New to this. How do I stack my stuff?


I'm new to hifi. I've asked a lot of questions here and some of you may already know my situation but I got the following by chance and for free: Audio Research LS16 tube pre-amp, Arcam CD92 cd player, Madrigal Proceed HPA2 amp. 

It is all up and running and I'm loving it. Now just trying to maximize the little things that I can. For instance, speakers had spike stands but spikes were missing so I made a set.

Now I read in the CD manual that it recommends sorbothane feet and says sound quality will be better.

I'm now figuring out that placement of components is important and that proper stands, expensive ones, are best. Well, expensive stands are not going to happen. But I can try to make accommodations that are cheap and won't turn the room upside down.

Here is how it is all situated now...let the ridicule flow, but keep in mind that I am space limited to a serious extent. Was not sure I'd get the system in my house at all:

The (very) heavy Proceed amp is sitting on a carpeted floor on strips of wood which raise the bottom of it well above the carpet. It is higher above the carpet than it would be above a hard surface just on its own feet.

The CD player is sitting on a small, simple, wooden, antique side table. It is sturdy. The pre-amp is on top of the CD player. I have no idea what this might mean in terms of SQ but the CD player actually puts out a fair amount to heat which rises up into the pre-amp of course. That concerns me.

So other than getting some sorbothane feet for the CD player, what else would be a priority here?

Finally are there issues with which cables contact which cables, how much speaker cables are looped, etc. (Most of the cabling is Transparent Super Bi-wire.)

Thanks for any assistance.
n80
boxer12 said:

Makes perfect sense to me. I would keep experimenting with the speaker placement as well. Also love the Bonhoeffer book!

Some sources say the speakers and the listener should make the corners of an equilateral triangle. Moving the chair in a few feet comes close to that.

I have not read the Bonhoeffer biography yet. I have read several of Bonhoeffer's shorter books. I did read the Luther book by the same author and it was very good. Not overly academic.
Everything else failing, Get a bunch of Vibrapod Cones to use under each piece of equipment.  It will help isolate the equipment vibrations from each other and provide a little more distance that just the devices feet.  If it can be done safely, put the cones point up into the feet of the equipment above the cone.

Solid cones might be OK if they can be securely mounted onto the devices to be stacked, especially the device on the bottom.
n80

Yes, moving your chair away from the rear wall, typically DOES improve the sound for the same reasons that moving the speakers away from the front wall does. It's all about how the sound from your speakers interacts with room boundaries, walls, ceiling, etc........yes, your speakers will seem to have more bass when in or near corners, the corners acting to concentrate and reflect the bass back into the room, but the result is exaggerated low frequencies, not a true reproduction of the music........Something to keep in mind is that when you get used to hearing things a certain way, your brain thinks it's right. When you initially change things, it often doesn't sound "right", even though it's actually better, because it doesn't sound like what you've gotten used to.

My speakers weigh in at 100 pounds each and are spiked also, so yeah can be a PITA to move them. Something I did to alleviate that problem is to make pads for the spikes from 1x4 oak and stuck self adhesive felt furniture strips on the bottom. I have hardwood floors, so it makes it fairly easy to slide them around. Carpet would require a different version, but it could still be done easily enough.

My suggestion, especially since you're just getting into this, is to spend some time googling room acoustics, room treatment and speaker placement. There's a lot to learn, but it's not rocket science once you get the basic concepts. You may find differing opinions on things, but in the general sense they'll be in agreement. Ultimately what and how much you'll be able to do in YOUR room will depend on how the room is laid out, how it's typically used and of course how amenable "mamma" is to your new hobby.

As previously mentioned, EVERYBODY in this hobby has an opinion about what's "best". Take it with a grain of salt because there are a lot of variables between rooms, systems and listening preferences.

The bottom line is that speaker placement does matter significantly, as does listening position, as you've already discovered. What works best in your room will take some time and experimentation to determine...........You're new to the hobby, read as much as you can and there's a ton of free info out there.......Take opinions for what they are, opinions. Some will be useful, some won't......A mediocre system can sound very good when properly set up. A very good system can sound poor when NOT set up properly.....I have a pretty good system, but for years I had it set up poorly due to lifestyle factors. Once I was finally able to set it up optimally in my room the difference was night and day. Made me sad to realize what I'd been missing for so long.

It's a fun hobby that can, but doesn't have to be terribly expensive. You already have a good starting system for essentially free, if I recall. Educate yourself and do what you can to optimize what you have . You can always make improvements as you go along.........It's a hobby, have fun with it
Set up

There are endless "tweaks" out there, some useful, some not. In my experience, the best bang for the buck is a proper set up, meaning you take some time to find out where your speakers will sound best and where your listening chair or couch gives you the best sound. The only thing that made a bigger difference in my case was room treatment, everything else I've done had less impact. Work with the limitations of your room and lifestyle, we all have to do that. There is no perfect room, nor perfect setup, but there are relatively easy and inexpensive ways to make things sound much better.
@shadowcat2016- Right on. 
@n80-at the risk of appearing to shill, Jim Smith's book will help.