Get Better Sound - Table of Contents

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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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