Any new tweaks out there?

06-19-12: Csontos
...why not just eliminate the IEC and go directly to the board and thus eliminate all the other issues associated with this imo, stupid idea in the first place? The video itself shows this.

Sounds interesting. Can you post a link to the video?

So I would love to hear about some effective internal shielding. This is something I have not tried but have seriously considered.

I've experimented a lot with internal shielding in my preamp. My first experiment was with ERS cloth. I liked it at first, but after much more experimentation, I decided it was harming things more than it was helping.

The shielding I ultimately went with was a homemade sandwich comprised of 16 gauge copper, 16 gauge steel, and TI shield. I had about 20 pieces of copper and steel cut to custom sizes by a an online retailer. Then I screwed them together with the TI shield and installed them in strategic locations in the preamp (e.g. all around the power supply). I made sure each of the shields was grounded effectively to the chassis. By the time I was done, I had added over 10 pounds of weight to the preamp.

I installed the various shields incrementally, so I got to hear the effects of the shielding at least 3 or 4 times. Each time, it was the same thing: a little lower noise floor, a little better resolution, slightly better harmonic accuracy. After all the shielding was in, the preamp sounded significantly better.

It was a remarkably effective tweak. It was also fun. And cheap.

Bryon

Has anyone else tried the Combak Harmonix MIC ENACOMs? I just got a pair from Japan and find them quite outstanding. They are not new but are very hard to find.

Try the walker audio eliminator A

Geoff. Why don't you like brass?

Why don’t I like brass? I have ranked cone materials according to their relative Sound vs. Hardness. Generally speaking, the *harder* the material the better the sound. But it’s a little more complex since cone shape also affects the sound. Brass is actually a relatively *soft* material, relative to steel or ceramics, for example, which I think is why brass, generally speaking, doesn’t sound as good in terms of openness and tone and dynamics as high carbon steel and NASA grade ceramics. The same logic applies to carbon fiber cones.