Eldartford takes the cake. I'd actually suggest that HiFiSoundGuy wrap his mouth with the tape. Oh, and stop posting those nonsensical tweaks - enough with the damn Teflon tape, fer Chrissakes!
This tweak business is all about creating an enhanced experience, right? Perhaps you're looking at the wrong end of the equation. Anybody who is so restless as to require constant variance in the sound delivery of their system will always pursue the moving carrot. Better I think to tweak the listener end than the system end. A few years back when the Mpingo disc was the cure-all rage at the time, a guy responded to a question about its efficacy by saying he uses his every day and it never fails to make his system sound great. The trick, he said, is in how you use it. He put his on the arm of his listening chair under a tumbler containing 3 fingers of Scotch.
Enid Lumley used to champion brass screws for mounting cartridges in tone arms before she left The Absolute Sound as a staff writer. Michael Green made some wonderful clamping stands that I encountered during my time in NYC. I built one using thick MDF found at an auction and discovered that it worked 'better than I thought it ought to,' certainly better than was reasonable. At the time I had a partner who was not an audiophile. When I made a tweak and found she commented without knowing of the change, there was clearly merit to it. So THE BEST TWEAK OF ALL TIME, bar none, though perhaps not the most affordable, IS AN OPEN MIND and the willingness to try something that seems unlikely, perhaps even something that seems ridiculous. I found that having another set of ears --preferably an experienced listener, as suggested above-- is both a great help and can forge very pleasant camaraderie.
Knowing what you are doing or getting assistance from someone who does is the best approach. Tweaks are silly and you sound silly promoting them. What a snake pit.
Using the Ultra Bit Platinum liquid on your CD's. Doesnt seem like it should make as much difference as it does.
I have made many compliations of my favorite artists. Ultra bitting the CD to copy from and the CDR (usually a Mam-Audio Master Gold CDR's) to be copied to. The copy comes out much better than the original.With better soundstage, treble, midrange, bass.
I also will add that after buffing the heck out of the CD's, I then use my Bedini Clarifier on the CD's to prevent static build up before I copy them.
Ozzy.....I put some (Lowes teflon tape) on both ends of my speaker cables and interconnects(I put it on the center pins) and this took my system to a whole new level ! When you put this on all your cables(ac PLUGS TOO) in your whole system you will hear a difference.
I was wrong Ozzy....I'm using teflon tape from Lowes not Wal-mart. I have both but I'm using Lowes PTFE teflon tape on my AC plugs and TV cable....You can hear and see a difference!
Maple Butcher Block Cutting Boards used as Amp Stands.
I was able to buy a 18 X 18 x 3 1 1/2" thick Maple cutting board. I painted it Black and placed it under my Amp. The footers used on the Amp are the Finite Elemete Cerapucs.
Anyway, the Maple wood does change the sound ever so slightly from when I was using a Granite slab under the Amp. The sound is little mellower and fuller sounding, not a night and day change, very suttle but good pleasing change.
I'm SHOCKED!!! nobody has tried my teflon tape tweak.... A good place to start is on all three prongs of your AC plug on your power conditioner...try it and your see what I'm talking about...........
One of the stranger tweaks is to make sure all media is stored vertically, this includes CDs, LPs, books and video cassettes. Makes a nice improvement, esp. if you have a lot of CDs, etc. (This tweak courtesy of PWB Electronics.
I agree with you on your tweak effectiveness (i.e. less things powered at home, no interruptions, lower background noise etc. etc) BUT unfortunately Rdylan meant inexpensive and that's where the thing goes sour......
DIY solid core powercables, 12-13awg. Mine is shielded too. Cleanest and most powerful current you can get. If you nedd any extension-cable make it solid too. Big powergain!
Replace the in-box powercable from rear wall to off/on-switch and back to trafo with solid too and your boxes will climb several classes in performance.
Sorry Ozzy no way to post pictures....This is a very easy tweak, your just wraping the (center >copper< pin of the cable) with teflon tape and then pushing the the tape up to the base of the center copper pin. This makes non HDTV look a lot better....sharper..cleaner...brighter........darker colors!
Hifisoundguy, I am interested in what you have written but not sure I understand exactly.
Are you basically saying to wrap the bottom portion of the center RG6 cable with Teflon tape and push the tape down tight where it touches the Connector barrel ?
I put some teflon tape on the center pin on my cable from my dish to my satellite receiver....(You take about 2 inches of tape and put a small hole with a paper clip at one end and put that end through the center pin of the cable and then use the paper clip to work the teflon tape around the center pin tightly and then push the teflon tape all the way up to the base of the center pin of the cable and then hook the cable back in the dish and satellite receiver) THIS IS A MUST TRY TWEEK!!! WOW!
What does putting teflon tape on the ac prongs do? It cleans up that very dirty ac power a little.....I also put teflon tape on all my inside wiring in all my gear...my TV too.
Put a little Teflon Tape from Wal-Mart on all your AC plug's prongs! ( Take about 3 inches of teflon tape and wrape it around each ac plug prong and then push them all the way up the prongs
What does putting plumbers tape on the AC prongs do other than potentially hinder current flow??
(1) Clean all your connections with the best contact cleaner/enhancer on the market!.....Crystal Clear contact cleaner/enhancer $$$25 from www.thecablepro.com (2) Put a little Teflon Tape from Wal-Mart on all your AC plug's prongs! ( Take about 3 inches of teflon tape and wrape it around each ac plug prong and then push them all the way up the prongs )
Oh yeah, another DIY tweak would be cleaning all the connections between cables with alcohol to remove any oxidation that might get in the way of the signal path. Worth doing at least once or twice a year. Try it, and you will be amazed.
A new chair in the listening position was a good one for me. It sets about 3 inches lower than my original chair. The sound stage depth increased and it's more comfortable.
Just what is your definition of "dramatic?"
That is an excellent question 2chnlben. Whenever I read someone made a minor tweak such as cable swap, green ink, magic pebbles or whatever and noticed a "dramatic" change I'm skeptical. Although I have heard both sonic improvements and degradations with various tweaks, they have never been dramatic or changed the overall flavor of my system.
Sit in your usual listening position. Interlock your fingers and put them behind your head at ear level, so you're sitting there like some big shot executive. Elbows should be pointed at the outside edge of your speakers.
Excluding equipment, room acoustics, cables and shelving, I would say running dedicated 20 amp circuits with a dedicated isolated ground, independent of the house ground!! then clean cable dressing, then getting cables off of the ground.
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