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On tweaking

Posted by unclestu (D) on March 28, 2015 at 15:47:44

With all this arguments about tweaking, I decided to post a few thoughts, You are welcome to disagree, but i simply want to state the philosophy which drives me.

My first foray into stereo ( I would not call it high end) started in 1968 with my purchasing a set of Dynakit units: PAT 4 and St 120. I blew my budget on the TT buying an AR with the Rabco tonearm, though. Because of publicity, I bought a Bose 901 series I.

The Bose was the biggest hindrance to the advancement of my audio life. At 5% distortion, it concealed so much I could not discern any difference. Bought Monster when it first came out: nothing. Bought Fulton Golds, no difference.
Bought new Shures as they appeared: no difference: V15 type 2 to three, to four etc.
Borrowed a friend's Mark Levinson preamp: no difference.

Then one day I turned my 901's around after seeing a pair of 801's in a disco. What a difference: I could actually hear detail. Taught me a valuable lesson: don't necessarily believe the factory.

Then in entering the business and meeting famous designers and manufacturers, taught me even more. These guys are all human. Some were brutally honest to my inquiries, puncturing many bubbles, some were more slick advertising rather than fundamental truths.

In short I learned to trust my own senses and thinking and most important: experience. Never take anything for granted.

Over the years I have made acquaintance with many great designers. They have literally opened my eyes, although i have had a lot of catching up to do: circuit designs, mechanical arrangements, etc.

Working at a Naval Shipyard was also enlightening. Its amazing what you can build from scratch. ( my largest physical project was a 40 by 25 foot deckhouse, complete with railing, ventilation, door ways, electrical run ways, so that all the installer needed to do was to drop the house on the deck and weld it up. Under budget and within the time frame. too.

Taught me to learn how to examine component design more carefully.

Truth is for the most part electronic designs have not had anything really new developed for the past 30 years (well Ok digital amplification maybe). Tube gear even longer.

I find all too often when you spend $75 K for speakers, you get many of the tweaks we have discussed, a bit in a nicer cosmetic package. For hose of us financially constrained, tweaking allows us a glimpse of that audio nirvana, but iff you are willing to keep an open mind and try the ideas.

I believe the concept for this forum is to share ideas, no matter how outlandish they may seem. The trial is certainly up to you: you can happily ignore them. That is not the issue. I do believe sharing of ideas, though is paramount.

YMMV obviously

Edits: 03/28/15

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