Hey folks. A limited budget tweaker for nearly 40 years here, since first doubling up on lamp cord wire for speaker cables. I hooked up with Rick Taylor who had a rough and tumble hi fi store in the late 90's. For a time, Rick was the Audio Matiere repair Tech for importer Marigo Audio Labs. Search a dated but valid article by "Rick Taylor marigo dots" related to "under the hood" resonance work. Rick also designed cables that challenged the big names. We also experimented with all sorts of isolation, from airborne invasions to surface transfers. It is fun to watch the long time naysayers wake up from their slumbers. Art Dudley (love Art) has a "Basket of Deplorable Accessories" but recently admits "...love for IsoAcoustics' Gaia III isolation feet" under his Garrard 301 tt. A long time vinyl proponent, he also finally dumped his Sony SCD-777 cdp for the Hegel Mohican. Now Art, maybe some room tuning?
Long time former editor of Phile John Atkinson (thanks, John) and TAS Editor Robert Harley have grudgingly come to regard power upgrades, isolation shelving and feet as invaluable in achieving great sound. Extreme high end manufacturers are paying much greater attention to the positioning, dampening and electronic isolation of their builds and power supplies. It also may explain some of the "less is more" philosophy of great, simple, early gear such as the overachieving Stewart Hegeman Hapi 2 preamp with its non-crowded design.
Sorry for being a bit wordy, but needed to establish a little cred. Once achieving the resolution capabilities of modern sources, I've had excellent results with fuse upgrades. Yes, there can be a wonky break-in period where you second guess your decision. My upgrade path has been Radio Shack ceramic, Hi-Fi Tuning to the Synergistic Research Blue Fuses. If you look at my other posts, you will find that much attention has been paid to clean power in my system.
As a fellow of limited resources for my hi-fi passions, I generally don't begrudge the high cost of audio. We have choices and nobody forces our decision making. Patience is a great savings in the trickle-down world of high end. Except for my source, my entire system is great second hand stuff, tweaked to improve them. In the case of something new like fuses, the need to burn them in for 150-200 hours is no big deal...I simply leave the system up for a few days during good weather to decide if I want to return something under a guarantee. I do stay away from possible black market sources and deal with established companies assuring authenticity and the ease of returning for credit. A good example is my recent experience with Amazon for a cell phone, the LG V-30 with the quad dac. It was a 3rd party purchase that had the Amazon guarantee. It took a couple of tries to find a great refurbished unlocked one, but the end cost was $190. Yes, there is risk after Amazon's 30 day guarantee, but I'm willing to gamble that anything major will go wrong before then. Full retail was around $900 and it has become my "laptop" with decent headphone sound streaming hi-res and uber photo capability.
We live in AMAZING times as music lovers for gear and source music. Thanks for the read. More peace. Pinthrift
Long time former editor of Phile John Atkinson (thanks, John) and TAS Editor Robert Harley have grudgingly come to regard power upgrades, isolation shelving and feet as invaluable in achieving great sound. Extreme high end manufacturers are paying much greater attention to the positioning, dampening and electronic isolation of their builds and power supplies. It also may explain some of the "less is more" philosophy of great, simple, early gear such as the overachieving Stewart Hegeman Hapi 2 preamp with its non-crowded design.
Sorry for being a bit wordy, but needed to establish a little cred. Once achieving the resolution capabilities of modern sources, I've had excellent results with fuse upgrades. Yes, there can be a wonky break-in period where you second guess your decision. My upgrade path has been Radio Shack ceramic, Hi-Fi Tuning to the Synergistic Research Blue Fuses. If you look at my other posts, you will find that much attention has been paid to clean power in my system.
As a fellow of limited resources for my hi-fi passions, I generally don't begrudge the high cost of audio. We have choices and nobody forces our decision making. Patience is a great savings in the trickle-down world of high end. Except for my source, my entire system is great second hand stuff, tweaked to improve them. In the case of something new like fuses, the need to burn them in for 150-200 hours is no big deal...I simply leave the system up for a few days during good weather to decide if I want to return something under a guarantee. I do stay away from possible black market sources and deal with established companies assuring authenticity and the ease of returning for credit. A good example is my recent experience with Amazon for a cell phone, the LG V-30 with the quad dac. It was a 3rd party purchase that had the Amazon guarantee. It took a couple of tries to find a great refurbished unlocked one, but the end cost was $190. Yes, there is risk after Amazon's 30 day guarantee, but I'm willing to gamble that anything major will go wrong before then. Full retail was around $900 and it has become my "laptop" with decent headphone sound streaming hi-res and uber photo capability.
We live in AMAZING times as music lovers for gear and source music. Thanks for the read. More peace. Pinthrift