My tip is - have fun experimenting! At the end of the day, it's a hobby and therefore it's not just about the end result, but also about the process ... the path itself.
Yes, I originally wanted just to buy the best I could and enjoy it. But the more I learned, the more I realised it’s not that simple, and I started to enjoy experimenting and system building.
Here's twenty more. 1. Ensure your stylus is scrupulously clean. Clean at the end of every record side. 2. Ensure your turntable is 100% level. Coins under the feet can be used as shims. 3. Eliminate wobble from speakers. If you have a wood floor mount the speakers on screws driven into the floor. Three screws immediately prevents micro-movement as you can't rock a tripod. 4. Ensure all connections - including mains cables - are clean and tight. Unplugging and reconnecting audio cables is often enough to clean them. Always turn the power off and unplug from the wall socket before disturbing connections. 5. Ensure the screws holding drive units to the speaker cables are tight (be careful not to strip any threads) 6. Ensure the screws holding your cartridge to the headshell are tight (again be careful not to strip the threads. If you have removable headshell take this off the arm first. If not be careful not to transmit torque to the arm bearings). 7. Try removing speaker grilles; usually sounds much better without. 8. Ensure your turntable is physically isolated, and as far away as possible, from the loudspeakers. A wall shelf is usually a good starting point. 9. If neighbours permit try listening late at night; less ambient noise, less road vibration through the house foundations, usually less noise pollution in the mains supply. 10. Experiment with tracking weight; plus or minus a few fractions of a gram can make a big difference. 11. Ensure your cartridge is above room temperature; especially in winter. Cold reduces the compliance of the stylus pivots. Try keeping an anglepoise lamp with a low-wattage bulb close to, and pointing at, the cartridge to keep it warm. 12. If your turntable's on a dense, high-mass object (heavy furniture, marble slab or similar) try it on the lightest (but rigid) surface you can find; for instance a lightweight coffee table. Suspended sub-chassis turntables, in particular, don't like being coupled to high masses as it bypasses the suspension at subsonic frequencies. 12. Switch off the lights and use a couple of candles. The subdued lighting helps focus the aural senses and the ionised air is more relaxing. 13. Ensure you're comfortable and relaxed - sort the most comfortable chair in the house. Drag your system to the bedroom and try lying on the bed with headphones. 14. Try removing your turntable's perspex lid. Try off / on closed, on open and see if you have a preference. 16. Tidy up your cabling. Ensure mains cables are kept as far apart from signal wires as you can to minimise hums and buzzes. 17. Go around your listening room and check for loose items that can be rattling in sympathy with the music; china ornaments, glass in cabinet panels etc. Secure with blutack. 18. Try the door to your room open, slightly open or fully closed. A room with an open door has different standing wave behaviour to one with it closed. 19. Ensure vinyl is stored vertically and away from heat sources / sunlight to prevent warping. 20. Easiest and cheapest tip of all; listen with your eyes closed!! Bonus tip 21: Try leaving your gear (especially amplifiers and digital sources) powered up 24/7 so they're permanently at operating temperature and stable. Don't do this with vacuum tube stuff, though, as valves deteriorate with use. Good luck and enjoy!
watch the heat / thermals on things though. I have a DJ mixer I used to leave on 'too long' and components on the PSU burned out. Had to mod with heat sink and fan to keep it from melting during summer ..
And at the same time make sure the connections are good and tight on refitting. In my experience a good firm mechanical connection is more important than the physical make-up of the cable. Have a great day my friend.
Your so right about the cables, i do an Audiophile hygiene every year, cleaning everything and plug it all in again, it takes a week or so, befor everything is up and running smoothlees.
You missed out a very important tweak - clean all your contacts, from mains plugs through thr whole system to speaker connections. You will be amazed at the difference.
Great tip on impedence.I was running 8ohm speakers on the 8ohm switch selector on my amp.I then swapped a pair of 4ohm speakers but left the amp at 8 ohms.It didn't sound right.I then switched the amp to the 4 ohm selector,wow a big noticeable difference,especicially imagining and sound stage.Good tip.
You mean as we get older and become follicly challenged, then the addition of a rug will help with reducing acoustic reflections? I'm definitely getting to that stage 😊
Buongiorno Maestro - Good tips - I feel I have to comment on them 1 - Works as far as I know (AFAIK) only for valve (tube) amplifiers 2 - Can make a large difference - eg. just moving the speakers away from or closer to the wall behind them, toe-in or not, separation etc and moving seating position back or forwards. 3 - Similar to 2 - use rugs, soft furnishings, curtains, tablecloths, bookshelves, CD and/or record library and more tricks to add targeted dampening 4 - That's one reason I never turn my gear off 5 - Definitely helps - now all electronics and speakers are uncoupled from the surface they are on. With the speakers this was HUGE. 6 - Can make a HUGE difference! I have WLAN routers, a DECT phone in the same room. Now have shielded mains cables and ferrite cores on the mains input side - so much more musical and dynamic now. 7 - I think this is definitely a distraction and they make noise too. Air conditioning may create layers of air at different temperatures which can diffract sound slightly differently. 8 - Have no experience of this - I don't move the cables. I am tempted to elevate the cables on stands to see if there is a difference 9 - I noticed burn in on new cables I bought where the performance went up and down until they settled down. 10 - Agree multiple tweaks at a time give you NO idea what was good and what was bad! Great video! All the best, Rob in Switzerland
Logical succession of steps. As you went from 1-3 I was right there with you. Good job. As for gear insulation, my wife and I had some left over carpet underlayment from installing some Persian rugs. I finally (*after talking about it for 10+ years) mounted my turntable decks to the wall rather than on top of hifi cart. I used some carpet underlayment for the mounts, wood, and in between the stands and the chopping block to hold my table. Amazing free upgrade. Looks impressive to. Eyes are drawn to the tables now.
