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Get Better Sound is 202 Tips, Techniques, and Tools, organized in definite categories. Including the intuitive original illustrations and valuable glossary, it’s over 300 pages long.
Some tips are titled in a manner that their context is required to fully understand the title. Therefore they have not been listed, as well as certain lists that are explained in the book.
| Toolbox |
| | Tips #1-10 |
| Your room |
| | Tip #12: | Two identical systems with sound that varied wildly |
| | Tip #13: | Should you accept the “non-parallel walls are best” theory for your listening room? |
| | Tip #14: | Where do cathedral ceilings work best? |
| | Tip #15: | Are there any known “good” listening room sizes? |
| | Tip #17: | Effects of outside temperature on your listening room |
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| Multi-channel system (aka home theater) loudspeaker requirements |
| | Tip #21: | Why speakers must be tonally alike |
| | Tip #22: | Why speakers must be dynamically alike |
| | Tip #23: | Why speakers must be spatially alike |
| | Tip #24: | Is a center channel speaker really necessary? |
| | Tip #25: | How to preserve the best image across the front three speakers |
| | Tip #26: | Just say no to any horizontally aligned center channel speaker |
| | Tip #27: | Is it OK to place smaller speakers on their sides? |
| | Tip #28: | How improper installation can unmatch a matched set of loudspeakers |
| | Tip #29: | For home theaters, why one great subwoofer is often inferior to two lesser units |
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| Stereo system bass and subwoofers |
| | Tip #31: | Don’t believe the “experts” when they tell you that you only need one subwoofer |
| | Tip #34: | Why you should never voice subwoofers with bass as your primary reference |
| | Tip #35: | Why stereo subwoofers often sound wrong, and how to fix it |
| | Tip #36: | Since the bass from subwoofers is omni-directional, does it make a difference to aim them in various directions? |
| | Tip #37: | Why selecting lower subwoofer bass crossover frequencies can produce unpredictable results |
| | Tip #38: | Making your stereo subwoofers blend seamlessly |
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| Thinking points |
| | Tip #39: | How to break-in your components – From cold & dead to warm & alive |
| | Tip #41: | Why wide dispersion for loudspeakers might be a bad idea for home audio |
| | Tip #43: | When equalization can help and when it can’t |
| | Tip #44: | The one thing that your system must have to be musically satisfying |
| | Tip #45: | Thou shalt have no reflective surfaces before you |
| | Tip #46: | Why you shouldn’t look into a glare when you listen to music |
| | Tip #47: | Why it really does sound better at night—especially after 9 |
| | Tip #48: | How much power is too much? |
| | Tip #49: | Audiophile “sound effects” |
| | Tip #50: | The “around-the-corner” test |
| | Tip #51: | Should you have your own dedicated music listening room? |
| | Tip #52: | Why you should remove unused speakers or short/cover them |
| | Tip #53: | Remove your eyeglasses? |
| | Tip #54: | Big turn off? |
| | Tip #57: | If you’re past 50, can you really hear well enough to care about your sound quality? |
| | Tip #58: | iPods; iTunes; Digital music servers—how to get more musical impact |
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| Effects of rooms, room acoustics, and room treatments |
| | Tip #59: | Could your chair or sofa be damaging your music reproduction? |
| | Tip #60: | Installing a wood floor on your existing concrete slab |
| | Tip #61: | Addressing the corners and junctions of your room acoustically |
| | Tip #62: | Why you may have to absorb or diffuse the area behind you |
| | Tip #63: | How to determine the acoustic transparency of a material to be used for room treatments or speaker grille cloths |
| | Tip #64: | WAF and room treatments – what to do when you don’t want your room looking like a hi-fi shop |
| | Tip #65: | How to know when you’ve gone too far with room treatments |
| | Tip #66: | Absorbing reflections vs. diffusing them – brief observations |
| | Tip #67: | The Top Three most important places for room treatments |
| | Tip #68: | Determining where unwanted sound reflections occur |
| | Tip #69 | Advanced acoustic treatments—getting the most from bass traps |
| | Tip #70: | Why you shouldn’t place equipment or furniture between your speakers |
| | Tip #71: | What if you have no choice but to place your component rack between your speakers? |
| | Tip #72: | Finding the best sounding location for your electronics and sources |
| | Tip #73: | How to avoid the worst sounding location for your system electronics and sources |
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| Working with your room - A three-step speaker installation technique for satisfying results |
| | Tip #74: | Step 1 – Why & how to set up a grid to begin your advanced room/speaker voicing installation |
