36 second tune-up

[MJL21193]

G'day,

This is a little trick I use to clean up the sound from my amp and speakers.
Here t'is:

Sit comfortably, relax and take a deep breath. Hold it for 6 seconds - exhale.

Take another deep breath and this time while holding it for 6 more seconds imagine a warm day on an empty sandy beach. Slowly exhale.

Take a third deep breath and while you are holding it imagine you are still enjoying a warm day on an empty sandy beach but now you have an ice cold drink in your hand...have a sip. Exhale.

Again, another deep breath and while you are holding it imagine a gentle breeze cooling your skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand...have another sip. Exhale.

Breath deep once more and while you are holding it imagine the sound of the waves calmly lapping the shoreline, the gentle breeze cooling your warm skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand. Exhale.

Once again breath deep and while you are holding it imagine a soft pillow to rest your head on while you relax and take in the sound of calmly lapping waves at the shoreline, the gentle breeze cooling your warm skin as you enjoy a warm day on an empty sandy beach with an ice cold drink in your hand. Time for another sip. Exhale.

You are now ready to appreciate some music.

Cheers

[InclinedPlane]

Good idea. This is the kind of tuneup that would work well for me. How many times have we sat down to listen and turned it off after 5 or ten minutes because our mood precluded enjoyment?

[fwater]

OK, this is a ritual that I can get behind. I'll go one further by offerring up the suggestion of a resonably fine cigar.

Hey, wait a minute, are we not describing a procedure that couldn't possibly have an actual effect upon any of our equipment and therefore the resulting sound, but will almost certainly make it more enjoyable? Uh-oh. Sounds like we are going through some sort of mental conditioning where the result is a foregone conclusion...

Well, works for me nonetheless. Try it with and without the foil hat.

[wwenze]

This works for me.

Also, has anyone noticed how any music sounds the best when first listened to and gets lousier the more one thinks about it, but when one's in a clean state of mind, poof, suddenly magic comes.

The ritual, wine, cigar, drugs, and this possibly share the same principle.

[enigmaticEntity.]

Yes, just like how if you start thinking about one word over and over and how it is produced using the mouth muscles, etc. it becomes really lame...

When I sit down for a listening session, I usually just let the movies play inside my head, since just about every song is also an image to me. New music requires a little more "concentration", if you can call it that.

[Scottmoose]

Although partly (I assume) tongue in cheek, there is certainly some truth here in terms of dropping your heart rate, relaxing your body & thoughts etc. Tai Chi, yoga, hypnosis & many others all work on similar principles & whatever your thoughts about many of their precepts, there are some basic physiological effects. No reason they can't apply to music, or listening to music as well.

[SY]

Here's mine:

1. Give the wife and kid $100 and tell tham to go shopping. This greatly improves signal-to-noise ratio.

2. Turn off the cell phone, clamp it in a vise, then rotate the handle until you hear the "crack."

3. Go to the neighbor's house and put sugar into the gas tank of his lawnmower. This also helps signal-to-noise.

4. Load two shells into the shotgun as a noise suppression device should a peddler or Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door.

5. Open a bottle of 15 year old Macallan. If you are in British Columbia, Netherlands, or California, roll up a fattie and set your clock to 4:20.

6. Finish the bottle and/or the fattie.

I have found these measures, in combination, to be efficacious.

[Magura]

Originally Posted by SY

Here's mine:



I have found these measures, in combination, to be efficacious.

Around here, #1, 2, 5, and 6 seems sufficient.

Heating up a soldering iron has also proven effective at times, and can be combined with #5 and 6 with benefit, when it comes to soldering SMD devices.


Magura

[MJL21193]

I'm not an audiophile.
I don't care if there is a better "sounding" amp,
speaker,
cable,
interconnect,
resistor,
capacitor,
op amp,
transistor,
FET,
pot(entiometer).

I don't worry about magnetism,
hysteresis,
ground pools,
negative energy,
stray neutrinos,
wire insulation material,
wire insulation colour,
energy storage,
smearing,
transparency,
openness,
closedness.

I don't believe in charms,
clever little clocks,
brilliant pebbles,
enabl,
talismans,
voodoo,
magic,
leprechauns.

I don't listen to my equipment,

I relax and listen to the music.

[chris661]

Amen to that.