Feeling Tweaky

Thomas, I’ve never been into tweaks before, but I can see it would be possible to go overboard and get over involved with them like you say, listening to how the music sounds rather than the music itself. So I’ll keep your thought in mind. Thinking about tweaks recently has been an interesting way to pass the excess time being home-bound during this coronavirus pandemic.

Tvad, thanks for the link to the Sumiko Master Speaker Set. I played around with speaker positioning a few weeks ago but could probably some more fine tuning and use of a test record.

Millercarbon, I did look into the BDR cones you are using, so appreciate that suggestion. They are cost effective.

Mijostyn, which tone arm lifter are you using? I don’t trust myself to smoothly lift the tonearm up each time anymore. I miss my old Bang and Olufsen straight arm tracking which did that function automatically. I’ll take a look at the Weber soldering station. I’ve soldered a lot of copper pipe in my day but done little with anything electronic related. That would be a good skill to pick up. I’m an inveterate DIY person, but have learned over the years to recognize when I’m in over my head and to try and learn from others, which I’m trying to do here.

I’ll look up the HiFi News test record. What is a conductive sweep arm? Is it something to do with static removal.from record albums. Thanks for your ideas and description of your interesting system set-up. "Practical solutions with solid explanations and rational" are exactly what I’d like to find.

Also I checked on eBay and found a Talisman Magnetic Optizmizer for you: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walker-Talisman-Magnetic-Optimizer-A-MUST-HAVE-FOR-VINYL-AND-CD-LOVERS-NEW/. Never heard of that "must have" before. Take it easy,

Mike

I have tried many tweaks over the years. Some proved to be positive upgrades, some made differences that were not appealing, and some made no difference at all~at least to my ears. But the tweak that has been the most consistent and cost -effective on my system and in my room is the room light switch. Put it in the "off" position and everything suddenly comes into focus. The sound stage becomes more precise as your speakers are removed from your view and you hear every nuance and subtle hint in the music. I think it has to do with the the way our brain focuses better, the fewer things it has to deal with. Thhis probably will seem obvious to most but try it  if you haven't already. It's free!

Aewarren, the price is certainly right. I'll give it a try tonight.. Thanks.

Mike

OP - I am not introducing anything new here.  But from one recently new to the hobbiest to another, some of the suggestions from here that I followed:

I tried elevating speaker cables - more noticeable for me on thicker heavier and longer cables.  Currently using doubled and tripled up styrofoam cups due to the weight.  Things sounded airier, a bit more defined.

Cones - Jury's still out on the "how", but after placing them under seemingly good rubber footing (both really heavy monoblocks and light DACs), I cannot deny some improvement.

Subwoofer placement - perhaps the best and most significant overall tweak!  Short of adding additional LF sources, do not dismiss placement if you are using one or more.  I added more with excellent results in a 10 x 14 room where only one sub couldn't work.

Btw.  The light switch thing worked in my listening room!