AudioNervosa

Self Medicating => General DIY => Topic started by: gander on January 11, 2018, 12:34:41 PM

Title: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on January 11, 2018, 12:34:41 PM
 Hi, I’m Gary kind of new here and a friend of Nick‘s. I have done a lot of crazy things in audio and build my own audio gear, such as cables and speakers, and other tweaks such as anti-vibration mats, etc. I will share some of my simple things that anybody can do if you don’t mind.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: HAL on January 11, 2018, 12:59:39 PM
Welcome Gary!

Post away.  Always fun to see others tweaks that worked for them.
Title: Room noise
Post by: gander on January 11, 2018, 01:02:09 PM
 It is not true that you can make an audio signal better. It is true that you can try to reduce or eliminate noise that would get in the way of hearing what the signal really is. A lot of time and money is put into buying better cables and gear, and that better gear and even expensive tweaks can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Here is something that cost very little but could make a huge difference in your listening.

Get rid of as much noise in the room as you can, even noise you don’t realize is there. The first step I would suggest is to turn off the refrigerator while you listen. Even if it seems far from your listening room and you don’t think you can hear it, the hum from the motor can make a huge difference in how you perceive the sound. For example, make sure the refrigerator is on, do some serious listening for about 5 or 10 minutes (Even if you don’t think you are hearing the fridge), go shut the refrigerator off, and then come back and do the same listening. You may have an Ah Ha! moment and notice a big difference in how you perceive the music, or even a not so big difference. But anything counts. Try this even though you don’t think you can hear the refrigerator.

When I first noticed this difference I would open the fridge door and manually turn the thing off. But then I forgot to turn the refrigerator back on one time, and the next morning I found that most of my food had spoiled and gone bad or was is on its way to being bad. It cost me a lot of money to replace all that, so I got a 24 hour timer and a 3 foot air conditioning extension cord.  I unplugged the fridge, plugged in the extension cord, plugged the timer into the extension cord and plugged the fridge into the timer, then set the timer to the correct time and the switch on the timer to the “timer“ setting. The extension cord to the timer goes in the gap between the fridge and the countertop. Now, whenever I do serious listening I flip a few tabs on the timer to turn the refrigerator off for a while, and then when I am done listening the timer automatically will turn the fridge back on. And the whole thing costs maybe $10.

Similarly for the Air Conditioning or the heat, but unfortunately you have to go to the thermostat and just shut the thing off and then remember later to turn it back on. Fortunately not turning that back on won’t destroy your food.

Try it. I know a lot of serious audio phools don’t think about that kind of thing, but why try to get rid of microvolts of noise by spending $1000 on a better cable when you can first get rid of many decibels of noise by spending $10?

Happy listening! And if you try this, let me know how it works out for you.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: richidoo on January 11, 2018, 04:57:53 PM
That's pretty good idea! Thanks.
I've ruined food by shutting it off too. Back when it was a normal fridge.

But now it's frankenfridge. It used to just make normal motor noise when running. Then when it was about 3 years old the compressor broke (while my inlaws were visiting, of course) and the new compressor was required by the greenie weenies and their tool GWB to be higher efficiency. The original part was not available. The new compressor is too high efficiency for the old fridge. So it overcharges the system each cycle, then when the compressor stops running, the excess pressure makes flowing gas noises as it leaks past the valve or through the motor, it sounds like a big cartoon steam train coming to a stop at the station. Chug, chug, chug,  siiiiiiighhhhhhhh, spread out over 5 minutes. Just whenit finally shuts up, then it's time for the motor to run again. This repair was about 10 years ago so I don't even hear it anymore. And I know that AlGore compressor will never die. So I built a sound absorbing folding partition wall to block out the kitchen noises.

Glad to have you here, looking forward to more tips.  :thumb:
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on January 12, 2018, 01:47:32 PM
 Wow! Never heard of a Franken fridge. Did you put a bolt through its neck?

I found a list of quiet refrigerators but I think this misses the point. Less noise isn’t the issue, zero noise is. But here is the list.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/10/the-quietest-dishwashers-and-cooking-appliances/index.htm


Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: richidoo on January 12, 2018, 03:06:15 PM
Thanks for the list. The dishwasher recommendations are surprising. I paid a few hundred extra for a deluxe quiet kitchenaid (by whirlpool) with extra sound deadening. It was a piece of junk and it wasn't very quiet. When it finally died after 10 years I got the cheapest Bosch and it is half the noise. But the list is mostly whirlpool made dishwashers they all have the same guts.

You're right, zero noise is better than any quiet appliance noise.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: mfsoa on January 13, 2018, 07:31:29 AM
I think that a lot of the old "You can't hear differences in gear because you are either deaf of your equipment is not up to par" misses the "Do you have a quiet listening environment" question.

Not always possible but always desirable. Hmmmm...a quiet listening room is like sex...
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on January 13, 2018, 08:14:05 AM
 Right, and what I was originally suggesting is to eliminate as much extraneous sound as you can that you can control. If you can, no refrigerator running, no air-conditioning or heater running, no dishwasher going, no ceiling fans (this surprisingly diminishes the listening experience), and no laundry going during a listening session. If you live near an airport, no serious listening during prime time landing and takeoff. A good friend of mine had his listening room made with the air ducts extra quiet.  I turn the air system completely off during listening sometimes. The possibilities are endless…

We are near Las Vegas and unfortunately the heat can be an issue. I’m currently running a tube amp, but that may not work in the summer. You’ve got to have the cooling on or it’s way too hot. And if tubes heat up the room too much and the air conditioning turns on, that defeats the purpose of serious listening.  Which means we need to go solid-state amp in the summer, which kind of sucks but it’s not too bad.


Title: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks: Speaker Rollers
Post by: gander on January 15, 2018, 11:46:50 AM
Speaker rollers???

What the heck am I talking about? There is this idea that if you bolt speakers down to the floor, or put speaker spikes in the floor, or something like that somehow it is better. The idea that the firmer the speaker cabinet is, then there will be less interference with the speaker cone itself.  On the surface that seems correct but I think it is completely wrong.
Refer to Newton’s third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. 
So, for every motion that a speaker cone makes along its axis of motion, the speaker frame wants to move in the opposite direction along the same axis, proportional to the mass of the moving cone, vs the frame and the cabinet.  So, if the speaker frame and cabinet is kept artificially still, then this will actually hinder the movement of the cone and will result in a dulling of the sound.

What needs to happen is that the cabinet needs to be able to move in the opposite direction of the cone along the axis of the movement of the cone, even just a tiny bit, proportional in distance to the mass of the cabinet in the speaker frame versus the mass of the cone.  For example, if the cone moves 10 mm outward and the mass of the cabinet and speaker frame is 1000 times that of the cone, then the cabinet wants to move at the same time inward .01 mm, and vice versa when the cone is moving the other direction. In real life terms, the cabinet moving like this allows the speaker cone to move more freely and this really helps the sound, especially the bass.

But it is very important to make sure that the cabinet is only allowed to move along one directional axis, and not all three, and that direction is the back-and-forth direction of the speaker cone.

There is a company that sells speaker stands that they say uses this principle, and I actually purchased the stands, and I did notice an improvement in my sound. But it occurred to me that they way they are designed, not only did they allow the speaker to move in a front and backward motion, but it also slightly made the speaker move up and down in an arc, which is not desirable for this purpose. I believe this up and down motion could make the cone movement be slightly unstable and move not in a direction favorable to good sound. I wanted an even better sound.

I thought about it and the solution I came up with was rollers. Simple, elegant, and perfectly serves the purpose, allowing speaker cabinets to move along only one axis. I went to a hardware store, found a 1 inch diameter poplar dowel, cut it into 12 inch lengths, put the lengths underneath my speakers so that it would allow the speaker cabinet to move away from and toward me just a little bit, put some clay under there to limit the movement of the speaker so they couldn’t roll off of the rollers, and fired up my system.  There was a very noticeable difference that I really liked. I heard a clearer sound and a firmer more solid bass; more zing to the sound.  Generally, more musical. And for just a few dollars and a little elbow grease. Try it and let me know what you think. Don’t think about theory and cabinet design and all that stuff, just try it.

The undersides of the speakers need to be flat and the surface the rollers set on needs to be flat. And the axis of the cone movement needs to be parallel with the floor - it won’t work well with speakers that have drivers that face slightly upward, for example. Also, rollers on carpet won’t work so well.  there will need to be some sort of platform underneath. I have hardwood floor so that works fine. And this won’t work with downward firing drivers.

With that being said, have fun!

— Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: DRN on January 15, 2018, 01:50:57 PM
Wowzers..... Rich has a fridge that farts, "a quiet listening room is like sex" ?
You guys got sumtin' a band aid cant fix neither can DR. Phil.  :duh
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: P.I. on January 15, 2018, 03:13:56 PM
Right, and what I was originally suggesting is to eliminate as much extraneous sound as you can that you can control. If you can, no refrigerator running, no air-conditioning or heater running, no dishwasher going, no ceiling fans (this surprisingly diminishes the listening experience), and no laundry going during a listening session. If you live near an airport, no serious listening during prime time landing and takeoff. A good friend of mine had his listening room made with the air ducts extra quiet.  I turn the air system completely off during listening sometimes. The possibilities are endless…

We are near Las Vegas and unfortunately the heat can be an issue. I’m currently running a tube amp, but that may not work in the summer. You’ve got to have the cooling on or it’s way too hot. And if tubes heat up the room too much and the air conditioning turns on, that defeats the purpose of serious listening.  Which means we need to go solid-state amp in the summer, which kind of sucks but it’s not too bad.
Our oldest daughter has an expression that says: You just do you.  Simple in concept, difficut in application.  What this approach does is let the speaker be the speaker or the piece of gear be all they can be.

Over the years I have used every approach I could think of to let the speaker be itself.  Spikes, pads, goo, I tried it all.  I have found that the roller approach to gear, on almost every level, works the best.  Let the vibes out: don't trap them, smash them or un-naturally diminish them over time.  Every one of these approaches has a less than subtle effect, but letting gear breathe...dissipate as it will... is a more favorable  approach to energy storage/dissipation.  All of this presupposes that a piece of gear is not a POS in mechanical design.

Some years ago, we (yeah, that 'fuzzy" we) tried different footer materials at an LSAF show.  "We" demonstrated how different materials effected the SQ in everything from speaker footers to electronics.  We live in an organic world and our findings were that woods sounded best, with different species yielding different effects.  I remember the look on Danny Richie and Gary Dodd's faces as we changed isolators out.  We tried different materials to include silicon carbide and metal ball bearings in a stacked configuration.  Wood materials were the most musical. Bearings, being either metallic or ceramic, were much more clinical in sound than the musical character of woods.  Stands to reason. Strike a piece of wood and the sound that results is primarily even order products.  Metals, stone and ceramics are primarily odd order products.

I posit that different materials will give different results.  It is easy to try.  Go out and buy dowels from different materials.  Poplar, oak, maple, mahogany, pau ferro, ebony - ad infinitum - will all give different results.  Mind you. These changes are subtle.  I'm a mesquite guy.  Crazy hard, yet sounds amazing with a great combo of musicality and detail without losing anything in the presentation.

I can't think of a more cost / result experiment than what Gary has proposed.  Roller dowels are easy and sound great.  Cruise google for materials near you.  Me?  I'm prone to use maple, ebony and mahogany to begin.  Balls?  Yep, balls are the best once a species is determined.

I know: sounds nuts, but as I am prone to say; everything effects everything.  These kinds of tweaks are important only when we have determined a core sound and want to get to "IT".

Crazy? Sure.  Something to burn up time in "the Quest", absolutely.

It is the tweaks that determine ultimate presentation is our systems... those things that make "It" perfect.  IF that is possible. 

This is Audio Nervosa after all. 

Fun stuff, Gary!
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks: speaker rollers
Post by: gander on January 15, 2018, 03:44:48 PM
Item: wooden dowels cut into rollers
Recommended length: 4 feet long per 2 speakers
Source: Home Depot, Or Lowes
Material: poplar; not oak, not plastic, not metal. I have found poplar to be the best
How long each roller: 12”, Depends on your speakers.
Diameter: at least 1 inch, again depending on your speakers.

