Most unexpected sound improvement

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Andy Pandy, Apr 8, 2021.

  1. Tourswede

    Tourswede Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin
    Sorry I think I missed replying to this.

    We live in an apartment building about 100 years old. Old floors. I thought I had isolated the hifi shelves pretty well but heavy footing near the hifi would very occasionally make the needle jump. Rare but one day thought I’d go to the trouble and mount the tt to wall. It cleaned up the sound presentation a lot. Tighter bass, it seemed, as well as better separation of instruments etc. I really thought for 30 euro it was a really great surprise. I still use the same wall bracket but with different tt.
     
  2. Nakamichi

    Nakamichi The iceage is coming....

    Location:
    St199nf
    Thankyou.
     
  3. Tourswede

    Tourswede Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin
    I know it’s a cliche but it really made everything seem less muddy. And probably because of being less muddy it appeared there was pace also. Rhythm improved, somehow. Vague perhaps but 100% positive.
     
    Nakamichi likes this.
  4. bluesky

    bluesky Senior Member

    Location:
    south florida, usa

    To me:

    LPs have the natural life-like sound, the " YEAH - BASH " feeling! Like a live concert.

    CDs are accurate.
     
    bever70 likes this.
  5. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I get real impressed when I turn up the Volume.... :cheers:
     
    Reesdog, Micke Lindahl and bever70 like this.
  6. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    I aways use incandescent bulbs in or audio rooms.
    LED's can be turned off if you have to have them in audio area's.
     
    Sneaky Pete likes this.
  7. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    Were you using a good CD player. I've found the sound very close with a great CD spinner. Different but close in sonic excellence.
     
  8. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Yes, a Sony XA 777ES. The TT is a vintage Dual 1229. Edit: I think I was using the Dual 1219 at the time, I obtained the 1229 later.

    Maybe it's all in the mastering. :) The point is that the CD mastering isn't horrible, it's fine, nothing to drive you to leap for the STOP or EJECT button.
     
    Sneaky Pete and Tim 2 like this.
  9. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    Interesting Gary.
    I used to compare my Ayre DX-5 to my last turntable a S.M.E. 30/12, (about $45,000CDN) the difference was hardly worth mentioning on most recordings. But as you say the mastering can make all the difference. :righton:
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021
    LakeMountain and Gary like this.
  10. G E

    G E Senior Member

    cardas clear beyond power cables on Bryston 28’s

    massive improvement.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  11. doctor fuse

    doctor fuse Forum Resident

    That's an original Dustbug, I do believe. I bought a very good CEC BD2000 turntable for $30, mostly to get the Bug.

    I like it a lot, it works well, as my place gets a bit dusty in the colder months with a forced air furnace and a cat and me being lazy with the vacuum.
     
    Jim0830 likes this.
  12. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

    Several months ago I purchased a set of Virtue Audio Nirvana speaker cables here in the classifieds. In my set up I have the receiver (Fisher 800 C or Pioneer SX-850) connected to my subwoofer, and then have a run of speaker wire out of about 12 ft. I had been using Monoprice 12AWG wire, and thought it sounded good. When I’d replaced some 16AWG wire with the MP12 long ago, there was a noticeable improvement.

    I had purchased the Virtue Audio Nirvana wire on a whim. I needed the length, the price was good, reviews online were positive, and I thought I might improve on the Monoprice.

    I was stunned when I first heard music with the new cables. The sound was much bigger, with greater dynamic range and clarity. I was so impressed, and so happy I’d purchased them. Much of my shock was that I had only replaced the sub out wire, the amp to sub was still the Monoprice. I decided I definitely ought to find another run of the VAN cables. The manufacturer sells through US Audiomart, but has never responded to my inquiries, no luck thus far.

    I wound up buying a run of Kimber Kable 4PR for the first run. They were selling demo wire at great prices on Ebay. With the KK wire in place the sound improved further, but not as dramatically as with the VAN installation. I’m still on the lookout for another set, no doubt one will turn up at some point.

    Another dramatic change occurred recently when I switched out a Niles line selector for one by Ebay seller Eric Yam in Hong Kong. The Niles had been the only line selector I had tried that didn’t cause the loss of the tube sonics from my Icon Audio phono stage and Lector CD player, and I had been happy with it. I read about the Eric Yam products in a recent thread on passive line stages, and found his Ebay listings. The 5 input line selector I bought sells for $99 with 2 outputs, he also sells a 6 input version with one output, and a 3 input/ 2 output with volume control.

