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The next best Tweak ???

There have been several postings at AA about a new tweak from the mind of a gent named unclestu that I would like to share with Audiogon members.

I really don’t know why it works or how it works.
This tweak will cost you about $10 bucks but hold on to your hats...

unclestu discovered that the Ground Control (that was designed by Bud Purvine and sold by AudioPrism)design could be improved on.

You will need to make two sets for your speakers.

What unclestu came up with is to take a 6V Lantern Battery, add a 1000uf Electrolytic capacitor across the top springs (+ to + and - to -) connect a wire to the negative side of the battery and then attach the other wire end to the negative post on your speaker.

I have also made a couple that I plug in to my Preamp and Amp. Those were made with RCA’s ground on the wire end and I used 9V batteries utilizing 9V battery clips.

I've got to say, big improvement across the board, Soundstage, bass, mids, treble. But the most dramatic change is in the dynamics.
128x128ozzy
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I have used the ordinary (non battery)tweak And i maay try this tweak.
The pigtail tweak worked well for me. So this may be worth trying for me.
Some folks have success with these tweaks,some not.
But it certainly is cheap enough to try.
(Its' those $1,000 tweaks that scare me off...LOL)
jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,502 posts
 
This tweak definitely reminded me of Elizabeth's tweak with the pigtail wire and ferrite core. I've had good results with that tweak. I might give this one a shot as well as it requires no soldering. Any specific brand of wire or capacitor to use? Wire wise I only have some old extensions cords readily available that I can use. I got rid of my excess speaker wire some time ago.
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
3,650 posts
 
I tried first the battery without the caps and it did not seem to do much. Then someone suggested that for solid state equipment to add the cap. The cap really did the trick.

By the way, it seems the higher the battery voltage the more it tilts the sound upwards. The 6V lantern battery is the most neutral.

I bought the Capacitors from Radio Shack, they were $1.79 each. I used the thinnest wire I could find, though I am not sure why I did.
jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,502 posts
 
This is really going to show my naïveté so I hope I'm shown mercy from the membership here but the 1000uf capacitors I found at various e-tailers and retailers have varying voltages. I've seen 1000µF 6.3V caps all the way to 1000uF 50V caps. Does the voltage of the capacitor matter in this tweak? I realize caps are cheap and I should probably just try different caps but I really want to minimize the trial and error. The Radio Shack one is 35V so I may give that a try first but the other caps would have to be ordered and the shipping rates I'm being charged is taking the fun out of this tweak. Thanks
ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
3,650 posts
 
The 1000uf 35V Cap from Radio Shack is what I used.
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