[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaara /img/forum/go_quote.gif Personally the best cheap tweak for me for speakers is positioning. Changing the height of my speakers has made more of an impact then any tweak ever has, and the cost is very low. Moving them around the room and experimenting with toe-in has also giving large improvements and is free (ignoring opportunity cost).

Well, your speakers should be positioned correctly anyway before worrying about tweaks

That being said, I notice favorable improvements by getting my speaker cables up off the carpet.
I use the "official" porcelain cable elevators ($160 for 8). They are heavier, look nicer, and you can slip a rubber band around them to keep your cable in place which helps keep them from being knocked around by the racing kitties which infest my house.

if you are feline free some cheaper alternatives such as wooden supports, cardboard boxes, and sections of pipe insulation should work.

I would not recommend Styrofoam as it is prone to holding a static electricity charge.

If I want to show someone what they do, I drop one channel's cable off the riser onto the floor. You can easily hear the one on the floor loose highs/detail/volume.
T

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd R /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, your speakers should be positioned correctly anyway before worrying about tweaks That being said, I notice favorable improvements by getting my speaker cables up off the carpet. I use the "official" porcelain cable elevators ($160 for 8). They are heavier, look nicer, and you can slip a rubber band around them to keep your cable in place which helps keep them from being knocked around by the racing kitties which infest my house. if you are feline free some cheaper alternatives such as wooden supports, cardboard boxes, and sections of pipe insulation should work. I would not recommend Styrofoam as it is prone to holding a static electricity charge. If I want to show someone what they do, I drop one channel's cable off the riser onto the floor. You can easily hear the one on the floor loose highs/detail/volume. T

I had the cables already lifted off the ground with some cardas blocks, but when I lifted the ables like 8in off the ground I noticed the really large improvement (I used couple wooden stools)

 

[Acoustic Chef]

Ground is ground, and will allways be.

 

[mrdelayer]

Speaking from my experience in technical support for DSL, I've found that placing a DSL modem/router directly on the floor can and will increase the amount of electromagnetic interference encountered by the modem, dramatically decreasing DSL and wireless performance. I'm sure the same principle applies here.

 

[chasfs]

As for raising unshielded cables off the floor - its likely that there are nails in the floor, especially if the cable is near the wall of a carpeted room. This would act as an inductive load and could affect the sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 883dave /img/forum/go_quote.gif I prefered the kimber, which I cut and twisted. When I upgraded speaker wire (only purchased a single run) the single run of better wire sounded more enjoyable that cheaper bi-wired.

Dave, did you try the upgraded speaker wire on the highs, biwired with the cheapers stuff on the lows?