What is something affordable that you added to your HT/Setup.....

[donmathew90]

........but it made a huge/considerable difference?

I was going through some of the old posts on here and apparently adding a rubber gym tile under the subwoofer is going to help a lot and I'm going to do just that. Looking for suggestions on the same lines.

 

[rwnano]

A feeling of satisfaction and "this much is enough". Didn't cost me much but made a big difference.

 

[AP@1992]

A feeling of satisfaction and "this much is enough". Didn't cost me much but made a big difference.

Totally agree .

We are continuing in the pursuit of better sound, which endeavour doesn't end.

Once you stop analysing and start enjoying, everything feels good in its own way.

 

[donmathew90]

A feeling of satisfaction and "this much is enough". Didn't cost me much but made a big difference.

Love that! I'm yet to get there

 

[k-pad]

........but it made a huge/considerable difference?

I was going through some of the old posts on here and apparently adding a rubber gym tile under the subwoofer is going to help a lot and I'm going to do just that. Looking for suggestions on the same lines.

So, two points. Gym mat may not always work under a sub, and I am not a fan.
But your thought is spot on.

Cos, in the same vein, however, i found a huge difference years ago in controlling the highs in the room by putting bathroom floor mats right at the first floor reflection points of my LCRs. Made a world of difference.
I then paid a few hundreds more and put a few fluffy area rugs in the same spots, and it got better.
Then got greedy, and spent a few thousands on a carpet. And i learnt what diminishing returns mean.
I really couldnt discern any difference between the area rugs and the carpet.
Lesson learnt.
Basically, from 50 buck product to 500 buck product, huuuge difference.

From 500 bucks to 8000 rupee carpet, feeling shitty. They are basically doing same job.

A feeling of satisfaction and "this much is enough". Didn't cost me much but made a big difference.

Which brings me to this.
i drew the line at obviously bad sounding things and it sounds great.

These days, i dont spend sleepless nights wondering if i can juice up my room to gimme me more by spending thousands! I just enjoy the experience knowing my room is not perfect, but it is well damn NEAR PERFECT TO MY EARS IN THE SPACE I HAVE.

I might still upgrade, but only when my current components die. Till then i just am happy to do small tweaks within my set up.

Lovely question/thought, again. Am glad you put it out here. And am really enjoying the replies.

Do let us know how the gym mat goes.

 

[Phani24]

Can you share the pics

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

If you've arrived at a sound you love and can live with...congrats...now add some mood lighting, scented candles, or maybe a more comfy chair or a foot stool to celebrate the music. Mood lighting especially can add a lot to the sense of occasion.

 

[Nagaraj S]

Blu-Tack for Rs 150 on Amazon to keep my REL sub stable.

Subwoofer Solutions for Hard Floors: Top Tips for Improved Sound

Tackling The Challenge of Tile & Hardwood Floors Our subwoofers, have a highly efficient extraction of energy from within its cabinet down through the feet. This is a carefully designed aspect of the subwoofer’s energy path, which transfers the energy into the room. However, when a REL subwoofer...

rel.net

 

[donmathew90]

So, two points. Gym mat may not always work under a sub, and I am not a fan.
But your thought is spot on.

Cos, in the same vein, however, i found a huge difference years ago in controlling the highs in the room by putting bathroom floor mats right at the first floor reflection points of my LCRs. Made a world of difference.
I then paid a few hundreds more and put a few fluffy area rugs in the same spots, and it got better.
Then got greedy, and spent a few thousands on a carpet. And i learnt what diminishing returns mean.
I really couldnt discern any difference between the area rugs and the carpet.
Lesson learnt.
Basically, from 50 buck product to 500 buck product, huuuge difference.

From 500 bucks to 8000 rupee carpet, feeling shitty. They are basically doing same job.

Which brings me to this.
i drew the line at obviously bad sounding things and it sounds great.

These days, i dont spend sleepless nights wondering if i can juice up my room to gimme me more by spending thousands! I just enjoy the experience knowing my room is not perfect, but it is well damn NEAR PERFECT TO MY EARS IN THE SPACE I HAVE.

I might still upgrade, but only when my current components die. Till then i just am happy to do small tweaks within my set up.

Lovely question/thought, again. Am glad you put it out here. And am really enjoying the replies.

Do let us know how the gym mat goes.

