Tannoy dual concentrics. I’m enjoying mine - Revolution XT 8F’s. Incredible mids and bass detail. Gut busting slam. Smooth. Still breaking them in.
I have had four noticeable sound improvements by doing the following: 1. Adding bass traps and acoustic panels in my music room. This was the biggest improvement and I didn't change any gear at all. 2. Adding Dual subwoofers to a stereo setup. Once dialed in it was a noticeable and very enjoyable improvement. 3. Adding a periphery ring clamp to my VPI Classic table. It helps more on certain records then others but can be a sonic improvement that you can hear. 4. Swapping out the opamps in some of my vintage equipment for more modern opamps. It's kind of like tube rolling with solid state gear.
I was expecting a significant improvement by replacing my loudspeakers from the long wall to the short wall, but not to the extend it did. Furthermore I experimented with toeing in, distance from the wall and this paid off. I also did some room treatment , but only with materials that belong in a living room. All these things have brought me an awful lot more than replacing cables and even some components.
Rear wall absorbers. After rearranging furniture and ending up with coach against the wall I was struggling to get proper image, and loud playing became messy. Got cheap ones (125 for 4), and problem was solved. Immediately.
My step series of audio 2.1 improvements over past 4 years (most dramatic to very perceivable): 1. New Monitors (Sierra-NrT to Sierra-2EX)!!!!!! 2. Setting Stand Monitors to 50Hz High Pass (were full range) and Sub to 50Hz Low Pass!!!!! 3. Removing 1" of exposed bare speaker wires (30 yrs of oxidation) and installing high quality gold plated banana plugs!!!! 4. Replacing cheap RCA's with well designed shielded interconnects (CD to pre, pre to power)!!! 5. Monitor "Toe-Out" 5 degrees to expand soundstage well beyond all room boundaries while maintaining rock solid center vocal images!! 6. Fine Tuning Monitor room placements for optimum Stereo Holographic Presentation (initial set-up already close...just needed tweaking with above audio advancements)! Ted
Townshend (wobbly) speaker stands Was always a spikes from the 80s as they were the best, until I heard the big step up the Townshend stands made. Counter intuitive to me and a lot of people but the ears said I had to have them more Seismic Isolation Podiums for speakers and sub-woofer There are cheaper ways to try the principle out. Washing machine pads one alternative
Putting wooden blocks under my electronics, blocks that I had sawed myself from a 4x6 cm or so beam I had lying around in the attic. I had experienced something similar at a Naim demo where the Danish distributor used equally cheap small cylindrical DIY pieces of wood. I thought I heard a difference there, but I never trust my ears in short-term listening sessions, so I decided to try it out at home. As per usual, it took a day or two for me to perceive the difference, but highs got smoother and more organic.
Weird thread. The vast majority of the posts involve changes for which posters expected an improvement, or they wouldn't have made the changes.
Using a pre-owned iPod and $20 KZ ear buds to listen to music. I got that setup to listen to music while my wife is asleep. I never thought that I would enjoy the sound more than my home stereo.
Lowering my blood pressure. No kidding! After my recent stroke, my doctor put me on a regiment of blood pressure medications and after my blood pressure was down to a normal level I noticed a drastic improvement of sound quality from my audio system. Soundstage opened greatly, better holographic sound, and a smooth, richness that I did not think my system was capable of presenting. I now have a huge smile on my face while listening.
Putting the wood under the bottom plate of your gear or under the feet of your gear ? Under which gear did you use them (amp? Source? Preamp?)?
Under the bottom plate. I put them under everything that didn’t already have some kind of decoupling, including an Exact Power power conditioner. It’s been 5-6 years, and all the components have been sold by now, so my memory is a little foggy as to exactly what equipment I had at the time, and under exactly which components the blocks went. I don’t use the blocks currently bc I have Solid Tech spring decouplers under my DAC, and my Kit One amp has sorbothane feet. I may try them under my Isol8 power conditioner at some point.
I don't recall how many times I thought a product was snake oil and thought folks were stupid only to find out after a listen, that I was the stupid one.
That's fantastic, I was expecting more common models. I am making some modifications and I have my eyes set on the OPA 2132. I have never replaced any Op amps other than for repairs for other people. These are smd in a tight environment which for me is always a turn off. So I was in two minds about this part of my mods. I gather from your post that you've found differences in sound quality beyond the fact that they may be less noisy, right? Thank you!
Those things have been around for years in one form or another. They work good with some speaker's but not so much with others. As always, try before you buy.
Yes, there are subtle differences in smoothness and detail. I would replace the opamp with a socket so you can easily plug various opamps in and out.
Great, that pushes me to give it a try. Unfortunately fitting a socket is not feasible on this particular board because everything is surface mounted and they amps are surrounded by other components. It was very useful to hear about your experience, thank you!
The stands are on springs and rubber mounts so far as I know, not fixed "Designed as a range to accommodate any size and weight of speaker – standmount plus stand, floorstander or subwoofer – the Seismic Podium breaks the acoustic connection between the floor and the speaker, preventing the passage of deleterious vibrations both to and from the speaker cabinets."
Watch the final 10 sec or so of the video in this post: Strictly for fans of Audio Note UK.. Mine are the speaker bars instead of platforms but the principle--and the wobble--is the same.
