Lets sort the wheat from the chaff - or as others might put it - the good stuff from the rubbish!
The world of Hi-Fi and home cinema can be a strange and kookie place. There are so many accessories out there it's almost impossible to get an unbiased opinion on what to try and what not to. Some of your friends will say that an item is something you can't do without, and yet when you try it, all it does is leave a hole in your wallet. So what makes these results so variable? The answer is, your own system a lot of the time.
Mains leads. These come in many many different flavours not to mention prices. They seem to be able to make quite a huge difference which makes no sense to us. Your average house gets its mains from a powerstation that could be 50 miles away or maybe much further. Yet you plug in a lead from your mains socket for the last metre and 'hey presto' instant improvement. So how does it work? Simple answer, no idea! But if you really don't believe then please come in and take the WireWorld test, but be prepared for a shock (not literally!)
Mains cleaners. Mains cleaners can certainly make a difference and you can spend a small fortune on some of them. Some are even re-generation stations which completely erm.... regenerate the mains, even altering the cycles you can produce (the UK being 50 cycles or 50 Hrtz). The idea behind them is that your mains is full or rubbish. Some things like fridges and freezers just as a for instance, use motors with brushes. These produce motor noise that finds its way back down into the mains of your house and effects the sound of your hi-fi and the picture in your home cinema. CD players and Dvd players leak digital noise back into the mains and this effects other items. That's why the best cleaners offer mains sockets that are all separate from each other, so that no device plugged in effects any other one.
Interconnects audio/video & speaker cables. The choices available on these is so vast as to be beyond comprehension. Everyone has there own favourite and one they swear by as being better than anyone else's. We've heard some and seen some absolute blinders and a great deal of average ones. As a general rule the only way to tell is to try them yourself at home and see what you think. Different cables react differently in different systems making it almost impossible to recommend a single cable as a panacea for all. Of course we have our own friends. Rothwell Rivers are an affordable interconnect which for us outsells every other brand of interconnect put together. There is a host of others and we, as everyone else does, have our own greatest ever recommendation. Shinpy is an Italian brand that most people have never heard of. But as far as we are concerned, these are THE cables. See the separate article about this particular item.
Dodads. There is a massive selection of other little dodads, some make a surprising difference and others just a small one. What's nice is that many of these items are very cheap, so you can experiment without breaking the bank and, hopefully, have some fun trying them in the mean time. If the worst comes to the worst they will end up in that bag in the loft where all of those great items you bought that never really work go to. Come on now....admit it, we know you've got one.