    The unit was delivered from Hong Kong in about one week. As with the speaker wire switch, once again I was a bit shocked at how much better the sonics were. Everything improved overall, and I realized the Niles unit had been seriously impairing the tonal range my components were capable delivering. Once the Eric Yam unit was in place I generally needed less application of tone adjustments than I was used to. I love having tone controls and wouldn’t live without them, but the better the gear is, and I usually need less adjustment.
     
  13. Jim0830

    Jim0830 Forum Resident

    Thanks. I thought that looked familiar. Back in the day I had one of those and I couldn't remember what it was called. I was hoping it was still being made. Three years ago when I returned to playing records I tried to find something like that and I couldn't. No one seems to make one like it. Plenty of sweeps with the brush like affair, but that little furry roller seemed to pick up even more of the dust than the brush did. Also it kept the sweep from tracking too fast.
     
    doctor fuse likes this.
  14. doctor fuse

    doctor fuse Forum Resident

    If you have any local craigslist type websites, keep your eye on the cheap turntabls, you might find one with a Dustbug on it! Good luck hunting down the Bug!
     
  15. Ted Torres Jr

    Ted Torres Jr Synergistic Maximus

    Location:
    SE LA
    "Toeing out" my speakers -5 degrees from zero toe-in...see HERE!!! o_O

    Ted
     
    The FRiNgE likes this.
  16. Ted Torres Jr

    Ted Torres Jr Synergistic Maximus

    Location:
    SE LA
    It's been 3-4 years since I installed high quality 24k banana plug connectors on my monitor 10ga speaker wires. Last week, decided to check for any corrosion...none found! HOWEVER, after re-hooking up the speakers, my soundstage opened up substantially, gaining considerable depth and height in the soundstage and the stand mount monitors (Ascend Sierra-2EX) completely disappeared in this larger soundstage!!

    Image focus, detail and holographic presentation increased another order of magnitude and "suspension of disbelief" became more solidified!! Guess I'll start performing this "maintenance check" on an Annual Basis!!! :cool:

    Ted
     
  17. LeBud

    LeBud Born to be mild

    Location:
    Ottawa
    The Analogue Productions re-issue of Holly Cole Trio's Temptation ?
    I was listening to it as I read your post and it's the first thing that jumped to mind... it's one of the best sounding LP's I own.
     
  18. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Could be your speakers have wider dispersion... as then toeing them out causes less interaural crosstalk to the opposite ear. Stereo reproduction operates differently than acoustic sounds in the "natural world". The sound of the dog barking, or cat asking for dinner, we detect and process time differential and almost instantly turn our heads to the exact angle to the direction of the sound. This is an amazing ability, and wonder of nature that we (and many animals) are so sensitive to differentials in milliseconds and can process it in a few milliseconds with precision, and repeated performance.

    But stereo does not do that, since the sounds of stereo do not emanate from one point source. We have two, which are supposed to recreate the illusion of time differential, and direction in air space. In the natural world, we do not have interaural crosstalk... it works FOR us that the opposing ear receives the (point source) incidental sound later than the near one. In stereo reproduction, this works against.... at least against from the same speaker. The left speaker is (supposed to) direct the the left ear, the right speaker to the right ear. But, this isn't what occurs, at least at varying degrees, depending on speaker dispersion pattern, and speaker/ listener location.

    Stereo is "fussy"!

    When we have a close to ideal speaker setup, the opposing ear should hear LESS of the near speaker, in other words, the right ear should hear less of the left speaker. The more the opposing ear receives from the speaker, the more interaural crosstalk we have. In the world of stereo reproduction, the most convincing soundfield will be from a more narrow dispersing speaker vs a wide one... a blunt and "ear" awakening truth. However causal room response benefits more from a wider dispersing speaker.

    One great example would be the vintage Acoustat electrostatics, Quads, etc, before ESL's became wider dispersing. These speakers sound horrible off axis, but will energize the senses at front center.. like nothing else. (many other examples, good horn systems do this.. etc.)

    As a speaker becomes more directive (stereo directivity) the toe in, generally speaking, becomes more critical.
     
    bever70 likes this.
  19. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Yes, and not to discredit the merits of connector/ cable upgrades... the improvement is sometimes in the reconnection which breaks any patina developed within the connection. This isn't always readily visible, but electrically significant.
     
