Cheap tweaks...What would YOU reccomend?

Speaking of speaker placement, nothing is more accurate and reliable than the XLO Test CD out-of-phase track for determining the absolute position on the floor for both speakers. Ye olde move a little/listen a little technique tends to find the local maximum as opposed to the real maximum.

Instead of noise harvesters just plug a low wattage incandescent lamp into the same circuits (wall outlet or power strip) as your gear. I have one outlet for digital on the left with a lamp behind that speaker and had a dedicated outlet run to the right side for the amp with a lamp behind that speaker. Incandescents draw noise out of the line.

I have my amplifiers and preamps on BRICKS or stone slabs which helps vibration. I also use the controversial dakiom feedback stabilizers for negative feedback vibrations. Room treatment is something I'm staying away from due to being too costly but worth it if you have the funds. You can use cheaper alternatives but to do proper room treatment, it's for those with the budget. My favorite tweaks however are called sound processors such as pro gear like behringer, bbe, dbx, peavey and some of the older srslabs, hughes, carver holography, from sonic maximizers to graphic equalizers on solid state gear. I keep tube PURE and CLEAN with no interference from equipment because sound processors add distortions or too much links in the chain.

I actually spent yesterday filling up the inside of my cheap turntable with acoustic caulking to try and deaden it. I've only listened for about 2 hours, but it seems to be doing the trick. I'm probably going to go buy another thing of caulk to fill it all the way.

Simple and cheap Cardas caps for unused RCA inputs. Digital Terminator for CD player unused digital output. Unreal improvement due to lack of noise. Who says digital cannot sound good, wrong!