My DIY speakers are 44 inches tall and about 16 inches deep and 16 inches wide.  My rollers are 12 inches long. I had three-quarter inch diameter dowels underneath but I substituted 1 inch diameter this morning and instantly the sound was clearer, bass was tighter and sound was more organic, even a little louder. It even caught my girlfriends attention from upstairs on a tune she said she originally didn’t like.  She said she ended up nodding her head with the music and tapping her feet and didn’t even know she was doing it.  By the way, I have 1000 to 1 odds bet on rollers or the refrigerator timer. If anybody tries either and reports on it with some sort of useful review, I owe her a penny. If nobody tries it and reports on it, she owes me $10.  Don’t blame me, I didn’t set the odds!

— Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks: speaker rollers
Post by: gander on January 15, 2018, 03:59:14 PM
I would not use balls as a speaker isolator. Cabinet motion should be restricted to along the long axis of the driver itself, but not allow the cabinet to move in any other direction. Balls allow a speaker to move in whatever direction it wants to go and they should not, or at least that’s my theory.

And I would recommend at least 1 inch diameter rollers for speakers, but you might try 1 1/8 inch, 1 1/4 inch or even 1 1/2 diameter.

— Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on January 16, 2018, 10:53:29 AM
Great advice. For a non DIY solution check out Nasotec VEM footers. The frame and footers worked wonders for us at CAF. Gary of Border Patrol used them as well under his DAC after I lent him some to try.
Gary I really like your tweak thoughts, keep em coming. Now unground everything.


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - Isolation Pads
Post by: gander on February 08, 2018, 02:57:12 PM
 Still nobody trying any of my suggestions? My girlfriend is going to owe me $10 real quick if nobody steps up and actually tries this stuff. Hee hee.

OK, here is another fun, inexpensive one. After hearing how much better my system sounded with Stillpoint mini footers, I decided to see what I could come up with myself. I tried all sorts of wooden things and Sorbothane, and they really didn’t do that much. Then I literally got a small canvas project bag from Michael’s hobby store, applied some Velcro on the opening so it can be sealed up, put some cat litter inside of it (clean of course, Worlds Best Cat Litter), and put that under some of my gear. It was unanimous that it sounded better with the isolation pad then with Stillpoints.

 Of course you can’t do this with something that runs hot and has air holes underneath. But I have them under everything except my tube amplifier.

 There you go, another tip that could save you hundreds of dollars and that works great.

Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: BobM on February 10, 2018, 06:50:18 AM
As for quieting other appliances ...

Audio Prism used to make a product called Quiet Line Filters. These are basically a series of X-rated caps inside a small plastic box that you plug into an outlet. I think they may have also had a varistor inside for surge suppression, but I'm not sure. In any case, you can make one yourself for next to no money. You just need to buy some x-rated caps and varistors then solder them together and plug them into the remaining electrical outlet by your fridge, washing machine, humidifier, etc. Basically any appliance that might cause a surge when it turns on. I found that using those small plastic outlet safety plugs that you get to protect little kids form sticking a knife into them works really well to hold the long legs of the caps in the outlet.

OF course you can source some quiet line filters and use them if you don't know how to solder or don't want a DIY solution.

I suggest the following x-cap values => 1.0uF, .1uF, .01uF all together in parallel.

These are the outlet safety plugs I mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Protector-Jool-Baby-Products/dp/B072N9XQHM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1518274262&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=outlet+covers+child+safety&psc=1 (https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Protector-Jool-Baby-Products/dp/B072N9XQHM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1518274262&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=outlet+covers+child+safety&psc=1)


Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on February 10, 2018, 08:40:25 AM
As for quieting other appliances ...

Audio Prism used to make a product called Quiet Line Filters. These are basically a series of X-rated caps inside a small plastic box that you plug into an outlet. I think they may have also had a varistor inside for surge suppression, but I'm not sure. In any case, you can make one yourself for next to no money. You just need to buy some x-rated caps and varistors then solder them together and plug them into the remaining electrical outlet by your fridge, washing machine, humidifier, etc. Basically any appliance that might cause a surge when it turns on. I found that using those small plastic outlet safety plugs that you get to protect little kids form sticking a knife into them works really well to hold the long legs of the caps in the outlet.

OF course you can source some quiet line filters and use them if you don't know how to solder or don't want a DIY solution.

I suggest the following x-cap values => 1.0uF, .1uF, .01uF all together in parallel.

These are the outlet safety plugs I mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Protector-Jool-Baby-Products/dp/B072N9XQHM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1518274262&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=outlet+covers+child+safety&psc=1 (https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Protector-Jool-Baby-Products/dp/B072N9XQHM/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1518274262&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=outlet+covers+child+safety&psc=1)

I used the Quiet Lines years ago and they worked very well. I finally grew tired of using up so many of the outlets. That’s one of the reasons I like the Uber so much 👍
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - quieting appliances
Post by: gander on February 10, 2018, 08:55:25 AM
 This is actually another subject, quieting line noise. I was originally talking about silencing the physical noise of appliances. Be careful! If you open a can of worms you may get worms all over the place. Ha ha

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: dBe on February 10, 2018, 07:57:50 PM
Quieting line noise is something that is coming from P.I. audio group.  I have prototypes going out.  Small modules like you suggest are great for local noise reduction... especially on fridges and computers.

 :thumb:
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on February 11, 2018, 08:39:38 AM
Quieting line noise is something that is coming from P.I. audio group.  I have prototypes going out.  Small modules like you suggest are great for local noise reduction... especially on fridges and computers.

 :thumb:

Dave,
How will this “device” be implemented, what does it do and how does it look?
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on February 11, 2018, 09:06:13 AM
 And the most important question of all, besides how well does it work, how much will it cost?

 Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: dBe on February 12, 2018, 10:33:01 PM
Quieting line noise is something that is coming from P.I. audio group.  I have prototypes going out.  Small modules like you suggest are great for local noise reduction... especially on fridges and computers.

 :thumb:

Dave,
How will this “device” be implemented, what does it do and how does it look?
Nick
It will just be another of my ugly black boxes with an 18" umbilical that gets plugged into a receptacle that is on the opposite branch circuit (phase to some) in just about any receptacle in the house.

It helps to kill noise on that branch which means lower noise on the Neutral as well as Ground that is common on the overall personal grid. 

Still testing, but feedback is very positive right now.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: dBe on February 12, 2018, 10:41:45 PM
And  :beer:the most important question of all, besides how well does it work, how much will it cost?

 Gary
Great questions, Gary.

Works good  :lol:  as the jury says.  Price is TBD depending on what the ultimate part consist is and those component costs.  Tentative price is ~ $500.00, but I'm looking for lower cost, more readily accessible parts and pieces.

I'll keep everyone up to speed.  Rollo will have one of the final prototypes soon.  You can ask him.  Me, I'll say that it is the greatest thing since beer  :beer:
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on February 22, 2018, 11:44:42 AM
OK Gary bought the wood dowels installed them under Rethm Saadhana speakers. You are correct it makes a slight but noticeable
effect.
Bass tightened and just have better focus and imaging. Well worth the mere investment. Thanks for suggesting. If one turns off all electric devices and unplugs those nasty wall wart chargers and shit it sounds so much better. Quiet is bliss.
So quite in fact you can hear the crickets pissing on the cotton. :lol:


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - rollers
Post by: gander on February 22, 2018, 12:09:22 PM
 Hi Charles,

You’re very welcome. I’m glad that it helps. A few questions,
What diameter dowel did you get?
How did you align the rollers? So that the speakers can roll toward you and away from you? (This is the way it is supposed to be done) 
How wide are the speakers?
How long are the dowels you used?
And are they rolling on the floor or carpeting?

 The devil is in the details!

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on February 26, 2018, 07:56:59 AM
Gary 7/8" dowels 2ft long. Speaker is approx 10" wide. Set dowels front and back perpendicular to sides. Speakers can move front to back.
Thanks Dave will be expecting a package, oh my !


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: dflee on February 26, 2018, 09:46:08 AM
Would putting the dowls between the speaker spikes be enough to allow movement.
Thinking about putting some on the inside of the spikes and use the spikes to keep
the speaker from rolling too much. Hard wood flooring and what wood for dowls?

Thanks
Don
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - rollers
Post by: gander on February 26, 2018, 10:34:56 AM
 I would suggest at least 1 inch in diameter for speakers, and the rollers not wider than the base of the speaker. Only saying that because that’s the way I do it and it seems to work well.  And it’s cheap enough you can try different sizes to see what works well for your speakers.

 I don’t see why not using them between the spikes. But again, not wider than the speaker itself. And at least 1 inch in diameter.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on February 26, 2018, 02:37:37 PM
 Sorry, that should be at least 1 inch diameter for the rollers and not longer than the width of the speaker.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on February 26, 2018, 08:29:45 PM
We used putty to limit the dowels when Gary was over at my place, but the putty was messy and I wouldn’t use it again. I’m sure there are easier methods, but I have yet to experiment
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on February 26, 2018, 09:39:03 PM
I don’t use anything except the rollers now. But whatever works. Unless your hardwood floor lists it shouldn’t be a big issue.

And on to my recent thing, cutting-edge carbon fiber and graphene cables. Even better than my liquid metal* cables. I’m demo’ing my brand-new CF wires tomorrow to a couple of audiophile friends, along with my diy speakers.

Gary


* Liquid metal? Yes! Galinstan - Gallium, Indium and Tin, liquid at room temperature. Literally, think Terminator Two. Warning: Galinstan is a hazmat and will eat copper like PacMan, but anything for Audio, right?
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 09, 2018, 11:03:45 AM
  Gary did you make your own graphene IC ?


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 09, 2018, 01:11:56 PM
  Gary did you make your own graphene IC ?


charles

 Hi Charles,

I do use graphene contact enhancer in my carbon fiber interconnects and speaker cables.  I find that it definitely enhances the sound of my system with my cables, versus not using graphene.  Graphene is not used throughout my current cables.
I have spread graphene along the entire length of carbon fiber and those did sound even better.  But the graphene is expensive and I try to use it sparingly.

Theoretically, graphene is a single sheet of one atom thick graphite, and in that form theoretically forms a superconductor at room temperature. On the surface this does not seem like it would lend itself to audio, but I have found that it does seem to work with carbon fiber. Perhaps because the fibers are so small and the graphene can form a thin layer on the fibers.

Basically, no matter how crazy something sounds, unless it is prohibitively expensive, why not try it and see how it works?  I can’t tell you how many “audiophiles” I have met that are preaching their Audio religion with Stereophile magazine as their Bible, but they haven’t really tried anything original for themselves and only regurgitate part of what somebody else wrote in some article.

To me it is so much more fun just to try stuff to say how it actually does work, and then to be pleasantly surprised when things get better and better.

Gary



Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: P.I. on March 10, 2018, 09:43:35 PM
 :thumb:
  Gary did you make your own graphene IC ?


charles

 Hi Charles,

I do use graphene contact enhancer in my carbon fiber interconnects and speaker cables.  I find that it definitely enhances the sound of my system with my cables, versus not using graphene.  Graphene is not used throughout my current cables.
I have spread graphene along the entire length of carbon fiber and those did sound even better.  But the graphene is expensive and I try to use it sparingly.

Theoretically, graphene is a single sheet of one atom thick graphite, and in that form theoretically forms a superconductor at room temperature. On the surface this does not seem like it would lend itself to audio, but I have found that it does seem to work with carbon fiber. Perhaps because the fibers are so small and the graphene can form a thin layer on the fibers.

Basically, no matter how crazy something sounds, unless it is prohibitively expensive, why not try it and see how it works?  I can’t tell you how many “audiophiles” I have met that are preaching their Audio religion with Stereophile magazine as their Bible, but they haven’t really tried anything original for themselves and only regurgitate part of what somebody else wrote in some article.

To me it is so much more fun just to try stuff to say how it actually does work, and then to be pleasantly surprised when things get better and better.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 11, 2018, 08:26:31 AM
Hi P.I.,  was there a question or a comment or something?
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - opinions
Post by: gander on March 12, 2018, 07:48:22 AM
Let me clarify this please. I’m not putting down audiophiles in general and I consider myself an audiophile. And I’m not talking about anybody on this site at all, Nick and you guys are great. But I guess I just want to make a general statement about differences of opinion in the Audio world and how people deal with it when there is a difference of opinion.

