While we were in Gary’s room, he had a little tweak he wanted to demonstrate for us. He didn’t tell us what he was doing. We listened to a cut from Tea For the Tillerman, Gary went behind his speakers and did something, and we listened. Gary went back behind his speakers and did something again, and we listened again. What happened to the sound was that the attacks softened and the soundstage grew wider, but I didn’t like the change. It sounded like the phase went wacky and Cat’s voice was no longer a sharp image in the center but rather it was spread out across the soundstage. This was repeated twice and the same thing was heard each time.
What did Gary do? As it turns out, all he did was remove the plastic nut from the binding post of the speaker. The plastic nut wasn’t needed because he was using speaker wires with banana plugs. Aside from the fact that I didn’t like the nut being removed because of what it did to the soundstage and the attack of instruments, I have no idea why something so seemingly innocuous could have such a profound change on the sound. Maybe everything does really matter.
What did Gary do? As it turns out, all he did was remove the plastic nut from the binding post of the speaker. The plastic nut wasn’t needed because he was using speaker wires with banana plugs. Aside from the fact that I didn’t like the nut being removed because of what it did to the soundstage and the attack of instruments, I have no idea why something so seemingly innocuous could have such a profound change on the sound. Maybe everything does really matter.