Tweaks that shouldn't work, but do

[ronnielee54]

I find that 3 shots of Jack Daniels makes even the worst speakers sound better.

[Duggeh]

Strange, 3 shots of JD just gives me indigestion.

[ronnielee54]

Okay but didn't the speakers sound better?

[Duggeh]

My speakers always sound awesome. But no, JD didn't make things better like Gin does.

[ojnihs]

My speakers always sound awesome. But no, JD didn't make things better like Gin does.

gin ftw

[nickknutson]

gin ftw

Not a fan of the taste of pine. ew

[jinp6301]

gin ftl

[Edwood]

I'm a fan of tequila myself.

I'm sure the mods here won't mind my getting plastered on Patron so much as on a certain other forum....

[HiWire]

Any word on CD treatments? I've been considering Optrix or Walker Audio's Ultra Vivid - but then I think, "Snake oil." Actually, what I want is something that will lessen the effect of small scratches on my CDs without actual polishing. What I don't want is something that will mess up my CD permanently... e.g. http://www.tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/CD_tweaks.html

That's just messed up. There's no way I'm going to start using a marker or demagnetizer on my discs, especially the really important or rare ones. The salesman at the stereo store recommended fluid for cleaning eyeglasses - I guess that's kind of logical, and a lot less expensive.

[jinp6301]

come on, freezing cds totally makes them sound better in a warm system. Evens them out, ya know!

[HiWire]

It's crazy-ass shit all right. I really don't get this kind of behavior - if it takes that much effort to get better sound, I don't want it. Don't even get me started on the people who grind the CD edges to make them rounder...

[philodox]

No, it's not to make them rounder, but to roughen up the edges. Not that I believe it works or anything, just saying.

[spritzer]

The lathe is to make the CD perfectly round. That makes perfect sense given how they are produced since the center hole is rarely completely in the right place. That beveled edge might work but I file it under green markers and other fringe tweaks.

[aerius]

I'll probably get the CD lathe thing checked out at my local dealer sometime in the next year or so once I get around to getting a few other things taken care of. My plan is to burn a couple identical copies of my equipment audition CDs and have him use the lathe to perfectly round & bevel the edges on one of the CD's, then do a listening test. It's not exactly on my priority to-do list but it's I'd like to look into.

[spritzer]

I feel the same way. I'm not going to use some crappy 2k$ player and invest a lot in tweaks to fix something that is a fringe tweak. Some disks are way off balance and they will benefit from this with the reduced vibration and wobble. I will also try an APL tweak to resample some of my disks to 88.2/24 and burn them as DVD-A's. It is supposed to be a good step forward.

[philodox]

The lathe is to make the CD perfectly round.

Oh, my bad. Everything I had read about sanding them was to cut down on reflections... I figured that those CD cutter machines had the same goal.

[ojnihs]

so what about a perfectly rounded cd makes it sound better now?

[spritzer]

Less vibrations is always better. Have you ever watched a cd spin as it is quite a workload for the error correction.

[Upstateguy]

so what about a perfectly rounded cd makes it sound better now?

I'm getting the impression that the operative sentence in the CD tweak article is, "If you don?t hear a difference, maybe you don?t want to."

USG

[ojnihs]

Less vibrations is always better. Have you ever watched a cd spin as it is quite a workload for the error correction.

interesting...luckily i use my computer as my source

[Augsburger]

Well I auditioned an MBL system last week using a hard drive source ripped to lossless and one with the MBL cdp. The HD system seemed less lively and detailed so of course software protocol in a HD system is paramount and I suspect this retailer may not have had everything ironed out as yet. I just wanted to offer my opinion that HD systems are not a panacea for beautiful music, as with every bit of gear synergy and correct implementation can make a huge difference.

I am ashamed to admit that I tried the Auric Illuminator, Zerostat gun, demagnitizers and the famed green pen..... none made as much difference as upgrading to MFSL or XRCD's or a better source. Were there "subtle" differences? Perhaps, but so close it may have been attribitable to placebo to me and I don't bother with them anymore. Now I feel better that I have shared my dark secret with the HC.

[HiWire]

Thanks for sharing, Augsburger. At least you've tried them and can warn the rest of us off them. Sorry about the wallet and defaced CDs, though.

[Dusty Chalk]

More impressions on the MBL system, please.

[Augsburger]

Well what can I say? (Rhetorically) They are an impressive system to see, anyone that has them in their home or palace immediately announces to people that they are the big dog. Please do not get me wrong regarding my prior post, the MBLs do sound very good but not awesome. I was expecting for the uber deutch marks they charge for the pair that they would bring Thelonius Monk into the listening room, but they didn't. Granted I had only about an hour and one half to hear the MBLs through a HD system, an MBL CDP, and a pair of the Dali Concept Tens, probably not enough real time to thoroughly evaluate the system but that was not my intention anyway. I really didn't want to demo the MBLs because I knew that I couldn't afford them if I liked them and I might be ruined after the experience. We played Thelonius Monk Misterioso, Dave Bruebeck Take Five (20 bit Remaster) and Bill Evans At Shelley's Manne Hole XRCD. The MBLs just seemed to be one notch away from something, and something was missing. The sound stage filled the room but felt like the band was lined up one next to each other. In short I felt the MBLs had plenty of power and speed but not the detail and texture I was expecting.

[Augsburger]

Sorry, a long stressful day with way too little sleep. Let me try to expand a little further.

By any and all means, visually the MBLs are impressive to look at and their music dispersion is great. We demoed them in a 35 by 25 foot room and in most places the music filled the room very well. As one would guess, sitting on a couch positioned between the two towers and about 10-12 feet away was the best location for soundstage. Again the speed and power was impressive but not at the level I was expecting for what they cost. I have heard multiple versions of the Monk and Bill Evans CDs from MP3 to XRCD to vinyl so I believe I am familiar with the sound of the instruments and how the music plays on different systems. I chose the Monk CD because it is a live club recording at the Five Spot in NY with interesting ambients of the audience in the recording as well as the piano Monk plays has a distinctive texture to it. The Roy Haynes drum work is prominent when it needs to be and subtle otherwise. Most importantly you can hear the drums and bass notes as well as the reverb off the instruments, in short the instruments sound real.... on these recordings and in some home and HF systems. It was just that in the MBLs I was expecting much more for the price and was a bit dissappointed.