I (and I think everyone) don’t appreciate it when I try to share my experiences with someone, and I am invalidated just because of someone else’s previous beliefs. For example, last month I went to a meeting of the Los Angeles and Orange county audio club and I started a conversation with a fellow. At first the conversation started out well enough, but soon he was saying that there was only one kind of speaker that was any good, the older Tannoy speakers.  I didn’t disagree, because I have not heard them. But then he started telling me how it was when a concert violinist virtuoso played and how it was when a conductor is really into the music, and what he was saying was completely wrong. How would I know that?  I have a degree in violin and viola performance and pedagogy, I have a degree in education, I have been an orchestra conductor and founded chamber orchestras, and I have solo’d on violin with orchestras.  I studied conducting under the winner of the International Mozart Award, after Bruno Walter and Herbert von Karajan won it. So I know a little bit about violin solos and orchestra directing. I know exactly what that stuff is about and this guy basically was very misinformed. Trying to be respectful, every time I tried to tell this gentleman of my experiences and what it is really like from an expert perspective, I was shouted down as if he was the great expert.  I finally just walked away from the guy.  To be clear, there are a lot of nice people in that club and he certainly didn’t reflect the general population.

The reason I can speak on things with some authority is that I have actually done the things of which I speak, and have experimented with many, many different things and seen many common believes just not be true.  I also have a bachelor of science degree in computer science and I’ve been a professional programmer for about 20 years, and I know that either something works or doesn’t work, and why it works. And I try to apply that to most things in my life.  I have also had a few patents awarded to me having to do with improving sound and vibration. If I really don’t know about something, I make it very clear that I may have a believe about it but I really don’t know about it.

I think all we can do is share our own experiences and possibly what someone else has said, and be clear about the difference in our conversation.

Unfortunately, I think that some people substitute what they have been told and what they have read with actual experience and think that the words of other people somehow  makes them an expert. And I think a lot of this comes from the media, with people just blindly believing what they are told.

So I really appreciate and respect it when people say they believe something is true or not true because they have actually experimented with it and found it to be true or not true, and that it isn’t based only on what somebody has read.  Or when someone knows that all that they know is what they have read, and they are open to at least hearing another perspective.

On the flipside, Nick and I have seen the opposite side of that, where somebody is an anti-audiophile, who does not believe that wires make a difference (Which is fine, we are all entitled to our opinions), but then puts you down as if you are a moron admiring the emperor’s new clothes, for thinking such heretical audiophile thoughts. We observed this first hand at an audio meeting at my house. Some people just cannot stand to hear a differing point of view and experience. And when someone’s beliefs turn into a quasi-religion and feel the need to put down the other person for not sharing their beliefs, I have an issue with that.

All of this has nothing to do with people I have seen on this website, but I thought I would just throw that out there to see what you thought about this.

Just my two cents worth.

Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 12, 2018, 08:19:04 AM
Gary WOW nice to know of your priceless experience with Violin. I bet the violin sounds right on your system. Open eyes are key to our interest. There is no best as our listening is subjective.
The result I look for in any trial of new stuff is: Timbre, tonality and harmonics. Did the new ??? bring me any closer to proper live tonality ?
Over the years have had numerous discussions with fellow audiophiles who just do not get it. Their systems show it as well. One must know tonality, tmibre to start with. Harmonics the emotion of it all will tell it all.
It is the end result of a system not its parts just like any component. You cannot hear a component by itself, everythingie matters.
For you Gary being a world class player of violin and cello. Many systems must drive you nuts, especially when a proud owner of such is bragging about sound.  :duh


charles

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 12, 2018, 08:35:07 AM
 I’m certainly not world class and I don’t play the cello, but I do know how a stringed instrument is supposed to sound. And there are quite a few audio believes that stand in the way of that. The thing I patented can up to quadruple the dynamic range of a violin or viola, without sticking something funky on the instrument or modifying it. So I try to take that same approach with my audio gear.

 It’s walking a fine line analyzing the sound and allowing the sound to scoop you up and take you to a magical place. How do you be in the sound and outside of it at the same time? That is the trick. I think a lot of Audio people get caught up in the analysis and the paralysis, but not in the magic. They try to become the reviewer in the magazine who speaks all the audio buzzwords, but they really doesn’t know what music is supposed to do. 

My girlfriend is a great example of that. Music on my system can take her into the smoky lounge where that jazz player is actually playing. Recently she got caught up in trying to analyze it like I do, but in doing so she lost that ability to go to that Smokey lounge, at least for a while. I felt awful when I heard about that and I am encouraging her to forget about all the audio jargon and now she is going back to the smoky lounge. To me that is the ideal of what music is supposed to do.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 12, 2018, 09:09:46 AM
  Emotional impact is the key to it all. Interesting tidbit about Girlfriends findings. makes sense. We need to enjoy our wares more than fool with them.


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 12, 2018, 09:14:54 AM
A couple of friends were over at my house and they commented that I never really just listen and enjoy the music, because I am always listening for something that can be better, and inventing something to make it sound better. What they don’t get is that I can do both things. I can enjoy it and think about the sound and what might make it better, and actually inventing things is enjoyable. So everybody has their own way of enjoying music.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on March 12, 2018, 10:13:06 AM
I think it’s quite the advantage being a musician like Gary so that you can really judge and appreciate what an instrument truly sounds like. I can only make an educated guess regarding that, but it will have to do. I don’t go to live concerts as much of the music i dont care for or the acoustics are spoiled by audience members. Then there’s the balance that I sometimes struggle with between a live performance and the glam that some speakers produce and that I briefly get attracted to. I appreciate that some guys like to tinker and always improve the sound, but I’m too busy working on inside and outside home improvement projects.
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 15, 2018, 11:16:34 AM
I think it’s quite the advantage being a musician like Gary so that you can really judge and appreciate what an instrument truly sounds like. I can only make an educated guess regarding that, but it will have to do. I don’t go to live concerts as much of the music i dont care for or the acoustics are spoiled by audience members. Then there’s the balance that I sometimes struggle with between a live performance and the glam that some speakers produce and that I briefly get attracted to. I appreciate that some guys like to tinker and always improve the sound, but I’m too busy working on inside and outside home improvement projects.
Nick

    Nick really only one instrument to hear as a complete reference. That would be a Piano live maybe in someones home. Frequency range of 28HZ to past your hearing. DONE, reference had.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 15, 2018, 11:20:45 AM
A couple of friends were over at my house and they commented that I never really just listen and enjoy the music, because I am always listening for something that can be better, and inventing something to make it sound better. What they don’t get is that I can do both things. I can enjoy it and think about the sound and what might make it better, and actually inventing things is enjoyable. So everybody has their own way of enjoying music.

Gary

   The case or desire to better our sound is a journey I love as well. Like you I can do both, enjoy and create. It is fun for me to do so, the Hobby aspect I guess.
   I built car models and won several contests. Why ? Never followed anyones rules made up my own. Same for audio. Have fun Boys that is the whole idea. Not how much money you throw at it.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on March 15, 2018, 11:31:05 AM
I think it’s quite the advantage being a musician like Gary so that you can really judge and appreciate what an instrument truly sounds like. I can only make an educated guess regarding that, but it will have to do. I don’t go to live concerts as much of the music i dont care for or the acoustics are spoiled by audience members. Then there’s the balance that I sometimes struggle with between a live performance and the glam that some speakers produce and that I briefly get attracted to. I appreciate that some guys like to tinker and always improve the sound, but I’m too busy working on inside and outside home improvement projects.
Nick

    Nick really only one instrument to hear as a complete reference. That would be a Piano live maybe in someones home. Frequency range of 28HZ to past your hearing. DONE, reference had.

charles

Charles,
OK, it’s the piano and I’ll take your word on that. It makes sense. But I really hesitate to say this, especially at the peril of what pianists might say, but I really don’t like the piano. I will say that among my favorite instruments are the saxophone, violin, flute, guitar, cello and harp.
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 15, 2018, 11:32:41 AM
True about the piano, if all the music you ever listen to is the piano. And piano is very hard to make sound “real” on an audio system. If a piano doesn’t really sound like a piano on a system, including speakers of course, then why go on?  So that is a good starting point. 
But of course the other side of that coin is, how good is the piano itself? If you listen to Bill Evans, and you are used to the full rich, full sound of a concert Steinway or a Bosendorfer (sp?) piano, I believe Bill played a Baldwin piano which really didn’t sound that great. So should we say that Bill Evans recordings are not good because his piano does not sound as good as a Steinway?
And what about everything else? Human voice? Male? Female? String instruments are very hard to make sound the way they should sound. 
The benchmark of many people is the male or female voice. We all have our own set of standards.
It’s kind of like Decware, “if the first watt sucks, why go on?“. And if the sound of a really good piano sucks, why go on?

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - power fuses
Post by: gander on March 15, 2018, 12:02:36 PM
 I know this is a bit off topic but this is about my tweaks. I recently went to most recent LA and orange county Audio club meeting and I enter the raffle. I won a Synergistic Research blue fuse. Not a bad deal considering I spent $20 to win a $150 fuse.  $150 fuse? You’ve got to be s***ting me.  So I looked up the fuse values for my audio note dac,  let them know what it was, and they sent me a fuse.  The power fuse next to the IEC socket on the back of the unit.

 My girlfriend and I could not believe the difference. Bigger, bolder, better bass, less edge without losing details, all the good stuff. From a stupid little fuse. 

It didn’t make any sense until you think about it. What is really going on with alternating current? First AC is pushing One Direction, then it alternates and pushes the other direction. So not only is it going through that expensive power cord, but it is also going through the IEC socket metal, the fuse, the wire to and from the power switch, and the power switch itself.  And it does make a difference when part of that path is better, as most of us have heard by putting in a better power cord.  Yes it sounds much better with some power cords, but the power still has to go through the fuse and the other stuff before it gets to the actual guts of the audio gear.  So I am convinced that better fuses can lead to a better sound, dammit! One more thing to buy.

 It was a quick blow fuse and the fuse blew and I thought I was out a bunch of money. Then I called Synergistic Research and they have a 30 day guarantee that if you blow one of their fuses they will send you another one for free. They increased the amp value and made it slow blow and now it seems to be fine.  I think their quick blow might’ve been a little too quick. But I am very happy with the sound and it really got me thinking about what is going on with the power in general.

 If you want to put a bunch of money an a gear upgrade you might consider upgrading the power fuse first just to see. This is not vaporware and it is not voodoo, but it is what my ears are telling me. Your mileage may vary.

Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on March 15, 2018, 03:14:16 PM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on March 15, 2018, 03:20:48 PM
I think it’s quite the advantage being a musician like Gary so that you can really judge and appreciate what an instrument truly sounds like. I can only make an educated guess regarding that, but it will have to do. I don’t go to live concerts as much of the music i dont care for or the acoustics are spoiled by audience members. Then there’s the balance that I sometimes struggle with between a live performance and the glam that some speakers produce and that I briefly get attracted to. I appreciate that some guys like to tinker and always improve the sound, but I’m too busy working on inside and outside home improvement projects.
Nick

    Nick really only one instrument to hear as a complete reference. That would be a Piano live maybe in someones home. Frequency range of 28HZ to past your hearing. DONE, reference had.

charles

Charles,
OK, it’s the piano and I’ll take your word on that. It makes sense. But I really hesitate to say this, especially at the peril of what pianists might say, but I really don’t like the piano. I will say that among my favorite instruments are the saxophone, violin, flute, guitar, cello and harp.
Nick

But then again Charles is not advocating listening to piano for musical enjoyment but rather as a test signal for equipment evaluation. These are two separate and distinct functions, so it is not unreasonable to have some recordings you use to listen to sound and others that you play when you want to listen to and enjoy music. And they don't need to be one and the same because the goals of both situations are different.

Just as long as you can keep the two activities separate. I have known too many people over the years who never seem to get out of the test mode and sit down to actually enjoy listening the the system the spend so much time optimizing. Makes me wonder why the bother upgrading if they never actually do any listening. But to each his own........
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: _Scotty_ on March 15, 2018, 03:46:17 PM
For some people a sub section of the hobby amounts to constant testing and seldom listening for pleasure, the search for an improvement or the best possible sound is the focus of their involvement with the hobby. I don't get this as it seems to be going down a rabbit hole, but I have a good friend who idea of fun is this type of activity.
 I don't try to turn him on to new music to listen to, as, by and large he not interested.
Scotty
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 15, 2018, 05:14:08 PM
  Yes for testing only. The piano, violin [ top end], cello [ mid ] and guitar. Guitar is really good if you know someone who plays one well. Have them come over sit in between the speakers and play something you have recorded. That will do it.
   If you get the decay of harmonics and timbre like the playing guitar I want to move in. :thumb:





charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 15, 2018, 05:14:24 PM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.

