Share your favorite free (or low cost) tweaks!

[Ordin Aryguy]

I wanted to add a few degrees of tilt to a speaker...

So using the materials at hand, and suspiciously there are always a bunch of artificial wine corks around here, I made a couple. A few wine corks, some hot melt glue, and viola, speaker tilters ready for action. Of course I could make up some story about the compliance of the material being sonically superior, and their floor isolation bring "veil lifting clarity, coherence, airiness, blah, blah, blah", but that's total crap.

These were from ultra-cheap grocery store wine. No doubt, if I'd made these out of corks from bottles of Ridge Geyserville I'm sure they'd sound better. ;-)

Yep, they're still "in the game". No sense in actually spending real money on anything now, except maybe another bottle or two of wine.

 

[izeek]

Ditch the huge couch or the fancy leather listening throne. Listen in a fabric-upholstered chair with a low back.

i actually use a wooden folding chair. nothing to reflect off.

 

[izeek]

my decoupling solution
bastardized idea from seeing granite speaker plinths. the sub is on an isoacoustics substand.

 

[Rednaxela]

My poor man's party plugs.

The ‘handles’ were lathed from a thin beech wooden rod, on a drill, using a file and sandpaper. The tips are spares from a €15 pair of Sony earbuds.

I tried them out last weekend at a Tyler Childers concert (Paradiso Amsterdam), and thought they worked wonders. The Alpine party plugs I had ordered earlier felt a bit too small for my ears and not protective enough, which is why I made these as a plan B. These block out a lot of the sound, but then again the volume levels at the concert were pretty crazy loud too to be honest. All in all there was more than enough left to enjoy, and I'm really happy that I had them in.

 

[terryforsythe]

I put these between my speakers and stands - two stacked at each corner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0857161Q1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I sprayed this inside the tubes of my stands: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CT49AS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
(My stands have holes in them for routing the speaker cable, which I use, so filling them with kitty litter wasn't an option for me.)

Those products are fairly inexpensive, and reduced harmonics being generated due to vibrations (measured with REW).

 

[antcollinet]

Due to my small room I have a sub in front of my left speaker (but below all the drivers). Reflections from this cause the sound stage to shift left and down on the left. I can mostly mitigate this by putting a soft cushion on the sub. Even draping the curtains over it eliminates most of the issue.

 

[antcollinet]

My poor man's party plugs.

View attachment 354340


The ‘handles’ were lathed from a thin beech wooden rod, on a drill, using a file and sandpaper. The tips are spares from a €15 pair of Sony earbuds.

I tried them out last weekend at a Tyler Childers concert (Paradiso Amsterdam), and thought they worked wonders. The Alpine party plugs I had ordered earlier felt a bit too small for my ears and not protective enough, which is why I made these as a plan B. These block out a lot of the sound, but then again the volume levels at the concert were pretty crazy loud too to be honest. All in all there was more than enough left to enjoy, and I'm really happy that I had them in.

I use my Airpod pro in noise cancellation mode or transparency mode with level limit.

A long way from free - but since I already had them when I needed hearing protection.....

 

[Megaken]

I put these between my speakers and stands - two stacked at each corner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0857161Q1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I sprayed this inside the tubes of my stands: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CT49AS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
(My stands have holes in them for routing the speaker cable, which I use, so filling them with kitty litter wasn't an option for me.)

Those products are fairly inexpensive, and reduced harmonics being generated due to vibrations (measured with REW).

Hah I did the kitty litter and duct taped the holes around the cables

 

[Megaken]

Due to my small room I have a sub in front of my left speaker (but below all the drivers). Reflections from this cause the sound stage to shift left and down on the left. I can mostly mitigate this by putting a soft cushion on the sub. Even draping the curtains over it eliminates most of the issue.

View attachment 354353

Isn't there like a new kef subwoofer that's super small like 6"

 

[antcollinet]

Isn't there like a new kef subwoofer that's super small like 6"

If there is, I doubt it would do more than the 2x dual 5 inch drivers in my speakers.

I need the big 12inch box for movies.


EDIT : KC62 - claims it can do 11Hz - not sure how that is physically possible with small drivers. Plus it costs nearly 4x what my 12 inch sub cost me - which I already have so is "free to me"

 

[terryforsythe]

I also did the following to reduce speaker cabinet vibrations, and thus reduce harmonic distortion. These all are inexpensive:

1. I added fillets of wood glue to the cabinet joints inside the cabinets - my speaker cabinets were not glued together that well.

2. I added an additional brace inside each speaker cabinet. I put each brace perpendicularly between an existing vertical brace and the back of the cabinet, and extending to the top of the cabinet. I used wood glue on the front, back and top edges of the braces. I wanted to use mdf, but Lowe's did not have a small sheet of that, so I just bought a small piece of particle board. Nonetheless, it worked well.

3. I added fiberglass insulation (removed from the backing) inside my cabinets.
Note: I have my ports plugged for better integration with my subwoofer, so I stuffed my speakers pretty full, though leaving some room around the drivers. For ported enclosures, the area around the ports needs to be kept clear - test the speakers with REW and adjust positioning of the fiberglass if necessary.

 

[RayDunzl]

When I want better sound, I rotate the volume knob a little in a clockwise direction.

 

[Mikig]

from a chocolate box to a head box…

 

[Elkerton]

A partially filled 16" bicycle inner tube under a board with my DD turntable on top to lower the resonant frequency below anything the subs can put out works like a charm.

To test, place stylus on a stationary record and turn up the gain- feedback, a problem; feedback gone, problem solved.

 

[norman bates]

That was a tweak I read about over 20 years ago in soundstage !!!!!

And yea, it does work really well !!!!!!

 

[mhardy6647]

View attachment 355994
from a chocolate box to a head box…

Not sure how clearly visible it is, but the custom modified pill bottle towards the right in the attached photo is tailor made (bespoke!) to hold an ESL headshell with its attached Shure M3D. I think it's an M3D.

Not my idea, nor my ESL arm, headshell, nor Shure cartridge -- they were on loan from an ennabling hifi fellow traveler.

 

[Mikig]

Not sure how clearly visible it is, but the custom modified pill bottle towards the right in the attached photo is tailor made (bespoke!) to hold an ESL headshell with its attached Shure M3D. I think it's an M3D.

Not my idea, nor my ESL arm, headshell, nor Shure cartridge -- they were on loan from an ennabling hifi fellow traveler. :figo:View attachment 356167

it fits perfectly!!!

 

[Sined]

This is a low cost but very effective imaging and soundstage enhancer

 

[Rednaxela]

Ideal for blacker backgrounds too.