Cheapest simplest change that produced the biggest result

[dcibel]

Hi,
Just thought I'd ask what is the simplest and cheapest change you made to your audio gear that produced the biggest positive result?

Recently I made a $1 mod to my headphones that is just amazing. I have Sennheiser HD-280Pro headphones, and I cracked them open to find that the "speaker" has a hole in the middle of the motor that is pressed onto a plastic pole to suspend it in free air. It is essentially a speaker mounted in free air with a plastic cup behind it.

So my simple mod was to stuff the cups with some cotton wool. Now that is what I have been missing! The bass is tighter and the sound is much smoother. The sound I would describe as similar to a tower cabinet that had no damping material, to one that does. I am sure that there are many headphones that would benefit from this simple change.

[OlderMongrel]

This might not be first on the list, but it comes to mind because I just did it: I put my speakers closer together. We went to the symphony a week ago and sat in the third tier. The sound was very good. The soundstage was spacious but of course quite narrow. My room is small and hard, this helped a lot. Not good for ping-pong stereo effects, but it sounds more like music.

John

[dcibel]

Moving speakers to different locations, and angling them can make a huge difference, especially in smaller rooms.

[johnnyrichards]

Yep, definitely playing with placement is the biggest bang for the buck tweak I have ever come across.

[dcibel]

Indeed, however I was hoping this thread would spark something a bit more creative and original than simply moving the speakers about.

[maynardg]

Varying stuffing and port length in MLTL's. You really can dial in the bass sound you prefer.

[ligs]

Placing strips of 1/8 to 1/4" felt strips around the tweeter improves the smoothness of the tweeter.

[Zero the Hero]

Earwax removal

[Face]

Placement comes first since it's free, second I would say room treatments.

[lunchmoney]

Realizing that the red coating on inductor wires is non-conductive

[lunchmoney]

Placing strips of 1/8 to 1/4" felt strips around the tweeter improves the smoothness of the tweeter.

Why isn't this done more often?

[ligs]

Here is an article about felt ring vs strips.
http://www.speakerdesign.net/felt/fe...vs_blocks.html

[Face]

Why isn't this done more often?

Not everyone needs it or likes the sound of it.

[lunchmoney]

Not everyone needs it or likes the sound of it.

How dare you introduce subjectivity into the discussion!

[rpb]

realizing That The Red Coating On Inductor Wires Is Non-conductive

Lmao...

[NyxOne]

Realizing that the red coating on inductor wires is non-conductive

+1

Yeah I did that too!

Chuck

[ligs]

For people who have a lot of speakers sitting on the shelf you can try to stack them. While identical speakers probably work better but it does not hurt to try different speakers in the same manner

[passexperts]

Matching left and right gains as closely as possible.

[lasse]

Hi,

if you operate a DCX or similar with delay-capability and have a measuring gear and SW, to take the time and effort to time-align the drivers.

Costs nothing but time and has a profound impact, I think.

regards//lasse

[Mr. Walnuts]

in a HT setup, I usually play with the Phase for the forward channels to add depth.

I think you were asking more for low-cost modifications insights and this is more of a free configuration/setting adjustment... but its something I will do periodically to switch up the sound