No, that idea seems kind of silly to me, considering alternating current goes in both directions. I suppose I could try it sometime and see.  But I do have a friend that tells me that speaker wires and such do settle in and when they’re moved they don’t sound so good. So maybe the same is true of fuses.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 15, 2018, 05:15:56 PM
   Gary you are correct about the blue fuse. My customer demonstrated it to me. I was stunned that a fuse could make that much difference. Wonder if a quality circuit breaker in lieu of fuse would be equal or better.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 15, 2018, 05:16:54 PM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.

No, that idea seems kind of silly to me, considering alternating current goes in both directions. I suppose I could try it sometime and see.  But I do have a friend that tells me that speaker wires and such do settle in and when they’re moved they don’t sound so good. So maybe the same is true of fuses.

Gary


   Gary are not the fuses directional ? I think they are. BTW correct with cable moving.  Need time to settle again. Crazy but true.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 15, 2018, 05:29:45 PM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.

No, that idea seems kind of silly to me, considering alternating current goes in both directions. I suppose I could try it sometime and see.  But I do have a friend that tells me that speaker wires and such do settle in and when they’re moved they don’t sound so good. So maybe the same is true of fuses.

Gary


   Gary are not the fuses directional ? I think they are. BTW correct with cable moving.  Need time to settle again. Crazy but true.

charles

 Of course you can flip the fuse either direction, but alternating current goes one way when the sine wave is going up and then the other direction when it is going down. Not sure what you mean.  Do you mean that the fuse will sound better in the fuse holder one way rather than the other way?  I haven’t tried that.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on March 16, 2018, 07:51:19 AM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.

No, that idea seems kind of silly to me, considering alternating current goes in both directions. I suppose I could try it sometime and see.  But I do have a friend that tells me that speaker wires and such do settle in and when they’re moved they don’t sound so good. So maybe the same is true of fuses.

Gary

I agree, it seems very counter intuitive that any conductor carrying an AC signal should sound different based on which end is hooked up to the source and which end is hooked up to the destination. In any sinusoidal based signal (which music is) the voltage and current flow over time should statistically approach an equal amount of time in either direction. In a signal which is a pure sine wave (which I would hope your incoming commercial AC is) it should be exactly equal. If the current sends essentially and equal amount of time traveling in each direction why should it make a difference which way we plug it in? As Teveye said in Fiddler on the Roof, "I'll tell you, I don't know." But it is pretty much accepted in audiophile circles that certain things are directional (but not universally accepted.... like you could ever get a large group of audiophiles to all agree on anything.....  :lol:) Interconnect and speaker cables have long come with directionality indicators on them.

Do I believe it makes a difference, yes and no. But I do believe it's worth a try.  If a cable  (or a fuse) is physically set up such that it can be place in either direction I give it a try (of course if a cable had different physical connections on either end you do not have the ability to reverse it.) In my experience over the years sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes the best sounding way is not the direction that the manufacturer says labeling says it should be.

There is a whole industry out there selling tweaks to audiophile trying to squeeze that last litttle bit of performance out of there systems. Even though this one doesn't seem to make logical sense, it is fairly easy to do and best of all it doesn't costa penny of cash to do, so why not flip thigs around and try. If it doesn't give you any sound improvement all you are out is a little time.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 16, 2018, 08:08:16 AM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.

No, that idea seems kind of silly to me, considering alternating current goes in both directions. I suppose I could try it sometime and see.  But I do have a friend that tells me that speaker wires and such do settle in and when they’re moved they don’t sound so good. So maybe the same is true of fuses.

Gary


   Gary are not the fuses directional ? I think they are. BTW correct with cable moving.  Need time to settle again. Crazy but true.

charles

 Of course you can flip the fuse either direction, but alternating current goes one way when the sine wave is going up and then the other direction when it is going down. Not sure what you mean.  Do you mean that the fuse will sound better in the fuse holder one way rather than the other way?  I haven’t tried that.

Gary

   Gary what I'm asking is if the Manf. in the instructions has a directional arrow. If so install that way and be done.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 16, 2018, 09:17:44 AM
Have you tried listening to the fuse in both directions? I know guys who swear the fuses sound better the installed one way vs the other.

No, that idea seems kind of silly to me, considering alternating current goes in both directions. I suppose I could try it sometime and see.  But I do have a friend that tells me that speaker wires and such do settle in and when they’re moved they don’t sound so good. So maybe the same is true of fuses.

Gary

I agree, it seems very counter intuitive that any conductor carrying an AC signal should sound different based on which end is hooked up to the source and which end is hooked up to the destination. In any sinusoidal based signal (which music is) the voltage and current flow over time should statistically approach an equal amount of time in either direction. In a signal which is a pure sine wave (which I would hope your incoming commercial AC is) it should be exactly equal. If the current sends essentially and equal amount of time traveling in each direction why should it make a difference which way we plug it in? As Teveye said in Fiddler on the Roof, "I'll tell you, I don't know." But it is pretty much accepted in audiophile circles that certain things are directional (but not universally accepted.... like you could ever get a large group of audiophiles to all agree on anything.....  :lol:) Interconnect and speaker cables have long come with directionality indicators on them.

Do I believe it makes a difference, yes and no. But I do believe it's worth a try.  If a cable  (or a fuse) is physically set up such that it can be place in either direction I give it a try (of course if a cable had different physical connections on either end you do not have the ability to reverse it.) In my experience over the years sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes the best sounding way is not the direction that the manufacturer says labeling says it should be.

There is a whole industry out there selling tweaks to audiophile trying to squeeze that last litttle bit of performance out of there systems. Even though this one doesn't seem to make logical sense, it is fairly easy to do and best of all it doesn't costa penny of cash to do, so why not flip thigs around and try. If it doesn't give you any sound improvement all you are out is a little time.

 I guess I would agree with that. Doesn’t hurt to try anything. There aren’t any directional arrows on the fuse and nothing I have read about Synergistic Research fuses suggest that they should go one way rather than another way. You could research this yourself and let me know if I missed something.

However, even so, in this case it doesn’t make any sense yet because you need about 200 hours to burn these fuses in, according to Synergistic Research. I’m not anywhere close to that. When it is completely burned in I may swap the direction, let it run some hours in the new direction, and see what happens.

For example, I just got a rhodium plated AC power plug and IEC plug for the power cords I build. The standard AC power and IEC plugs that I use are hospital grade, but not rhodium.  I put them in yesterday and I was a smidge disappointed at the sound, where the low-end was not quite what it was before, and it doesn’t quite feel the same as before. But I have to wait 100 to 200 hrs. to hear what they really sound like, and then put the other plugs back on the same wire to see if it really makes a positive difference, no difference at all, or actually is worse.

Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 16, 2018, 11:08:51 AM
  Not a big Rhodium fan here. I found them bright and hard sounding with every one tried. I like Gold over copper.


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 16, 2018, 11:55:57 AM
  Not a big Rhodium fan here. I found them bright and hard sounding with every one tried. I like Gold over copper.


charles

 I will give them some burn in time, but that is good to know. I feel the same about silver wires. Don’t like them at all, too harsh.  Just trying rhodium out to see what might happen.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: BobM on March 16, 2018, 12:10:35 PM
I found Rhodium to work like a loudness button (remember those?). It seems to emphasize the treble and lower bass, tightening both. I use one on my subwoofer with good results.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on March 16, 2018, 12:57:02 PM
Gary we have a guy in our local audio club who replaced the speaker fuses in a pair of Maggies with a solid copper slug and he swears that the slug sound different if you flip it around. I personally never heard a demo of this, but he is adamant about it.

Made for some interesting discussions with another member who is a college chemistry professor....  :roll:
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 16, 2018, 03:35:39 PM
Gary we have a guy in our local audio club who replaced the speaker fuses in a pair of Maggies with a solid copper slug and he swears that the slug sound different if you flip it around. I personally never heard a demo of this, but he is adamant about it.

Made for some interesting discussions with another member who is a college chemistry professor....  :roll:

 I don’t think you understand fully. It’s not just about the fuse itself, or the copper plug, it’s about orientation with the magnetic field of the earth. If you align the voice coils of your speakers with the magnetic field of the earth, then they could sound better. If you reverse something then that could actually make it sound worse. So get your speakers north/south instead of east/west! Hee hee...

 But thinking about it, there could be something to that…

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on March 16, 2018, 07:30:42 PM
I think it’s quite the advantage being a musician like Gary so that you can really judge and appreciate what an instrument truly sounds like. I can only make an educated guess regarding that, but it will have to do. I don’t go to live concerts as much of the music i dont care for or the acoustics are spoiled by audience members. Then there’s the balance that I sometimes struggle with between a live performance and the glam that some speakers produce and that I briefly get attracted to. I appreciate that some guys like to tinker and always improve the sound, but I’m too busy working on inside and outside home improvement projects.
Nick

    Nick really only one instrument to hear as a complete reference. That would be a Piano live maybe in someones home. Frequency range of 28HZ to past your hearing. DONE, reference had.

charles

Charles,
OK, it’s the piano and I’ll take your word on that. It makes sense. But I really hesitate to say this, especially at the peril of what pianists might say, but I really don’t like the piano. I will say that among my favorite instruments are the saxophone, violin, flute, guitar, cello and harp.
Nick

But then again Charles is not advocating listening to piano for musical enjoyment but rather as a test signal for equipment evaluation. These are two separate and distinct functions, so it is not unreasonable to have some recordings you use to listen to sound and others that you play when you want to listen to and enjoy music. And they don't need to be one and the same because the goals of both situations are different.

Just as long as you can keep the two activities separate. I have known too many people over the years who never seem to get out of the test mode and sit down to actually enjoy listening the the system the spend so much time optimizing. Makes me wonder why the bother upgrading if they never actually do any listening. But to each his own........

Yes, it’s a very valid point you are making and I will do that. I have done that in the past using test discs and it has been quite useful. As to that darned piano, I still don’t like it all that much. Would not a harp have a very large range like the piano? Oh, regarding that test disc you mentioned, it is really useful for speaker placement? How would that work?
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on March 16, 2018, 07:36:13 PM
Gary we have a guy in our local audio club who replaced the speaker fuses in a pair of Maggies with a solid copper slug and he swears that the slug sound different if you flip it around. I personally never heard a demo of this, but he is adamant about it.

Made for some interesting discussions with another member who is a college chemistry professor....  :roll:

 I don’t think you understand fully. It’s not just about the fuse itself, or the copper plug, it’s about orientation with the magnetic field of the earth. If you align the voice coils of your speakers with the magnetic field of the earth, then they could sound better. If you reverse something then that could actually make it sound worse. So get your speakers north/south instead of east/west! Hee hee...

 But thinking about it, there could be something to that…

Gary

Ummm, well, ok. I think I’ve got it.....
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on March 16, 2018, 08:57:29 PM

Yes, it’s a very valid point you are making and I will do that. I have done that in the past using test discs and it has been quite useful. As to that darned piano, I still don’t like it all that much. Would not a harp have a very large range like the piano? Oh, regarding that test disc you mentioned, it is really useful for speaker placement? How would that work?

The In Phase/Out of Phase test is very useful and has become my go to tool for fine tuning the final placement of a set of speakers. There are a number of different tests on the disc but the tracks 2 & 3 are the ones I use for placing speakers. I scanned the instructions for the use of those tracks and they are attached below in 2 pdf files.

And here is a link to info on the disc itself:

https://www.amazon.com/XLO-Reference-Test-Burn-Recordings/dp/B0000015AL/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1521259317&sr=1-1&keywords=xlo%2Freference+recordings+test
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on March 16, 2018, 11:22:07 PM

Yes, it’s a very valid point you are making and I will do that. I have done that in the past using test discs and it has been quite useful. As to that darned piano, I still don’t like it all that much. Would not a harp have a very large range like the piano? Oh, regarding that test disc you mentioned, it is really useful for speaker placement? How would that work?

