Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Confession time

I have a confession to make:

I'm not a tweaker. I simply get fed up with poking and prodding my stereo/HT/whatever to make minuscule improvements. I refuse to run frequency analysis software or make graphs. I don't play with my speaker position; in fact I just put my EP350 right where my old sub was and called it good.

Am I alone?

Yes, you are alone. Last time I set up my speakers I actually measured the distance to the rear and side walls and ran frequency sweeps while charting the results. And, no, I'm not kidding. . .

Considering what I've spent on my system, I've done very little tweaking. I keep putting off the major effort until I move my system into the basement. I have this idea that once I can do that I'll go gung-ho, but we'll see if it actually happens.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as Ken, I ran my initial setup, spl and audyssey, and even though I've done some minor movement of the speakers I haven't changed anything ( I know you tweekers are gasping now). The sound probably could be better with treatments, sub movement and running graphs in my open room, but I just don't have the energy and I'm happy with the way everything sounds

The only tweaking that I would do is fiddle with speaker placement, calibration and room acoustics/treatments after my initial setup.

I am not a tweaker nor believe in a lot of the BS that hardcore tweakers do. I just stick to the basics and focus on what I think matters for a good sounding system which is the quality of the speakers, calibration, placement and room acoustics/treatments.

I think most of us fall under the "sensible tweaks" category--placement, calibration, room acoustics, etc., like you said, Dr. House. I guess the more exotic things I've tried is tube rolling, felt surrounds around the tweeter, and socks (yes, and even straws) in the speaker ports to control bass.

Nope.

I haven't tweaked my system since I set it up four years ago.

My philosophy is to do what you reasonably can initially, then forget it. Otherwise, you're just listening for flaws instead of enjoying the system.

Same here, I did do some frequency sweeps for the stereo when first set up but after that it's just play and listen.

Rick... your VU meter's stuck. Tap the side of your monitor.

That's because I didn't tweek it

Well, I did the whole SPL calibration thing and was happy with the results. Even wrote down the final speaker settings in case I needed to reset everything.

Tweaking really falls into two categories for me. First is replacing/adding/upgrading of equipment. Recalibration usually follows.

Second is with my MX remotes. I'm always fine tuning and looking for additional macros to build.

All of this is intended to support the enjoyment of the fruits of this hobby!

You are not alone! About the only thing I do is recalibrate, anymore. And I only recalibrate my system if I move the speakers, not if I add or subtract a pillow to the room or my kids leave toys on the floor. Now that all my speakers are attached to the walls (save for the VP100), that means I pretty much don't recalibrate, either.

Oh, and I set the sub level by ear now. Too much work to drag the meter out.

I'd like to tweak, it just gets frustrating. So fergit it.

I still want an A1400-8.

Thanks for the tip on the pillows. That's gonna save Jack HOURS every week!

Ken, I'm with you and the non-tweakers. Speaker positioning is about the only bug I'll get every now and a great while but even after a couple dozen positions, equal amounts of beers and listening sessions they always end up right smack dab where they started from. Somehow I fell over the deep end and I did the graphing thing about a year or so ago and it just about drove me nuts, to the point that I trashed all of the data, quit listening to the system for a couple of weeks to readjust and made a vow to never, ever consider that again.

I've been in total bliss ever since.

Here's to all of my fellow non-tweakers ...

I'd like to join the dark side tweakers, but the fact of the matter is my time in the chair is so limited, and I'm so dam tired by the time I sit down, I just wanna enjoy the system.
One of these days I'm gonna run REW on my car system though.

I remember when I had my Dorm Room theater...and wanted to find the best position for the sub in my room. I quickly determined that 1) I was lucky to have Axioms in my Dorm Room, and 2) Painted cinder block walls are awful for acoustics. So I just put it where people wouldn't trip over the wire or the sub in the dark.

Fact: I actually tried putting my sub UPSIDE DOWN on top of my fridge...which was already on top of a large dresser. An hour or two wasted. Oh well.

Ken, definitely non-tweak here. My speakers and sub haven't moved an inch(unless they moved when I wasn't watching them)since I re-arranged things when I got the EP500 two years ago. The only thing that I change is the music.

John, once the EP500 arrived, the M22s may very well have moved on their own.

Another non tweaker here.

Ah ha!! Closet tweeker.

That reminds me that we recently put a rug down (over tile) in the dining area of our great room. The living portion already had a rug where the theater setup is. I need to run another auto calibration. I bet it doesn't change much.

Let us know if it does.

My two rules......

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Tweak it correctly the first time, then leave it the F*** alone.

Leave it the freq alone?

I am the geek of [sensible]tweek. No mere levitating wires will do for me. I have:

- changed the orientation of my speakers to best suit the acoustics (so what if you have to crawl over the speakers to get into the livingroom)
- bought a book on acoustics and read it... twice
- learned REW and ran it 3 times from various positions in the room... as a warm-up
- spent many hours reading up on various esoteric acoustic treatments and built some
- and the list goes on

Adjusts square horn-rimmed(those are back in style aren't they) square gold rimmed glasses, secures pocket protector and goes to look for room mode calculator.

Do you want to work on my system?

Sure, bring it on over to my place. It could take a while though. I'm a perfectionist.

I love to tweak and I used to have patience in my natural state, i.e., before I became a citizen of the corporate state; but now I have no time for hobbies, since graduate school, in an increasing spiral, I "spend" all my time working to pay off my student loan, and the rest of my financial obligations.

That's why why I bought the 1400 so I could fix everything without having to constantly twiddle, which is time I can no longer afford; you know I think the 1400 is a good solution in my setting. I'm still twiddling, but I think it's the fault of other weak links in the chain; time will tell. Truth be told (my confession) I wish I'd picked up an 3808 so the outcome would have been more clear, although still I don't kick myself because prior to the firmware upgrade it wasn't clear to me that the features were cutting edge.