS Acoustic Foam Monitor Isolation Pads to isolate my speakers from the desk they're sitting on. Made a big difference in midrange clarity having some kind of isolation between the speakers and the desk they're sitting on. They were $10/pair. http://www.atsacoustics.com/foam-monitor-isolation-pads.html I think ATS is kind of like Forum favorite "Markertek" in that they cater to the pro market pretty much exclusively.

 

Finding that the Arcam Delta 290 integrated amp I purchased in near perfect condition(used) had a terrific factory fitted phono stage that comfortably out performs anything else I have tried in the "budget" range.

 

Sand in speaker stands

 

I wouldn't call that a "best bang for the buck" unless your including the price of the speakers, as positioning and experimentation should be done as part of the speaker purchase and set-up.

 

Behringer DCX2496 electronic crossover
After trying a second unit, and spending 2 frustrating days of programming it to use a Janis subwoofer

 

Going from active preamp to passive.

 

Times change, moods change, one's hearing changes over time as we age. And nothing is set in stone.

 

Buying a Pro Ject Tube Box S to tame my Dual 1019. Although I love this turntable for its slam and atack the bass was overbearing and it made my speakers sound somewhat boxy. Now with some Psvane 12 AX 7 tubes the soundstage openend up rather dramatically and the bass is still there but tight...couldn´t be more happier.

 

I'm using a set of Psvanes in my Tube Box DS. They did wonders, great tubes.

 

Recently I spent about $100 on a measurement-grade microphone (UMIK-1) and developed EQ filters for my two listening rooms using REW software. Having a Squeezebox-based system I can use SoX to equalize signal at my server before sending out to the player. Each player (in my home: Touch, Radio, or piCorePlayer) can have its own filter set. Both rooms ended up with 4 broad (< 5.0q) parametric EQ points set for +/- 4dB or less of gain. It pushed something I already thought sounded pretty good just a little bit further along.

https://www.minidsp.com/applications/acoustic-measurements/umik-1-setup-with-rew
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/rew-forum/66606-rew-eq-filters-sox-fir.html
http://convolver.sourceforge.net/ -> Another approach

 

Bit fat dots