By far, the greatest "tweak" I've found in audioland is SPEAKER PLACEMENT! And it's free, though it will cost you a fair amount of time.
With our customers, I frequently go over speaker placement with them. They should not only hear them well positioned in our store, but a good dealer will EDUCATE them how to do it in their homes as well.
Often, I'll deliver equipment right to the customer's home. They may just be buying cables or accessories, but I'll take the time to reposition their speakers for them within their home livability range (ie, not tripping over cables in their living room, etc.). I do it while they are watching, and tell them what to listen for when I move them.
By the time I leave, their system easily takes a big jump in performance...much more so than the new amp or other piece of equipment they bought would do on its on, without placing the speakers right.
And yes...an amazing amount of people I know that THINK they are audiophiles have no clue about positioning. It's really laughable how little they care about it when their system costs about $10-20k. Sometimes, they'll even move them back to their poor positioning when I return...and it's not as if I stuck them 1/3 of the way out into the room either.
Jeff Delman
Value Audio
www.value-audio.com
With our customers, I frequently go over speaker placement with them. They should not only hear them well positioned in our store, but a good dealer will EDUCATE them how to do it in their homes as well.
Often, I'll deliver equipment right to the customer's home. They may just be buying cables or accessories, but I'll take the time to reposition their speakers for them within their home livability range (ie, not tripping over cables in their living room, etc.). I do it while they are watching, and tell them what to listen for when I move them.
By the time I leave, their system easily takes a big jump in performance...much more so than the new amp or other piece of equipment they bought would do on its on, without placing the speakers right.
And yes...an amazing amount of people I know that THINK they are audiophiles have no clue about positioning. It's really laughable how little they care about it when their system costs about $10-20k. Sometimes, they'll even move them back to their poor positioning when I return...and it's not as if I stuck them 1/3 of the way out into the room either.
Jeff Delman
Value Audio
www.value-audio.com