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The right placement of your equipment rack is really important. Resonance energy in an audio system is often overlooked. For audio system improvement, the best placement for your equipment rack is between your speakers avoiding corners and side walls at the first or second reflection point of your speakers. To understand resonance energy, think of water being poured into a rectangular box. The water will always wash up to the corners of that box, and the same is true for resonance energy, which is emitted by your audio system.
A simple trick to understand where the reflection point of your speaker is, to put a light on the top of your loud speaker, this could be a candle or torch, the purpose being that it is easy to see. Then sit in your sweet spot and ask a friend to hold a mirror against your side wall and move from the speaker towards you. If you can see the speaker tweeter, candle or torch reflected in the mirror you will know the primary reflection point. This is the spot you want to avoid for the position of the equipment rack.
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In terms of audio system improvement, you should evaluate every part of your system. Are all the parts suitable to work together? It is very important to correctly match the equipment of your audio system and to not just buy components that are good individually but might not fit well together. System matching, synergy of components as well as suitability is paramount; a low wattage tube amplifier for example, will never drive a low impedance loudspeaker successfully. Always make sure your power amplifier is a good fit for your loudspeaker by checking speaker impedance compared to the power delivery of the power amplifier into 8, 4 and 2ohms.
This applies to every part in your audio system, as any of them might have a different performance depending on the environment and the other equipment used.
Everyone wants perfection, but the construction of an audio system has to consider the individual needs of the owner. The perfect audio system is based on emotion and personal preferences which differ from one person to another. Therefore, it is important to keep everything in balance and keep the focus on what kind of sound you like the most. If you need help putting together an audio system, it is always smart to get professional help from your local dealer.
Using the right audio file format is also very important for good sound quality. There are many different audio file formats, and not all of them are equal. The sample rate and bit depth determine the resolution, the frequency range and the dynamic range of the audio.
For digital replay ideally you should listen to the highest sampling rate. For example an audio CD can represent frequencies up to 22.05 kHz, this being the Nyquist frequency of the 44.1 kHz sample rate. For music servers uncompressed WAV, Flac or AIF audio file formats, will offer this resolution. MP3, ACC and OGG are very practical file formats, but not ideal for high performance replay due to their compression.
In general, you can say that connecting everything with cables is better than using Wi-Fi as a transmission system. The quality of the Ethernet cable can further affect the sound of the music or a film. The further the electric signals have to travel to reach your audio system, the more the quality suffers. This is similar to image compression: the more you save or forward an image, the more its quality degrades over time.
Many audio enthusiasts believe that analogue provides a better listening experience compared to digital. There are considerations here too; the quality of the pressing, if a re-issue was it created from the master tapes? The weight of vinyl used, generally a 180g pressing guarantees a flat record! And the producer too, there are many specialist audiophile record labels.
From experience we can say that one of the most common problems that lowers the sound quality of your audio- or audio visual system are bad vibrations. The furniture onto which your equipment is placed can transmit rumble and unnecessary resonance energy. It is very important to make sure what material your equipment rack is made of. Glass and aluminum or steel tube, generally sound bright, due to the resonance frequency of the material used. Small vibrations effecting your audio equipment can add up and have a significant negative impact on your listening experience. Therefore, it is important to consider your setup and look for a suitable HIFI rack.
Other equipment and components like turntables can rest on special isolation platforms designed for an audio system improvement. You can find a lot of different acoustic treatments to deaden reverberation on the market as well. If you are looking for the perfect HIFI racks, then you should check out Blue Horizon. To learn more, we suggest you read the info brochure about professional rack systems.
Plugging all of your components into a cheap plastic distribution device powered from a wall socket can introduce noise. When improving your audio system, removing noise introduced by other electronic devices can make a huge difference. It is better that you plug all your components into a power protection device with a power cleaning system, each output socket being treated independently. This will defeat cross contamination of Differential Mode mains noise being introduced by connected equipment. Check out our product lines created to combat this type of noise and elevate your listening experience.
A good Ethernet switch can further reduce the noise of your Ethernet jacks. One component’s power supply can also interfere with another’s signal path, even with good power protection. This can be avoided by having a little more space between your equipment which further reduces any unwanted noise and humming.
To find out more about improving your audio equipment, have a look at our simple explanation of the different types of noise.
