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Cheap Tweak..Mass Loading

If you are dissatisfied with the sound of your system, try this before spending big bucks on upgrading of audio components. I borrowed 3 bags of lead shot (25 lbs) each from a friend and placed one on each of my 2 power conditioners (one for power amp and analog sources and one for digital) and a bag one my power amp. The improvement in sound was very dramatic, bigger than component upgrades that I have done in the past. Soundstage is huge with more depth. Dynamics at high listening levels is unbelievable. Resolution and detail at low levels is amazing. The bass is so tight it's like a sledge hammer hitting you square in the chest. For $45 I have seen a much bigger improvement in my system than I ever dreamed that I would. If you have not mass loaded your components..Do it!
slowhand
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
What are some of the better mass loading commercial products?
unsound
7,329 posts
 
The ones without lead.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
This is an old thread, so I'll just continue on the "footers" thread. Trying to damp chassis vibrations in the digital source.
craig_hoch
65 posts
 
I have a 15lb bag of sand/BB mixture sitting on my Oppo Universal Player and 12lbs of lead shot sitting on my CAL Sigma DAC. The additional mass made a huge improvement in the dynamics & soundstaging in my system. This is a tweak that works!!
atlasiris
17 posts
 
Hi all,

Mass loading is a very good thing and I love to use a particular grade of sand. I sew them into tiny black pillows about 1.5 x 2 inches in size. I place this on different parts of the electronics, inside the cd player, amplifiers and preamps :) Some places benefit from these some don't. So it's better that putting a whole big mass on the chassis.On my single ended bi-polar transistored amps, putting these pillows on the transistors sucks life out of the sound.
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