Most useful tweaks that are sensible and really make a noticeable improvement


So after reading the thread of useless tweaks I'd  be interested the communities opinions of useful tweaks. I may be rehashing a previous thread but times change as do useful tweaks.

I have found that in my case the following were useful, immediate and audible,
In order of priority in my opinion
1 Room treatment
2 Speaker location, ie proper setup
3 Subwoofer location (if used)
4 Subwoofer integration
5 Component isolation
6 Cables, all SC/IC etc, normally I would not mention cables but did have an ear opening epiphany that makes me believe cables are system dependant and I do not mean directionality.

So if anybody has anything to add, please do so as none of us are ever too old to learn.



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Noromance: In an urban setting, removing the cover of a preamp virtually guarantees you will be hearing ham radio instead of your music. That was my experience. 
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The green Sound Improvement Disc makes a noticeable improvement in the sound from a CD,DVD, and Blu Ray disc . If you can try trimming said discs with a CD edge trimmer like the Audio Desk Systeme lathe you will hear another level of improvement  Not my opinion alone .
The edge trimmer also seems to slightly help video images , but not enough to make that a reason to buy one . They are over-priced new , IMO . Got mine used .

Most everything else has been mentioned here by others . I did build my own power cables using Oyaide Black Mamba 12 gauge for the equipment ( as short as possible) and Oyaide Tunami 10 gauge from the wall to the balanced AC power supply with gold plated copper connectors all around .
Speaker placement and first reflection points - of course.  Isolating the tube amp was huge for me.  Following many of the Jim Smith/Getting Better Sound recommendations also very helpful, for me the biggest was getting rid of the rack on the front wall - gobsmacked.  Makes sense though, that's the closest first reflection point in one dimension.  Got the Ghia speaker feet yesterday and can't wait to try them this weekend.  

Most surprising - the chair.  On another thread, I was tipped off by a certain pizeo-electric specialist that my prized Ikea Poang chair has very poor acoustic properties.  Trials proved he was right, I have a new chair ordered, but in the meantime, now I can actually feel the resonance vibrations in the chair pad when spls exceed 85-90 dBs, and this is not a good thing, for the SQ or anything else.

Oh, and speaker grills stay on for me.  
couldn't agree more with chi chi's comments. I can't tell you how many great -and very expensive - systems I've heard playing with bright lights on in the room.  Getting distracting lighting out of the way - and that includes any led's on my equipment, which I cover with duct tape -  allows my brain to focus solely on the sound.  I listen at night with the glow of the tubes from my monoblocks, the moonlight, and indirect candlelight and I'm I heaven. My system can "sound" twice as good but listen with harsh light on in the room and it's not worth 2 cents to me. Also agree with eliminating fridge noise.