To start the topic off: isolate your cd player, don't have it on top of, or on the same surface as your amplifier. You can buy expensive isolation feet at around 25 guid a throw, but buy two squash balls (about 3 quid), cut 'em into halves, and put them under the feet of your cd player. The top end will be crisper, and your bass will lose some 'boominess' and become tighter.

Great topic. I learned a bit just from the first reply.

don't stick your speakers in the corners of your room

keep volume at reasonable level, sounds better, protects hearing and avoids upsettin neighbours

as for isolation feet have you seen china cones for studio monitors :p

Good call on the 'avoid corners' @yogoda - I suppose it's a bit obvious, but if it turns out to be that kinda post: NEVER have your speakers facing each other, even if it's across a big room.

upgrade cheap/free speaker cable...not saying blow your life savings on it, but a bit better cabling does improve the sound :)

Yeah, and some of the most expensive speaker cable is solid core. You can get exactly the same effect by using 2 core mains cable - it'll cost you about 30p a foot rather than 7 quid a foot and you'll notice an immediate improvement in bass extension and midrange quality.

if possible arrange the speakers so the tweeters and in line with your ears...obviously this doesn't matter if your cleaning the house while listening to music :)

another simple point is too make sure your speakers are in phase :)

s in amazement 0f h0w much i learnt

another simple thing to do which can improve sound quality is to close windows and doors when listening to music :)

clean connectors every now and again :)

look after your cds, a skipping cd is annoying as hell and doesn't sound good :)

you could try the painting cd edge green trick although i think this is an urban legend :)

This is getting boring now.

put ur front speakers at a equallateral triangle from the point of listening to get a better soundstagE

Some good advices here and some are just............., anyway I plug my iPod almost 12hrs a day, I don't play cd's anymore.

DONT music using an ipod into your HiFi! It sounds extremely cr*p! DONT play mp3's also because they sound extremely cr*p! Invest in a decent CD player.

That should be Dont play music... Btw