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Audiophile Systems Reviews - August, 1995
"On the Subject of Tweaking"
by Brad Jeter
Marietta, Georgia
(Introduction by Geoff Armstrong - Audiophile Systems Reviews Editor)
One of the characteristics that audiophiles are often accused of possessing, 
is
the tendency to constantly fiddle and fidget with their equipment and
accessories in order to "improve" the sound.
Do these guys actually listen to music?
At it's worst this puts me in mind of the road systems around here, which are
constantly being "improved"; but the overall effect is not an improvement to
the quality of my commute.
On the other hand, many of the accessories which are ubiquitous today, 
tarted
out their lives as tweaks. Such as placing your "bookshelf" speakers on 
piked
stands, and putting cones under equipment.
Few people today would argue with the fact that these "tweaks" result in an
overall improvement, by "mechanically grounding" the equipment and reducing 
the
effects of resonances (and in the case of the bookshelf speakers, putting 
hem
where they belong).
The best type of tweaks have probably resulted from knowledgeable audiophiles
experimenting at a "grass roots" level. The tweak may then need to be refined
through manufacture in order to allow all of us to benefit, or it may be a
virtual "freebie", as you will see from Brad's piece. So if you fall into 
his
category, please tweak away, and let us know about it!
In this "confessions" piece, "when he sees the light"  Brad attempts to
separate out the common sense, no-nonsense type of tweak, from the "emperor's
clothes" variety.
Brad's piece:
The confessions of an inveterate audio tweaker
For years, I was visited--almost nightly--by a horribly chilling, recurrent,
nightmare. It was predictable to the last detail; I would find myself in 
ront
of a group of anonymous, "first name only" self-helper types. In my dream, I 
am
aware that I am at the head of a table with a thousand eyes piercing my
soul--God! I'm chairing this meeting!
I suddenly blurt out, "Hi, my name is Brad." Around the room, cold and
fluorescent, harsh, a collectively calm but sterile chorus replies to me in
unison, "Hi Brad!" I am not sure why I am there, but soon I find myself 
telling
a room full of nodding heads with overly caring expressions that I need help
and, well, I feel "at home" here.
Indeed, before my auto-defense mechanisms against embarrassment and 
humiliation
can intervene, I admit to a room full of total strangers that yes! I am 
ndeed
an out of control audio-tweaker!
I had to come clean with myself and admit that it was true. I had to take a
personal audio inventory, and, By George, make amends!
So how did I do it? How did I make the nightmares stop? First, I had to admit
that I was powerless over my system. I had to surrender to it! Oh, but this 
was
a deliciously difficult task, for I couldn't leave well enough alone: endless
nights of adjusting furniture and wall treatments. Endless adjustment of VTA
and wishing for a more precise measure of absolute azimuth alignment! Cones,
pucks, green pens, green disks, arm-wraps, wooden drink coasters from the
bottom of some unpronounceable stagnant lake! My God! And worst of all--the
darkest secret of any Tweaker--the admission that, yes, I had become more
concerned and enchanted with the ways in which I could affect the sound of 
he
equipment rather than listening to the music!
If there were records kept of this sort of thing, well, I would hold the 
rand
prize for repetitively listening to the same 20 seconds of a particular track
ad infinitum.
And get this--I knew others who did the same thing! We would often get 
together
and Tweak, and when we were apart, we would blather away on the phone about
tweaking! And we wonder why Nietzsche went mad when he gazed at the portents 
of
the post-industrial twentieth century!
OK, you ask, where is all this leading? Good question, and I hope I can 
nswer
it to your satisfaction. The reason I reveal my status to you as a recovering
Tweaker is because it is a trap that most audiophiles succumb to in varying
degrees at some point in their aural quests. No audiophile ever wants to wind
up as a pathetically neurotic Tweaker but it happens.
After all, at its worst, tweaking is an exercise in frustration - a means
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--- S. Arizona Stick Lizard Country
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