by TBR Contributor Alex Bunardzic

As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I love good sound. As a part-time musician, I love good music and good instruments. I love good recording, mixing and mastering. And I love, of course, good playback.

The end of the production chain, the home stereo system, will deliver different listening experiences depending on how that system is built and configured. The challenge for me has always been finding the sweet spot between the cost of high quality hi fi components and the necessity of hunting for bargains and experimenting to see if system synergy can be reached with the gear I can afford.

I’ve discovered that, oftentimes, it is easier to achieve good sound reproduction by mixing and matching lower cost components or tweaking the configuration of one’s current system than it is to spend a lot on “higher end” components.

Tweaking

Different audiophiles have different addictions. Some become addicted to hoarding equipment while some become addicted to tweaking. I belong in the second category. It’s a compulsion for me to push my hi fi to its limits, but without sacrificing the funds I need for my other hobbies, one of which is buying guitars (also expensive!).

Whatever the case may be, I cannot stop striving for better sound. A system that’s delivers good, pleasing sound reproduction is one of the highest luxuries achievable in this life. Some people yearn for tasting better and better wines. Some go for luxury automobiles. I go for quality sound, both in instruments (i.e. quality guitars) and in my audio system.

To sit down and to enjoy your favorite recordings on a high quality stereo is an experience that cannot be compared to anything else. Yes, nothing beats a live performance, but can you invent a time machine and travel to the exact moment when your favorite artists were playing live shows? We must settle for the second best, which is finding a good vinyl pressing of our favorite recorded music and playing it back on a well tempered and attuned hi fi system.

My hi fi tweaking journey

My first tweaking experience was with speaker cables. I was searching for a good pair of speakers and buying different models, being dissatisfied with them, selling them on Craigslist (typically at a 20% to 40% loss), and then buying better ones, and so on.

Eventually I stumbled upon a vintage pair of Magnepan MG-1 IMP planar speakers. They are huge and butt ugly, but boy, did they open up a window into the magical world of sound reproduction! These old speakers came with a pair of Cardas speaker cables, which seemed to work fine (I never gave a second look to speaker cables, thinking that a wire is a wire).

Then a friend came over to listen to these old barnyard doors and he was impressed. He went and brought me his pair of Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables, suggesting we replace the Cardas cables with those. I was skeptical, but I wanted to please my friend. So we swapped the cables and BAM! The sound changed drastically. Swapping back from Nordost to Cardas it was painfully obvious that the sound the Cardas cables delivered was notably wooly and fuzzy compared to that of the Nordost cables.

It was at that moment that I realized that a lot of improvement could be accomplished by spending a fraction of money I’d typically spend on a new component and upgrading a current one, in this case my speakers with different wires.

More tweaks

Fast forward to today, and I’m looking at my system and remembering the journey I’ve been on and how it’s filled with some successful, some less successful and even some botched tweaks.

Power cords

For years I was not even aware that there was such a thing as audiophile an power cord. I always used the power cords that had come with my components. In fact, I honestly couldn’t grasp how power cords could make any difference to the sound.

Then one day, out of curiosity, I purchased a Shunyata Venom power cord from a very nice audiophile dealer that had a shop in my neighbourhood (so sad to see his shop recently closing down). He had the Venom on sale, and I decided to take the plunge and buy it.

Much to my surprise and against my massive skepticism, replacing my regular power cord on my power amp with the Venom cord made a noticeable difference to the sound quality. Impressed, I rushed to the store and bought 4 more Shunyata Venom power cords!

But once I started upgrading power cords from the Venom to pricier, and supposedly higher quality power cords, I could never hear any difference between the Shunyata Venom and any other, higher-end power cords. After trying a number of those cords (and even being privileged to try some lovingly hand made power cords that an audiophile friend of mine generously lent me), I haven’t noticed any improvement in the sound of my system with different cords.

Battery for power supply

Another tweak I’ve tried, unsuccessfully, is powering components with a high quality external battery. In theory, powering a highly sensitive audio component, such as a phono preamp, with a battery should clear up the noise that a switching power supply delivers. In practice, however, I could not detect any difference in the sound.

Other ho-hum tweaks

Other unsuccessful tweaks I tried included clamps for my turntable (made records sound worse), different turntable mats (either no difference or worsened sound), and even Shakti stones (I’ve concluded these are bona fide snake oil!).

Tweaks that work!

• Speaker cables (already mentioned)
• Replaced vanilla interconnect cables with higher grade cables
• Isolation spikes for floor standing speakers (definitely improves the sound and the soundstage)
• Turntable plinth tweaks (removed the bottom metal chassis and applied self-adhesive acoustic isolations to the inner walls of the plinth; the product I used is https://www.dynamat.com/)
• Turntable isolation platform (built by my amazing audiophile friend)
• Sorbothane isolation feet under the turntable
• Tonearm tweaks (higher quality head shell, spacers for the cartridge, dampening oil for the tonearm)

All of the above tweaks resulted in noticeably improved sound. Many of those cost peanuts or were inexpensive (the most expensive tweak was speaker cables).

The Grounding box

Yes, you read it correctly — the extremely controversial grounding box again came from my marvelous audiophile friend. He had made one for himself and after experiencing positive results, suggested I to try it.

I’ll try any hi fi component if it’s free. My friend drove over to my house, handed me the box (surprisingly heavy), and told me to plug it into any RCA jack on any component that’s convenient. He recommended I start by putting on a favorite LP, listen to it for a few minutes, then take it off, plug the box in, and leave it for 30 minutes. Then after 30 minutes I was to play the same record again.

I did as he asked and put on Joni Mitchell’s Court & Spark, then turned it off, plugged the box in and waited 30 minutes. Then I played the same song again.

To say I was amused by the difference would be an understatement. More accurately, I was thrilled! Without a doubt, the tweak works! The sound deepened, became more present, more saturated, and the soundstage was clearer and deeper. Instruments were now more real and positioned deep behind the vocals. The bass deepened too and gained substance, weight, and began to sing instead of booming or grumbling.

Wow! I wasn’t expecting such an improvement. I started playing some of my other favorite records. Van Morrison’s Moondance sounded like a brand new record! Earth, Wind & Fire Live now sounded more energetic, and it grabbed me and pulled me in more than ever. It’s was intense!

Some LPs sounded exactly like they sounded without the grounding box. My copy of Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?, for example, showed no improvement. But more of my LPs sounded much, much better.

And all that improvement with something that looks like this?

Huh? It’s just an ugly cardboard box? Yeah, that’s it. This ugly, lowly box could be the best tweak I’ve ever experienced.

Controversy

A quick google search reveals the intense controversy around this tweak. Very few other hi fi products, components or tweaks generate so much vitriol and so much ridicule. Anyone who claims that this tweak makes a difference is immediately labeled as a Flat Earther or a gullible moron.

I feel a little bit like I’m an idiot for publicly admitting that this tweak works. When people read this, they might label me as a soft brained idiot who is incapable of rational thinking. After all, everything in this world has already been explained by engineers, and we now should all toe the clearly visible, prescribed lines of this hobby.

Maybe the reason this box makes such a difference in my system is because my house is very old (built in 1906), and the wiring is antiquated. I don’t really know. All I DO know is that my listening pleasure just doubled thanks to this shoestring budget tweak.