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Tweaks you got rid of because they were not effective (enough)?

There are some audiophiles for whom cost is no object; they buy what they wish and every single tweak and gadget which promises to improve the sound. And the industry is all too happy to produce such tweaks -- often made of expensive materials with elaborate engineering explanations. Those who question the value of these tweaks are frequently accused of being "naysayers" who are either too ignorant or insensate to realize that "everything matters."

Of course, money spent one place cannot be spent elsewhere; expenditures on tweaks take the place of other more central factors affecting the sound. In some cases, those tweaks are worth it; you can hear the difference, and that $400 (or whatever) really could not have improved your speakers or sub or amp, etc.

So, the question here is simple: Which tweak have you tried which, after some experience and reflection, you realized was either *not* effective or not the most effective way to improve your system? 
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Showing 3 responses by fleschler

fleschler
1,911 posts
 
I just want to touch upon tweaks that did nothing or were bad, not equipment or cabling which I do not consider tweaks
        Green pens for CDs (did nothing?)/Use Walker Talisman instead
        Ferrite cores on speaker cables and power cords-sometimes worse
        Magico Q-Pod isolation devices, out of 11 different vibration devices, these would have been the most expensive and just made the sound like molasses-super yuk under every piece of equipment.  Advertised to blacken the sound.  It certainly does that, and slooooows it down.  Auditioned only.  I use lots of Stillpoints, Townsend and a Buckwheat pillow instead.
         Synergistic Research Black Box-no matter where in the room I placed it with 32 HFTs, it cut the highs above 8K (not just "cleaned up" the sound but cut off it's head).  Gave it back.
         Sorbothane like vibrapod circles used positively (sorry) for speaker cable lifters above 90 oz. nylon carpet.  5% improvement for bupkis.
          PPT anywhere there are magnets.  I still use the Omega E Mats and a few A/C caps where there are no magnets (power panels, isolation transformer and crossover area at rear of speaker).   PPT works great otherwise in moderation for my system.   Easy to overdue though in my system, works great in my friends system (no magnets).  
That's what I remember for now.
fleschler
1,911 posts
 
If it wasn't for the SR HFTs (32X), I would have had to buy expensive quadradic diffusion paneling from front and rear walls.   If it wasn't for the two pairs of Hallographs, my Legacy Focuses would have remained unfocused sounding.  Those are my essential tweaks to building a great sounding audio system.   If I upgraded my speakers to Von Schweikert's upper priced models, maybe I wouldn't need Hallographs.
fleschler
1,911 posts
 
Number 1 tweak for analog since 2011-2, Magic Eraser for cleaning the stylus.  I suspect I have doubled the life of my Benz Ruby3 making sure to use this free tweak for almost a decade.  Better than the Onzow.   Use Disc Doctor stylus cleaner once per month to satisfy that the stylus is really clean to the cantilever.
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