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Pick two or three one minute selections—longer
will overload your audio memory. Make sure they encompass the
instrument timbres and dynamics that mean the most to you. Always
listen to exactly the same selections in the same order, before
and after each tweak or change. After 25 or so of these tests,
you'll be surprised at how precisely you resolve small sound differences.
• Almost everybody sits way too far
from their speakers, that is, 8' to 10' or more. Try a low chair
(or floor pillow) 5' away. You'll hear a phenomenal increase in
clarity, bass impact and soundstage—roughly like spending
100% more on your speakers.
• Nearly everybody sits too high. The
"tweeters at ear level"rule sounds logical but fails
when tested. For a test, sit on one or two phone books: you'll
hear an amazing new warmth and fullness in baritone voice, trombones,
tenor sax, plucked bass—and a far more natural treble balance.
• For much improved bass and huge soundstage,
put your listening chair or sofa right against the wall behind
you. Move your speakers in to 5' in front of you and 7' or more
apart. No room treatments will yield this much bass improvement.
• Lift all speaker, power and interconnect
wires 8" off any non-wool carpet or plastic tile. Use string,
wood, cardboard or 20 ounce Styrofoam cups for temporary props.
You'll think you've pulled horse blankets off your speakers. For
a more civilized-looking solution, see here.
• Remove your speaker's cloth or foam
grill. Snip off any plastic phase ring in front of the tweeter.
You'll hear as much as a 100% improvement in treble.
• Almost all small speakers are on
stands that are way too high (24" and up)—and, all too
often, too flimsy. Want to hear how much bass and warmth your
speakers are losing? Try 'em on the floor, tilted back with a
wood or metal block under the front. If you're on carpet, lay
down a heavy plank or cutting board first. See here
for even better sounding solutions.
• Speakers on stands or shelves MUST
use feet, but never soft ones: no rubber/plastic feet, Blu-Tack,
Sorbathane, etc. For firmer bass plus clearer mids and treble,
try speakers on three hardware store wood plugs or buttons. See
here to
get 2-3 times the effect.
• Ditto for all CD players, amps, power
supplies, etc. If the wood buttons aren't high enough, try three
wood blocks (3/4" or so), to raise components off their rubber/plastic
feet. You'll hear an instant bass-to-treble upgrade. Of course,
stacking components is the worst of all worlds: you're failing
to drain vibrations and forcing the components to share vibes.
• NEVER use speaker cables shorter
than 8'. Amazingly, 4' sounds much worse than 8'. Contrary to
common belief, shorter interconnects (2 m or less) and longer
speaker cables sound WAY BETTER than the opposite—based on
extensive head-to-head tests.
•For seamless subwoofer sound, use
only the speaker cable input, not the RCA input. In addition,
connect the two main speakers directly to the main amp output,
not to the subwoofer's output. Always fire the subwoofer driver
left or right, not at you or down into the floor. Set the crossover
at the lowest possible frequency that doesn't leave a bass gap.
You'll be amazed at the overall transparency you gain.
• Contrary to manufacturer hype,
subwoofer placement is crucial. To get clean bass attacks, subwoofers
must be precisely (±1") the same distance from your
ear as the midrange driver. Corner placement always leads to boom.
Also, subwoofers sound much cleaner on cones than on spikes or
rubber feet.
• If you have bi-wirable speakers with
brass jumper plates, replace the terrible-sounding plates with
bare, unstranded copper wire. For a jumper that's much better
yet, see here.
If you bi-wire, separate the treble and bass cables by 1' or more;
bundling wires will ruin most of the bi-wire advantage. Bi-wiring
is worth doing only for cables with limited bass and treble.
• For any separate power supply: listen,
then turn it 90 degrees, turn another 90 degrees, etc. One of
the four positions will sound way better (due to non-uniform transformer
leakage). In addition, separate power supplies are even more vibration-sensitive
than the components; see here
for the solution.
• You can't believe the extra harshness
and grunge you hear due to home appliances "poisoning"
the AC power with electrical noise. To really sweeten your sound,
try turning off every fluorescent and halogen light in the house,
as well as air conditioning, oil burner, electric stove, dimmer
and CD boombox; unplug every surge protector, digital TV, computer
and U.P.S. (because they all have "sleep" modes). No
power conditioner and AC filter stops this "poisoning".
• Weight on top of speakers, amps,
CD players, transformers, turntables, and power supplies can tighten
bass, clean up treble and clarify midrange detail.
• Too much weight, wrong placement,
or wrong materials seriously degrade potential improvements. Don't
use lead, sand, concrete, brick, stone, corian or damped laminates.
Of course, brass is still best; next iron, then wood.
• The right way to add weight is one
(or 1/2) pound at a time. Listen, then add one more. Eventually,
one more will deaden everything. Remove the last weight,
then move the weights around to find the sweet spots.
• Weights are much more effective if
you've replaced rubber feet (or no feet) with wood or brass footers.
• To audibly improve any cheap interconnect,
use a razor to carefully peel the thin plastic insulation off
the braided metal you'll find underneath. Split 2-channel
interconnects and separate the two by several inches. Cut heat
shrink and plastic strain reliefs off the back of RCA plugs and
remove their metal barrels (if possible). Amoung generic
wires, choose the skinniest for best sound.
• For speaker, AC and wall wart power
cables always split two-conductor wires and separate by at least
6". Don't forget to keep all wires off artificial fiber rugs
and de-static them regularly.
•Never bundle wires, no matter whether
AC, speaker or IC. If you must run wires parallel for more
than a foot, separate them by 6" or more. Wires that cross
at at 45 degrees or more can touch without any sonic degradation.
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