| | Tip #75: | Step 2a – The best bass—a throwback to early TVs |
| | Tip #76: | Step 2b – The best bass – if you don’t know where to start with your seating area |
| | Tip #77: | Step 3 – Fine-tuning tonal balance and stereo imaging with stereo separation and speaker placement |
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| Additional speaker/room set-up tips |
| | Tip #78: | Minor placement tweaks that can yield huge dividends, IF you’re willing |
| | Tip #79: | How to use toe-in (speaker angle) to make your speakers seem to “disappear” sonically, as well as to affect their tonal balance |
| | Tip #80: | What happens when you listen at different seating heights |
| | Tip #81: | Why you shouldn’t consider speaker placement final until you’ve discovered the correct AC polarity for all components |
| | Tip #82: | How to create a wider listening area |
| | Tip #83: | Why you should be sour on a “Wide Sweet Spot” for two-channel playback |
| | Tip #84: | When you should consider trying an asymmetrical speaker/listening positioning for the best bass response |
| | Tip #85: | When you should consider a 45-degree placement for difficult rooms |
| | Tip #86: | An alternative speaker placement technique that works |
| | Tip #87: | What to do if you absolutely have no choice but to install your speakers on their sides |
| | Tip #88: | What’s the correct distance from your speakers to your listening seat? |
| | Tip #89: | Why speakers must be level and parallel vertically for the floor grid technique to be effective |
| Panel speakers |
| | Tips #90-92 |
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| Vinyl solution |
| | Tip #93: | Vinyl LPs and VTA (vertical tracking angle); listening and compensating; temperature shifts; tracking force and the sound of LPs |
| | Tip #94: | VTA is not a tone control |
| | Tip #95: | How to fine-tune your vinyl playback system’s stereo image with the anti-skate adjustment |
| | Tip #96: | Listening with anti-skate disabled or turned off |
| Getting rid of unnecessary sonic and electrical pollution |
| | Tip #97-104, including… |
| | Tip #97: | AC power conditioners can make a difference – but are they better? |
| | Tip #99: | Why you need to find out which AC power circuit provides power to your audio system, and which items are on that circuit |
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| Free or inexpensive set-up tools |
| | Tips #105-117 |
| Things to know and to do before (and during) equipment comparisons |
| | Tip #118: | If you’re thinking of replacing a component that you own |
| | Tips #119-142, plus… |
| | Tip #143: | Why you need to have an audio system “road map” and why you must stick to it |
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| Simple system enhancements for daily listening |
| | Tips #144-155, including… |
| | Tip #151: | The one thing you must do to make sure your vacuum tube electronics perform at or near their peak |
| Compression - your biggest obstacle to musical involvement |
| | Tips #156-159 |
| The most common types of loudspeaker compression and their unmusical effects |
| | Tips #160-161 |
| Controversy corner |
| | Tips #162-172, plus… |
| | Tip #173: | Analog vs. digital—a true story—how I discovered the biggest problem in digital technology—and hardly anyone talks about it |
| | Tips #174-177, plus... |
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| Bi-amplification |
| | Tip #177: | What is bi-amplification? |
| | Tip #178: | The merits and (pitfalls) of bi-amplification |
| | Tip #179: | Vertical vs. horizontal bi-amplification |
| | Tip #180: | Bi-amping with similar amps |
| | Tip #181: | Can you adjust spectral balance to +/- .5 dB with your electronic crossover? |
| | Tip #182: | When adjusting bass levels with a bi-amplified system, can you shift the crossover point to compensate for the lower or higher level you just selected? |
| | Tip #183: | Why you should make final bass level/crossover voicing adjustments with vocals and high frequencies |
| Basic trouble-shooting – diagnosing the problem when your dealer or technician is not available at the moment |
| | Tips #184-188 |
| Semi-pro set-up tools |
| | Tips #189-199 |
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| The value of having a true reference recording for voicing systems to rooms |
| | Tip #200: | High stakes at Las Vegas |
| | Tip #201: | Voicing a system to a room with a reference CD |
| Jim’s personal CD reference list |
| | Tip #202: | The List |
| Glossary |
| Manufacturer’s Glossary |
| About the author…and a bit of audio history |
| About the illustrations |
| About the graphic design |
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Note from Jim Smith –
Please read or view the tips in the set-up manual or DVD that you purchase, and be sure to put some of the tips into action. If you don’t, then you’re wasting your money. Wasting money is the opposite result of why I wrote the book and produced the DVDs…
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