The In Phase/Out of Phase test is very useful and has become my go to tool for fine tuning the final placement of a set of speakers. There are a number of different tests on the disc but the tracks 2 & 3 are the ones I use for placing speakers. I scanned the instructions for the use of those tracks and they are attached below in 2 pdf files.

And here is a link to info on the disc itself:

https://www.amazon.com/XLO-Reference-Test-Burn-Recordings/dp/B0000015AL/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1521259317&sr=1-1&keywords=xlo%2Freference+recordings+test

Unfortunately, neither pdf could be downloaded or opened in my iPad. I have about 3 or 4 test discs and will have to locate them, but I doubt they have the phase test the XLO does.
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 19, 2018, 08:46:20 AM
  Nick, violin, harp, Cello all good. Key is knowledge of sound of that instrument live. That simple. Gary North, South orientation ?? If there is science to it it may make a difference. I would have never even think of that.  :o



charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 19, 2018, 11:09:09 AM
  Nick, violin, harp, Cello all good. Key is knowledge of sound of that instrument live. That simple. Gary North, South orientation ?? If there is science to it it may make a difference. I would have never even think of that.  :o



charles

About the north/south, at first I was kind of joking about it, but this originates from when I heard about that with regard to sleeping, and after I aligned my bed with magnetic north my girlfriend and I sleep better, noticeably better. So maybe someone could try that with speakers and see what happens.  After all, we are talking about two distinct magnetic fields, and when magnetic fields are more aligned typically things may work better.  If I get ambitious I may just try it myself.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on March 19, 2018, 10:27:43 PM
  Nick, violin, harp, Cello all good. Key is knowledge of sound of that instrument live. That simple. Gary North, South orientation ?? If there is science to it it may make a difference. I would have never even think of that.  :o



charles

About the north/south, at first I was kind of joking about it, but this originates from when I heard about that with regard to sleeping, and after I aligned my bed with magnetic north my girlfriend and I sleep better, noticeably better. So maybe someone could try that with speakers and see what happens.  After all, we are talking about two distinct magnetic fields, and when magnetic fields are more aligned typically things may work better.  If I get ambitious I may just try it myself.

Gary

Wow, this brings back memories of some old Enid Lumley articles in TAS. At the time she proposed a number of things that people call her nuts about that have since become accepted ideas in audiophile circles.

Anybody remember when she told us that her stereo sounded better when her refrigerator was unplugged? Pretty radical thinking in the 1980s and now the effect of noise backfed into the power grid by motors and other devices is very common thinking. In many ways Auntie Enid was was ahead of her time.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on March 19, 2018, 10:38:37 PM
  Nick, violin, harp, Cello all good. Key is knowledge of sound of that instrument live. That simple. Gary North, South orientation ?? If there is science to it it may make a difference. I would have never even think of that.  :o



charles

About the north/south, at first I was kind of joking about it, but this originates from when I heard about that with regard to sleeping, and after I aligned my bed with magnetic north my girlfriend and I sleep better, noticeably better. So maybe someone could try that with speakers and see what happens.  After all, we are talking about two distinct magnetic fields, and when magnetic fields are more aligned typically things may work better.  If I get ambitious I may just try it myself.

Gary

Wow, this brings back memories of some old Enid Lumley articles in TAS. At the time she proposed a number of things that people call her nuts about that have since become accepted ideas in audiophile circles.

Anybody remember when she told us that her stereo sounded better when her refrigerator was unplugged? Pretty radical thinking in the 1980s and now the effect of noise backfed into the power grid by motors and other devices is very common thinking. In many ways Auntie Enid was was ahead of her time.

Yes, sure do remember Enid and her ideas. Leave it to Gary, the tweakmeister as I call him, to come up with some innovative thinking as well.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 20, 2018, 07:43:26 AM
  Nick, violin, harp, Cello all good. Key is knowledge of sound of that instrument live. That simple. Gary North, South orientation ?? If there is science to it it may make a difference. I would have never even think of that.  :o



charles

About the north/south, at first I was kind of joking about it, but this originates from when I heard about that with regard to sleeping, and after I aligned my bed with magnetic north my girlfriend and I sleep better, noticeably better. So maybe someone could try that with speakers and see what happens.  After all, we are talking about two distinct magnetic fields, and when magnetic fields are more aligned typically things may work better.  If I get ambitious I may just try it myself.

Gary

Wow, this brings back memories of some old Enid Lumley articles in TAS. At the time she proposed a number of things that people call her nuts about that have since become accepted ideas in audiophile circles.

Anybody remember when she told us that her stereo sounded better when her refrigerator was unplugged? Pretty radical thinking in the 1980s and now the effect of noise backfed into the power grid by motors and other devices is very common thinking. In many ways Auntie Enid was was ahead of her time.

 Note that the timer on the refrigerator actually does unplug the refrigerator from the wall, but on a timed basis so it will automatically plug the refrigerator back in and keep your food from being ruined.  And also of course it not only keeps the hum of the refrigerator out of your ears, but the bad electrical effects of the refrigerator out of your home electrical.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 22, 2018, 08:13:06 AM
   Gary FYI tried the Acoustic Revive RR-888's facing North, South instead of East, West. Well I'll be a Fly in Soup. Increased effect of Shuman resonater. Crazy scienc.


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 22, 2018, 10:28:04 AM
   Gary FYI tried the Acoustic Revive RR-888's facing North, South instead of East, West. Well I'll be a Fly in Soup. Increased effect of Shuman resonater. Crazy scienc.


charles

 Hi Charles,
I am interested in the Schumann resonator technology. Would love to try one. But my choices are,  about $800 for the Acoustic Revive RR–888, a knock off or some piece of crap from China on eBay, or a $3500 version from Synergistic Research, which I actually heard at a Los Angeles and Orange county Audio club meeting last month. It definitely made a difference  in the room, and I did like that sound better, but they could not do a quick A/B testing so it was hard to tell what difference it could make. And I probably will not shell out $3500 anytime soon to try something that may not make that great a difference.

However, I recently tried the synergistic research blue fuse, $150 retail (but which I won in a raffle at that meeting for $20 worth of raffle tickets!), and that did make a positive difference in my sound. So I will give them some credit that what they do is valid, but is it worth $3500 for their version of a Schumann resonator ?

Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on March 22, 2018, 10:50:29 AM
  No not worth $3500. Even Acoustic Revive is not inexpensive. However the improvement wrought is IMO worth every penny. Now if we can find a Shuman Resonater with same or similar coverage it is well worth the try. Besides the sonic benefits I feel much more relaxed in the listening room with device on. Using two oriented North and south. No going back for me ever.



charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on March 22, 2018, 11:05:23 AM
  No not worth $3500. Even Acoustic Revive is not inexpensive. However the improvement wrought is IMO worth every penny. Now if we can find a Shuman Resonater with same or similar coverage it is well worth the try. Besides the sonic benefits I feel much more relaxed in the listening room with device on. Using two oriented North and south. No going back for me ever.



charles

 Can you tell us the source of your RR-888 Schumann resonator? And what did you pay for it, and how long ago?

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - Schumann resonator
Post by: gander on April 08, 2018, 09:27:22 AM
  No not worth $3500. Even Acoustic Revive is not inexpensive. However the improvement wrought is IMO worth every penny. Now if we can find a Shuman Resonater with same or similar coverage it is well worth the try. Besides the sonic benefits I feel much more relaxed in the listening room with device on. Using two oriented North and south. No going back for me ever.



charles

 Before anybody decides that they think they know what Schumann resonators, or the “Schumann wave“ is about, they should research “Schumann resonator“ and its effects on audio.  So take five minutes and please do that now before you read the rest of this. When I saw this demonstrated at an LA Audio club meeting a couple of months ago,  it definitely made a difference, and a big difference in what I heard, I think I liked the difference, even though they couldn’t do a very quick A/B difference with the unit. It took maybe 30 seconds for the thing to ramp up when you turn it on, to have the effect. The guy who designed and built that $3500 (!!!) unit, from Synergistic Research, tried to tell what the Schumann wave did and got all sorts of blowback from people who said, no no no, that’s not what happens. What he should have said is, “just listen and see if you hear a difference.“.   As an inventor I can tell you this, it doesn’t matter why thing works, all that matters is that it does work, how well it works, and how it can help you, and if it is worth the money they are asking for it.  I can tell you for a fact that their Schumann resonator, and the one I just got (see below), in fact do work and it does have an effect. As to why it works, I don’t think anybody really knows, nor does that really matter.

 After chunking maybe $50,000 into Audio gear over my lifetime that other people have recommended and I’ve read good reviews on, but really didn’t do anything for me at home, I decided not to invest too much at first to check this out.

 I ordered a small, cheap and surely not as good Schumann resonator from Amazon.com for a little over $70, And prime at that; Amazon prime because if I didn’t like and I could return it – this one is not going back.  And that surprised the hell out of me; I was skeptical, I saw this kind of thing as Audio voodoo, but it sure seems to work.

 Power supply: this unit did not come with a power supply so I already planned to use something I already had. A big part of what people report on what gives better results in a Schumann resonator is a better power supply, and I have pretty much the perfect power supply, a 12V DC BatCap. Google “BatCap” and you will see what I mean. It is like a car battery that discharges as fast as a capacitor and holds plenty of juice.  They are actually designed to assist car batteries in car audio competitions – this means they will deliver all the juice you need instantly on these systems that create 135 dB at a car audio competition. A regular Battery typically discharges relatively slowly; a BatCap discharges fast as lightning faster and will keep up with any transient you may have.  My smaller BatCap is essentially an 800 farad (yes, farad) capacitor. I currently am using a made in England tripath amplifier (A little bantam amplifier from Temple Audio in England) powered by the larger BatCap, and this Schumann resonator is powered by the smaller BatCap.  Charging after a few days use maybe takes half an hour.

 Results of cheap little Schumann resonator plus BatCap: first my girlfriend and I listened to music without the Schumann resonator on. She has a less analytical but more direct sense of how the music sounds, Which is very useful in showing me a different way of listening and how my cable and Audio really are.  When I turned it on (and she is a really tough sell in hearing a difference in things), she noticed right away that there was more good stuff to the sound; she couldn’t describe it analytically but it just felt like there was more.  And I totally agreed, but I also heard that it sounded a bit louder, more details, deeper, and it reached me more directly.  Pretty much what the point of this Audio stuff is all about.

 But what we heard when I turned it off was even more telling. The soundstage suddenly became flatter, and the general effect of the music was less in all ways.  Turning the power on to it, listening for a bit, and then turning the power off again gave the same results over and over.  I positioned it behind us and above in the listening area at first, but when I moved it between the speakers the effect was more pronounced.  Next step is to get a small shelf behind the speakers and get the big shelf out of there.

 So what does this really mean? There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies. We think we know what is going on in Audio, but I don’t think we really do until we just start playing with stuff.   And there is a lot of stuff that I haven’t talked about that I do that is completely different than you can buy in the Audio world.

So what is the next step? What is really important here? Obviously the sound is most important. But with the Schumann resonator and all things in Audio, I think the power supply is the most important thing.  It did not come with its own power supply, thus the cheaper price, but I bet it would not sound  nearly as good with a wall wart.  So do I try a better Schumann resonator?  Do I want even more audio bliss and Nirvana in my brain? Hmmmmmm...

Gary



Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: HAL on April 08, 2018, 02:28:13 PM
Is this one close to the one you got on Amazon?

https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-low-Frequency-Generator-Resonator-Resonance/dp/B078GH4P6D/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1523222564&sr=8-2&keywords=Schumann+resonator
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 08, 2018, 03:03:24 PM
Is this one close to the one you got on Amazon?

https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-low-Frequency-Generator-Resonator-Resonance/dp/B078GH4P6D/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1523222564&sr=8-2&keywords=Schumann+resonator

 Yes that is exactly it, and sorry I was wrong about the price. Only $42.

 Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Brap on April 09, 2018, 09:56:04 AM
I was out in Sedona walking around and sitting on vortex's based on the local knowledge of better healing.  My knees still bother me................
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 09, 2018, 10:47:32 AM
I was out in Sedona walking around and sitting on vortex's based on the local knowledge of better healing.  My knees still bother me................

