|
|
 |
 Carl, Excellent - you've made my day buddy !!  Cheers, Bill.
|
|
 Come on if my teachers could not (and god nows they tried) and at the age of 52+ No one will ever.  Cheers ...Carl
|
|
Hi Bill, After your answer on vibrations tread - today i placed a meshed rubber sheet under amp and CD player although the stand they are on is solidly built they did the trick - warmer sound depth. Did my two monthly check for toughtness on my spendor s5s bolts - i don't yank the volume up - like to listen at normal levels - but still had to tighten them by quarter of a turn. Cheers ...Carl.
|
|
Carl,.......must...buy...I-S-O-T-E-K-d-e-m-a-g.... ...I don't know where the thought came from but it seems like a terrific idea.... Cheers, Bill.
|
|
Stop it? My guts are hurting now i think ive pulled something LOL - had h attack last year will be having another soon LOL Cheers ..Carl. 
|
|
 Bill - "kidology" is contained in no dictionary within my grasp. Define please. I fear that you have been swallowing rather too much audiophile poison, my friend. Schneider makes one dominant point which all the psychology seeks to explain, a point so incredibly obvious that I fail to see how it can be denied. Quite simply, if there is a need to evaluate a particular parameter, then other variables must be eliminated as far as possible; this is primary school science. Should you fail to adopt this principle, then the instinctual nature of the human auditory system causes us to hear what we want to hear. If I've just spent a few hundred quid on something, of course I want it to be an improvement and the brain usually obliges! I shall simply quote Schneider's observation on blind testing which I believe sums it up beautifully: Having participated in more than my share, I am here to tell you that blind tests increase tension: They simply leave little room for obfuscation and second-guessing. If that poses a problem, I submit that it's more correctly attributed to the individual’s ego and "need to be right" than to the methodology. Simply put, audiophiles are frightened of blind tests because such tests are likely to expose the BS with which they love to adorn themselves.
|
|
Hi Carl, Those bolts do tend to get loose! A while ago, one of my rear speakers developed a tendency to buzz when a particular Bass frequency played on a tuba (Harry Potter 1st movie soundtrack) came along. I thought it was distortion on the dvd at first but sure enough, tightening the bolts did the trick. Does your equipment have rubber feet too ? There seems to be divided opinion on rubber suspension. The pro group favours squash balls cut in half and 3 halves places under each item in a tripod configuration. I'd say that RingMat Developments are also in this camp with their "elastomer" vibration control feet. They must operate in a similar way to Linn's trampolin. The "anti" group favours "draining" the mech energy out of the chassis by using solid coupling, through the use of carbon fibre or metal or wooden cones? My first trial with solid cones was about 20 yrs ago. These were very sharp brass cones in packs of 3, with carbon fibre washers balanced precariously on top (the idea was to minimise veneer damage to the equipment rather than any sound advantage). They were intended to sit "points up" underneath. They definitely worked and added a high degree of solidity, clarity and immediacy to the bass in particular, but I've tried a few alternatives including RA's wooden ones and they all seem to work pretty much in the same way with a distinct "generic" sound. If you have a heavy transformer in the chassis and the centre of gravity is focussed on it, putting a cone right there can give benefit, but usually it's 2 at the front, 1 centre rear for max stability when you use the controls? If you weren't so far off I could give you a few sets to try out. Kind regards, Bill.
|
|
Pluto, kidology is a popular slang term meaning "to kid someone on"... In a previous reply you were referring to other Forum members as your "opponents" and I thought it might be helpful if you were to rebrand from "Pluto" to "Darth" -- as you were scaring me ! Pluto said : "the instinctual nature of the human auditory system causes us to hear what we want to hear. If I've just spent a few hundred quid on something, of course I want it to be an improvement and the brain usually obliges!" Ah, but what if you haven't spent the money yet - and don't want to - but just want to see what everyone's raving about? Getting serious for a moment Pluto it doesn't really work that way. I ploughed through quite a few amplifiers and took several months of listening before I found something I could venture my hard earned cash on - and for that reason I had to be absolutely sure. In the end the differences were easier to judge than expected, but the time was attributable to "living with the amps" for a protracted period - whether I liked 'em or not. The amp I had REALLY set my heart on and was "guaranteed to please" me (after I had been primed by all the Alvin Gold hype) turned out to be the worst sounding of the lot!! 10 seconds was all I needed to decide how bad it was ! Exactly the opposite of what I'd been "programmed" to believe. Living with it didn't make it sound any better either, just worse. Do you still think we are straining to convince ourselves ??? Never thought of myself as frightened of Blind Tests (I just did one remember? Especially for you guys because I'm equally interested.) Kind regards, Bill.
