Is Jim Smith's Book"Get Better Sound"Best Book ?

Its well worth the money - as several folks have pointed out we regularly piddle away much more on much less.

What I like is that it provides a methodology and a structure within which to work. And doing it all is in fact work - the kind of work that makes this such an interesting and rewarding hobby.

Put another way, if you have dumped what for you personally is a significant amount of money, here is a chance to avoid reinventing the wheel by yourself.

Ckorody, I am in agreement with your analysis.

I have dear friends who think nothing of spending a fortune on the newest gear but shun reading "Audio" books . Some get caught reinventing the wheel ; I follow the guidence in Jim Smith's book & put what I own to better use. That grants me greater pleasure and money in the pocket for less than the cost of a few CD's or new LP's.

I learned a lot by reading the book. The biggest sonic improvement was the result of his tip to buy a laser measuring device to confirm that each speaker was exactly the same hieght, that each speaker was toed-in exactly the same degrees and that each tweeter was exactly the same distance to a spot on the wall centered behind my listening chair. The improvement in image focus, clarity and soundstage dimensions was worth far more than the cost of the book. It is an excellent reference.

As I incorperate more of Jim's views into my audio-room , the more musical satisfaction I derive. Frankly, I'm amazed. What's more amazing are the origins of the book. Jim suffered a terrible car crash. During his painful recovery , the book took shape in his mind. By the end of the recovery period (1 year), the first transcript was finished. From such physical pain comes such a helpful book. That's amazing.

I have read GBS cover to cover. It is a fine book with a common sense approach to many aspects of a "hobby" which, itself, leans toward "snake oil". How many of us have purchased the latest, greatest tweak and find that it makes no difference or, at worst, degrades our sound.

What Jim's book does for me is affirm the path which I was already going down. There are no silver bullets. No pill can make you lose 20 lbs while you sleep. There are no quick fixes.

What makes GBS a fine book is that it tells you that you don't have to spend big money to get better sound. Don't buy another piece of audio gear until you have addressed your listening environment with a few of the tips in the book.

The single biggest upgrade to my system over the last year, hell, the last ten years, was painstakingly tuning my speaker placement to my listening room. I used a method very similar to that outlined in GBS.

I set up a grid on my floor after getting my speakers close with the Sumiko Method. A few minor movements in the grid and I was blown away. It will make you angry to realize that you have wasted the potential of good equipment by not placing your speakers correctly.

I've also checked my grounds on my equipment, a GBS tip, and installed a dedicated electrical circuit for my gear, another GBS tip.

The first tip costs nothing but time. The dedicated circuit was less than $300 and yielded a bigger and deeper soundstage.

Thanks Jim.