    HiFi Guy 008 likes this.
  20. LakeMountain

    LakeMountain Vinyl surfer

    Location:
    Netherlands
    It is good practice to clean all connections in your stereo chain (incl. power connections) say once a year. There are always vapors/residues etc in the air that precipitate or react. Even new connectors should be cleaned as the could have been handled by manufacturers personnel or have been lying on a shelf.
    I also had this surprise moment after cleaning. I use now Kontakt, which cleans and treats the connection to improve/ maintain electrical conductivity. It is not cheap ( 23 € for 25 ml), but you only need very small amounts and the connectors were still clean after year. It comes with handy cleaning sticks, etc.
     
    macster and HiFi Guy 008 like this.
  21. Greg Carrier

    Greg Carrier Senior Member

    Location:
    Iowa City
    Groovetracer subplatter for my Rega RP-1. I had no idea that a subplatter could improve the sound that much.
     
  22. Ted Torres Jr

    Ted Torres Jr Synergistic Maximus

    Location:
    SE LA
    TF...Spot on!

    My Ascend Sierra-2EX Monitors have RAAL ribbon tweeters with excellent horizontal dispersion. Due to my dedicated "almost near-field" music listening room (90sf & 990cf), I have only 60" of spacing between the front baffles! With this 5 deg stand-mount monitor toe-out, center image is rock solid and properly sized and with the right genre of music (acoustical recordings in large venues), soundstage width, depth and height can extend 5 to 30 ft beyond my room wall boundaries!! With 50Hz HP to monitors and 50Hz LP to the sub, dynamics are breathtaking and suspension of disbelief/realism prevails! :righton:

    Ted
     
  23. MikeMusic

    MikeMusic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Surrey, England
    Recently one of these jobbies

    [​IMG]

    I already have various filters and plug in. Always surprised when each one improves the sound
    The Kemp was a big step up and a huge surprise
     
    Ted Torres Jr and LakeMountain like this.
  24. Omarstringer

    Omarstringer No One You’d Know

    Location:
    Dallas
    Going from MM cartridge to MC. It was like the heavens opening up.
     
  25. GME

    GME Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    So, boys & girls... Continuing on with my recently introduced saga/quest for the almighty big bucks sound usable for mixing, mastering, listening - everything.

    Thanks to Litejazz53 for suggesting those Polk speakers. I didn't go with 3-ways this time, but I think I may have gotten something perhaps even better....

    So, few days ago, I got a sweeeeeet deal on a pair of pristine kept Tannoy Saturn S6LR ! They're Dual Concentric (which is why I think this is fitting for this topic) as I was initially (and still am) blown away by the change in stereo perception, sweet spoot, stereo width, lack of smearing/hearing the crossover - and I'm unapologetically equating most of this success story to the actual design & initial engineering that went behind this type of speaker!

    The only "crossover" I hear is the 6.5" woofers not transmitting the lowest octave, which is to be expected. So the final grand master plan is to add two subs, one below each Saturn, run in stereo. This might be a challenge to find the right sub, as I want something with sweepable crossover, so I can pin point where I want it to cross - I don't wanna cut at something like 125hz when the Saturn's provide nice clean bass down to 60hz or below, and I also wanna retain stereo image in the bottom, since it's for more than just listening, so I need to know what the bass is doin in both left and right (I know some producers just smack everything below a certain point into mono, but I usually don't) also, since it'll be in a treated room, two subs is better than 1, and running them in stereo won't mess with the stereo signal that is what will be coming out of the speakers 98% of the time. The only think speaking for just getting one sub is that I could theoretically spend twice as much on just 1, get "twice as good sound" but again, I think going true stereo in a true 3-way setup like this, where the bookshelfs are run by dedicated amp(s) potentially run in bi-amping mode, and then hooked up via dedicated active subs that are positioned so the bass woofers fire the same way it just means I'll have way more control over what each of the 3 drivers in each side is doing, and can adjust each driver to whatever frequency and amplitude I want :)

    This is the room - I've since put 48m2 of 30mm thick super dense acoustics dampening material on all walls, and re-positioned the listening position to the end of the room (where it says concrete floor, and facing the wall that says concrete) a few meters away from the back wall...(the Saturn's have front loaded bass ports though, so could go closer to the wall if need be at some point) I also didn't want too big woofers for the mid-tone as I will be doing mostly close to mid-field monitoring.

    [​IMG]

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