Crazy cheapo tweaks and impressive SQ hacking

Anybody with big money can create a hi-fi system of supremum quality

You don't say. So how come the $1.3M system at Definitive sounds like crap?

Curious about cable elevation.
Does entire length of cable need to be elevated to hear improvements?
Don't think I elevate part of cable that runs underneath cabinet.
Also, would placing wire on top of plastic sleeve or long piece of wood work? Or, do you need to elevate from discrete points, like Cable Elevators?

Friend of mine answered this one recently. I was going left to right removing one at a time gently letting the CTS cable go to the carpet. There's 3 Cable Elevators on each side, plus two smaller but very similar ceramic insulators holding the cable up the first little bit from the amp. I hate to belabor it but finger counting, harder on some than you'd think. Anyway my friend noticed right away, said each one got a little worse. I never really paid attention since being bent over between and behind the speakers what are the odds? But once I did listen sure enough it was that noticeable. Every single one makes a difference. So the answer is no not the whole length but the more the better.

I know, bad enough some guy says you can hear a difference when the whole cable is elevated. But just one foot? On just one side? All I can say is: try it and hear for yourself.

Before Cable Elevators I tried a few things like cups, books, wood, and even BDR Those Things, little 3" square carbon fiber footer pads. (You can see them here in this 15 years old photo. Also some OC test panels, as well as finished DIY OC corner tunes covered in fabric.) http://theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm
They all worked, all close enough I don't recall any being best, until Cable Elevators which are a whole lot better than anything else. Other than another ceramic insulator that is. They are all very effective. That's why I say go on eBay, buy whatever ceramic insulator looks good to you. They all work about the same so you can go by price and appearance.

How many you need depends a lot on your cables. Mine are stiff enough to span about 2 feet. At that spacing the cable lays almost flat, hardly any sag. But that's just what I like. The neat thing is you can listen and work this stuff out for yourself.

also please explain how to filter out the sub Hz resonance of the earth

Behold! The Nimbus Sub-Hertz Platform! (aka Firestone air spring) http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina24.htm

These principles of vibration control were worked out by a process of trial and error very gradually over a period of years. The turning point was realizing that properties or effects can be tested just fine without having to build an entire shelf, or rack, or whatever. 

There's no point arguing about this either, because anyone can prove it to themselves one way or the other. One simple test, cut some 3" squares from scrap material- MDF, plywood, maple, oak, acrylic, whatever. The material itself is not the point. The comparison is the point. Actually doing the comparison. 

Cutting them all the same size and shape eliminates those variables. Whatever differences there are now must be due to the inherent vibration properties of the materials themselves. So whatever they are- different wood, plastic, whatever- should all be the same size.

So you cut your 3" or whatever squares. Place them under the cones or footers or whatever. Listen. Change to the next ones. Listen. They all sound different. Pretty freaking amazing. Cost you next to nothing.

Wait, it gets better. Get some little squares of sorbothane or other rubbery material. Again, exactly what does not matter. Try it under the square, between the square and the shelf. Then try it on top, between the square and the component. Notice it produces the same effect on top and bottom, but more pronounced on top? Pretty freaking cool, eh? Do this enough, might eventually sink in, the closer, the more effective.

Why, its almost like whatever vibrations these things are making are finding their way back into the signal. In fact it is exactly like that. Whatever sound these things make when you plink them, is the sound they impart to your music.

But hey, don't just take my word for it. Try it and see.

Forest for the trees.

I have already set up an an array of
adhesive backed hooks behind our cabinet to separate and suspend power cables and signal cables. Hearing difference after doing this got me thinking about more cheap tricks in the first place. Need to try raising the speaker cables. Can’t wait to try the CD color edge and spraying the speaker cables!

Sounds like you’re the same stage I was at some 30 years ago- stuff sounds nutty, but if it can be tested for free.... what the....? it works???!

Then by trial and error over time gradually worked out a very general but useful concept of what’s going on.

Everything vibrates. Especially playing music. Even when it seems there are no moving parts, the signal itself is a dynamic electromagnetic field and we all know magnetic fields push and pull. So its all vibrating.

But vibration is not a one-way street. The signal excites the vibration, but then the vibration feeds back into the signal.

So its vibration control. The better you control the vibration the better it sounds. Over time three principle means stand out: Mass, Stiffness, Damping.

For comparison I suggest you find something with the same mass as your rock but much less stiffness and much more damping- sand in ZipLoc baggie say- and swap back and forth and listen. So all three are necessary, and they need to be in balance, and the more they are in balance the better they will sound.

Then when you got a pretty good handle on all that you will be ready to appreciate why BDR Cones are so darn awesome.

On to static and electrical charges. Anything that lifts a cable up off the floor will be an improvement. But things that electrically insulate work better than things that don’t. Ceramic insulators specifically designed to prevent surface charges propagating work best of all. You can buy Cable Elevators, but they are really just telephone pole insulators, and there’s a whole bunch of em for sale on eBay all the time. I’ve compared, they all work just fine.

So its static charges. Which is why the spray works. This also explains why its temporary. Spray immediately before listening. The improvement is immediate and easy to hear, but then the effect dissipates and this gradual degradation is much harder to hear. Experiment, and by trial and error learn how long you can go without hearing a difference. In my room, serious Better Records listening, I spray just before every side. Other times, lesser recordings, might go all night without it. Nice to have that arrow in the quiver.

Color CD edge with an ordinary felt marker pen.
Use paper cups to hold cables up off the floor.
Rearrange cables to eliminate tangles, space apart, and avoid running parallel.
Play the demagnetizing tracks like on the XLO Test CD.
Spray Static Guard laundry spray on cables just before playing.
Flip off all unused circuits on your breaker panel.