catman Posted July 2, 2015 Posted July 2, 2015 (edited) G'day all, coming from a general technical background I tend to have fairly strong views on this although having said that I've done some tweaking myself over the years, without much or any technical basis....I guess just to see if there is any difference....and most of the time there isn't! Yet reading the pages of the various audio fora, this sort of thing appears to be alive and well, and I dare not mention the subject of 'snake oil'! Personally though there have been times when I've stumbled on something quite significant through these 'tweaking' endeavours, but hey, sometimes one can be plain lucky! Some of the worlds greatest inventions and discoveries were made through 'fortunate accidents', as it were, yet some tweaks are so plainly stupid/bizarre or just plain dumb, but there always seems to be someone willing to try it and often spend big money in the process, and of course they will be convinced of the great benefits! Ah, human nature! Regards, Felix. Edited July 2, 2015 by catman
Darren69 Posted July 3, 2015 Posted July 3, 2015 I guess at the end of the day, I am happy to shrug and say 'each to their own'. Only your ears will know!! 1
JSmith Posted July 3, 2015 Posted July 3, 2015 Only your ears will know!! Not really... only audio measuring tools will truly know. JSmith 4
davewantsmoore Posted July 3, 2015 Posted July 3, 2015 Claims of changes in 'performance' should always be judged on the evidence used to justify them.
BradC Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 I don't waste time on changing things unless I have a technical reason why it should improve the sound. And not just marketing 'technical' stuff either 1
Zaphod Beeblebrox Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 A proper blind test will remove any illusions as to what is a meaningful change or not. I have been involved in and conducted many such tests. In some cases, the results have surprised me, whilst in others, the result was exactly as predicted. 3
Hergest Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 Not really... only audio measuring tools will truly know. JSmith Yep ,lots of audio measuring tools on the internet. 1
Decky Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 Now, I wonder, why would anyone in his rightful mind start a topic like this...
catman Posted July 4, 2015 Author Posted July 4, 2015 G'day mate, well basically because coming from a technical/general electronics background I know that in the majority of cases, common sense and the laws of physics 'always' apply. Sometimes I do wish that they didn't, but in all honesty I don't even want to think about the consequences of that! Regards, Felix.
LPM Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 Hi Felix, My problem with your question is that in my mind there are many forms of 'tweaking' and I'm not sure which ones you mean. For example and looking at the extremes, adjusting a bias voltage to its correct value or strengthening/stabilising a shelf that a TT sits on is 'good tweaking' as in my case I've heard positive differences or as least know something is now working as it should. On the other hand, tweaking the sound (or thinking that you are) by moving pet crystals around the room is not the form of tweaking I consider worthwhile. In all fairness, I can't honestly say that the latter wouldn't work as I haven't tried it but then I probably never will either. 1
catman Posted July 4, 2015 Author Posted July 4, 2015 G'day mate, yep absolutely right! However in my first post I did attempt to differentiate between common sense and stupidity with no technical or other logical basis! Good on the 'bias' too, as my first high quality AM detector was a diode detector of my design running adjustable bias on the diode, and it worked extremely well when the voltage bias was adjusted precisely. Regards, Felix.
Guest Muon Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 Hi Felix, My problem with your question is that in my mind there are many forms of 'tweaking' and I'm not sure which ones you mean. For example and looking at the extremes, adjusting a bias voltage to its correct value or strengthening/stabilising a shelf that a TT sits on is 'good tweaking' as in my case I've heard positive differences or as least know something is now working as it should. On the other hand, tweaking the sound (or thinking that you are) by moving pet crystals around the room is not the form of tweaking I consider worthwhile. In all fairness, I can't honestly say that the latter wouldn't work as I haven't tried it but then I probably never will either. Yup, bias can alter the sound, that's a definite
catman Posted July 4, 2015 Author Posted July 4, 2015 G'day mate, bias and optimum use of it is basically what analog electronics is all about! Regards, Felix.
Guest Muon Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 (edited) G'day mate, bias and optimum use of it is basically what analog electronics is all about! Regards, Felix. You can also get the sound you prefer by adjusting the bias on valves. Edit: With PP EL34's you can get a tighter bottom with a higher bias, and a more relaxed open sound with a lower setting. Edited July 4, 2015 by ortofun
catman Posted July 4, 2015 Author Posted July 4, 2015 G'day mate, well with all types of amplifier output stages (valve and transistor) increasing the quiescent current bias improves (reduces) overall distortion, but one can't overdo it for lots of good technical reasons like excessive heating, device life, power consumption etc. Regards, Felix.
Dwizzle Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 For me one of the things that gave me bang for buck was externally mounting the cross overs from the speakers. When I was messing around I used Jaycar $5/m cables between the cross over and speaker. Once finished I replaced it with my usual cable after a couple of months. This was just to complete the system and I wasn't really expecting adding a short length of my usual cable to make any difference but it unexpectedly did. From this I determined that cables do make difference only if the lesson was to have consistent cable through the system. Not sure if you call them tweaks or established fact for some? It's one of those things you can't convince someone to believe until you hear it for yourself.
muzzagruzz Posted July 5, 2015 Posted July 5, 2015 I agree with Zaph that blind audio testing is invaluable in determining differences in audio equipment. In addition to that, independent & rigorous scientific testing of audio equipment is a must, especially of the more extreme claims of many audio manufacturers. 1
davewantsmoore Posted July 5, 2015 Posted July 5, 2015 I agree with Zaph that blind audio testing is invaluable in determining EVALUATING THE AUDIBILITY / PERCEPTION OF differences in audio equipment. I hope you don't mind me 'editing you', heh..... but it is a very important differentiation. Blind testing is a very poor tool for determining IF there is a difference between A and B. When we know there is a difference between A and B .... a blind test is a good way to evaluate if that difference it is "audible", or "preferred", or whatever. 2
JohnL Posted July 5, 2015 Posted July 5, 2015 (edited) Here's a weird one for you if you have an OPPO 105............(dunno about other models) Next time you are listening in analog stereo hit the resolution button on your OPPO remote..... change to 720P..... and enter. Switch back and forth between 720P and your usual setting. Quite a few people are reporting higher SQ when set to 720P. Yeah I know it's a VIDEO setting.................BUT I tried it for a laugh anyway................ :lol: I DIDN'T LAUGH :huh: Neither did the 3 mates I demoed it for FWIW HDMI audio output was OFF which is how I always listen to analog stereo. Cheers Edited July 5, 2015 by JohnL
JSmith Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 Quite a few people are reporting higher SQ when set to 720P. Do you have a link to any of these reports? I don't doubt you, however just cannot find any discussions online about this issue... On a lighter note, here's a damn expensive ethernet cable that apparantly does wonders... http://arstechnica.com/staff/2015/02/to-the-audiophile-this-10000-ethernet-cable-apparently-makes-sense/ JSmith
Guest 322 Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 Make up your own mind with this.. http://www.machinadynamica.com/
Guest myrantz Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 On a lighter note, here's a damn expensive ethernet cable that apparantly does wonders... http://arstechnica.com/staff/2015/02/to-the-audiophile-this-10000-ethernet-cable-apparently-makes-sense/ I want one.. Prob 30 cm to 50 cm will do.. I wonder if anybody in Perth has this that I can borrow for a short while.. Just to get that itch out of my system.. 1
RockandorRoll Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 Does speaker toe in and cartridge alignment count as 'tweaking'? Only other thing i can think of was adding spikes to the bottom of speakers
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