How obessesed are you with the setting up your audio system components?

I have to come clean. I don't spend a lot of time setting up my audio equipment and fidgeting with getting it in order to get the maximum performance out of it . For example, take setting up a new cartridge, if it takes me more than, lets say 20 minutes to get it to sound good or great or whatever, it comes off. Speakers are a little different. I'll spend lets say 1/2 hour to an hour or so, if they don't sound good then they go back. But... having said that I already know where the Vandersteen's sound best in my room, and that's the only brand of speaker that I plan on purchasing. I have that speaker set pretty much nailed. If I were to demo another brand, I wouldn't spend hours getting them to sound great, I would play with them for an hour or so. As far as cables go, plug "em" in and listen to them over a month or so on my schedule, whatever it is at the time. But again, I don't obsess over it.
One of the questions is am I getting my money's worth out of my equipment, and my answer would be "yes." For me, the whole point of my system is to allow me to enjoy music, so far what I do works for me as I am not concerned about the last micron or nano bit of performance. I'm good with 85 to 90% performance based on what I "think" that it should be.

(slow Saturday, eyesight is rounding into shape.)

M~

 

Well, I am relentless rolling tubes until I get best sound. I am fussy about proper cartridge set up in my TT. I dust off my gear.

 

How long (generally speaking) does it take you to set up a cartridge?

M~

 

I'm . . . moderately obsessed. I love to just listen. . . but futzing with setup does lead to better sound. . .it goes in phases with me: futz. . . listen. . . futz. . . listen.

 

Not at all obsessed. Set and forget

 

@macster, compared to the equipment listed in your profile, I have a very minimalist system. My turntable and cartridge were a snap to setup and I rarely listen to records so it's fine. From there, it's all about speaker placement, and this was done years ago so I don't mess with it either.

 

I do think spending more time than you do may be worthwhile. Just for speakers themselves they could take many hours to break in. I think one hour is a bit too quick to make that decision.

But I get the idea that you don't wanna go too crazy. For my room my system has a place and I'm not going to rearrange the entire layout every time I try new gear thinking it may improve a little bit. But I definitely think it's worth moving things around (a few inches here and there) , playing with toe in, isolation, doing room treatments where appropriate and possible, etc.

 

My cartidge setup largely depends on the table and cart. If I'm familiar with both, it may take only an hour. There's been a few times that I've spent almost half a day on this task because I tend to get in "the zone" and lose track of time. Fine adjustment with VTA and azimuth can require quite a few listening trials.
I'm probably more OCD (I like to think "meticulous") than most here. That's served me well in my professional life, not so much in relationships.

As for speakers, I typically allow them a couple weeks or more to sing to me. I like to give them a fair shake by experimenting with placement and partnering gear. I find that most need at least a week of break-in before one can get a complete understanding of their capabilities. Even so, It seems some speakers undergo changes for months. This is not to say that I'll buy gear that sounds terrible in a showroom.

Overall, I find the time and energy pays considerable dividends. I'd guess that approximately 30% of my system's performance is attributable to fine tuning and experimentation. This is why I recently decided to give cables another go despite being a skeptic.

 

I spent all day on Jan 3 with Q-tips and DeOxit cleaning *every* interconnect cable, power cable, speaker cable and their counterpart component connectors.

I have a spreadsheet of all my system configuration settings, and I did up a Powerpoint file documenting my system interconnection diagram.

 

About 20 minutes to set up cartridge & measure with electronic scale the tracking weight in grams. There is not really that much work. Set overhang, make sure cartridge is square in head shell, level side to side and measure VTA. My tone arm has fixed VTA, but with last four cartridges VTA is correct. All the cartridges required is that the tone arm is level. if it is off a fraction of a degree I do not believe it impairs sound.

 

Your a sick man

 

I know, I need help.

