Anti Jumpers & Other Tweaks..

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MickeyVee

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Not sure why, but I was not all that impressed with the jumpers that came with my Vista's. Looking around, I found, like anything else in audio, you can go nuts with jumpers.. $500 for jumpers, uh, no.

Given my positive experience with Anti Cables, I decided to order their jumpers. Cheap & cheerful and if it did not make a difference, not much lost.
I received them today, installed them and immediately noticed an bit more dynamics in the panels. Nice little upgrade especially for the price.

On another tweak note, not sure I want to spike the Vistas since we had our hardwood floor refinished. Anyone have thoughts on Vibrapods. Again, looks like another cheap and cheerful upgrade.

Finally, anyone out there using a USB cable to connect their pc/mac to a DAC. I'm considering the Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable. Voodoo or fact? I've been reading conflicting reports on audio grade USB cables.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.
 
On another tweak note, not sure I want to spike the Vistas since we had our hardwood floor refinished. Anyone have thoughts on Vibrapods. Again, looks like another cheap and cheerful upgrade.

Finally, anyone out there using a USB cable to connect their pc/mac to a DAC. I'm considering the Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable. Voodoo or fact? I've been reading conflicting reports on audio grade USB cables.

Audio Grade USB cables are definitely no Voodoo. (IMHO :bowdown:). As I need about 5m to connect my Benchmark DAC1 with my laptop besides my listening chair, I tried several different cables and found out that they all sound differently. I ended up with Aqvox´s double shielded USB cable. Not a bargain, but worth it. Sounds smooth without any harshness and gives an incredible resolution.

I do not spike my Summit´s too. Not because of the wooden floor - I have heavy granite bases, because my floor is floating - but it gives better sound. With spikes directly on granite i loose definition and bass response. I also experimented with different absorbers and feet and the result was always the same: if you place anything like absorbing material under feet or spikes, you again will loose definition. The whole system will appear "slower". So, the main thing is solid footing. To avoid the typical "granite sound" (lack of midrange and some harshness), I damped the downside of the granite base instead. Woks perfect.
 
another option... maple. (if there were an emoticon of a happy little spherical dude pouring maple syrup over his little round pancakes, it would be here)

Prior to selling my Summit-Xs I had them spiked into maple platforms, with the platforms then blue-tac'd to the hardwood floors. Really helped with definition top to bottom... and I found raising the speakers by a few inches to be preferable wrt vertical dispersion.

There's some good commentary on Mapleshade's site describing how maple is an excellent natural vibration sink in the audio range.

Cheers
 
Thanks tsv & bluenote..

For the usb cable, I'll give the Wireworld one a shot.

So the vibrapods are out.. makes sense to me. Love the idea of the Mapleshades but my space is limited (see my system pics) and they're pricey for now. I went throuhg my audio stuff graveyard box and found some brass floor protectors I ordered form the UK a few years ago. They did not work for me at the time becuase one of my Clarity's was by a door and sometimes, people walked into it. I'll give the spike/floor protector combo a try.
 
an bit more dynamics in the panels.

In the panels? Aren't you connecting the amp directly to the panel and a jumper to the woofer?

Finally, anyone out there using a USB cable to connect their pc/mac to a DAC. I'm considering the Wireworld Ultraviolet USB cable. Voodoo or fact? I've been reading conflicting reports on audio grade USB cables.

My opinion? Voodoo. It depends on your DAC (I don't use this type of connection so my research is lagging) but if the data is getting to the DAC unclocked (ie. Buffered) then it is complete voodoo. Otherwise it might hold some credit.

Have you thought about a streaming device rather than crudely connecting computer to audio system?
 
Have you thought about a streaming device rather than crudely connecting computer to audio system?

Yes... I recently acquired an Olive 04HD and I continue to do the snoopy dance every time I switch the darn thing on. It can stream via 802.11n from NAS or your computer's HDD or directly from the internet (the internet radio option is nice too). Not to mention the great iPhone app where you can control the whole shebang from anywhere within your wireless domain. Olive also makes separate room receivers in the event you want multiple streams running to different rooms.

I really like the Olive for several reasons... but I know not everyone on this site believes it's the most cost-effective solution. But then differences in opinion are at least half the fun of participating, no?

Cheers
 
Thanks tsv & bluenote..

For the usb cable, I'll give the Wireworld one a shot.

So the vibrapods are out.. makes sense to me. Love the idea of the Mapleshades but my space is limited (see my system pics) and they're pricey for now. I went throuhg my audio stuff graveyard box and found some brass floor protectors I ordered form the UK a few years ago. They did not work for me at the time becuase one of my Clarity's was by a door and sometimes, people walked into it. I'll give the spike/floor protector combo a try.

something to consider if you figure you can go the maple -- look on ebay for maple cutting boards/blocks - you can get 1" or thicker.... there are a bunch...This will bring down your price if you don't want to pay 600 bucks for mapleshade etc.... Could be a cheap way to get where you want to go...
 
Hello Instead of spending any moneys ,get some WBT solder and remove the biwire altogether remove the screws snip one end from the Bass and solder them to the Tweeter no more jumpers and you eliminater 4 contact points much better detail !!
 
Hello Instead of spending any moneys ,get some WBT solder and remove the biwire altogether remove the screws snip one end from the Bass and solder them to the Tweeter no more jumpers and you eliminater 4 contact points much better detail !!
Darn these newbies who come up with great ideas! :) This is one of those why didn't I think of that ideas. Once I do that I can eliminate the double run from amp to speaker and sell one set of cables - money for more hifi toys ! Anyone wanna buy a set of Cardas Neutral Reference cables ?
 
Hi. Still with ML? As a newbie with second hand Spire's in house I wonder if other internal cables will do any positive differences or just a waist of time..
 

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