What crazy "pseudo-science" tweak did you feel actually works?

JoeESP9 said:
All of my small signal gear is plugged into a power conditioner on one 20 amp breaker. My power amps are not. They are direct into two dedicated outlets with their own 20 Amp breakers.
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Did you notice a difference with the 20amp breaker ? I am about to do the same thing, my amp has the 20amp iec and I want to get as much juice I can but like most of us don’t want to waste time and money if its not worth it . It’s not a very expensive tweak though so there’s that .

Audiofreak71
 
Two that really didn't have any apparent benefit:

DIY Argent Room lenses. Those three column structures. Supposedly worked to improve imaging. Did little for me. System pic in previous house circa '04:

system200410.jpg


PS Audio Noise Harvesters. Bought two before running dedicated lines in room. Supposedly blue light indicates they are "absorbing" noise. Just appeared to be power indicators. ;)

harvestor.jpg
 
Audiofreak71 said:
Did you notice a difference with the 20amp breaker ? I am about to do the same thing, my amp has the 20amp iec and I want to get as much juice I can but like most of us don’t want to waste time and money if its not worth it . It’s not a very expensive tweak though so there’s that .

Audiofreak71
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Actually I don't remember. When I knocked down the wall between the living and dining rooms I installed three dedicated lines with their own breakers. It's been that way for more than 20 years.

The small signal breaker is on a different leg from the power amp breakers.
 
JoeESP9 said:
Actually I don't remember. When I knocked down the wall between the living and dining rooms I installed three dedicated lines with their own breakers. It's been that way for more than 20 years.

The small signal breaker is on a different leg from the power amp breakers.
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Ah I see , well it couldn’t hurt to go ahead and install it , so I’ll move forward and do it .

Audiofreak71
 
Audiofreak71 said:
Did you notice a difference with the 20amp breaker ? I am about to do the same thing, my amp has the 20amp iec and I want to get as much juice I can but like most of us don’t want to waste time and money if its not worth it . It’s not a very expensive tweak though so there’s that .

Audiofreak71
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If I'm not mistaken, Outlaw suggested that the amp I bought be plugged into a plug that had a 20 amp breaker. Initially I didn't have one, but once the sub-panel was installed the were all 20 amp and I can't say there was a discernible difference in audio quality. But then again, I'm going through a conditioner unlike Joe, who's straight into the wall.
 
MannyE said:
If I'm not mistaken, Outlaw suggested that the amp I bought be plugged into a plug that had a 20 amp breaker. Initially I didn't have one, but once the sub-panel was installed the were all 20 amp and I can't say there was a discernible difference in audio quality. But then again, I'm going through a conditioner unlike Joe, whose straight into the wall.
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I’m straight into the wall as well with my amp , when I plugged it into my conditioner and listened over about a 5 day period the soundstage collapsed and it was thinner sounding . As soon as I went back to the wall it all opened up and was larger than life .

Audiofreak71
 
I am soon going to try a true power conditioner for my big power amps. But I'm researching medical grade re-generators like the ones from MedPowerRx
 
I have installed two 20 amp lines for my crossover/power section with a Isolation transformer on the source units on a 15 amp line which works fine in my main rig.
Regards,
Jim
 
JoeESP9 said:
IME many conditioners current limit. They don't say so in the specs but they do. That's why I don't use one for my power amps.
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It's been a long time since I did the comparison between coming out of the wall and the conditioner. But my memory of it is that you are correct.
 
MannyE said:
I am soon going to try a true power conditioner for my big power amps. But I'm researching medical grade re-generators like the ones from MedPowerRx
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PS Audio makes some good ones as well , pricey but from what I have personally heard , they are worth it .

Audiofreak71
 
MannyE said:
I think that that right there is where all the anger against tweaks like cables and green markers stems from.

If they make an audible difference or not is really up to each pair of ears that is listening and shouldn't make anyone else scoff at them. Notice how there is very little ire against placing a bicycle inner tube under a piece of plywood to isolate a component.

I think it's when you add the snake oil to it that it pisses people off. To give you a real world example, I started this thread because a crazy expensive jar of silver contact enhancing grease (Walker SST contact enhancer) was sent to me after I scoffed at the "price/probable non-benefit" on a forum. So I tried it and I was amazed at how well it worked. Next is me posting pictures and eating a lot of crow about the effectiveness of the tweak.

But where it gets annoying is that with a little research, I was able to find an industrial product that works just as well (I can't find the name of the manufacturer right now) that charges about the same for a huge amount of silver grease that SST charges for a thimble of the stuff.

With about 25 minutes of research, I found many similar products that cost a fraction of the "audiophile approved" product and to my ears work just as well.

Another example is Blu-Tak. Regular price - about $8 Price when called "speaker damping material" - $12 That's a 50% markup!

I think that's the kind of thing that makes people's heads explode and why a lot of folks don't try tweaks, scoff at them or in some cases are afraid to say they use them!

What do you guys think?
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Another is that "Moon Gel" you can pay $30+ for a small round chunk in a little plastic box, or pay around $14 or less for a much bigger blob, probably colored blue without the fancy little box. This stuff is used to clean a TT stylus in case your not into that format or haven't heard of it.
 
Poultrygeist said:
Painting a pattern of marks or dots on speaker cones is known as the EnABL process. Have no first hand experience but you can read all about it here.

https://positive-feedback.com/Issue21/standingwaves.htm


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I can see where this may have some effect. Good or bad I couldn't say. Adding any weight to a cone will change how it sounds. If those dots are more than just a thin dye it provably would have some effect. I always cringe when I see those selling freshly painted drivers on fleabay. Done to get rid of that ugly faded look.
 
Moon Gel is $7 @ Guitar Center and Sweetwater. The same sort of price differences apply to digital scales. The same stylus scale that Needle Doctor is asking $50 for I bought from Amazon for <$20.
 
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