 Sedona is such a great place, and I live about four hours from there, near Las Vegas.
 I bet you could find a vortex knee wrap that would help. :).
But seriously, if the source of the problem is strictly physical, that I don’t think a vortex will help you.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Brap on April 09, 2018, 10:51:31 AM
Yeah -- great place --- bring you checkbook for sure.  Saw you have an OPPO.  So sorry to see them out of business.  Love my 105 and would recommend it to anyone.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 09, 2018, 11:06:47 AM
Yeah -- great place --- bring you checkbook for sure.  Saw you have an OPPO.  So sorry to see them out of business.  Love my 105 and would recommend it to anyone.

 The Oppo 105 is good if you want a better internal dac, but I use my 103  for Audio as a transport  and to play digital audio for my audio note dac. I’m thinking of upgrading the power supply to a linear power supply from a third-party vendor, but wondering if it would be worth the extra $360.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 09, 2018, 11:45:03 AM
Yeah -- great place --- bring you checkbook for sure.  Saw you have an OPPO.  So sorry to see them out of business.  Love my 105 and would recommend it to anyone.

 The Oppo 105 is good if you want a better internal dac, but I use my 103  for Audio as a transport  and to play digital audio for my audio note dac. I’m thinking of upgrading the power supply to a linear power supply from a third-party vendor, but wondering if it would be worth the extra $360.

 A bit of a correction on that. I believe the 105 is overall a better machine than the 103, but for my needs the 103 suffices. I may get a 203 before they run out of stock. I called Oppo personally and the guy told me he was very surprised to hear they were shutting down and they were selling stock off and should be out of stock in the summer.  Weird when you take the best equipment in that price range and just throw it out with the bathwater.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Brap on April 09, 2018, 11:48:09 AM
Yeah -- really too bad.  I read that due to Netflix and streaming music, DVD's and CD's are really down in sales hence their potential decision to exit the market.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - Schumann resonators
Post by: gander on April 10, 2018, 12:54:53 PM
 Anyway, back on what I was talking about before, you might check out the Schumann resonators  if you haven’t already. The one I got was very inexpensive and I’m sure that more expensive models would be much better. Right now I’m kind of watching my pennies so this one will do for now. But I definitely notice a difference and when I turne it off something is lost from the sound.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - solid core wire vs stranded
Post by: gander on April 10, 2018, 01:14:40 PM
 Another thing I have discovered is that solid core wire always makes a system sound better than stranded wire. Power cords, interconnects, speaker wire, and this includes internal wiring in each speaker. If you think about it, solid core wire is always used in the really important parts of the circuitry; transformers, coils, voice coils, tubes, etc.  Thinking about it some more, if stranded wire made a system sound better then I think you would see stranded wire used in transformers and coils and all that.

 Which makes me wonder, why not use solid core wire instead of stranded wire in other places? such as internally from the IEC connector to wherever the power wires go, or from where the signal comes from internally to the RCA connectors, etc.  if I had the money I would love to take two identical amplifiers, have one of them modified replacing all of the stranded wires inside with solid core copper, and then listen to the difference. I bet that would make a huge difference in the sound.  I believe that inside of stranded wire you can get a lot of micro arcing between the individual strands of uninsulated copper, similar to a Jacobs ladder in the old Frankenstein movie, but on a smaller scale and at a higher frequency, which I believe can add a lot of noise to the signal that we may not even be aware of.  With insulated solid core wire you can’t have that problem.  I think the reason that stranded wire is used is just laziness. It is easier to work with more flexible than solid core and perhaps even cheaper.

 Does anybody have a soldering iron, some solid core copper and couple of identical amplifiers lying around?

Thanks, Gary

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: HAL on April 10, 2018, 01:55:44 PM
Stranded wire is used when anything is subject to vibration.  Solid core wire tends to break with vibration. 

The cores of transformers are pretty solidly packed, so solid core can be used. 

You also have to check about use of it for AC power cables as it might be something insurance will not cover incase of an electrical fire.  It probably is not UL approved for those types of applications.

You will not find solid core wire or solder joints in an aircraft for connectors for those reasons. 
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on April 12, 2018, 07:31:33 AM
  Good find Gary. A hint, more IS better. Try two facing North and South then four. You will be amazed even more. Yes the power supply makes a big difference. We use Linear power supply from Mean Well12V, 5A supplied by Jameco.
   Using three RR-888 now and the results are just staggering. Big , open harmonics.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks - Schumann resonator
Post by: rollo on April 12, 2018, 07:37:08 AM
  No not worth $3500. Even Acoustic Revive is not inexpensive. However the improvement wrought is IMO worth every penny. Now if we can find a Shuman Resonater with same or similar coverage it is well worth the try. Besides the sonic benefits I feel much more relaxed in the listening room with device on. Using two oriented North and south. No going back for me ever.



charles

 Before anybody decides that they think they know what Schumann resonators, or the “Schumann wave“ is about, they should research “Schumann resonator“ and its effects on audio.  So take five minutes and please do that now before you read the rest of this. When I saw this demonstrated at an LA Audio club meeting a couple of months ago,  it definitely made a difference, and a big difference in what I heard, I think I liked the difference, even though they couldn’t do a very quick A/B difference with the unit. It took maybe 30 seconds for the thing to ramp up when you turn it on, to have the effect. The guy who designed and built that $3500 (!!!) unit, from Synergistic Research, tried to tell what the Schumann wave did and got all sorts of blowback from people who said, no no no, that’s not what happens. What he should have said is, “just listen and see if you hear a difference.“.   As an inventor I can tell you this, it doesn’t matter why thing works, all that matters is that it does work, how well it works, and how it can help you, and if it is worth the money they are asking for it.  I can tell you for a fact that their Schumann resonator, and the one I just got (see below), in fact do work and it does have an effect. As to why it works, I don’t think anybody really knows, nor does that really matter.

 After chunking maybe $50,000 into Audio gear over my lifetime that other people have recommended and I’ve read good reviews on, but really didn’t do anything for me at home, I decided not to invest too much at first to check this out.

 I ordered a small, cheap and surely not as good Schumann resonator from Amazon.com for a little over $70, And prime at that; Amazon prime because if I didn’t like and I could return it – this one is not going back.  And that surprised the hell out of me; I was skeptical, I saw this kind of thing as Audio voodoo, but it sure seems to work.

 Power supply: this unit did not come with a power supply so I already planned to use something I already had. A big part of what people report on what gives better results in a Schumann resonator is a better power supply, and I have pretty much the perfect power supply, a 12V DC BatCap. Google “BatCap” and you will see what I mean. It is like a car battery that discharges as fast as a capacitor and holds plenty of juice.  They are actually designed to assist car batteries in car audio competitions – this means they will deliver all the juice you need instantly on these systems that create 135 dB at a car audio competition. A regular Battery typically discharges relatively slowly; a BatCap discharges fast as lightning faster and will keep up with any transient you may have.  My smaller BatCap is essentially an 800 farad (yes, farad) capacitor. I currently am using a made in England tripath amplifier (A little bantam amplifier from Temple Audio in England) powered by the larger BatCap, and this Schumann resonator is powered by the smaller BatCap.  Charging after a few days use maybe takes half an hour.

 Results of cheap little Schumann resonator plus BatCap: first my girlfriend and I listened to music without the Schumann resonator on. She has a less analytical but more direct sense of how the music sounds, Which is very useful in showing me a different way of listening and how my cable and Audio really are.  When I turned it on (and she is a really tough sell in hearing a difference in things), she noticed right away that there was more good stuff to the sound; she couldn’t describe it analytically but it just felt like there was more.  And I totally agreed, but I also heard that it sounded a bit louder, more details, deeper, and it reached me more directly.  Pretty much what the point of this Audio stuff is all about.

 But what we heard when I turned it off was even more telling. The soundstage suddenly became flatter, and the general effect of the music was less in all ways.  Turning the power on to it, listening for a bit, and then turning the power off again gave the same results over and over.  I positioned it behind us and above in the listening area at first, but when I moved it between the speakers the effect was more pronounced.  Next step is to get a small shelf behind the speakers and get the big shelf out of there.

 So what does this really mean? There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies. We think we know what is going on in Audio, but I don’t think we really do until we just start playing with stuff.   And there is a lot of stuff that I haven’t talked about that I do that is completely different than you can buy in the Audio world.

So what is the next step? What is really important here? Obviously the sound is most important. But with the Schumann resonator and all things in Audio, I think the power supply is the most important thing.  It did not come with its own power supply, thus the cheaper price, but I bet it would not sound  nearly as good with a wall wart.  So do I try a better Schumann resonator?  Do I want even more audio bliss and Nirvana in my brain? Hmmmmmm...

Gary

   Yes ALL about the power supply which I have been preaching for years. Gary try a RR-888 and compare to yours for $42. Everyone would be curious to know. The distributor Lotus Group is in Calif. He may send you a demo if you like.
   I was told that all are not equal as to output of field. Maybe so maybe BS. We need to find out. They work !!!

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on April 12, 2018, 07:42:51 AM
  Need to learn more about those Batcaps. What charger do you use ? I think this would be great for the Gary Dodd gear.


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on April 12, 2018, 07:48:34 AM
Yeah -- really too bad.  I read that due to Netflix and streaming music, DVD's and CD's are really down in sales hence their potential decision to exit the market.

  Bang for the buck for sure however lots better out there. As an all in one player NONE better. Meaning movies and CD, SACD, transport.
  Oppo internal DAC VG however better out there.  Everything depends on budget, unfortunately.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on April 12, 2018, 08:42:28 AM
Improving the sound through these resonators is quite the interesting idea. I wonder if the longer sound waves at the very low frequencies act as a carrier of sorts to aid in the travel or distribution of the other sound waves.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: HAL on April 12, 2018, 09:13:02 AM
Ok, got the cheap version of the resonator, but no power supply and no info other than 12VDC @0.5 amp.  The coaxial plug for DC power polarity is not marked. 

From some looking at similar units it takes a 5.5mmx2.1mm (hard to tell or measure) coaxial DC plug with the center +12VDC.  Found a wall wart with a 12VDC@1.7A output from an old backup drive I already have.  Coaxial connector fits and powers up with a green LED.

Probably need 2 as the info states one unit covers about 160sq-ft.  Will see if one does anything.



Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 12, 2018, 06:09:48 PM
Yeah -- really too bad.  I read that due to Netflix and streaming music, DVD's and CD's are really down in sales hence their potential decision to exit the market.

  Bang for the buck for sure however lots better out there. As an all in one player NONE better. Meaning movies and CD, SACD, transport.
  Oppo internal DAC VG however better out there.  Everything depends on budget, unfortunately.

charles

 Hi Charles, I use an Oppo 103 for playing discs with digital out to my dac, playing digital files from a solid-state drive plugged into a USB port, and watching things like Netflix online.  Plus I run my DirecTV cable box through HDMI into the Oppo.  I don’t care much about the analog output because my dac is better. But I would like the video output to be better which could be the Oppo 203 I believe. Any other suggestions if the analog output is not important?

Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 12, 2018, 07:34:24 PM
Improving the sound through these resonators is quite the interesting idea. I wonder if the longer sound waves at the very low frequencies act as a carrier of sorts to aid in the travel or distribution of the other sound waves.

Nobody really knows why it works, literally. But you will still see all sorts of conflicting theories that people make sound like facts. The thing that is true is that at least some people do notice a positive difference in the sound. And what’s nice about Amazon prime is that if you don’t notice a difference then you can just return the thing.

However I would highly suggest getting at least a cheap 12 V battery to start for the power source because a crappy wall wart may mess things up so that you might actually get a negative effect. Pure power is the way to go, if you can do it.   And since it is a steady current pull you won’t need a BatCap.

 I also installed a switch on the power line so it is more easily turned on and off.

Thanks, Gary

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on April 16, 2018, 07:44:33 AM
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on April 16, 2018, 11:50:12 AM
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: dBe on April 17, 2018, 09:43:56 PM
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Battery noise is common.  Sulfation and other types of chemical noise are not subtle with a high resolution, high sensitivity system. That is why I came up with the BatteryBUSS years ago.  The noise is easily suppressed, but it is a problem unless it is addressed.  I like batteries, but they are not a panacea.  The output impedance of a battery is relatively high and it needs to be reduced in order to get the impulse/transient response we all crave.  Steep rise times are essential.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks; SPDIF iPurifier
Post by: gander on May 05, 2018, 01:44:01 PM
Hi all,

I just tried something pretty remarkable. The iFi-Audio SPDIF iPurifier. What it does is take the spdif "digital" signal (which I didn't know is actually an analog signal that tries to mimic a digital signal), by first taking out noise from the analog, and then reclocking the signal with a femto clock. See the company's description.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-spdif-ipurifier/

The reason this caught my eye is my Oppo 103 basic universal player. My Oppo is basically my digital streamer and more, and I have been thinking about upgrading but don't want to spend $1300 on the latest Oppo player, which they say reclocks the digital signal.

