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Changes that made a difference (in order of effect).

Here are the changes I’ve made to my system in the last six months -

Speaker placement: I’ve been moving my SF Auditor M’s around trying to get the best imaging and smoothest frequency response. They are currently 30” from the front wall, 67” from the side, 76” apart, and toed in ~ 15 degrees. I have moved them back and forth in all directions as well as shifted my seating position trying to optimize the room/ speaker interaction. This is a very time consuming study. REW software helped; being able to see changes in distortion, time domain and frequency response makes it less ambiguous. It now feels like it’s as good as it’s going to get. BTW, the mad NASA engineer was right. Speakers closer together, closer than you might otherwise think, is better.

Diffusor: I built the Arqen lean diffusor designed by Tim Perry and put it on the near side wall to improve clarity. (Unfortunately, my room set up is not symmetrical.) I have lots of constraints in my mixed use living/ listening room. So a diffusor doubling as wall art is a win/ win situation. (See photo in my virtual system.) Initially, I tried the model 4 but in the end I went with the flat version. Moreover, I made it out of walnut and reduced the height to 13” instead of the recommended 48” for improved WAF.

The “Master Handbook of Acoustics” recommends absorption at the first reflection point and Floyd Toole recommends nothing on the wall at the FRP. Recommendations also vary depending on whether it’s a studio control room or a listening space. The diffusor is 8’ from my listening position. I don’t know if the lean diffusor is actually diffusing or just attenuating. What is noticeable is how much clearer China Forbes’ voice is when playing Pink Martini. YMMV

Preamplifier clipping: This issue is discussed at length in the Harbeth user group. http://www.harbeth.co.uk/usergroup/forum/the-science-of-audio/amplifier-matching-mismatching-and-cli... Willemj pointed me in that direction a while back. Previously, my volume setting was around 9 o’clock for ~70 dB sound level, not much useable range on the volume dial. I added -10dB attenuation to my Marantz CD player (one of the default settings) and that shifted the volume setting upward to around 11 o’clock. Previously, listening to Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” there were two points in the song where the guitar goes twang and my ears would go Ouch! Now, much better.

Wall outlet: This is a tweak that others swear by but I can’t be sure of. After seeing what extreme measures Folkfreak went to manage his incoming power, I wondered about my standard residential set up. I unscrewed the old back stab wall socket that my system is plugged into and pulled on the wires. They easily slipped about 1/8” before grabbing. Hmmm...not a very positive connection. I replaced it with a Hubbell 8300H (old un-plated version) I got on eBay. It seemed like the bass response was better (maybe) but I couldn’t confirm by A/B testing the outlets. 1) it takes at least 10 minutes to replace a socket (too long to remember) and 2) I cannot recreate the 30 year old marginal connection to the back-stab outlet. In any event, I’m happy with the very positive connection provided by the Hubbell plate and screws.

I’m done (for now). These positive changes are mostly from shared learnings by forum members for which I’m grateful.

What recent changes have you made to improve the sound of your system?

mikexxyz

Showing 2 responses by elizabeth

elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Most important:
00) Being alive. Dead does not work out.
0)having a space of my own to place a stereo system (Shopping cart under bridge does not work well)
1) owning a playable stereo system.
2) Paying the electric bill so can play stereo.
3) Being in same space as stereo instead of across town
4) Being awake and not sleeping
5) Having the system turned on.
6) Not having my ears stuffed full of peas or bubble gum is better.
7) Being seated in or around listening chair is better than head partially underwater in bathtub.
8) have to find the music I want to play and stick it in so it can play.


After posting this, I have decided it is not so funny as I had planned.
So please forgive me
 LOL
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I'll try a real answer this time
Going backward in time *rather than arbitrarily trying to assign levels to each)
Most recent: Upping the Digital game buying a new DAC (really a SACD player, but it's main interest to me is the DAC in it. Really takes CD to a new better level, not even delivered yet. waiting.)
New Speakers just a few weeks ago. These two items cost a lot. but are a new beginning in better sound. I have to say all the supporting equipment had to be there first to find much in the upgrade now.
Last year and year before buying way better interconnects.
I have to give  shout out to the dealer, who said skip a new amp(s) with new speakers, as mine is just fine. He was right. I could have gone lateral and spent a lot for not good reason!

Then a long gap. No new stuff for years. All the way back to 2010/2011 when I bought a lot of new gear. And got further into good power conditioning.

With such big improvements, it seems foolish to write about little ones right now.
Maybe after a few months with the new gear I may find some small things that make a difference..
Between 2010/2011 and now, the main thing was wires. powercords and IC. I made some mistakes mainly due to fear of spending more. I wasted money on halfway measures, particularly the fear of spending $3000 for one IC pair.7m Kimber KS1116 from preamp to amp. When if I had just jumped off the deep end I would have saved $1000 easy over trying to go partway.
(one reason I can today jump to a $7000 SACD player is remembering that mistake. And just jumping off the cliff as I know it is the right thing I need.)
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