First of all thanks for Your interesting theme & good advices.But I would like to thank You for Your wonderful pronunciation & not just fast speak. My english not so good and You are my best and interesting teacher! Thank You and best vishes!
I use hockey pucks underneath a lot of components and integrated tube amps. Made of solid rubber. Probably same or better than vibrapods or similar items at a much cheaper cost. You can get them in quantity at a discount on eBay. I also use doorstops purchased on Amazon like John Darko to hold lighter components in place. Possibly helps with micro vibrations.
Very interesting ideas and the best advice was dont multi tweek. Ive done things over time to my Brennan JB7/Elac 5.2 B2 set up and have noticed gradual improvements to the HiFi sound up to a point that it is better than my old vv expensive systems from the 70s and 80s........before the divoices lol.
My R2R dac over a month seemingly got better sounding, I don't know if I just got used to it or it just sounded better after break in, probably a combination of both.
Rational speaker placement method is amazing. Bass note, toe in and rake angle. Look it up you'll be blown away. For damping try concertmeister basio dampers, absolutely perfect damping. As close to a floating speaker you can get. 👍
Repositioning the speaker cables actually WORKS - after repositionings my cables, the music scene arrangement "went away". I am surprised! It returned to its right place after recalibrating my gear by LAPC function - Technics amplifiers's function to correct signal because off variable (depending on the frequency ) impedance of loudspeaker+cables setup.
You can little rubber and/or felt pads on the feet of the equipment. That really helps the dampening. Use multilpe AC outlets, hopefully on different breakers. Another cheap (not free) mod is upgrade phono headshell cabling.
I mostly listen to classical music. When I am in a bad mood, I don't listen to Beethoven, because he makes me get even more depressed and angry. I listen to Mozart or Boccerini or Vivaldi. Problem solved.
Yeah, there's that. And the problem of expectations! If you have a very great memory of your last listening session, you might get unrealistic expectations! And whose fault is that, next time it might not be so "magic".. 😮
Though I haven't tried it, virtually all of my fellow audiobuddies who own a classic receiver - 1970s era - say that the sound quality improves if you tune the tuner section to an empty section of the FM band during those times when you use your receiver for vinyl playback.
my marantz mr255 has an "fm mute" button on the front panel for that reason i believe. it was interesting, before depressing that button i occasionally heard fm bleeding through during quiet passages of records.
The one thing I'm looking at right now is the issue of power. I moved from the UK to Germany some years ago and brought most of my (vintage) HiFi gear with me. This meant some components obviously had UK plugs so I used plug converters to switch from UK to DE. Combined with (UK) extension leads this constituted a spaghetti-style mess for my power cabling. A couple of days ago I finally got around to changing things, I replaced some leads from some HiFi components from UK to DE which in turn enabled me to get rid of the UK extension cables. As I had the cables already the cost of doing this exercise was €0.00. I now have a system with a 'cleaner' sound, maybe not a massive difference but certainly a difference for the better. I'm an advocate of keeping the power supply as 'natural' and 'clean' as possible, in fact I'm considering a new power lead with an element of 'cleaning' included, not one of the mega-expensive blocks but a more robust and better solution than I currently have. Thanks for the tips, good video and my No.1 vote goes to the dark art of speaker positioning.
Great tips !...I’ve added a few choice plants to my listening room. Air plants like Tilasandia are especially good and don’t need any soil. Just add a few in a basket or bowl and you good to go..helps oxygenate and dehumidfy the room naturally. I did go further though and purchased a dehumidifier, sets the room up for 40-50% humidity. I don’t need to run the aircon any more and the room feels perfect with the plants, oxidation of cable and terminal metals and capacitors of gear is significantly reduced and it’s just a wonderfully healthy space to listen to music.
@@No_Limits_411 I went back and found that Darko video..😂 he turned it into an April Fools day spoof. Talking about leaves and photosynthesis aiding bass and treble response etc.. he’s having a laugh, but the benefits of plants and humidity control are for the quality of air in your listening environment. The quality of your listening experience will be indirectly improved. Try it, especially the automatic, low energy, low noise dehumidifiers. I have a Meaco.
I was curious about the tip about changing speaker impedance so I contacted Klipsch (I have thRP-600Mii) and they advised strongly against it. The speakers were designed with a certain impedance for a reason. If they weren't only a few months old I might try it, but at least bi-amping them with my Denon AVR-X4700H does make a noticeable difference on it's own (IMO), which I did soon after getting them. I'm also awaiting back-ordered speaker stands which will replace the barstools I'm currently employing for the task.
Not all speakers are suitable, very sensitive speakers like Klipsh are probably good the way they are. Less sensitive and "modern" speakers can try this experiment. I would reccomend to do so when the manufacturer says that it is compatible with other impedances.
Thank you for your knowledge about this wonderful life called analog ... I have aprox 10 thousand albums ... All are superb they are my lifelong accomplishment when it come to music ... I have cassette s ... 8 track ...and cd ... I also have reel to reel ... Im always ready to learn and thanks to you you have added color to my listening world ... Especially when you compared the 3 cassettes ... I think its stupid to try and capitalize on the consumer with those prices ... I came across a old music shop that had maxell 2 with some home made recordings ... I bought them all about 100 cassettes ...for ...30 dollars ...what a fantastic sound when i rerecorded ... Please continue educate us ... Much love and respect ... Thank you
Fact! Since all my hi fi equipment is from the mid-seventies (the condition is collector's), believe me I have the feeling that they play differently every day. I wouldn't say worse or better but certainly different! 🤘🏻
In my +35 years with this wonderfull hobby ❤️ i have never came across an amp who has the ability to change between those 2? Maybe it's out there, but then i missed out? The subject for today i celebrate 🎉 BTW, my stereo always turned on, as it isn't craving too much power, even It's 2 mono blocks 👀 ✌️❤️🇩🇰
Change fuses in all stereo parts to HiFi-Tuning fuses makes a big difference there is copper softer sound and silver for more details available on ebay for 45 euros each fuse
All valid tips. One thing to add would be a DC filter. I have a LG OLED TV which injects (when turned on) DC into the mains. Hence, there was a humming and I had a hard time figuring out the root cause. I then plugged in the TV into another outlet which had a different circuit (using another breaker) and the hum was gone. I then added a DC filter and then could use again the same outlet.
I don't have the tweak on my system and it still works great, is that the problem? I like to watch your videos, but I am of the opinion that by buying a quality device there is no need to tweak. Only isolation from vibrations of the mechanical sound source and valve devices make sense.
Some great advice thanks; I enjoy your channel. Any DIY tips on carpeting ceilings and sticking rugs up there; my wife is away next weekend. I'm currently designing speaker cables made out of pure organic, crystal, silk spider webs; from caves deep in the Himalayas, where Monks chant audiophilic like mantras for 22 hours every single day except Easter Fridays & Buddha's birthdays. The cables will be elevated by multiple built in spider type legs that can be adjusted by remote control app; linked to GPS; integrated with micro DSP, micro DAC's & YPAO. The spider legs will enable them to be positioned perfectly in any room; on the walls or carpeted ceilings to insure deeper base and clearer highs. The problem I have is; if the webs aren't braided crossing at 90 degrees they pick up RFI; I keep hearing the bloody Monks chanting in the background. It takes ages to braid the damned things and my hands get all sticky so I'm planning to distribute them as DIY kits after I have them tested and approved by both Danny Ritchie and Gene from Audioholics
With plugs that can be put in two ways, go through the plugs, extension strips and correct polarity. Then go all through the devices with a multimeter and minimize the difference to ground. I had two exact same subwoofers that were wired differently at the factory. Then check the grounding between devices and especially that there is no ground potential between them. RCA is the worst way to equalize the ground.
yoga mats the cheapest option. I was told 'frontenis balls' also are great. I use under concrete slab under turntable, with felt on top to stop the concrete dust getting up on the feet/turnie.
Caro paisano! I also have GoldenEars (Triton 2+) driven by 2 PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HPs in monoblock! You are obviously a man of very discerning taste! Saluti da la Florida!
BTW, I realize that your Triton Reference speakers are 2 steps north of mine but do your speakers image well? My speakers are perfect tonally but they image poorly. I’ve experimented endlessly but they don’t image well at all. What has been your experience?
I don't move the cables, the difference is only in your head. Power conditioners are a thing, I have a lot of power issues where I live. Room acoustics are a thing, use carpeting or heavy window blinds on your walls (cuts down on echos), padded furniture in the room helps. Turn off fans when listening to music.
Vintage gear needs to burn in as well. Either when you restore it with new components or because it was unused for a long time. I have experienced this to the extreme with turntables. I even had a Dual turntable that was humming quite loud after I replaced the wiring but by just keep on playing it, the hum went away completely. The difficulty here is to decide at which point you need to troubleshoot or have patience.
If vintage or just old it's good to open them up and suck out with a vacuum cleaner the dirt if present. For specific things each piece of gear has its own story...
I am renting an open plan three-bedroom unit. When I'm having a listening session, I'll close all doors but leave a gap so that the sound goes in and some of it gets trapped in the rooms. I'll also close all venitian blinds rather than having open and exposing the glass.
I totally agree and finally someone mentioned FUSES! During covid lock down, utilize your time by looking around at trash (RIFUTI). Use your imagination as I found a pair of heavy wooden plant / display tables. These are for keeping my speakers off the ground to ear level listening. Then a pair of Italian marble table lamps. One was top broken and require a craftsman to repair it. I decided to take it apart and WOW! WOW! & WOW!!!! Three pieces of Italian marble for paper weight / door stopper and the best for last. Are you ready? Now imagine a heavy duty, perfect 3 inch dia. round RECORD WEIGHT STABILIZER. OH YEA BABY!!! Glue a leather batch or cork bottom and I have a $500.00 OH YEA BABY !!!!!
Careful on turning all the cooling off when listening, especially in summer. Electrical components are much more likely to fail when hot, especially in tube gear. I built a small setup out of computer fans that cool my system in the summer months - silently :) Noctua fans
Noctua make wonderful fans. I had an issue with their first run IP67 PWM fans, but that was the first time they ever made a PWM fan. I'm still running the other fans I bought that day and the RMA replacement.
I would hope that most people who subscribe to your channel know of the rule of thirds ,but just incase they don't it says move your speakers one third of the way into the room while you sit two thirds of the way into the room . That said My Ohm Walsh speakers are unique in that they are one of the few speakers that work best only 18 inches into the room from the wall behind them.
@@anadialog They are semi omni-directional see Z reviews Ohm Walsh best speaker ever video , Hopefully Sangalli has a pair to demo and are not too far away. In the US Ohm offers a free 120 day at home trial , maybe the offer a similar deal over there. They are known for a super wide and deep sound stage with a sit anywhere sweet spot. For best results the speakers do need to see each other.
Dampening. I moved my gear into my bedroom which has wooden floors. Especially the bass was awfully bad. What to do? I am not a rich man, so I decided to put telephone books (the same thickness) under each speaker. Vastly improved. Positioning. I positioned my speakers so that I had (what I assumed to be) optimal placement. Then I remembered, left and right, backwards and forwards, and UP AND DOWN. How could I forget that? What am I going to do with telephone books under my speakers? I decided to tape pencils to the top of the books, approximately 1/4 inch or 7 millimetres. Again. Vastly improved.
tip 11 Kitchen noises: if you hear water splashing or machine noises from the kitchen, don't attempt to listen to music on your system. Get a portable device with headphones and go elsewhere.
I don't think gear warmup does anything with solid state components, did some AB testing myself... But with tubes, this is a very evident thing indeed. Vibration damping works for turntables (against feedback via the cartridge), tubes (microphonics) and mechanical resonance like the case of a speaker or amplifier. But again, this doesn't work for solid state components. In theory, resonance could impact solid state components that contain ceramic capacitors... however, I don't think good audio components should contain ceramic capacitors in the signal path. AFAIK, moving cables is an actual thing, no need to fear a shoe in the face! 😜 But it's very specific for cables that transport low level signals, like a phono cable - it could reduce/eliminate hum coming from power cables or transformers. The speaker cables would be the last thing I would worry about, since those carry high power signals that won't be distorted easily... With gear burn-in, it's *again* very specific, AFAIK, it has only an impact on mechanical parts, like cones of speakers/headphones, cartridge suspension or tape/cassette decks... When solid state components seem to burn-in, it's actually your ears getting burned in. Your ears are getting accustomed to the new sound, however you won't notice it since it's a gradual change, so it's easy to think it's the gear that's changing.
My First Watt ( non- tube) takes 2 hors to get to optimal performance. After that, sonic depth ( depth in instruments ) happens. First I though it was my imagination. But after experiencing with some friends and discussing with same amp owners, it was true. This amp gives an out of the world experience. It’s a £4000 power amp. Another £3500 for pre-amp
Do whatever works for you. Don't always buy into what people are selling because that is what they are doing, selling you something. Some of the best things are free or can be accomplished for nothing.
@@anadialog I know, just thought I would reiterate what you were saying as alot of people just consume instead of repurposing or try to be innovative with what they already have. Like the vids and your equipment.
the Impedance stuff is pure bullshit! all you do with setting the amplifier to a lower value is lower it's possible power and that works backwards as you pretend
DAMPING, not "dampening". I don't put my gear under a water faucet, or an outside spigot. This is too elementary a mistake, since you're a supposed expert, which you are certainly not. This is a mistake beginners make. Cable movement? Absolute BS!
Things are not how they appear sometimes. I am Italian so I make several mistakes and I do apologize for that, nevertheless I believe the concept is correct and my language limitations shouldn't be used to label my or other's work/passion.
![ANA[DIA]LOG](http://yt3.ggpht.com/50CpmGNilS8aoMlarZVhI_GxRDoZdbj4ZgwCMZXg-Rq2PrEvCytlE6RVyLUrNY-rwE_sAlZ1Zw=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
My tip is - have fun experimenting!
At the end of the day, it's a hobby and therefore it's not just about the end result, but also about the process ... the path itself.
Exactly. It took me five years into the hobby before I could truly have fun experimenting
@@LIL-MAN-THE-OG true, first years you are just stumbling in the dark, looking for something you don't know
@@LIL-MAN-THE-OG It took me five years to work out how to use my Yamaha RX-V Receiver
Yes, I originally wanted just to buy the best I could and enjoy it. But the more I learned, the more I realised it’s not that simple, and I started to enjoy experimenting and system building.
Here's twenty more. 1. Ensure your stylus is scrupulously clean. Clean at the end of every record side. 2. Ensure your turntable is 100% level. Coins under the feet can be used as shims. 3. Eliminate wobble from speakers. If you have a wood floor mount the speakers on screws driven into the floor. Three screws immediately prevents micro-movement as you can't rock a tripod. 4. Ensure all connections - including mains cables - are clean and tight. Unplugging and reconnecting audio cables is often enough to clean them. Always turn the power off and unplug from the wall socket before disturbing connections. 5. Ensure the screws holding drive units to the speaker cables are tight (be careful not to strip any threads) 6. Ensure the screws holding your cartridge to the headshell are tight (again be careful not to strip the threads. If you have removable headshell take this off the arm first. If not be careful not to transmit torque to the arm bearings). 7. Try removing speaker grilles; usually sounds much better without. 8. Ensure your turntable is physically isolated, and as far away as possible, from the loudspeakers. A wall shelf is usually a good starting point. 9. If neighbours permit try listening late at night; less ambient noise, less road vibration through the house foundations, usually less noise pollution in the mains supply. 10. Experiment with tracking weight; plus or minus a few fractions of a gram can make a big difference. 11. Ensure your cartridge is above room temperature; especially in winter. Cold reduces the compliance of the stylus pivots. Try keeping an anglepoise lamp with a low-wattage bulb close to, and pointing at, the cartridge to keep it warm. 12. If your turntable's on a dense, high-mass object (heavy furniture, marble slab or similar) try it on the lightest (but rigid) surface you can find; for instance a lightweight coffee table. Suspended sub-chassis turntables, in particular, don't like being coupled to high masses as it bypasses the suspension at subsonic frequencies. 12. Switch off the lights and use a couple of candles. The subdued lighting helps focus the aural senses and the ionised air is more relaxing. 13. Ensure you're comfortable and relaxed - sort the most comfortable chair in the house. Drag your system to the bedroom and try lying on the bed with headphones. 14. Try removing your turntable's perspex lid. Try off / on closed, on open and see if you have a preference. 16. Tidy up your cabling. Ensure mains cables are kept as far apart from signal wires as you can to minimise hums and buzzes. 17. Go around your listening room and check for loose items that can be rattling in sympathy with the music; china ornaments, glass in cabinet panels etc. Secure with blutack. 18. Try the door to your room open, slightly open or fully closed. A room with an open door has different standing wave behaviour to one with it closed. 19. Ensure vinyl is stored vertically and away from heat sources / sunlight to prevent warping. 20. Easiest and cheapest tip of all; listen with your eyes closed!! Bonus tip 21: Try leaving your gear (especially amplifiers and digital sources) powered up 24/7 so they're permanently at operating temperature and stable. Don't do this with vacuum tube stuff, though, as valves deteriorate with use. Good luck and enjoy!
Thanks for sharing that!
watch the heat / thermals on things though. I have a DJ mixer I used to leave on 'too long' and components on the PSU burned out. Had to mod with heat sink and fan to keep it from melting during summer ..
22. (and no one is mentioning this) Keep your ear canals clean. Stuffed with wax, high frequencies will be heavily attenuated.
Live in a less than 600 square foot apartment n living room is cozy with “important” stuff and it’s the best sound I’ve ever had!
Oh yea and cleaning contacts helps too. Sometimes I think people buy new fancy cables when all they had to do was clean their existing ones
True!
And at the same time make sure the connections are good and tight on refitting. In my experience a good firm mechanical connection is more important than the physical make-up of the cable. Have a great day my friend.
Clean how?
Your so right about the cables, i do an Audiophile hygiene every year, cleaning everything and plug it all in again, it takes a week or so, befor everything is up and running smoothlees.
You missed out a very important tweak - clean all your contacts, from mains plugs through thr whole system to speaker connections. You will be amazed at the difference.
True!
Clean how?
Speaker positioning and roomdamping are the greatest step to perfection,my opinion
Great tip on impedence.I was running 8ohm speakers on the 8ohm switch selector on my amp.I then swapped a pair of 4ohm speakers but left the amp at 8 ohms.It didn't sound right.I then switched the amp to the 4 ohm selector,wow a big noticeable difference,especicially imagining and sound stage.Good tip.
I found that rugs make a BIG improvement in room sound over anything else.
You spelled DRUGS wrong 😉
@@mudachuka12345 😂
@@mudachuka12345 You made laugh; thank you for your service
You mean as we get older and become follicly challenged, then the addition of a rug will help with reducing acoustic reflections? I'm definitely getting to that stage 😊
@@richclips 😂Touche.
Buongiorno Maestro - Good tips - I feel I have to comment on them
1 - Works as far as I know (AFAIK) only for valve (tube) amplifiers
2 - Can make a large difference - eg. just moving the speakers away from or closer to the wall behind them, toe-in or not, separation etc and moving seating position back or forwards.
3 - Similar to 2 - use rugs, soft furnishings, curtains, tablecloths, bookshelves, CD and/or record library and more tricks to add targeted dampening
4 - That's one reason I never turn my gear off
5 - Definitely helps - now all electronics and speakers are uncoupled from the surface they are on. With the speakers this was HUGE.
6 - Can make a HUGE difference! I have WLAN routers, a DECT phone in the same room. Now have shielded mains cables and ferrite cores on the mains input side - so much more musical and dynamic now.
7 - I think this is definitely a distraction and they make noise too. Air conditioning may create layers of air at different temperatures which can diffract sound slightly differently.
8 - Have no experience of this - I don't move the cables. I am tempted to elevate the cables on stands to see if there is a difference
9 - I noticed burn in on new cables I bought where the performance went up and down until they settled down.
10 - Agree multiple tweaks at a time give you NO idea what was good and what was bad!
Great video! All the best, Rob in Switzerland
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Logical succession of steps. As you went from 1-3 I was right there with you. Good job. As for gear insulation, my wife and I had some left over carpet underlayment from installing some Persian rugs. I finally (*after talking about it for 10+ years) mounted my turntable decks to the wall rather than on top of hifi cart. I used some carpet underlayment for the mounts, wood, and in between the stands and the chopping block to hold my table. Amazing free upgrade. Looks impressive to. Eyes are drawn to the tables now.
Nice job!
So true. Always great advice .Thanks man. Hope all is well have a great weekend. ✌️
First of all thanks for Your interesting theme & good advices.But I would like to thank You for Your wonderful pronunciation & not just fast speak. My english not so good and You are my best and interesting teacher! Thank You and best vishes!
I use hockey pucks underneath a lot of components and integrated tube amps. Made of solid rubber. Probably same or better than vibrapods or similar items at a much cheaper cost. You can get them in quantity at a discount on eBay. I also use doorstops purchased on Amazon like John Darko to hold lighter components in place. Possibly helps with micro vibrations.
Bravo!
Very interesting ideas and the best advice was dont multi tweek. Ive done things over time to my Brennan JB7/Elac 5.2 B2 set up and have noticed gradual improvements to the HiFi sound up to a point that it is better than my old vv expensive systems from the 70s and 80s........before the divoices lol.
My R2R dac over a month seemingly got better sounding, I don't know if I just got used to it or it just sounded better after break in, probably a combination of both.
A lot of really good advice.
7:00 - you have to be careful not to "over dampen" ! Over dampening can ruin your soundstage! That said, dampening is important!
I agree, in fact I said so but it is unlikely in a normal home with just...stuff!
Over dampening? Yes. I found that out the hard way.
Rational speaker placement method is amazing. Bass note, toe in and rake angle. Look it up you'll be blown away. For damping try concertmeister basio dampers, absolutely perfect damping. As close to a floating speaker you can get. 👍
Repositioning the speaker cables actually WORKS - after repositionings my cables, the music scene arrangement "went away". I am surprised!
It returned to its right place after recalibrating my gear by LAPC function - Technics amplifiers's function to correct signal because off variable (depending on the frequency ) impedance of loudspeaker+cables setup.
You can little rubber and/or felt pads on the feet of the equipment. That really helps the dampening. Use multilpe AC outlets, hopefully on different breakers. Another cheap (not free) mod is upgrade phono headshell cabling.
Be in a good mood when you are listening to music, when I'm in a bad mood, doesn't matter what I listen to, everything sounds awful.
I mostly listen to classical music. When I am in a bad mood, I don't listen to Beethoven, because he makes me get even more depressed and angry. I listen to Mozart or Boccerini or Vivaldi. Problem solved.
😂
Yeah, there's that. And the problem of expectations! If you have a very great memory of your last listening session, you might get unrealistic expectations! And whose fault is that, next time it might not be so "magic".. 😮
@@No_Limits_411 Mozart makes everything better!
Not exactly free but being tipsy or stoned helps as well.
Phase Matching... it clearly does things for me (three phase German power system)
The last tip is a top one.
Though I haven't tried it, virtually all of my fellow audiobuddies who own a classic receiver - 1970s era - say that the sound quality improves if you tune the tuner section to an empty section of the FM band during those times when you use your receiver for vinyl playback.
Interesting!
my marantz mr255 has an "fm mute" button on the front panel for that reason i believe. it was interesting, before depressing that button i occasionally heard fm bleeding through during quiet passages of records.
The one thing I'm looking at right now is the issue of power. I moved from the UK to Germany some years ago and brought most of my (vintage) HiFi gear with me. This meant some components obviously had UK plugs so I used plug converters to switch from UK to DE. Combined with (UK) extension leads this constituted a spaghetti-style mess for my power cabling. A couple of days ago I finally got around to changing things, I replaced some leads from some HiFi components from UK to DE which in turn enabled me to get rid of the UK extension cables. As I had the cables already the cost of doing this exercise was €0.00. I now have a system with a 'cleaner' sound, maybe not a massive difference but certainly a difference for the better. I'm an advocate of keeping the power supply as 'natural' and 'clean' as possible, in fact I'm considering a new power lead with an element of 'cleaning' included, not one of the mega-expensive blocks but a more robust and better solution than I currently have. Thanks for the tips, good video and my No.1 vote goes to the dark art of speaker positioning.
Great tips !...I’ve added a few choice plants to my listening room. Air plants like Tilasandia are especially good and don’t need any soil. Just add a few in a basket or bowl and you good to go..helps oxygenate and dehumidfy the room naturally.
I did go further though and purchased a dehumidifier, sets the room up for 40-50% humidity. I don’t need to run the aircon any more and the room feels perfect with the plants, oxidation of cable and terminal metals and capacitors of gear is significantly reduced and it’s just a wonderfully healthy space to listen to music.
Nice!!
John Darko also covered these subjects in his channel, in the beginning of last month 🙂
@@No_Limits_411 I went back and found that Darko video..😂 he turned it into an April Fools day spoof. Talking about leaves and photosynthesis aiding bass and treble response etc..
he’s having a laugh, but the benefits of plants and humidity control are for the quality of air in your listening environment.
The quality of your listening experience will be indirectly improved. Try it, especially the automatic, low energy, low noise dehumidifiers. I have a Meaco.
One of my favorite free tweek, is turn off the lights and listen in the dark. This will allow you to consentrate on the music.
It’s a must when listening to The Zodiac Cosmic Sounds! 😉
I was curious about the tip about changing speaker impedance so I contacted Klipsch (I have thRP-600Mii) and they advised strongly against it. The speakers were designed with a certain impedance for a reason. If they weren't only a few months old I might try it, but at least bi-amping them with my Denon AVR-X4700H does make a noticeable difference on it's own (IMO), which I did soon after getting them. I'm also awaiting back-ordered speaker stands which will replace the barstools I'm currently employing for the task.
Not all speakers are suitable, very sensitive speakers like Klipsh are probably good the way they are. Less sensitive and "modern" speakers can try this experiment. I would reccomend to do so when the manufacturer says that it is compatible with other impedances.
Thank you for your knowledge about this wonderful life called analog ... I have aprox 10 thousand albums ... All are superb they are my lifelong accomplishment when it come to music ... I have cassette s ... 8 track ...and cd ... I also have reel to reel ... Im always ready to learn and thanks to you you have added color to my listening world ... Especially when you compared the 3 cassettes ... I think its stupid to try and capitalize on the consumer with those prices ... I came across a old music shop that had maxell 2 with some home made recordings ... I bought them all about 100 cassettes ...for ...30 dollars ...what a fantastic sound when i rerecorded ... Please continue educate us ... Much love and respect ... Thank you
Thank YOU Raul! I am on a journey along with you! Not a teacher! ;-)
Fact! Since all my hi fi equipment is from the mid-seventies (the condition is collector's), believe me I have the feeling that they play differently every day. I wouldn't say worse or better but certainly different! 🤘🏻
Probably has a lot to do with shifting quality in the power supply. Both on the macro and the micro scale.
I think your great .Worth watching very helpful😎🇮🇪
as an anti-vibration material I use the washing machine anti-vibration mat. Super cheap! Try!
Great deal of tube power amps take signal for feedback from 4ohm tap.
In my +35 years with this wonderfull hobby ❤️ i have never came across an amp who has the ability to change between those 2? Maybe it's out there, but then i missed out? The subject for today i celebrate 🎉
BTW, my stereo always turned on, as it isn't craving too much power, even It's 2 mono blocks 👀
✌️❤️🇩🇰
Change fuses in all stereo parts to HiFi-Tuning fuses makes a big difference there is copper softer sound and silver for more details available on ebay for 45 euros each fuse
I agree and actually do the same!
Oh
Not exactly free tuning.
@@hugobloemers4425
Not every thing in life is for free
Snake oil and wishful thinking
I am constantly multi-tweaking because I have no patience 😮 My system rarely stays the same. And it is true - a lot of things affect the sound.
You gave me a proper scare with that 'Welcome' into, lol! Big like :)
😄 sorry!
All valid tips. One thing to add would be a DC filter. I have a LG OLED TV which injects (when turned on) DC into the mains. Hence, there was a humming and I had a hard time figuring out the root cause. I then plugged in the TV into another outlet which had a different circuit (using another breaker) and the hum was gone. I then added a DC filter and then could use again the same outlet.
I suggested this in my video on ground loop and hum, but it involves a cost.
Great tips thanks!!!
Thanks for the tips
great and totally informative video.
About the isolation, please explain some more, and it could be great if u showed some of the materiale and how to use? ✌️❤️🇩🇰
Cable Movement is super important, elevating them from the floor is vital.
I use drones to levitate my cables!
@@9mmmike642 yeap, it's the best solution
@@9mmmike642 I use anti gravity drones because of air movement with the propeller ones.
@Jingle Nuts Then you are a true cable manager. Do the cable holders also get a job review?
I don't have the tweak on my system and it still works great, is that the problem?
I like to watch your videos, but I am of the opinion that by buying a quality device there is no need to tweak. Only isolation from vibrations of the mechanical sound source and valve devices make sense.
Yes, it clearly depends. Several of these tips are valid for all types of systems
Some great advice thanks; I enjoy your channel.
Any DIY tips on carpeting ceilings and sticking rugs up there; my wife is away next weekend.
I'm currently designing speaker cables made out of pure organic, crystal, silk spider webs; from caves deep in the Himalayas, where Monks chant audiophilic like mantras for 22 hours every single day except Easter Fridays & Buddha's birthdays.
The cables will be elevated by multiple built in spider type legs that can be adjusted by remote control app; linked to GPS; integrated with micro DSP, micro DAC's & YPAO.
The spider legs will enable them to be positioned perfectly in any room; on the walls or carpeted ceilings to insure deeper base and clearer highs.
The problem I have is; if the webs aren't braided crossing at 90 degrees they pick up RFI; I keep hearing the bloody Monks chanting in the background.
It takes ages to braid the damned things and my hands get all sticky so I'm planning to distribute them as DIY kits after I have them tested and approved by both Danny Ritchie and Gene from Audioholics
They need to be blessed by Fremer and puked on by Peter Quortrup of Audionote fame. All AudioFOOLS will notice the difference ??
With plugs that can be put in two ways, go through the plugs, extension strips and correct polarity. Then go all through the devices with a multimeter and minimize the difference to ground. I had two exact same subwoofers that were wired differently at the factory. Then check the grounding between devices and especially that there is no ground potential between them. RCA is the worst way to equalize the ground.
informative
Cut up yoga mats and or memory foam matress pad for dampening.
Yeah!
yoga mats the cheapest option. I was told 'frontenis balls' also are great. I use under concrete slab under turntable, with felt on top to stop the concrete dust getting up on the feet/turnie.
Caro paisano! I also have GoldenEars (Triton 2+) driven by 2 PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HPs in monoblock! You are obviously a man of very discerning taste! Saluti da la Florida!
BTW, I realize that your Triton Reference speakers are 2 steps north of mine but do your speakers image well? My speakers are perfect tonally but they image poorly. I’ve experimented endlessly but they don’t image well at all. What has been your experience?
Not perfect but I am very happy with the overall impact. Ribbon tweeters do have that downside.
I don't move the cables, the difference is only in your head.
Power conditioners are a thing, I have a lot of power issues where I live.
Room acoustics are a thing, use carpeting or heavy window blinds on your walls (cuts down on echos), padded furniture in the room helps.
Turn off fans when listening to music.
Vintage gear needs to burn in as well. Either when you restore it with new components or because it was unused for a long time. I have experienced this to the extreme with turntables. I even had a Dual turntable that was humming quite loud after I replaced the wiring but by just keep on playing it, the hum went away completely. The difficulty here is to decide at which point you need to troubleshoot or have patience.
True!
Any tips on cleaning especially inside the components and basic care ?
If vintage or just old it's good to open them up and suck out with a vacuum cleaner the dirt if present. For specific things each piece of gear has its own story...
Aggiungerei, per chi vive in cittá, di. ascoltare la musica a notte fonda, senza rumori esterni il godimento aumenta parecchio 🌙🎼👍
Verissimo!
I am renting an open plan three-bedroom unit. When I'm having a listening session, I'll close all doors but leave a gap so that the sound goes in and some of it gets trapped in the rooms.
I'll also close all venitian blinds rather than having open and exposing the glass.
Is the sweet spot or listening position a fixed point or is there
room for experimentation?
It's a fixed point but I like to move around
Regards “air movement” will a fart effect the sound much?
If it is strong enough, apart from the bad smell, yes! ;-)
I totally agree and finally someone mentioned FUSES!
During covid lock down, utilize your time by looking around at trash (RIFUTI). Use your imagination as I found a pair of heavy wooden plant / display tables. These are for keeping my speakers off the ground to ear level listening.
Then a pair of Italian marble table lamps. One was top broken and require a craftsman to repair it. I decided to take it apart and
WOW! WOW! & WOW!!!! Three pieces of Italian marble for paper weight / door stopper and the best for last. Are you ready?
Now imagine a heavy duty, perfect 3 inch dia. round
RECORD WEIGHT STABILIZER. OH YEA BABY!!! Glue a leather batch or cork bottom and I have a
$500.00 OH YEA BABY !!!!!
I didn't know about the cell phone. I would like to learn more about it! Could you explain please?
Thanks!
Well, it creates strong magnetic fields first of all and then it may introduce strong interference, especially when operating.
@@anadialog oh, ok. I"ll try to turn it off. It's better anyway to not be disturbed 😉
Yeah!
Careful on turning all the cooling off when listening, especially in summer. Electrical components are much more likely to fail when hot, especially in tube gear. I built a small setup out of computer fans that cool my system in the summer months - silently :) Noctua fans
True!
Noctua make wonderful fans. I had an issue with their first run IP67 PWM fans, but that was the first time they ever made a PWM fan. I'm still running the other fans I bought that day and the RMA replacement.
Clean contacts using deoxit or even Brasso.
I would hope that most people who subscribe to your channel know of the rule of thirds ,but just incase they don't it says move your speakers one third of the way into the room while you sit two thirds of the way into the room . That said My Ohm Walsh speakers are unique in that they are one of the few speakers that work best only 18 inches into the room from the wall behind them.
Those are omnidirectional right? Would love to test them out....
@@anadialog They are semi omni-directional see Z reviews Ohm Walsh best speaker ever video , Hopefully Sangalli has a pair to demo and are not too far away. In the US Ohm offers a free 120 day at home trial , maybe the offer a similar deal over there. They are known for a super wide and deep sound stage with a sit anywhere sweet spot. For best results the speakers do need to see each other.
Except for leveling one's speakers individually , try and get both on the same height (floors are often not perfectly leveled)
Why is my left speaker keep not working .please help😎🇮🇪
Dampening. I moved my gear into my bedroom which has wooden floors. Especially the bass was awfully bad. What to do? I am not a rich man, so I decided to put telephone books (the same thickness) under each speaker. Vastly improved. Positioning. I positioned my speakers so that I had (what I assumed to be) optimal placement. Then I remembered, left and right, backwards and forwards, and UP AND DOWN. How could I forget that? What am I going to do with telephone books under my speakers? I decided to tape pencils to the top of the books, approximately 1/4 inch or 7 millimetres. Again. Vastly improved.
Great job!!
Sound advice!
I never had any issues with moving cables affecting the sound. I'm forever shifting them around on the floor.
Maybe that is the problem, you are always doing it and never let me "sing" properly!
Very Good points. Unfortunately all useless with bad masterings and low quality recordings. Like 85 % of the time.
👌
tip 11 Kitchen noises: if you hear water splashing or machine noises from the kitchen, don't attempt to listen to music on your system. Get a portable device with headphones and go elsewhere.
😆
Or neighbors shouting non sense like “turn that music off!”
laundry washing machines often cause clicks and noise on audio too depending upon your circuit
About that thumbnail, that wouldn't be a KRK Rokit G4 kevlar woofer now would it.
Listening to my music with my tube amp in Houston Texas without AC ,,,, no way
😆😆😆
old rubber doormats, and blutac ; very cheap
You’re not wrong. Each and everyone of us does not have their own personal apmitheatre.
I don't think gear warmup does anything with solid state components, did some AB testing myself... But with tubes, this is a very evident thing indeed.
Vibration damping works for turntables (against feedback via the cartridge), tubes (microphonics) and mechanical resonance like the case of a speaker or amplifier.
But again, this doesn't work for solid state components.
In theory, resonance could impact solid state components that contain ceramic capacitors... however, I don't think good audio components should contain ceramic capacitors in the signal path.
AFAIK, moving cables is an actual thing, no need to fear a shoe in the face! 😜
But it's very specific for cables that transport low level signals, like a phono cable - it could reduce/eliminate hum coming from power cables or transformers.
The speaker cables would be the last thing I would worry about, since those carry high power signals that won't be distorted easily...
With gear burn-in, it's *again* very specific, AFAIK, it has only an impact on mechanical parts, like cones of speakers/headphones, cartridge suspension or tape/cassette decks...
When solid state components seem to burn-in, it's actually your ears getting burned in.
Your ears are getting accustomed to the new sound, however you won't notice it since it's a gradual change, so it's easy to think it's the gear that's changing.
I discovered all of this by measuring and AB testing myself, YMMV of course...
My First Watt ( non- tube) takes 2 hors to get to optimal performance. After that, sonic depth ( depth in instruments ) happens. First I though it was my imagination. But after experiencing with some friends and discussing with same amp owners, it was true. This amp gives an out of the world experience. It’s a £4000 power amp. Another £3500 for pre-amp
Do whatever works for you. Don't always buy into what people are selling because that is what they are doing, selling you something. Some of the best things are free or can be accomplished for nothing.
That is the message of this video!
@@anadialog I know, just thought I would reiterate what you were saying as alot of people just consume instead of repurposing or try to be innovative with what they already have. Like the vids and your equipment.
Good idea!
The TR's are not 8 ohms, they are "compatible" with 8 ohms...
Impedance is a moving target, TR's are closer to 4-6 ohms than 8.
Indeed, nominal value is different. I made a mistake and infact, that is why they sounded better! In any case the suggestion remains valid.
@@anadialog could you revisit the TR's and how you've hooked them up? Cables? LFE? Setup to your amp/processor/DAC? Toe-in? Power?
Take his advise with 2 grains a salt on his first tweek. proceed with caution!
Don`t buy any more than one new piece of equipment at a time.Listen to it for 3 months then if you need to up grade something else do it then.
New speakers with DSP features... Most perceived problem solved!
the Impedance stuff is pure bullshit! all you do with setting the amplifier to a lower value is lower it's possible power and that works backwards as you pretend
That lowering is based on a higher amount of resistivity. I hope you have tried before sentencing.
@@anadialog in the real world it's just a switch on the power supply
@@anadialog and the last thing at all you want is resistivity on an amplifier
DAMPING, not "dampening". I don't put my gear under a water faucet, or an outside spigot. This is too elementary a mistake, since you're a supposed expert, which you are certainly not. This is a mistake beginners make. Cable movement? Absolute BS!
Things are not how they appear sometimes. I am Italian so I make several mistakes and I do apologize for that, nevertheless I believe the concept is correct and my language limitations shouldn't be used to label my or other's work/passion.
Americans just want to talk talk talk
I'm Italian
Most of this is snake oil sorry.
I'm not sure my RCA cables sound bad for 2 days after I move them each time I do a DJ set xD