"What can I do to make my music more enjoyable...to make it sound more real, more like the performer is in my house playing for me? What can I do to get the best performance for my money, more Bang for my Buck?"

Naturally we hear this all the time and happily admit that we are here to help you do just that. Everyone wants the most from their sound investment. Well there is no single answer for everyone, no "one size fits all" magic bullet. Everyone needs specific help for their room, system, and ears. That's why we encourage you to visit the store and let us help you on an individual basis. However, there are some basic changes that anyone can do to improve a system's sound and, therefore, musical enjoyment starting at only $45 or so. Here are some suggestions:

1. Use good interconnect cables - If you are using any stock interconnect cables in your system, the "throw aways" that came with your equipment, replace them with Audioquest Sidwinder ($45), Copperhead ($75), or Kimber Timbre ($98) interconnects. Any of these will yield significant improvements you will easily hear. Use the less expensive models on your least used or less critical components and the higher end models on your more used and more critical components like your CD and DVD players. By the way, this also holds true for the video connection from your DVD player. If you are using those giveaway cables, your picture is suffering significantly, especially if you are running them over long distances. Also, it's usually a good idea to connect the video output of your DVD player directly to your TV. Sending that signal through your home theater receiver is, in most cases, unnecessary, causes you to need more cables, and actually can degrade the picture.

2. Use high quality speaker cable - If you are using generic wire for your speakers such as "zip cord", household wire, or even "speaker cable" like that sold at hardware stores or mass market, chain stores, you are throwing away the money you spent on your components. A very minor investment of $1.90, $3.60, or $8.50 per foot for Kimber speaker cable will bring back the clean highs you are missing, improve the clarity of the bass, and greatly improve the imaging of your system. Your system will just sound more musical.

3. Tweaking your system - You should know that we're very suspicious of most "tweaks" and insist on verifying their value before recommending them to you. So when we tell you that an add-on item will improve your system's sound, we're confident that it's a true, sound improving device. For example, the Harmonic Recovery System (HRS) works on systems costing $1500 and those costing $50,000. We have put it into systems of every price range after people have heard the improvement it makes. It can be connected between the preamp and amp, between the CD player and preamp or integrated amp, or between the analog audio outputs of your DVD player and your home theater receiver. In the last case, while DVD players do play CDs, 99% of them do so very poorly because of clocking problems. The HRS can't solve the clocking problems of your DVD player, but it can improve the sound of it and your entire system so much that you will wonder how you got along without this item. At $549, this is a modest investment that goes a very long way. Come in and let us show you what a bargain it is. Another invaluable add-on is one of the power line conditioners from Richard Gray's Power Company or Shunyata Research. The RGPC energy storage devices and the Shunyata noise filtration/isolation "Hydra" models smooth out the power fluctuations in every home and make a remarkable improvement in system sound for just a few hundred dollars. Come borrow one of our demos and prove it to yourself.

4. Analog lives - More and more people are rediscovering the joy of listening to records. Yes, LPs are not just for the entrenched audiophile or your parents. You may have stacks of old records in your house. If not, they are available used for 25 and 50 cents each at garage sales. Often this is music that can't be purchased on CD at any price. You can pick up a properly-designed and built turntable/cartridge like the Pro-ject 1.2 from Sumiko for as little as $319 that will work with most systems. If you do happen to need a phono preamp, you can get one in the $100 range. After that, buy 35 LPs for the cost of 1 CD, clean them up, and listen to a sound that, in some ways, trumps the sound of many CD players. If you have a decent quality turntable with a cartridge older than three years, you should replace the cartridge. A new cartridge can be as little as $50 to $100. If you are already a record listener and are buying used LPs at garage sales, why not get a record cleaning machine from Nitty Gritty or VPI? These machines wet wash the record and vacuum out the grooves, picking up any record grunge and giving you a pristine surface for the best sound possible. We find the semi-automatic machines give the best balance of price and ease of use, but the manual ones do the same job and start at only $282. That's not bad for making those grit-filled grooves shine!

5. Personal listening - When was the last time you listened to music through a really good pair of headphones, the type that truly rivals the sound of good speakers, and simply enjoyed your music on your own? It can be a treat with a pair of Grado headphones starting at $69. Unlike the cheap headphones that come with portable players, these are true high end transducers that can be used with your home system or with a portable player. If you don't have a headphone output on your system, that's only a minor problem. A headphone amp can be added for a modest investment. Give yourself some private time. You deserve it.

Gerry Adds His Personal Thoughts

When you can make a large improvement in your system, you should. We will help make sure the rewards are worth your time and money. If you can't make a large equipment upgrade, try the enhancements listed above. I am sure you will be very happy with the improvements you get. I have tested and installed almost all of them on my home system, and I look for the same "Bang for the Buck" as you do.

Back to Important Bulletins