|
|
Hi Carl, "My guts are hurting now i think ive pulled something LOL - had h attack last year will be having another soon LOL" No way...you've had a coronary ?? Sorry to hear that. Keep well my friend.... Kind regards, Bill.
|
|
Hi Bill, Rubber feet - yes the feet are a cone type bolt in middle attached to CD/ AMP and 1" diameter very similar to squash ball half - thought of getting your suggested bits and bobs but was unsure if they would work as some come pricey have looked at platforms and price put me off - i used rubber sheeting on my old set up - but forgot to replace until reading thread - oh and putting heavy book on CD player - works a treat - thanks for offer kind of you Sir - when i go back to work will make some on lathe. Cheers ...Carl
|
|
My pleasure Carl. Great idea! I remember a friend of mine offered to lend me his electrostatic speakers (which he currently had in use!) for as long as I needed! (Don't know what his good lady said about that mind you !) What a kind offer (!) - bowled me over. It was tempting but then I thought "what about the insurance!". He was absolutely genuine about it though. Kind regards, Bill.
|
|
Hi Bill, Thanks for you kind words - getting there quietly
|
|
Hi Bill, Thanks for your kind words - getting there quietly was hoping to take early retirement but things are on hold with work at moment? - sorry i disappeared after last post - visitors. Placing mat under CD/Amp has now highlighted the fact that my wall mounted speakers on rear wall need tightening they for the first time have started to vibrate whilst playing music at normal volume -well that shows the sonic differences through decoupling equipment - or is it all in my head - LOL. Cheers ..Carl.
|
| Edited: 26/03/08 14:00 |
Carl, Here is a (very old) minor upgrade for turntables which may benefit other units but either way is guaranteed to drive some people crazy... Have you ever heard of using slips of paper underneath your rubber feet ? It seems completely absurd but not when you think about how it works.... Rubber feet can be naturally sticky (checkout the rings on wood surfaces when you lift the unit)Under normal use they eventually "glue themselves" to whatever heavy object they are resting on. By inserting the stiff paper (small squares of "printer paper" would do) underneath the rubber feet, the feet "glue" themselves to the "zero mass" paper instead of the furniture! The mechanical explanation is it helps to loosely decouple the mass of the support from the turntable (or CD player??). At the very least it will prevent black rings forming on the shelf . Kind regards, Bill.
|
|
Hi Bill, Good sound thinking - Have you used or know of any one that has used RF caps that fix over the phono connections on back of amp and if they do make a difference to sound !!!! this may seems extreme but i was just inquisitive. Cheers ..Carl.
|
|
Hi Carl, Are you speaking of RCA plugs which "short" the inputs, thereby preventing RF pickup ? Yes, they're easily made if you have a soldering iron handy and some spare bits of wire. Even easier, if you have any cheap RCA cables you want to get rid of, you can cut the ends off open them up and solder the signal internally to Ground. But also I believe RA sells them in packs... Cheers, Bill.
|
|
Hi Carl, Are you speaking of RCA plugs which "short" the inputs, thereby preventing RF pickup ? Yes, they're easily made if you have a soldering iron handy and some spare bits of wire. Even easier, if you have any cheap RCA cables you want to get rid of, you can cut the ends off open them up and solder the signal internally to Ground. But also I believe RA sells them in packs... Cheers, Bill.
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_44177.htm
|
|
Hi Fred, I asked bill a question and he answered he did not try to sell me on any snake oil of any description, he tried to save me cash - this is the same reply i would expect from you. Cheers ..Carl
|
|
Hi Carl, If you have removable input cards (which are rarely used) on your preamp extracting them is probably an even more efficent way of doing it. Benefits are twofold. It obviates the first problem you mentioned and also makes slightly more power available for those transients . Kind regards, Bill.
|
|
