Mr. Charlie

Music makes us feel good. How good? Well, that depends on the quality of the sound. Poor sound quality can lead to stress, headaches and listening fatigue. But a good sound will have you smiling.

Both high end and inexpensive systems can sound awful, both can sound good. But enough rhetoric, here are some tips to enjoy music more:

1) Tighten the drivers on your speakers. The energy your speakers produce should vibrate the woofers and tweeters. Any energy vibrating the drivers is not going into producing sound and that means you're missing out on detail. This costs nothing and can bring about huge improvements. Just be careful not to overtighten and strip the threads, and be careful not to slip and put the screwdriver through a cone!



2) If using bi-wire speakers and single run speaker cable, replace the cheap metal links provided with your speakers for links made from quality speaker cable. Emphasis on quality, doesn't need to be expensive. Also try installing the links diagonally, rather than vertically, as this often leads to a more coherent, better balanced sound. See pic for diagonal method:



3) Quality interconnects with copper conductors and shielding will produce a cleaner sound compared to cheap n nasty cables like these:



4) Putting 3 isolation feet (tennis balls cut in half are just as good) under your equipment will help tighten up the sound by reducing mechanical vibration.

5) Put spikes under your speakers and fill your speaker stands with sand. This, again, will help ensure the energy is going into creating sound, not vibrating the speaker enclosures/speaker stands.

6) Periodically unplug all your cables and plug them back in again. This will clean off all the dust and muck which over time works its way in to connections.

7) Having windows or mirrors in the firing line of your speakers will smear the sound but a carpet hanging on the wall opposite your speakers will sound fab.