Most Effective Tweaks?


Wondering what generic tweaks people have tried that made the biggest difference?    Also interested in how much the tweaks cost to implement and the magnitude say from minimum of "marginal" to maximum of "transformational".

My top tweaks I can think of so far are

1) isolating speakers from versus coupling to floor when needed  (~$100, transformational)
2) Mu metal shield around low level  phono stepup transformer ($30, transformational noise reduction)
3) power cord upgrade (significant, ~$80)
4) acoustic panels (significant, $90)
5) power conditioner (significant, $100)
5) Physically moving components further apart from each other (NC, marginal)
128x128mapman
Jerroot, I've done the same trick using lead shot (got it from a gun store) and then filling the gaps with sand.  Not as cheap--about 40 dollars per stand, about 35 lbs. of shot per stand.
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dweller
1,241 posts
02-24-2016 7:01pm
I don’t mean to step on the OPs intentions but does anyone remember the name of the panels to stick on the sides of large speakers?

Something like "Tek-Sonic" or "Sonic-Tek"?

These were/are from the 90s and are meant to absorb and convert

vibrations into heat. Are they still made?

tekna sonic was the company in CA that made those cool looking dampers with black fins for speakers and a larger one for subwoofers. Before that they were Micro Scan. I’m quite familiar with them since Tekna Sonic was an OEM for my iso stands for quite some time. I bought up the last of their stock a long time ago about the time they went belly up. Geez, that’s probably ten years ago.

geoff kait
machina dynamica
no goats no glory



Filling speaker stands w/copper bb's (didn't want to use lead shot this time) and then adding aquarium black sand. Big improvement. Lately bought a Furatech gold-plated ac plug for $30 for the Arcam's home-made power cord. Noticeable improvement. Finally, did some experimenting w/the Arcam's 10 Int. amp speak binding posts. I found the "B" sounded better than the "A." Why....much shorter metal connection from board to spk. binding post w/the "B" spk. posts. Also, removed the Deltron BFA plugs and went back to bare wire. Much better. Finally, a good cleaning of all contacts. 
 
dweller
1,243 posts
02-24-2016 9:48pm
geoff kait: Any idea where I can lay my mitts on some? thx

no, sorry, long gone.