brickboy

I'm pretty happy with my modest system but wondered if there are any decent, lowish cost tweaks worth trying?

I've used Caig contact cleaner on all connections, components are on a reasonable Soundstyle rack, speakers on Atacamas filled with lead shot and positioned correctly.

Marantz CD63SE, Planar 2 with Goldring cart, Sony TA246, KEF Coda8, Ixos interconnect and QED silver anni cable with gold spade terminations.

Any helpful suggestions welcome

ajm

Get your ears syringed for optimum listening?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I'd go for cracking it open and uprating the components on the power supply (diodes and better quality capacitors etc or even the transformer itself if you can get a better one) to reduce the voltage ripple under high loads

TelBoy

Soundstyle racks sound ****e, if you don't mind me saying.

With what you've got, i'd recommend some Base Audio platforms - £100 each for the size you need. CD player first, then turntable, then amp. You won't be disappointed.

mart360

*****!!!


get some squash *****, cut em in half, mount all equipment on them.

spikes for your speakers, and if they can be loaded with shot or sand (do it)

dont coil any cables, or run speaker / interconnects or mains together.

as for some of the others, contact cleaner etc...

hmmm often just seeming to do somthing works....

Mart

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Tried bonding the cartridge to the headshell with a very thin layer of blutack?

Used to work wonders with the old SME headshells.

Alcazar

TelBoy

1. Usually doesn't work, contrary to common belief. A brick on TOP of the components is actually usually better than the squash ball thing.

2. He's said he has used lead shot.

3. Why? Unless it's an old house with dodgy wiring, RF is wildly over-emphasised as a problem, by cable manufacturers usually, strangely.

4. He's said he's using contact cleaner.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Have to be careful with that cleaner...can fetch the chav gold off the connectors

David_Wallis

Cant afford to be into this, but really appreciate a decent setup, but what do these achieve?

TelBoy

You mean bricks and lead shot? Simply, they provide stability - something that all sonic components benefit from. That's (partly) why expensive gear is so heavy - it's a very effective way of minimising vibrational interference. Wrap a brick up in a towel and put it on top of the cd player (when the wife's not looking, obviously) - you might be surprised what difference it can make. Isolation platforms just achieve the same thing from the underside up, in a slightly more aesthetic manner.

mart360

he said he,s used lead shot on the speaker stands.... i meant use lead shot in the speakers, some speakers have provision for this, mine do and have been done.

Mart

David_Wallis

surely that changes the volume (Capacity Wise)

TelBoy

Ah ok, sure if they're floorstanders. Just use sparingly - you can deaden the sound quite easily by doing this, and it's a pain emptying them out, re-trying etc etc!

TelBoy

Exactly, and why you have to be careful. Most speakers are obviously manufactured NOT to need ballast, but have the provision should the istallation circumstances be exceptional. It can help, but can't make an inherently unsuitable speaker a perfect one.

mart360

I just filled mine, found it tightens the bass nicely, would like to get them back on a good valve pre-power set up to see how they have fared over time...

i know when i first got them, they were bloated and slabby


Mart

brickboy

I did a search for Base Audio platforms, couldn't find anything .... are they a bit like the Mana stuff?

Does replacing internal fuses with solid conductors in CD players / amps make a difference? (after all, there are fuses in the mains plugs too ....)

TelBoy

Yes, it's on the same lines as Mana, except that they're platforms that you place your equipment on, rather than a fixed equipment stand. I'll see if i can find a link later.

Regarding fuses, well you can replace your standard fuses with gold plated fuses at £2.50 a time from Noteworthyaudio.com or you can go the whole hog and do rhodium fuses from Furutech. But that's expensive and to be honest not worth the expense.

With the equipment you're using, the single most important components are the speakers and the speaker cable. I'm not familiar with KEF Coda, but understand they're well reviewed, so make sure your speaker cable is as good as you can afford, and then look at equipment supports. Beyond that, it's a slippery slope...

brickboy

Thanks Telboy

My bro-in-law is sliding fast down the slippery slope ... recently deploying 4 monobloc power amps ... so I'm keen to avoid the same fate

TelBoy

When he starts buying more Brasso than is justifiable, that's the time to seek therapy.

