Snake oil and tweaks that work!

Your right, and they too were very disapointing to me. Thank-you for reminding me!

There is a fiberglass brush, sold by Rush eraser in New York, that will polish metals to new bright condition. Using them on the AC (male) plugs on all your power cords, and on tube pins (obviously, only if you have tubes), will immediately improve performance across the board. If this polishing is done with the Rush eraser dipped into ART oil, the connection is enhanced even further. Cleaning with this same ART oil (no brush) on all your RCA or balanced connections is a big help too. Lately have been experimenting with Caig gold in place of the ART, but have not yet come to a conclusion. The Cardis "sweep" LP will do amazing things, if while the stylus is playing in the groove, you run the Aesthetix (Benz) de mag, or the older Audioquest De mag, connected to the RCA jacks of your turntable. A total time of about 30 seconds will de flux the cartridge to perfection. Texas Instruments makes a metal called TI shield, and if a section of it (about as large as your CD player) is placed between the CD, DVD or whatever digital source, and a preamp, amp or other piece of equipment that radiates magnetic fields, there will be an immediate improvement in the digital sound. If the source of magnetic noise is above and below the digital player, you will need a sheet in both locations. This last one is strange but completely true, if you can find a TRUE ground, connect a wire from it to the metal stand that supports your preamp, amp, turntable or digital player. (Probably between the stand and the spike near the floor?) If there are radio waves or other transmitted (RF) signals present, your music will have greater dynamics, more black (lower noise), and reduced brittleness in the high frequencies. I have actually heard radio stations clearly picked up by the shape of equipment stands. Often, the length of the frame and crossbars are the exact dimensions to become a perfect antenna for a signal, some miles away. The ground wire drains this completely, where changing cables, and experimenting with various other grounds in the system did nothing to solve the problem. Often there is a gain, even when the radio station is too weak to be clearly heard through the system. It costs nothing to try the last one, and it can be huge. Best wishes!

Albert, where can you get the TI shield and the Fiberglass brush? Is Rush on the web?

Okay, Furniture location works for me too. I hate to change it even though some furniture is arranged in most un-orthodox fashion in the family room. $1.20 tweak on both main L-R and rear Surround works for me ( You know I am not really sure but all I got to spare is $2.40). The other day I finally tried partially inflated 12" bicylce tube like on of the post suggested ( I tried to go back to the post to report my findings, but could not find it since the Audigon regrouping), but did not work for MY CD player.The sound was forward, lost focus somewhat and background noise slightly increased. Not to mention, the cd drawer kept getting stuck for a while, after the tube removal. This WOULD work for some CD player and won't for some. It all depends on thier natureal freq modes and its excitation with the internal mech induced random vibaration in addition to airborne pressure induced vibration. The natural freq modes of two set ups ( as stock and as used with tube) are diffrent. I think, assuming if the mfr has designed it right, the spikes generated due to random vib enviroment falling at lower freq modes are remote (the body stiffened accordingly). The tube in the middle supported differently would have now have diffrent natural modes which MAY BE GOOD OR BAD and therefore vary from brand to brand. But best thing is to NOT fiddle with the CD player support. Best option is have the shelf very thick(stiff), held such way that it has high fixity at the ends( again for same reason: you wanna keep the the shelf natural freq modes as high as possible not to interact with CD Player system modes) and CD player top should have shelf right on top panel, not touching but as to kill/block acoustic pressure caused by sound pressure. Weighing down top panel, I have not tried, but once again MAY WORK OR NOT.Therfore I doubt very much the usefulness of the Black diamond racing cones and similar products. It may or may not work. TRY FIRST IF YOU HAVE AN OPTION.

Go to your local auto parts store and buy silicone dielectric tune-up grease. Put a small amount on all power connections (not signal carrying connections!), prongs, male-female iec connections and plug back in. Presto-smoother, more natural sound as a result of less arcing. Cost $5-$10.