The reviews initially sounded too good to be true. Then I dug deeper and found reviews and reports that revealed mostly Pros and a few Cons. Depending on the system, it could make a big difference, or not, I'm assuming because of the quality of the digital signal.

digital source -> digital cable -> iPurifier (fed by the iPower wall wart, provided) directly into -> dac.

I found this $150 Amazon Prime, so I decided to try it and if it isn't worth it, return it.

https://www.amazon.com/iPurifier-Digital-Optical-Signal-Optimizer/dp/B01KKFTM5S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525551156&sr=8-1&keywords=ifi+spdif+ipurifier

I just got it today, hooked it up and immediately noticed a positive difference. I first listen for the feel I get from the music; I'm happily confused because I'm hearing new things, and in a good way. Then I listen for background music and non-musical sounds such as backup singers and especially hard-to-hear percussion. Then I listen for the main things, such as lead female singers and lead instrumentals. Without going into tons of audio stuff, I hear things are just more clear, detailed and musical. I'm finding my ears and mind moving out of analysis and more into just enjoying music. Even my girlfriend, who is a hard sell and usually says "I need to hear it more", said right away she liked the sound better; more natural and easy. I'm the mostly analytical one and she listens subjectively, so both sides are pleased.

What a great solution to upgrading the digital output from my Oppo.

And from what I read from more critical audiophiles it can take up to 3 weeks to really burn in. So this is only an initial, after a couple of hours impression review.

And anyone who streams digital in any way might want to look into this.

Happy listening!

Gary





Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on May 05, 2018, 03:25:18 PM
Glad you posted your results. I knew this sounded familiar, so a quick search found this link

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=6752.msg85367#msg85367

It’s intriguing that I might be able to get better sound with it and it’s not expensive. But do I really want another “gizmo” right now, especially in light of my wife and I decluttering the garage today with great results!!
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on May 05, 2018, 05:19:45 PM
Glad you posted your results. I knew this sounded familiar, so a quick search found this link

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=6752.msg85367#msg85367

It’s intriguing that I might be able to get better sound with it and it’s not expensive. But do I really want another “gizmo” right now, especially in light of my wife and I decluttering the garage today with great results!!

Its worth it.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on May 08, 2018, 12:26:53 PM
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Battery noise is common.  Sulfation and other types of chemical noise are not subtle with a high resolution, high sensitivity system. That is why I came up with the BatteryBUSS years ago.  The noise is easily suppressed, but it is a problem unless it is addressed.  I like batteries, but they are not a panacea.  The output impedance of a battery is relatively high and it needs to be reduced in order to get the impulse/transient response we all crave.  Steep rise times are essential.

 I’m glad you pointed this out, that batteries can have noise. But $500 for the batteryBUSS is a bit much for me now. I was wondering what to do about that.

After finding the iFi audio Spdif iPurifier and having such good luck with it, I also found that they have a DC iPurifier which they say can cancel out noise on a DC source over a tremendous frequency range and give you very pure DC.  It is rated for 84 W, so at 12 V that is about 7 A. What I have hooked up to it is drawing about 2 1/2 A.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-dcipurifier/

Very high self praise by the company but after doing some research, and since it is also offered Amazon prime at about $100 and can purify between 5 V and 24 V DC I thought I would just give it a try.

I was amazed that this little thing would make such a positive difference, especially after the good results I had putting in their spdif iPurifier.

I am powering my Tortuga LDR passive preamp, a little Temple Audio Bantam tripath amplifier and a small Schumann resonator that I recently got off of the Internet. The sound suddenly bloomed in a very good way, everything is  better balanced and it’s really hard for me to find anything wrong with the sound. A more involving sound to be sure.

My DC source is a 12 V DC BatCap battery, and I also have a 12 V DC linear power supply which I may try after a while.

Bottom line, based on my results I am thinking that if you power anything in your system between 5 V and 24 V DC you might want to try this little honey.

Dave I’m certain the batteryBUSS is better than this little unit, but all the battery hiss from my Tortuga preamp is completely gone now, in addition to all the other good aspects of the sound, and for now that is good enough for me.

Thanks, Gary

And Charles, about the linear power supply, you might try this little DC iPurifier with that and see what happens.




Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaksi
Post by: gander on May 09, 2018, 07:59:25 AM
   Gary we are using standalone linear 5A power supplies in lieu of wall wart. A big improvement. Do you think a battery is better and why ?
   Now have three in room. Two RR-888 and one RR-777. Adding the 777 was mind bending. Three for me . Besides the sonic benefits both my Wife and I are sleeping better after being in the treated room for hours.
  Installed RR-777 in bedroom after realizing the affect from listening room. Just so relaxed. Buy the cheap ones and get several. Just get some.


charles

 I have a bit of mixed feelings about that. In general a battery should be better since there is absolutely no conversion in the battery from AC and no chance to get any noise in there. However, I have a Tortuga LDR light dependent resistor preamp which I love, and it runs off of 12 V DC. I hooked it up to my battery/batcap and I thought it would be amazing but it actually had some noise, a bit of hiss. Which really blew my mind, where in the heck is that noise coming from?  When I hooked it up to my laboratory quality five amp 12 VDC power supply all of a sudden it was silent. Weird… You might just go buy a cheap 12 V battery (or to 6 V batteries and put them in series) and try it out for yourself to see. It may be that that power supply is better. 

 I have found the best thing usually is to try one way and try another way and just compare them. Forget about what you think it should be or what somebody else told you it should be.  Unless they are telling you not to jump off of the top floor of a skyscraper. You might listen to that one.

“It can’t get weird enough for me” – Dr. Hunter S Thompson

Gary
Battery noise is common.  Sulfation and other types of chemical noise are not subtle with a high resolution, high sensitivity system. That is why I came up with the BatteryBUSS years ago.  The noise is easily suppressed, but it is a problem unless it is addressed.  I like batteries, but they are not a panacea.  The output impedance of a battery is relatively high and it needs to be reduced in order to get the impulse/transient response we all crave.  Steep rise times are essential.

 I’m glad you pointed this out, that batteries can have noise. But $500 for the batteryBUSS is a bit much for me now. I was wondering what to do about that.

After finding the iFi audio Spdif iPurifier and having such good luck with it, I also found that they have a DC iPurifier which they say can cancel out noise on a DC source over a tremendous frequency range and give you very pure DC.  It is rated for 84 W, so at 12 V that is about 7 A. What I have hooked up to it is drawing about 2 1/2 A.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-dcipurifier/

Very high self praise by the company but after doing some research, and since it is also offered Amazon prime at about $100 and can purify between 5 V and 24 V DC I thought I would just give it a try.

I was amazed that this little thing would make such a positive difference, especially after the good results I had putting in their spdif iPurifier.

I am powering my Tortuga LDR passive preamp, a little Temple Audio Bantam tripath amplifier and a small Schumann resonator that I recently got off of the Internet. The sound suddenly bloomed in a very good way, everything is  better balanced and it’s really hard for me to find anything wrong with the sound. A more involving sound to be sure.

My DC source is a 12 V DC BatCap battery, and I also have a 12 V DC linear power supply which I may try after a while.

Bottom line, based on my results I am thinking that if you power anything in your system between 5 V and 24 V DC you might want to try this little honey.

Dave I’m certain the batteryBUSS is better than this little unit, but all the battery hiss from my Tortuga preamp is completely gone now, in addition to all the other good aspects of the sound, and for now that is good enough for me.

Thanks, Gary

And Charles, about the linear power supply, you might try this little DC iPurifier with that and see what happens.

 Hi Charles,

Update on using a linear power supply versus a battery. Based on my experience just last night I would highly suggest looking into getting a BatCap Battery and a good charger, and using that.  From what I have learned from the company owner himself and other research, a BatCap is much quicker discharging than a regular battery and so can help render transients better.  We listened for a while with all the DC from a BatCap, through the new DC iPurifier and then into my Tortuga LDR preamp, my temple audio Bantam amplifier, and the Schuhmann resonator.  Then I switched over to the linear power supply and the sound went kind of flat.  It was OK, but it seems the linear power supply did not  respond to the musical needs of the sound as well as the BatCap does.  Then I switched back to the BatCap and immediately there was much more good stuff there.

http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/
http://www.xstaticbatcap.com/products.html

 I have both the BatCap model 800 and the model 2000.  By the way, I have had these for a few years and before I pulled the trigger on them I called the company and chatted with the head man himself at length. Very easy to talk to and it was very informative. Quite a breath of fresh air from other companies.

Bottom line, for me, while batteries are probably not the perfect solution (of course nothing really is), BatCap batteries are steps ahead of my linear power supply, With the DC iPurifier.

 So there you have it Charles. My qualified answered, with “qualified” meaning I have actually done it myself. And of course that is my own experience.

Happy listening!


Gary

 By the way, the only reason I am using a solid-state amplifier at this point in time is that this is near Las Vegas and it is very hot here, over 100° in some places yesterday. So the heat from a big tube amp not only is uncomfortable, but the heat will turn on the air-conditioning which makes listening useless.  Or I can turn the AC off and roast while I listen.  Thus, the efficient solid-state amp is my summer amp.




Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaksi
Post by: tmazz on May 09, 2018, 10:23:28 AM
By the way, the only reason I am using a solid-state amplifier at this point in time is that this is near Las Vegas and it is very hot here, over 100° in some places yesterday. So the heat from a big tube amp not only is uncomfortable, but the heat will turn on the air-conditioning which makes listening useless.  Or I can turn the AC off and roast while I listen.  Thus, the efficient solid-state amp is my summer amp.

Been there, done that. The ARC VT-200, with its 16 power and 10 small signal tubes was quite a space heater.  :roll:

Sounds great, but it fills the room with BTUs as fast as it does SPLsNot good in the summer time (which lucky for me is much shorter on Long Island than it is in Las Vegas.) :duh
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaksi
Post by: gander on May 09, 2018, 12:07:18 PM
By the way, the only reason I am using a solid-state amplifier at this point in time is that this is near Las Vegas and it is very hot here, over 100° in some places yesterday. So the heat from a big tube amp not only is uncomfortable, but the heat will turn on the air-conditioning which makes listening useless.  Or I can turn the AC off and roast while I listen.  Thus, the efficient solid-state amp is my summer amp.

Been there, done that. The ARC VT-200, with its 16 power and 10 small signal tubes was quite a space heater.  :roll:

Sounds great, but it fills the room with BTUs as fast as it does SPLsNot good in the summer time (which lucky for me is much shorter on Long Island than it is in Las Vegas.) :duh

 I used to live on Long Island, in Bayshore, on Maple Street I believe which went down to the fire Island ferry. I lived in a little cottage on a canal. Nice place until a hurricane comes over your head. Or until it’s really hot in the summer.  Where do you live?

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on May 09, 2018, 05:35:10 PM
Just a quick question for some of you tube guys:
Do tube amps in standby mode  put out half the heat or is it even higher? I basically listen at night only and I usually don’t turn off the AC, so Im wondering if generated heat would be an issue fir me at all. (yes, I do turn off the fridge now)
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: P.I. on May 09, 2018, 06:26:25 PM
Just a quick question for some of you tube guys:
Do tube amps in standby mode  put out half the heat or is it even higher? I basically listen at night only and I usually don’t turn off the AC, so Im wondering if generated heat would be an issue fir me at all. (yes, I do turn off the fridge now)
Nick, generally standby keeps the tube heaters warm and in rare incidences provides a greatly reduced B+ voltage.  Heat production is much less than 50%.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on May 09, 2018, 09:05:30 PM
Just a quick question for some of you tube guys:
Do tube amps in standby mode  put out half the heat or is it even higher? I basically listen at night only and I usually don’t turn off the AC, so Im wondering if generated heat would be an issue fir me at all. (yes, I do turn off the fridge now)
Nick, generally standby keeps the tube heaters warm and in rare incidences provides a greatly reduced B+ voltage.  Heat production is much less than 50%.

