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Most Effective Tweaks?

Wondering what generic tweaks people have tried that made the biggest difference?    Also interested in how much the tweaks cost to implement and the magnitude say from minimum of "marginal" to maximum of "transformational".

My top tweaks I can think of so far are

1) isolating speakers from versus coupling to floor when needed  (~$100, transformational)
2) Mu metal shield around low level  phono stepup transformer ($30, transformational noise reduction)
3) power cord upgrade (significant, ~$80)
4) acoustic panels (significant, $90)
5) power conditioner (significant, $100)
5) Physically moving components further apart from each other (NC, marginal)
128x128mapman
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,730 posts
 
geoff kait: Any idea where I can lay my mitts on some? thx
kotta's avatar
kotta
649 posts
 
Filling speaker stands w/copper bb's (didn't want to use lead shot this time) and then adding aquarium black sand. Big improvement. Lately bought a Furatech gold-plated ac plug for $30 for the Arcam's home-made power cord. Noticeable improvement. Finally, did some experimenting w/the Arcam's 10 Int. amp speak binding posts. I found the "B" sounded better than the "A." Why....much shorter metal connection from board to spk. binding post w/the "B" spk. posts. Also, removed the Deltron BFA plugs and went back to bare wire. Much better. Finally, a good cleaning of all contacts. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
 
dweller
1,243 posts
02-24-2016 9:48pm
geoff kait: Any idea where I can lay my mitts on some? thx

no, sorry, long gone.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
mapman,
Thanks for the details!
This has been an ongoing issue for me for years. It’s managable but creeps into audibility at higher volumes. I’ve chased it with ICs, power cords, rack placement, "cheater plugs", medium output cartridges, etc. I think the hum is associated with the placement of my rack in the room (in front of an ornamental fireplace with the furnace/boiler directly below in the basement) and I have no options to move the entire rig. I have the system on a dedicated line also. So seeing your post, I was wondering if the mu metal might be wrapped around my already shielded ICs or some other placement around the rack, or even in the basement.....
Might be worth the experiment.
Thanks again!
Dave
PS: I know there are many Audiogon forums on RF.


Mu mu metal does not address RF issues. It’s a high permeability magnetic alloy used primarily to absorb the low frequency magnetic field produced by transformers, the toxic magnetic field that would otherwise degrade the audio signal anywhere in proximity to the xformer. In some cases audible hum is produced by the 60 Hz transformer but it can also be produced by other causes such as low level signal wires being too close to AC cords which is not an RF issue either.

mapman's avatar
mapman OP
21,824 posts
 
Yep, as mentioned several times above, hum is most likely ground and/or EM related due to close proximity to transformers and the ilk.

RF is typically higher frequency noise, not unlike the noise other than hiss one might hear listening to FM stereo radio. Older digital gear, microwaves, light dimmers are just some of the more common culprits.
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