TopBanana

Naim NAC A5 speaker cable is very good, and quite reasonably priced. I think I've got a whole reel of the stuff around somewhere

fatscoobyfella

Change your wall plugs to MK tough Black...Unfused if ya can find them.If not,just go to B&Q and get some..Not a Hi fi shop,they will charge to 3x more..

mart360

isnt it against the law to sell unfused mains plugs??

you would certaibly invalidate any home insurance if you had a fire from an unfused piece of equipment


Mart

Nick

I use 15A plugs & sockets running off a dedicated circuit. Take apart a 15A plug & then a 13A, the contact surface for a 15A is miles better.

TopBanana

stormyuklondon1

brickboy, can you place the tt on a dedicated table or wallmounted shelf? the rega's all benefit from a totally isolated support. i had a planar 3, once i'd put it on a target wall mounted shelf with spiked platfom it improved no end. its exactly the same as the apollo one by the look of it.
http://www.apollohifi.co.uk/wallmounted.htm
also worth looking at is this-
http://www.tonearm.co.uk/tonearm.htm
havent listened to the upgrades myself, but the reviews seem to be quite good.
the cd player has a good transport in it, but could benefit from a dac upgrade. this is a possibility-
http://www.musicalfidelity.com/mf/en...s/SmallX/SXDAC

hades

You're right that power supply upgrade is a major difference; be aware that when it comes to amps in particular, what you need is "fast" capacitance (as opposed to more of it). A big electrolytic capactitor has too much induction to respond instantly to a big voltage swing. Put a (much smaller capacitance) polypropylene across, it will deal with the transients whilst the big electrolytic capacitor "catches up"

Isolation/support and mains cables will definitely both make a difference. I personally am very fond of Nordost pulsar points for isolation, but at £50 for 4 of them(aluminium - titanium ones are much more still), they're not really cheap. Getting a decent mains lead/distribution block makes a big difference too. The best value option to my mind is the "black-current" from here. He might not list them on the web-site, but speak to Alistair and he'll sort you out!

Putting the speakers on a set of (clean) paving slabs can improve matters significantly, depending on what speakers you have, and slabs are £4 from homebase.

But the best value for money upgrade if you haven't already done it is to ensure you've got all your kit positioned ideally. Play with distance the speakers are away from walls, adjust the "toe in" etc. Totally free of charge and can make a significant difference, especially with some speakers.

Vegescoob

Yes, especially on suspended floors. I covered mine in the same carpet as on the floor.
I use Reveel and Relees on CDs. Sound better or different? Well same old debate.
Listen from 2.00 am onwards, always a better sound imho.

ru'

It's funny nobody has really mentioned sorting out the listening room (unless I've missed it!). The acoustic environment has a massive effect on the sounds, much more than the type of mains plugs you use!

The tough bit is it's hard to tell what you need to do without some test gear, although step one is to clap your hands loudly and listen! My old lounge was awful; it kinda went 'tang!' after the clap as there was a lot of high frequency reverberation - if I was that bothered this could be sorted with wall coverings etc.

fatscoobyfella

[QUOTE=ru']It's funny nobody has really mentioned sorting out the listening room (unless I've missed it!). The acoustic environment has a massive effect on the sounds, much more than the type of mains plugs you use!
QUOTE]


Buying a few plugs will cost a fiver,redecorating your listening room wont,as the heading of the thread included the word "budget",a fiver's worth of mod seemed appropriate.

I have had a think about my plug suggestion.It may be simpler but a little more expensive to buy euro shuko plugs.If you get a nice mains filter board with shuko connections,then put shuko's on your equipment,you can alter the phasing.The Shuko only has 2 pins so you can flip the plug around and listen to your system,one way will defo sound better than the other due to the phasing being correct.

BTW..Shuko's dont have fuses either..

ru'

Good point!

? I'm not up with what shukos are, but are you suggesting that a 180 degree (?)phase shift in the mains AC supply (which gets converted into DC for the equipment) will improve the sound? I'm not sure I understand.