How about other accessories? Do you use risers for your cables? Alternative stuffing for your speakers? What kinds of things like this do you think really work, and what ones do you think are nonsense?

• Audiophile Darwin Awards

I wouldn't go spikeless with speakers on any surface. Unless both your speaker and your floor are absolutely flat, they'll rock a little, and that ain't good. On carpet, forget it, they'll be wobblin' and dancin'. Stabilize those bad boys. Decouples the bigguns from the floor, which can be very helpful as well.

I've used Mapleshade's big brass cones under both Steve Culton's Straight 8's and my Pi Audiophile 3's to excellent effect. Doing it in threes is easiest. As long as you have a square back, you can cheat with as few as one under the front.

Oh yeah, putting your Paramours on maple slabs sited on a trio of brass cones each is very nice, too. Not subtle!

When burning-in your new cables or auditioning new cables for your system, the following tips will maximize cable system performance and provide for the absolute shortest burn in period.
Step One- The first 48 hours of play should be continuous- preferably with a cable burn-in disk. If you do not have a burn-in disk or one is not available, try music of a dynamic and ambient nature. Step Two- After 48 hours of uninterrupted play on a burn-in disk, switch to music(provided you were using a burn-in disk) for an additional 24 hours of uninterrupted play. If you were not using a burn-in disk, continue step one for an additional 48+ hours. Step Three- After 72 hours of uninterrupted play begin the listening process. You should know after 72 hours of burn-in whether or not a given cable design is going to be right for your system. When, after 72 hours, a cable seems "close," you may wish to just give it more time. If a cable does not perform to expectation, try a different cable from the same family or the same model from a different family.

Bill W.

• HaHa