TWEAKAHOLICS UNANIMOUS
It is generally acknowledged that audiophilia is an incurable disease, victims
of which are engaged in a never-ending quest for the elusive goal of sonic
perfection in their audio systems. Audiophiles will go to incredible lengths
and expense to achieve even the most minuscule improvement in the performance
of their systems. The really committed and affluent audiophiles and there
are more of them than is generally realized-think nothing of laying out $6,000
+ for a pair of Levinson ML-6A preamplifiers or $7,000 for a pair of Krell
KMA-200 Class-A power amplifiers. For the price of an Infinity Reference
Standard Series III loudspeaker system, I could be burning up the highway
in a sleek Jaguar XJS! Nor do true-blue audiophiles confine their pursuit
of ultimate sonic perfection to audio hardware alone. The really knowledgeable
audiophiles are aware of the tremendous importance of purpose-built, acoustically
treated listening rooms. Some years ago, I mentioned that Dick Burwen (guru
of single-ended noise-reduction systems) had three huge exponential horns
cast in concrete in the foundation of his home. (See also "20,000 Watt
Home Hi-Fi," Audio, April 1976.) I have visited the England home of
the urbane Alastair Robertson-Aikman, head of the well-known tonearm-manufacturing
firm, SME. His listening room has a 30 ton reinforced concrete ceiling, and
he stacks four Quad ESL speakers in a special tubular framework filled with
900 pounds of lead on each side of his 1-ton concrete subwoofers, which use
18-inch drivers! Audiophiles will exhaustively investigate alleged improvements,
some seemingly outrageous, that fly in the face of engineering logic or even
try to abrogate the laws of physics. This would include such items as unidirectional
speaker wire, marked with indicator arrows showing which end connects to
amplifier and loudspeaker to ensure proper electron flow! Be that as it may,
all audiophiles indulge in endless upgrading and tweaking of their music
systems to extract still another iota of realism. But barring the unexpected
legacy from Aunt Matilda or a lottery windfall, most audiophiles don't have
the wherewithal to permit big-ticket, high-end improvements. However, every
once in a while, a clever person comes up with a very bright idea for a relatively
inexpensive device that can effect dramatic improvement in the fidelity of
any music system-even the megabuck audio jewels of the wealthy.
The Mod Squad, a unique hi-fi company, offers a wide variety of unusual products and services. Co-owners Steve McCormack and Joyce Fleming might well be dubbed the "Duke and Duchess of Tweak." Their main activity is providing modifications to certain audio products, thus tweaking them for optimum performance (usually significantly superior to the original specifications). Among their most successful modifications are those for the Quad 303 and 405 amplifiers, Linn Ittok tone arm, Spatial TVA-1 and Belles Research DMC preamps, and the Trans Audio/Oracle Delphi turntable. They also offer modification kits for such diverse items as the Rogers LS3/5A loudspeaker, the Quad ESL 63 speaker, and the Technics EPA-100 tone arm. In addition, The Mod Squad manufactures the $2,000 Triplanar tonearm and $2,500 Phoenix preamp.
Surely one of the most clever products in their catalog is what they call MacMod Tiptoes. The Tiptoes are machined cones of hardened aluminum available in two sizes, either 1/2 inch or 1 1/2 inches high. The smaller cones taper to moderately sharp tips and are placed under turntables, amps and preamps, while the larger cones taper to much sharper points and are placed beneath loudspeakers. In all cases, the tip of the cone faces down on whatever surface is supporting the equipment. What these simple Tiptoes cones do is mass-couple the component to the surface beneath it. The pressure per square inch on the tiny tips is enormous, linking component to surface as solidly as if the component had far higher mass.