Thanks for the insights! I need to get a rug too

 

[donmathew90]

So, two points. Gym mat may not always work under a sub, and I am not a fan.
But your thought is spot on.

Cos, in the same vein, however, i found a huge difference years ago in controlling the highs in the room by putting bathroom floor mats right at the first floor reflection points of my LCRs. Made a world of difference.
I then paid a few hundreds more and put a few fluffy area rugs in the same spots, and it got better.
Then got greedy, and spent a few thousands on a carpet. And i learnt what diminishing returns mean.
I really couldnt discern any difference between the area rugs and the carpet.
Lesson learnt.
Basically, from 50 buck product to 500 buck product, huuuge difference.

From 500 bucks to 8000 rupee carpet, feeling shitty. They are basically doing same job.

Which brings me to this.
i drew the line at obviously bad sounding things and it sounds great.

These days, i dont spend sleepless nights wondering if i can juice up my room to gimme me more by spending thousands! I just enjoy the experience knowing my room is not perfect, but it is well damn NEAR PERFECT TO MY EARS IN THE SPACE I HAVE.

I might still upgrade, but only when my current components die. Till then i just am happy to do small tweaks within my set up.

Lovely question/thought, again. Am glad you put it out here. And am really enjoying the replies.

Do let us know how the gym mat goes.

Thanks for the insights! I need to get a rug too :

Can you share the pics

Is that question directed to me?

 

[donmathew90]

Blu-Tack for Rs 150 on Amazon to keep my REL sub stable.

Subwoofer Solutions for Hard Floors: Top Tips for Improved Sound

Tackling The Challenge of Tile & Hardwood Floors Our subwoofers, have a highly efficient extraction of energy from within its cabinet down through the feet. This is a carefully designed aspect of the subwoofer’s energy path, which transfers the energy into the room. However, when a REL subwoofer...

rel.net

Interesting!

 

[Nagaraj S]

And, if you have a good AVR and upto a medium sized room, tinkering with the channel levels might often eliminate the need for a power amp. Atleast for the surrounds.
Just dropped the idea of adding a power amp to the surrounds after having cranked up the channel levels a bit. The system might go out of balance a bit, but impact for movies is much better now.

 

[Nitin K]

And, if you have a good AVR and upto a medium sized room, tinkering with the channel levels might often eliminate the need for a power amp. Atleast for the surrounds.
Just dropped the idea of adding a power amp to the surrounds after having cranked up the channel levels a bit. The system might go out of balance a bit, but impact for movies is much better now.

Very true if your room is medium to small size and if you have a subwoofer then not sure why a power amp is required in the first place when the bass duties are handled by the sub freeing the avr from the load. The surrounds and atmos dont always play together either.

 

[sash]

Playing around with subwoofer placement. Incredible difference

 

[Prateek-Epitome]

........but it made a huge/considerable difference?

I was going through some of the old posts on here and apparently adding a rubber gym tile under the subwoofer is going to help a lot and I'm going to do just that. Looking for suggestions on the same lines.

Using a Toslink optical cable from my PC to my speakers instead of RCA line out. Completely transformed the audio experience. Removed all noise, boosted the signal abd just took sound quality to another level.

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Tuner and AirPort Express (for FLAC Apple Music through Airplay). Not hope these count as affordable as they are around Rs 10k and Rs 3K respectively (preowned).

 

[Analogous]

Tweaking speaker positions little by little every day (sides, back, forward, toe in, out, angle up, down etc)
Moving my book shelves (the kind with books) into areas of first reflections
Put the coir and foam mattress on the front wall, discovered by wife, chastised, put it back.
Did not buy anything, had some slight stress in my back (no medicine), patience, absolutely worth the effort

 

[sbg]

Repurposing existing speakers for HT use . Never felt the need to go for the supposedly planned upgrades.

 

[Saiganesh]

CHeapwst solution(or may be the exact opposite) ....
Never add amp to an avr ( just for the sake of those extra power) ...caz avr pre amp is matched to the power amp its packed with and finding something to beat that combo ( exclusing the limitation of avr to drive 4 ohms speakers) would be in-effecient...
amps are good only
- its for processor without amp
- for adding extra channel amp
- to drive power hungry speakers (4 ohms or...)

 

[Nagaraj S]

Self-adhesive rubber floor protector stacked up to prop the Center channel to face the listening position. Cost Rs.150

https://amzn.in/d/cW85zO9