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Feeling Tweaky

I recently tried my first system tweak, purchasing IsoAcoustic Orea isolation footers for my Luxman 507uX Mk2 integrated amp, Marantz Ruby CD/SACD player, and Shunyate Hydra Denali 6000S power conditioner. I liked the improvement in sound quality so much I’ve gone ahead and ordered IsoAcoustic Gaia feet for my VPI Classic 2 turntable and Magico A3 speakers. I never expected a tweak to make such an improvement, not just a change, in sound quality. By the way, my cables are Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cables, Audioquest Colorado cables from the CD/SACD player, and VPI phono cables. The Shunyata Hydra Denali has a Venom power cable. All the other power cords are what came with each component.

Acoustic room treatments that would affect room decor are unfortunately out of the equation and I’ve already tried my best to design component shelving to be a vibration free as I could. I’ve thought about are redoing the house wiring to create a dedicated circuit, and making an ultrasonic record cleaner.

So my question to you all is, what tweaks have had the most positive impact on your own system, that you could you recommend for the above described system? There seems to be a lot of tweaks out there that range from the sublime to the ridiculous in both performance and price. I’d like to know what tweaks of the many out there have worked best for you so I can make a list and prioritize each in terms of performance and budget. Please share your favorites and I’d appreciate your advice. Thanks,


Mike



skyscraper
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
skyscraper OP
My listening room is filled with wall to wall bookshelves, so there’s hardly a square inch to acoustically treat. I seriously considered one of those Lyngdorf integrated amps with Room Correction for that reason since they could electronically deal with that issue.

>>>>Hi, I’m from the future where we found out books and other media like CDs are bad for the sound. The biggest improvement you can make to your sound is to remove all books from the room. Perhaps you can rent a storage shed? Sorry to be the bear 🐻 of bad gnus 🐃 And yes, I know what you’re thinking, “but books are natural acoustic absorbers.”
williewonka
3,082 posts
 
Here's a couple of tweaks that I found worked nicely...

http://image99.net/blog/files/3b1e019ed6bce1eec35dad4636fd815c-25.html

http://www.image99.net/blog/files/505119d0be04fa00f053d1e3491df5c8-80.html

Regards - Steve

skyscraper OP
831 posts
 
Tvad, It would be interesting to compare the performance of the Apex footers with the IsoAcoustics to see how much improvement there might be with such a high end product. The IsoAcoustic footers made such a difference, it's hard to imagine getting even more performance out of such a simple concept as reducing vibration. I'm still awaiting the special  1/2"-13 studs needed to install the recently arrived IsoAcoustic Gaia feet on my speakers to get the full effect of having their footers under all components. You're fortunate to have those Apexs. 

Geoffkait, following your suggestion I considered taking all my books
outside and starting a good-sized bonfire with them. I bet you nobody's ever thought of doing that before.

Williewonka, I will have to play around with the placement of the IsoAcoustic footers under each component as your second link suggested. The first linked described exactly how I set up my current shelving using non-slip shelf liner under a floating shelf, so maybe I did something right there. I'll try some of those blocks you and Millercarbon suggest under the wires.

Any suggestions by anybody about what your most effective tweaks have been would be appreciated. Thanks,

Mike

tablejockey
3,956 posts
 
"I’ve gone ahead and ordered IsoAcoustic Gaia feet for my VPI Classic 2 turntable"

I will be looking for your observations on the results.

My aging Classic 1 has been under the non scientific/controversial, low tech and expensive Mapleshade brass/maple slab. For whatever technical/psychological reason, it does add a tiny bit of more "real" to the presentation. If anything, it makes the humble VPI look cool. 

The Gaia's are just like any other footer tweak. YMMV. They do seem to have more positive results under speakers than most. I heard them under
some pricey speakers with/ without. Yes, they seem to add something?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
skyscraper
Geoffkait, following your suggestion I considered taking all my books
outside and starting a good-sized bonfire with them. I bet you nobody’s ever thought of doing that before.

👍 You’ve already read them all, right? 
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