 

More of a set and forget guy myself. I did spend a couple of hours once trying tow-in and different placements of the speakers but arrived at the conclusion where I had them already was best. Other component placement, other than keeping all cables clear of one another, is irrelevant to any sonic gain. Take apart and clean once a year and put back together is about it.

 

I'm somewhat obsessive when I first set it up: turntable perfectly level, cartridge aligned, interconnects parallel, power cables kept distant, etc. After that, I don't fuss with it unless something breaks.

 

You said it better than me.. but that’s me.

 

kind of. which is why mine dont het much use, im afraid to use it, thinking it will last longer. or like my other numerous amps, when turned on, there goes the POP noise, and damn, the for another amp with no money to buy one,
i think i look and admire mine more than i even use it.

record player gets ortofon and stanton carts, only DJ use ones, as i like the much higher output, the bass, the crisp highs they have, i tried others, but the sound was so soft i dint like it.
i use plug and play concord ones ONLY, as they are easier,
level TT, set Skate , recheck level, all the time, always listen for a static on either channel and adjust skate accordingly.

no i dont buy into the 5K power cable muck, or the 7500 silver cables with bee wax and liquid magical olioxiunimum as a outer corer RFI refractor beamed down by Scotty and James kirk.

i love stereos, but funds and basic knowledge of what is snake oil, and all the useless jargon are bypassed by common sense.

if it sounds good, stay with it

 

This is like a tell all AA (audiophile anonymous) thread. I like it!
Sick suckas

 

I used to be into futzing, but as I get older and stiffer it is becoming more difficult.

I had my cart setup by a professional, which is worth it for me.

My last set of speakers were delivered and an expert from the shop came by a couple of times to set and adjust them. So, I didn't have much to do.

Lately, I have been working on noise floor reduction. I added some platforms and it did take some time to install them. I enjoy the results, but my room is small and things get pretty tight and difficult to move around.

If I had plenty of space behind my components and an equipment rack that didn't require getting down to floor level, I might be more into futzing with wires and such.

I totally understand where macster is coming from, though.

 

I spend some hours. It takes me a while to evaluate and suss out weaknesses of any solution. All cartridges are a bit different. Some are easier to sight than others, but I usually start early in the morning and recheck a couple of times before the first spin. Speaker alignment? It took me about a year and a half last time.

 

This is a major project for me...hours to complete. I doubt many people do this. So, Dave your not that much a set it and forget it guy.

 

I don’t futz unless I buy a new component. Maybe very 5 years? I recently added an Oppo 205 and removed an Oppo 93. I used that time to clean out the cabinets. Reconnect everything. Clean off the power strip and power chords. All my wires are not visible and it’s a bit of work to redo it all. (takes all day) so once every couple years is good enough for me.

I run a 2009 Mac mini server setup and that is probably the next to go for me since it turns 10 next year. I’m eyeing an Aurender unit. After that I told myself no more change outs until I invest in new speakers. They were bought in 2000! It’s time I move on!

 

i only take apart my TT and remove the spindle assembly, disassemble , wipe, clean, fresh oil, back together, and im good for a few years, adding 1/2 drop oil every year. last dme 30 years, and still rocking out !

 

As I get older, I obsess less and less about pretty much everything. When I purchased my VPI Scout from Soundstage Direct, I had them mount the Ortofon 2M Blue. I have a 2M Black coming from MassDrop. When I switch it over, I’ll probably just put some pencil marks on the headshell to denote where the screws line up on the Blue, and use those as a guide to mount the 2M Black. If it sounds good, I’m done.

(To be totally honest, I was thinking of keeping the 2M Blue cartridge mounted and just switch the needles. Call me lazy! Problem is, I won’t be able to tell if the Black cartridge sounds noticeably better unless I actually swap it over.).

 

Ok, I'm having a problem finding this right now but I know I read that the Red/Blue and Orange/Black are interchangeable but not Red-Blue/Orange-Black. The internal workings of the cartridge body are different.

 

True