>>> Part 3 of 3...
CD break-in disks: Wait a minute, I am being telepathically contacted by 
Zoglob
from the planet X.
Electronic cable break-in devices: yeah, they work, but buy some new music
instead. Besides, most every stereo shop has one lying in the back somewhere
and if they can find it, will usually let you burn-in your cables (if you
bought them there of course).
For owners of receivers and integrated amplifiers: Improve your sound
dramatically! Get rid of those horrible steel "U" jumpers that bridge the
pre-out main-in jacks. There are very good alternatives from some cable
manufacturers. And, if the unit is out of warranty, or, you don't care,
directly bypass the jacks altogether on the circuit board. The improvement is
amazing.
Also, on many of these units, there is a fused speaker output! Good God! Mind
you, this is not advice; but, it wouldn't be a bad thing to forget the 
warranty
and by-pass this abomination! Anyway, they never blow when they should and 
even
so, you shouldn't be pushing a little integrated amp that hard!
Tap on the cover of an inexpensive CD,  player then tap on the cover of an
expensive one. The former probably rings and the latter does not. Damp the 
case
with something heavy and not too hard. Can you hear the difference? Maybe 
es,
maybe no; but worth finding out (same applies to preamps, integrateds, etc.)
Well, that is going to wrap it up (sorry, I had to say it) for this
installment. I have only scratched the surface of the world of tweaks and 
ill
go into some more do's and don'ts in my next article.
I will also be including some specific tweaks for certain popular pieces of
equipment! Till next time!
Brad Jeter...I started life at an early age...spent my "formative years" 
living
in, among other places, Alaska, North and South Carolina, Germany (twice),
Maine, Massachusetts, Spain and New Hampshire...graduated from the University
of New Hampshire with a BA in the humanities, major: Medieval Studies; 
inors:
Art History and European History...began playing guitar at 15...and, at the
same time, began to be totally fascinated with studio production (via Jimmy
Page's work with Led Zeppelin)...spent a good deal of time mixing sound both 
in
the studio and live...unfortunatey, I did not become a rock star...I really
only became aware of the "high-end" about eight years ago...since that time, 

have been (at various stages) neurotic, psychotic, obsessive/compulsive and
oblivious to it all...but I still keep comin' back for more!....but 
eriously,
if there is one lesson I have learned it is that the most important--actually
the only important thing--is the music...there should be no inordinate focus 
on
the messenger, i.e., the equipment...alas...if this were easily the case, 
hen
there would also be world peace and two cars in every garage! My e-mail 
address
follows. I need all the friends I can get!
Brad Spectral69@aol.com
* Listening close to the speakers is known as near-field listening. The
advantage is that you hear more of the direct sound from the speakers and 
ess
of the resonances caused by excited room nodes. Brad's assumption is that 
ost
audiophiles are listening at too great a distance from their speakers. So we
have another debate, near-field versus far-field listening.
Brad Jeter
Marietta, Georgia
 Copyright 1995 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
--- S. Arizona Stick Lizard Country
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