Thanks, Dave. Good to know as I’m testing the waters for an amp or integrated.
Nick
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on August 29, 2018, 07:11:06 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: Nick B on August 29, 2018, 07:14:20 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on August 29, 2018, 07:37:52 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬

 Yes, Gary is in his bat cave creating new secret wires.  Nick was in my secret wire lab recently for a good listen. And then we went to a new audio store opening up and that was a great experience also.  I recently got inspired to use bare wire with graphene to mostly reduce and/or eliminate micro-arcing, with air dielectric and I’m getting extremely low capacitance and my best results ever.

 And Nick, since you were here I have tried a new version of interconnects and I think the sound is even better.  And that result is only with one digital interconnect, and I haven’t put the new design into the analog interconnects yet.  I am receiving parts today and that probably could happen today or tomorrow. I will keep you all posted.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on August 29, 2018, 07:58:13 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬

 Yes, Gary is in his bat cave creating new secret wires.  Nick was in my secret wire lab recently for a good listen. And then we went to a new audio store opening up and that was a great experience also.  I recently got inspired to use bare wire with graphene to mostly reduce and/or eliminate micro-arcing, with air dielectric and I’m getting extremely low capacitance and my best results ever.

 And Nick, since you were here I have tried a new version of interconnects and I think the sound is even better.  And that result is only with one digital interconnect, and I haven’t put the new design into the analog interconnects yet.  I am receiving parts today and that probably could happen today or tomorrow. I will keep you all posted.

BTW, this is all Charles' fault. He got me looking into very low capacitance wires and my brain got to work. The ICs I'm making now have about 26 pF (picofarads) total capacitance (not just 26 pF per foot), and my power cords have about 60 pF capacitance in a 6-foot length (50 pF per 4-foot length) - lower is better.  Combining that with graphene conductive liquid this is pretty cool.

Gary

And BTW, Nick brought his 1200AS amp and his UberBUSS and they definitely added some nice qualities to the sound, but with the new wire design I'm working on now I would have to hear them in my system again. hee hee

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: P.I. on August 29, 2018, 11:52:43 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬

 Yes, Gary is in his bat cave creating new secret wires.  Nick was in my secret wire lab recently for a good listen. And then we went to a new audio store opening up and that was a great experience also.  I recently got inspired to use bare wire with graphene to mostly reduce and/or eliminate micro-arcing, with air dielectric and I’m getting extremely low capacitance and my best results ever.

 And Nick, since you were here I have tried a new version of interconnects and I think the sound is even better.  And that result is only with one digital interconnect, and I haven’t put the new design into the analog interconnects yet.  I am receiving parts today and that probably could happen today or tomorrow. I will keep you all posted.

Gary
Yep, graphene is revelatory when it comes to cabling, especially low level cables.  My trials with speaker cabling are coming along, but it is line level that really shows the schnitz!

Fun, ain't it?   :thumb:
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on August 29, 2018, 01:13:06 PM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬

 Yes, Gary is in his bat cave creating new secret wires.  Nick was in my secret wire lab recently for a good listen. And then we went to a new audio store opening up and that was a great experience also.  I recently got inspired to use bare wire with graphene to mostly reduce and/or eliminate micro-arcing, with air dielectric and I’m getting extremely low capacitance and my best results ever.

 And Nick, since you were here I have tried a new version of interconnects and I think the sound is even better.  And that result is only with one digital interconnect, and I haven’t put the new design into the analog interconnects yet.  I am receiving parts today and that probably could happen today or tomorrow. I will keep you all posted.

Gary
Yep, graphene is revelatory when it comes to cabling, especially low level cables.  My trials with speaker cabling are coming along, but it is line level that really shows the schnitz!

Fun, ain't it?   :thumb:

My first endeavor into whole-length graphene-treated wire is in my new power cords, which are really stellar.  I use 10-gauge and 8-gauge wire for that.  And I just made a digital IC with the same wire architecture and the sound suddenly opened up and evened-out very nicely, with lots of audiophile goodness; richer sound, nice midrange, more upper range, detail with a little less edge, etc. People don't realize that a "digital" coax cable actually carries an analog signal, so it is not just "bits", and so it isn't unexpected to get better sound with a better digital cable. I am graphene-treating speaker wires and will be building them and making analog ICs next.  Previously, unfortunately because of the price, I had been using pure silver wire most recently, which sounds great but is expensive and leaves a tiny bit of an edge on the sound - these are copper.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on August 30, 2018, 08:12:53 AM
Gary good to see you posting again. Try a 37.5 OHM digital instead of 75 Ohm you will be surprised. Liking Graphene as well. I'm glad I brought it up.
Question. Do you buy graphene coated wire or coat your own ?

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on August 30, 2018, 08:39:57 AM
Gary good to see you posting again. Try a 37.5 OHM digital instead of 75 Ohm you will be surprised. Liking Graphene as well. I'm glad I brought it up.
Question. Do you buy graphene coated wire or coat your own ?

charles

Hi Charles,
I buy my graphene and then coat the wires. My current bottle is 500 ml graphene in aqueous dispersion. I just put in new copper with graphene speaker wires and we will see how that goes. In the past two days I put in a digital IC copper with graphene, and a set of analog ICs copper with graphene. So everything is green now.  I have a cable cooker but I'll let these burn in naturally.
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: rollo on August 30, 2018, 08:55:40 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬

 Yes, Gary is in his bat cave creating new secret wires.  Nick was in my secret wire lab recently for a good listen. And then we went to a new audio store opening up and that was a great experience also.  I recently got inspired to use bare wire with graphene to mostly reduce and/or eliminate micro-arcing, with air dielectric and I’m getting extremely low capacitance and my best results ever.

 And Nick, since you were here I have tried a new version of interconnects and I think the sound is even better.  And that result is only with one digital interconnect, and I haven’t put the new design into the analog interconnects yet.  I am receiving parts today and that probably could happen today or tomorrow. I will keep you all posted.

Gary
Yep, graphene is revelatory when it comes to cabling, especially low level cables.  My trials with speaker cabling are coming along, but it is line level that really shows the schnitz!

Fun, ain't it?   :thumb:

My first endeavor into whole-length graphene-treated wire is in my new power cords, which are really stellar.  I use 10-gauge and 8-gauge wire for that.  And I just made a digital IC with the same wire architecture and the sound suddenly opened up and evened-out very nicely, with lots of audiophile goodness; richer sound, nice midrange, more upper range, detail with a little less edge, etc. People don't realize that a "digital" coax cable actually carries an analog signal, so it is not just "bits", and so it isn't unexpected to get better sound with a better digital cable. I am graphene-treating speaker wires and will be building them and making analog ICs next.  Previously, unfortunately because of the price, I had been using pure silver wire most recently, which sounds great but is expensive and leaves a tiny bit of an edge on the sound - these are copper.

Gary



   Gary my bet is 10ga on positive and Neg. and 8ga on ground. My experience is that a smaller Ga. ground makes for a warmer PC. If not must be graphene coating.

charles
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on August 30, 2018, 09:40:13 AM
   Gary ??? Where art thou Gary ??

charles

Gary is probably too busy making more cables in his secret lab 👨‍🔬

 Yes, Gary is in his bat cave creating new secret wires.  Nick was in my secret wire lab recently for a good listen. And then we went to a new audio store opening up and that was a great experience also.  I recently got inspired to use bare wire with graphene to mostly reduce and/or eliminate micro-arcing, with air dielectric and I’m getting extremely low capacitance and my best results ever.

 And Nick, since you were here I have tried a new version of interconnects and I think the sound is even better.  And that result is only with one digital interconnect, and I haven’t put the new design into the analog interconnects yet.  I am receiving parts today and that probably could happen today or tomorrow. I will keep you all posted.

Gary
Yep, graphene is revelatory when it comes to cabling, especially low level cables.  My trials with speaker cabling are coming along, but it is line level that really shows the schnitz!

Fun, ain't it?   :thumb:

My first endeavor into whole-length graphene-treated wire is in my new power cords, which are really stellar.  I use 10-gauge and 8-gauge wire for that.  And I just made a digital IC with the same wire architecture and the sound suddenly opened up and evened-out very nicely, with lots of audiophile goodness; richer sound, nice midrange, more upper range, detail with a little less edge, etc. People don't realize that a "digital" coax cable actually carries an analog signal, so it is not just "bits", and so it isn't unexpected to get better sound with a better digital cable. I am graphene-treating speaker wires and will be building them and making analog ICs next.  Previously, unfortunately because of the price, I had been using pure silver wire most recently, which sounds great but is expensive and leaves a tiny bit of an edge on the sound - these are copper.

Gary



   Gary my bet is 10ga on positive and Neg. and 8ga on ground. My experience is that a smaller Ga. ground makes for a warmer PC. If not must be graphene coating.

charles

Let me restate that. I have power cords that are all 8 ga, and I have power cords that are all 10 ga. I don't use differing wire sizes in a power cord. All my current power cords are with graphene.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: P.I. on August 30, 2018, 10:27:57 AM


Let me restate that. I have power cords that are all 8 ga, and I have power cords that are all 10 ga. I don't use differing wire sizes in a power cord. All my current power cords are with graphene.

Gary
Cool.  8)
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: dflee on January 29, 2019, 08:00:27 AM
It's been a long time commin (CSNY).
Remembered to get dowels at a hardware store a while back for my speakers.
My speakers have a 10" firing forward and a 10" firing rear, both active. so I wasn't sure
if the dowel tweek was going to work.
Got 1 1/4" so I could use the spikes as stops. Spikes don't touch the floor with about 1/4" play from the dowel.
Haven't been able to listen to music yet but gotta tell you what's goin on.
My wife has the multi disc cd player full of an audio book and has listened to the book for
a while now (28 discs) and I put the dowels in between her listening session. The narrators voice
became way more clear and pronounced. I've got the telly hooked up through the stereo and it has
made a distinguishable difference. Cleaner and more clear. Can't wait to put some music on.
Dowels are probably poplar wood (store didn't know) and cost me six bucks for four foot. Now I'm
wondering what other woods would do.
Thanks Gary.

Don
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on January 30, 2019, 10:16:59 PM
It's been a long time commin (CSNY).
Remembered to get dowels at a hardware store a while back for my speakers.
My speakers have a 10" firing forward and a 10" firing rear, both active. so I wasn't sure
if the dowel tweek was going to work.
Got 1 1/4" so I could use the spikes as stops. Spikes don't touch the floor with about 1/4" play from the dowel.
Haven't been able to listen to music yet but gotta tell you what's goin on.
My wife has the multi disc cd player full of an audio book and has listened to the book for
a while now (28 discs) and I put the dowels in between her listening session. The narrators voice
became way more clear and pronounced. I've got the telly hooked up through the stereo and it has
made a distinguishable difference. Cleaner and more clear. Can't wait to put some music on.
Dowels are probably poplar wood (store didn't know) and cost me six bucks for four foot. Now I'm
wondering what other woods would do.
Thanks Gary.

Don

You’re very welcome. Let me know how music works for you.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: gander on January 30, 2019, 10:36:43 PM
 I thought I would throw this out there. I am the head of the Las Vegas Audiophile Society and we just had a meeting at my house this past Saturday. It was great, a great group of guys and it surprised the hell out of me what the star of the show was.

I had been using a small, cheap Schumann resonator powered by my BatCap batteries.  The  resonator made a difference but not a huge difference. I also use iFi Audio DC iPurifiers to clean up power from the batteries (Yes, batteries can make noise, from chemical reaction, etc.) on my LDR passive preamp and my Temple Audio Bantam Gold 12V Tripath amp.  For the meeting I used my tube amplifier so I wasn’t using my 12 V tripath amplifier, and so the DC purifier for that wasn’t being used.

I decided what the heck, and I put the DC purifier on the Schumann resonator. Wow! What a difference! Definitely noticeable when I turn it on and turn it off. Bass is fuller and more easy, a more “holographic” image, a better feel overall, all the good stuff.

At the meeting I talked about the resonator and I switched it on and off, and every person heard a definite improvement with it on. Amazing since a super good iFi purifier wall wart power supply and the resonator itself is less than $100. I ordered a pair and that made it even better.

Gary
Title: Re: Gary’s DIY and Tweaks
Post by: tmazz on January 31, 2019, 05:42:43 PM
Oh crap... something else that I have to try.

Just when I think I am settled in and happy with my system......   :roll:   :lol: