Favourate tweeks of all time.

Over the years I have found tweeking invaluable it really does improve my enjoyment of music - Just spending hard cash and connecting cables and polishing equipment surfaces with Mr sheen can only get one so far. When I tweek my system it feels like it is more a part of me. There is a massive not often talked about advantage to tweeking - because critical listening is needed in this process It can help a person improve his/her hearing ability. Just like an athlete trains muscles for competion we in the hifi arena can train our ears for both musical apreciation and hearing skills.Tweekers generally are by their nature open minded people this also is an important factor in honing this skill. Non tweekers are not liars they simply cannot hear things that seem obvious the those who have bothered to train their ears.This is frustraiting for them so they scoff or ask for "scientific evidence". Would you expect the man in the street to keep up with an athlete no you wouldnt . Neither should you expect a person with untrained ears to keep up with someone with trained ears.

For the open minded and creative person its possible to put themselves together a fantastic sounding system for very little money. This takes is time and effort and is very personal , you cannot buy this.

Here is my story.
My first tweek was in 1979 -I Put a paving slab under my rega 3 - I couldnt tell and difference in the sound, It took me half a day to pilot drill 2 sides and hack the slab to size. However I wasnt daunted and carried on tweeking with home made speaker stands and stuff. I remember one reccomended tweek cited in a mag at the time called "infrabass" involved putting a twopence coin on the head shell and recalibrating the tracking force. I could deffo hear the difference my wife rolled her eyes and scoffed(I know what she is). Thinking back the system must have sounded absolutely horrible by todays standards(source - Rega3,Amp -Rogers ravenbourne,Speakers Marantz 4G). But I got much enjoyment from it - In 1982 I bought a LP12 and Ittock. This allowed me to improve my system with official tweeks things like new springs black oil and trampolin come to mind. For me these offical tweeks wernt enough I had a need in me to make my system more of "my own". So home made cables and isolation devices and speaker stands have been the order of the day. Its criminal that I cant easily try the handcream tip because my CD has a lasor that fires from the top. I have to live with that. I did think of borrowing my mates on loan Meridian but in the end thought better of it - I think I am over this now.

The best tweeks are ones that not only make a sonic impact but also make non belivers rolls therr eyes. My favorate tweek of all time was when I hung my DM70 electrostatic tweeter/midrange units by fishing wire from the ceiling in the our lounge. I still remember the massive improvement this brought and also the astonishment on people faces when they saw it. All my wife, a non tweeker, could do was tut.

what are your memorable tweeks ?

 

Good healthy thread, for a change, lets hope it doesnt degenerate as well... :beer:

I got my first hifi system in 1979, the only tweak until after 2000 was an equalizer/analyser...

I got my first surround after 2000, AV receiver + Arcam DVD + 5 SF speakers + REL subwoofer. Soon I realized the receiver was out of its league, so in came a TAG processor + Rotel powers...

As it was upgraded by the store person, first 2 front channels than the rest, one day I looked back there and found that all cables where different, front pair, center and surround pair, hiks, I like everything simetrical and matching, at least I did then, so I picked the nicest, thickest pair for the front channels...

What have I done, the sound became worst, destroyed the theory that cables sound the same, you can guess what happened next... :newbie:

After this big shock, more came, when I tested digital cables, power cords, supports, etc... the wall socket was still a big shocker, for me and for my family... :shame:

Memorable, yes the supertweeters, the first time my girlfriend came to my house, almost one year ago, we where on the sofa quite "happy", when she got up, walked toward the speakers and turned my beloved Tannoys facing away, she thought they where cams, and I was a pervert filming "it"... :duck:

 

A glass of red wine.

 

There we go...

 

Melorib - I like your supertweeter story I hope you still have both GF and the tweeters.

garyi - your snipe score is 1.5

 

I am not sniping. I have found for all the farting around with tweaking, which in the long distant past I used to do, that simply relaxing and allowing your self to be open to music is by far the best tweak.

 

So far so good...

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?t=16426

 

Incidentally the best tweak for speakers in my experience is to insure floor standing ones with spikes sit directly on the floor. Putting them on anything else takes bass away. All in my experience of course.

 

garyi - Sorry to accuse you sometimes its difficult to judge- Please accept apologies - snipe score retracted.

 

Removing the the base board from a Linn LP12.

Just sounds better for zero cost.

 

A good wet vacuum record cleaner. Best 'accessory' I've ever bought by a mile.

Tony.

 

Does moving the speakers count as a tweak? If so, that gets my vote (nearly impaled one of my bare feet with a floor spike doing it though.)

 

snipe score..? wtf..? is this turning into playschool?

 

'Saturday Snipe-Swop'? My favourite quote about snipe comes from a Tory describing a fellow Tory in Mrs Thatcher's first government: 'He's so wet you could shoot snipe off his back'.

 

my first 'HI FI' was a little sony system when i was about 17.... for some reason (later found out i was a audiophile in the making) i wasnt happy with it so i changed the standard speakers for some tannoys from dixons (£150)

this still didnt seem enough so obviously new wire was in order ! then i bought a kenwood amp from fom richer sounds (i really loved that place for while) and conected it to the output to my sony thing...........anyway seven years on and ive got a zanash cable into my 72 and my 250 is avondale stage 3 modded ....my cdp is on ball bearings..my speakers are level and spiked into boards........ and im still open to offers

forever tweaking

Wes

 

Putting solid steel plinths under my speakers. Tightened up the bass nicely.

 

Glasse CD lathe - without any doubt whatsoever.

Now don't get me going.

 

Sending my kids out to play in the garden, marvellous transformation .

 

CD LATHE, a major upgrade in my view

 

Not buying a CD player; hours of dissatisfaction avoided (this is meant as a bit of a joke - and a bit of a truth).