The smaller Tiptoes afford more clarity and resolution to the sound from turntables and preamps/amps. However, the large Tiptoes, placed under loudspeakers, offer a truly dramatic improvement in sound quality. It is not a subtle effect, discernible only to golden ears, but something that is immediately apparent to anyone with normal hearing. I would venture to say that most audiophiles have carpet on the floor of their listening rooms. With the usual rubber under-padding, the loudspeaker is sitting on a rather thick, semi-resilient, amorphous surface and is therefore not in contact with the floor itself. The very sharp tip of the larger Tiptoes, under the weight of the loudspeaker, pierces the rug and padding and couples it directly to the floor.
(British audiophiles have been using mass floor coupling for some time, employing various proprietary spikes. Some of these chaps even use special screws to fasten their speaker stands right through the carpeting into the floor!) The results using Tiptoes are really amazing. The mass coupling disperses the resonant energies of the loudspeaker enclosure and reduces boominess to a remarkable degree, as well as giving the sound significantly more clarity, better focus and imaging, and improved dynamics. The coupling is very effective on wood floors and quite dramatic on concrete floors.
I am fortunate in having a concrete floor in my listening room. It is covered by a thick rug with padding. I first placed Tiptoes underneath Janis sub woofers, using three of them in a tripod arrangement. The result was a cleaner bass, with more clarity and a singular lack of coloration. Then I placed a pair of B & W 801-F speakers on the Tiptoes and got very satisfactory improvements, on the same order as with the subwoofers. Finally, although it was a bit tricky, I managed to place Quad ESL 63s and their metal stands on Tiptoes. To add more weight to these fairly light loudspeakers, I placed two VPI magic bricks on the struts of each Quad stand. When these bricks aren’t sopping up eddy currents, which they do quite effectively, they are handy objects of concentrated mass. (By the way, wrapped in aluminum foil, they are great for compressing freshly baked country paté.) Incidentally, for the apprehensive, there are no visible marks or damage to the carpeting when the cones are removed. And perhaps best of all, these Tiptoes cost $5.00 each for the smaller size and $7.00 each for the larger size-quite likely representing the most significant improvement in sound quality that can be obtained for such a small expenditure.
Having had such good results with the Tiptoes, I then tried The Mod Squad's modification kit for the Quad ESL 63. Everyone acknowledges that Peter and Ross Walker's Quad ESL 63 is a very accurate loudspeaker, with superb sound qualities. However, there is always room for improvement.
One point that many Quad owners find irksome is the use of spring-loaded input terminals. These will not permit the use of large-diameter, audiophile type speaker wire. In The Mod Squad kit, good five-way binding posts are provided. Steve McCormack felt that the electrolytic input coupling capacitor of the Quad ESL 63 speakers could be profitably bypassed with high-quality polypropylene capacitors. Thus, he provides three of the well-known Wonder Caps for each speaker. A soldering iron and a screwdriver are the only tools required to make this simple modification.
The binding posts are easy to install, but the new capacitors may require a bit of reorienting of components to get them into the electronics chassis at the base of the speakers. The binding posts cost $10 and the capacitor kit $70 for both speakers.
Is it worth the trouble? Definitely.
Without in any way denigrating the Quad design, one must always keep in mind that commercial restraints often preclude incorporating costlier components. With The Mod Squad's binding posts, I was able to use the excellent Discrete Technology speaker wire.
This and the superior capacitors did indeed provide a smoother, more transparent sound, with better focus and imaging and better resolution of detail and complex music textures.
However, there is no technical justification whatever to explain why the Quads seemed more dynamic and seemed to play louder. All I can say is that there was more output before the protection circuit tripped. Perhaps it was the speaker wire? Whatever the case, this modification justifies its fairly modest cost by making a great speaker just that much better.
The Mod Squad catalog features other interesting and useful items. You can get a copy by writing this company at 542 Coast Highway 101, Leucadia, Cal., 92024.
So friends, you don't necessarily have to pop for that new $1,000 phono cartridge to upgrade your audio system. As is so often the case, it's the little things that count.
-----------
(Source: Audio magazine, Nov. 1984; Bert Whyte )
= = = =