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Feeling Tweaky

I recently tried my first system tweak, purchasing IsoAcoustic Orea isolation footers for my Luxman 507uX Mk2 integrated amp, Marantz Ruby CD/SACD player, and Shunyate Hydra Denali 6000S power conditioner. I liked the improvement in sound quality so much I’ve gone ahead and ordered IsoAcoustic Gaia feet for my VPI Classic 2 turntable and Magico A3 speakers. I never expected a tweak to make such an improvement, not just a change, in sound quality. By the way, my cables are Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cables, Audioquest Colorado cables from the CD/SACD player, and VPI phono cables. The Shunyata Hydra Denali has a Venom power cable. All the other power cords are what came with each component.

Acoustic room treatments that would affect room decor are unfortunately out of the equation and I’ve already tried my best to design component shelving to be a vibration free as I could. I’ve thought about are redoing the house wiring to create a dedicated circuit, and making an ultrasonic record cleaner.

So my question to you all is, what tweaks have had the most positive impact on your own system, that you could you recommend for the above described system? There seems to be a lot of tweaks out there that range from the sublime to the ridiculous in both performance and price. I’d like to know what tweaks of the many out there have worked best for you so I can make a list and prioritize each in terms of performance and budget. Please share your favorites and I’d appreciate your advice. Thanks,


Mike



skyscraper
skyscraper OP
824 posts
 
Octet11, I've been wondering if better power cords can actually make any difference. Not to say that they can't, but the idea of it is so conter-intuivitive to me I've hesitated to commit the resources to get any to replace what I have. The Shunyata Venom is my only power cord that is not stock. When I purchased the Shunyata Hydra Denali power conditioner used, it it came without a cord. When I called Shunyata they recommended the Venom so the conditioner would operate correctly. So I got it against my better judgement. 

I've been meaning to pm Eric Squires who mentioned about a year or so ago in a post about his then new Luxman 507uX amp, that he had upgraded to a not overly expensive power cord. I was wondering if he noted any improvement from doing that. Maybe he'll catch this post and report how that worked out for him. Thanks for your recommendation about my system Octet11. You may very well be absolutely correct and I should stop being cheap.

Mike
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
^^^

Hi, Mike ...

Good power cords, speaker cables and interconnects make a huge difference in audio performance.

Contact Grover Huffman. He makes really good cables for not a lot of money. A friend of mine has a complete loop of Grover’s latest "Empress" cables in his system and his system is awesome.

Here’s Grover’s web addy: http://www.groverhuffman.com/home

Frank
bigkidz
3,311 posts
 
Swap out your preamp resistors with Audio Note 2W non-magnetic resistors of the same value.
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