Tweaks

Cable Lifters I don't know if these things work, I don't care. They look nice and get the cable up off the hardwood floor, making it easier to clean the floor. They're made from 1 1/2-inch pvc pipe and 2-inch to 1 1/2-inch pipe reducers.

And here's a similar design that supports the 5 meter Nodost Blue Heaven Interconnects that run from my preamp to my amp. Getting these 4 inches off the floor DEFINITELY increased the resolution of my system.

Magic Sliders At Home Depot, I found these round self-adhesive discs called Magic Sliders. I don't think they're Teflon but they're some kind of slippery plastic. They come in a wide variety of sizes (web site link below). I stuck some to small pieces of wood as shown here and use them under my equipment rack to prevent marring the floor while allowing me to easily slide the rack to change cables, etc.

I also have a set under the spikes of my speakers, which weigh 125# each and sit on the carpet. The sliders slide easily across the carpet and I can even make very small adjustments in position without a helper. I wouldn't be without them. Check them out At Their Web Site

The DeZapper Don't you just hate it in the winter when you get up to change the record and get ZAPPED by a jolt of static electricity. Not only are static discharges uncomfortable, they can damage your equipment. While controlling humidity is the key to reducing static electricity, sometimes it still happens
I built this device to drain static charges from my body before I touch my equipment. It consists of a gold-plated metal drawer knob mounted on a small block of oak. In the base of the block (inset) is a 100K resistor. The wire leading out of the block is connected to ground. Touching the knob drains the static charge to ground without a painful spark.

Hagerman FryKleaner Let's agree not to discuss the subject of cable burn-in since it's one of those audo topics that's sure to start a riot. Suffice it to say that if you're of the belief that cable performance improves with burn-in, the Hagerman FryKleaner is for you.

Built on a small PCB, the FryKleaner contains a broadband noise source that is amplitude modulated by a swept low frequency sinewave. It has three different output levels and can be used to burn-in cables or even new components.

The FryKleaner is available either fully assembled or as a "half-kit", which is merely a unpopulated two-sided, plated-through PCB. I ordered the half-kit for $25. The parts to populate the board cost a little over $30. Assembly is straightforward involving only soldering the passive components to the PCB and took 2-3 hours. One caveat, the solder pads on the PCB are smallish and you'll have a better time constructing the FryKleaner if you have a small chisel-point for your soldering iron.