Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Cheap Tweeks

Theres a thread over at audioasylum where his wife posted something contentious or other about him a few days ago , do a search for beter pelt on the general asylum
www.audioasylum.com
Been a lot of threads of this nature with some chip thing or other too , have a look at those for the more loony side of things:)

harbor53 ,
wow- I didn't even know that was a medical condition! Thank you.

Rodney,
I would not consider:

6) A decent listening chair
7) Parametric eq
8) Time and freq room correction
9) Pleasant ambient lighting
11) Dedicated clean power lines to my hifi

as tweaks as we are defining them here. Im not so sure what #10 means though,

best regards,
Jerry

" polishing the pins on my valves"???

Now is that hifi rhyming slang for.....

I remember reading a reader's letter in one of the British Hifi rags (maybe HiFi Choice) a few years back, where the reader was saying some 5ukp ear wax drops saved him 1000s in upgrades!

I've done that before too, and it's definitely worth the money.

(Though I can't wait for my G68J to arrive next week, to replace the Rotel I'm using for processing currently. Sold my 861 2 years ago to pay for my wedding.)

David.

I have some valve stuff , I love valve sound too , and one of the tweaks is polishing the pins so that they are ultra clean and make the best contact in the valve holder (tho I think its most likely of little effect as just pushing the valve into the valve holder probably scrapes the pins clean)
Geez - you lot have dirty minds

Hi chaps.

I'm with mndavenport on this, CD treatments do seem to work. Don't know anything about his 'magic fluid', but mine is called RainX. I think it was an article by Doug Blackburn from Soundstage about six years ago that put me onto it.

RainX is an automotive product, designed to be applied to the windscreen. It fills in the tiny imperfections in the glass, making it very slippery. At speeds over 40 mph you no longer need to use the wipers; the water just flows off due to air pressure. The automotive application is not contentious; we know both how it works and that it works.

The audio applications are of course mostly debatable. I maintain it has an audible effect, reducing digital 'glare'. It certainly does make the CD more shiny and reflective, so intuitively since the read mechanism is optical this could have an effect. And doubtless the surface of a CD is at least as irregular as that of a glass windscreen. So I have treated all my dics with this stuff. Last bottle I bought smelt rather of solvents and had 'New Formula' written on it which scared me a bit, but it was still okay for CDs and I've not had any ill-effects.

But, it has another application, as a repair medium. Those of you who rent DVDs will know the process is a lottery, one out of three discs skip because of scratches. This is a drag, back to the shop for another. But RainX cures 90% of such skipping problems, two minutes and the disc is okay, only the very worst scratches cannot be treated. It also protects CDs against scratches, I've 'skidded' a CD face down over a stone floor without damage after treatment.

One note of warning though, if you do rub CDs for any reason make sure you use cotton wool. The pads women use for removing makeup are ideal. Do not use any kind of cloth otherwise you'll cover the disc with very fine scratches and do more harm than good.

As mndavenport says, it costs peanuts so why not try? You can even use RainX on the car if you don't think it works on the CDs

Jeremy

Room treatment. Made some panels w/three inch foam blade tiles for behind my speakers and at the point of first reflection, and some thick foam bass traps for the back corners. About $120 or so from markertek. Huge improvement that I didn't have to listen for. I don't think any tweaks, from fluids to wires comes close from a value standpoint, or even on an absolute scale for that matter.

I have found that tweaks appear to 'work' at different stages in your life.

When I lived at home, didnt have a mortgage or a life of sorts, I used to spend hours tweaking and modding my system. I really felt that I could tell a difference.

Now ten years later, I have a mortgage, girlfriend, a life essentially and for the life of me, the system sounds the same whatever I do to it.

So I dont bother now and I've junked most of the tweaky gear and I find it all far more relaxing. Tweaks are for those who have far too much time on their hands.

Here's a tip - A unused Mission Isoplat makes a great 'slidy' stand for a PC that sits on the floor.

Hi I am Gonna Try "Perma Clear" On A Few discs.
This is another Automotive product designed to smooth glass and reducing the amount of wiper use in rain. At this designed task it is fantastic. If it works I will let you know how you can get it as it is not available in retail shops.
Enjoy what you have, Hi Fi has never been this good at any time in the history of the world.

P.S. Is it me or are alot of the modern groups "Student Fodder" as viewed at the V Festival on TV, Just as dull and earnest as dishwater? Where is the excitment gone?

Enjoy, Chris

Okay then, how about an air conditioner/de-humidfier, with a couple of draft excluders thrown in for good measure?

Science says that atmospheric conditions affect sound wave propogation. Wind, Temperaturem, Air Density, Humidity. Surely these things can all adversley affect what happens to the sound wave after it's left your isolated, conditioned, treated, Parametric EQ'd, balanced, optrix'd, demagged, anti-static'd Meridian DSP's.

And surely a noticabley lower ambient room temperature would aid the operation of all the processors and chips throughout your system?

I guess if you wanted to get really serious you could always go and see a hypnotist - and make him convince you that your system was the best thing you'd ever heard - that could save you some money.

Yes okay I'm being stupid now.

I swear humidity effects my system. But it's kinda tricky to AB

From My 'Newnes Audio & HiFi engineers pocket book':

"In dry air attenuation is low, but it increases to a critical regian between 15-20% relative humidity. Above this, it decreases to a minimum at high humidity..."

It also shows that the attenuation measured is greater the higher the frequency. Quite an interesting chapter actually, it's aimed more at PA systems outside, but people looking for that extra 0.5% from there system might find it an interesting subject.

I still like plan B...

"close your eyes, you are feeling very sleepy, when you wake up your system will sound amazing..."