Joe visited Alan and tweaked his system. For details, please read Alan’s write up in “Audiophile’s Home”. Below are some email conversations between Joe, Alan, our columnist Ben and another audiophile. As the topic of these conversations is “tweaking” using many different materials, hopefully some readers may find them interesting and useful.

The system is sounding much much better after your tweaks. I haven't got time to go buy the weights yet, I will probably do so this weekend and I will write a comprehensive report of your great accomplishments to be put up at 1388.

I tried moving the wood to the middle of the transport and the pre but it sounded worse so I left it above the power supply where it improved the musicality a lot. That time when you came I had just added spikes to the front speakers and have not really tuned it to the best position, I have adjusted their positions recently and with your tweaks it is really goosebump city! I am thinking of the tube, five and one cent tweaks I have often seen on your site and am wondering how those might help and whether I will need them. Maybe you might care to enlighten me?

I can't tell you how grateful I am. Please let me know how I may help you with anything you need. I will be proud and happy if you ever need to use my room (if it is good enough?) for demonstrations of any kind (just let me know). I would love to go with you guys for tweaking sessions and whatever events you organize. It is amazing that in this "dog bite dog" world, one can still find people like you to warm our hearts with your kind actions...

I just went into your site and read almost all the articles there. I have some questions, though:

1. What do you think are the tweaks I should further try out with my system?

2. What do you think is lacking in terms of sound?

3. I have read that using a transistor pre with a tube power is not desirable in Jon's article, do you think that I need to buy a separate pre for music?

4. If not, are there any mismatches you see/hear with my system, that when I have the dough, should be the first to go?

5. I am interested in the stuff you have like the Bit88 and the power governor, how will they be able to improve my system?

It's perfectly OK to be frank as I have also read that you will only recommend replacement of equipment only to close friends who will not be angry.

The list of my equipment if it helps:

DVD Transport : Muse Model 8 24/96 DAC : Muse Model 296 Processor/pre : Thule PR250B Fr Power Amp : Audio Research VT100 MkII Rr Power Amp : Rotel RB-993 Fr Speakers : Thiel CS 3.6 Rr Speakers : Mordaunt Short Performance 820 Subwoofer : Paradigm Reference Servo 15 Projector : Panasonic PT-B1010E Line Doubler : DVDO iScan+ Interconnects : Coincident Technology CST-1 Speak cables : Cardas Golden Cross

P.S. The next time you come, I'll make sure the air-con is blasted to its maximum capacity.

A million Thanks,

Thanks for your article, it is very well written. I sincerely wish you would become one of 1388's columnists (no pay!!!).

Frankly, as I believe 50% of your time when spending inside the room was watching movies, I don't think you should spend money on getting a separate preamp as I found your existing PR250B is doing the job nicely. If I were you I would look for other methods to further tighten up the bass, try to inject more musicality into the system...to give more 'life' to the system, and break through the boundary of the room, etc.

Indeed it is very conceptual, talk is so easy, but how?

Besides the weight that I've ask you to try, please also try some more one-cent coins on the hi-fi rack. The hollow hole above the power amp gives some problem. Try to place some coins at the centre of each platform to further quieten the system. Your article mentioned amber, in fact I did not apply any amber during the tweaking, they are crystals. Amber are pretty expensive and I can't afford to give away just like that...However, it is the most musical substance I have ever encountered so far. See whether we can arrange another tweaking session and I will bring one or two pieces to show you...If you want to buy some, I would suggest you to contact Ben Lau as he is the expert. I will cc this mail to him.

The room is definitely too small for the existing system and the sound was a bit suffocating. We need to do something to break through the room such that one doesn’t hear the presence of the wall boundary. The best material to expand the soundstage backward and sideway tremendously is to apply some harmonica plates. I will try this next time.

Be patient, Rome took more than one day to build...

Bit88 shall helps a lot in AV. You definitely need it for watching movies. It shall lead you to a completely new dimension of listening. Power Governor is "GOD", it can doubled or tripled the power and inject enormous musicality and dynamic to the system. Unfortunately you have to wait for quite a while as this product is scheduled to be launched in June/July...

Once again, thanks for everything, your article, your offer to help, your supports...

How about I pay you a visit again next Saturday? With Ben?

I will be very excited to have you guys over, tell me the date/time?

I am very interested in the amber you mentioned and can Ben help?

Wow, harmonica plates??! Would love to try them out! You are right that the system is suffocating as the speakers are too huge and cannot be placed sufficiently far out from the side walls not to mention the standing wave problems of my smallish room.

I will get the weights this week before you guys come over, if you need me to buy any ball bearings, rings, or whatever, please let me know.

It is my honour to write for 1388 (no pay??? OF COURSE!!). Will think of some interesting things to write on and please let me know what things you would like me to cover.

I would really want to find out more about this Bit88/Superbit88 thingy, how does it work and does it affect the inputs/outputs coz my Muse setup is linked via a I2S connection?

Hey, don't thank me, I should thank you....

I've been busy these few days and managed to hit the sack only after 1am. Sorry for coming back so late. I'll drop you something about amber these few days. Nothing enlightening, just to share some experience by then.

Just for your information, I think Joseph Luk is becoming a maestro in amber much sooner than me, or even Oyster...Joseph is experimenting with at least 5-6 kinds of ambers lately. I'm a total laggard, only 2-3 types tried so far. But one thing for sure is, apart from the sun rising from the south, tweaking can only be mastered through trial and error (I've just stepped out from nursery here!) The best upside is, they're less costly and this is the damn thing all dealers hate like shit. So make sure you wear a mask next time you tour Adelphi, especially passing by ARC dealer...hahahah...:-)

My apology for the delay...and if you care to stay tuned...

Happy listening!

It's OK. Wow, even amber is a form of study now, huh? Of course I care to stay tuned, cos I've just been born to tweaking if you've been just out of nursery. I will not be around till Friday night, got an exercise, see I'm an army regular (lousy job, quiting Jan next year). Care to join Joe this or next saturday at my place? Would really love to have you guys around. Some kind of bonding with people sharing the same interest is intense man, even between strangers, esp. this hobby...

Hey Joe, I've tried the weights-6.25 lbs at each corner. Didn't make a lot of difference. Could be: 1.Not enough weight. 2. It is not the real corner of the room as there is wood in between the speaker and the front wall. 3. My ears. (high probability).

I've shifted the foam on top of the rack and the soundstage dropped a little. But I lost the silver ring in the process (sorry Joe), its somewhere on the carpet. Didn't have time to drag the rack out. I've placed a one cent on the mains and on the middle of the two empty racks. Bass got tighter (better than placing the weights, amazing) and the image seemed better defined (or is it just me?)