Guys: As things are going to be tight for a while longer in the old household, I'm looking for an alternative to new / better pc. From what i am understanding (which is very little) magnetic fields near the end of pcs helps. Does anybody make such a unit that can be attached
to a cord?

Don

Don,

I think you might be confusing magnets and ferrite beads, which are made out of a material that looks similar to magnets, but is not magnetic in nature.



When place around a current carrying conductor a ferrite bead will act as a high frequency choke and is often used to filter noise out of audio cables that are susceptible for one reason or another to picking up noise from radiated RF signals. But likewise they could also be used to clean up AC power cords that are used in areas there the incoming AC power contains of surperfluent noise that exhibits significant amounts of high frequency spectral energy. (In English, depending on the circumstances, they can sometimes be used to help clean up dirty AC.)

What do they run and where can you get them?

If you want to kill dynamics & musicality, go for the ferrite beads... Keep them away from ALL audio related gear!!!

My $0.02,
Pete

I agree. Ferrite could have its place on cables carrying a digital signal, like an HDMI cable to the TV, or a cable from the PC to the printer abd you often see them there. But it chokes the life out of music on a PC or interconnect. I wouldn't even use it on a digital cable to a DAC.

The place I see ferrites most often is video cables for PC monitors. In my previous response I should have made clearer that I was speaking in theoetical terms that a ferrite could be used to certain cercumstances to reduse noise over a cable, not as an endorsment that you should. And I do have to admit that I do not use them anywhere in my system.

It is always a very delicate balance trying to filter out noise without over filtering and pulling out transient information that is part of the signal. Pete is the man when it comes to power cords so when he says ixnay on the ferrites that carries a lot of weight in my book. But if you are really curious just google ferrit beads and you will find doozens of places on the net that well sell them to you for a couple of bucks a piece. They easily snap on and off so you can see for yourself. just make sure you get one big enough to fit around the cable you want to experiment with.

Ferrites are generally a no-no with audio, but if there is one thing I have learned in this hobby it is to never say never. And if you can pick up the parts without forking over a fist full of dollars sometime it is fun to experiment, even if ther is a 99% chance that it won't work.

(Kind of like why we play golf. The one percent of the time we make a really nice shot makes us forget about the 99% of the shots that we screw up.  )

  Does not Virtual Dynamics offer a magnetic based IC ???

charles

What HE said.

Quote from: Triode Pete on August 31, 2015, 04:48:18 PM
If you want to kill dynamics & musicality, go for the ferrite beads... Keep them away from ALL audio related gear!!!

My $0.02,
Pete

Thanks for the input everyone. I love the things that Pete's cables (What I have thus far) are doin to my system but it will be a while before I will be able to get  more. Was just tryin to think of ways to get a little more out of the system for small change.

Don

On restored Thorens TD 125 Mk 2 turntable I purchased it had a ferrite choke core on the power cord. I asked about it from the original owner and he said it was an old school trick. I was near a Radioshack one day and bought a couple of bags of choke cores and put them on my other turntable as well as the power cords of the Phono preamp and another DAC. The ferrite cores didn't add anything or take anything away in my system.

With the virtual dynamics power cords didn't they put magnetic or ferrite powder in their power cords? I remember a story some years ago where a cat carved up a guy's virtual dynamics power cord and the owner found it was made of $15 worth of parts. One of the main ingredients in the power cord was magnetic powder.

Quote from: dflee on September 01, 2015, 06:31:15 PM
Thanks for the input everyone. I love the things that Pete's cables (What I have thus far) are doin to my system but it will be a while before I will be able to get  more. Was just tryin to think of ways to get a little more out of the system for small change.

Don

  Don move your listening chair round to see if the sweetspot changes. Turn the lights low when listening. cable management goes a long way. . Clean all connections. Move speakers a bit.
   Try different footers. Herbies, tennis balls, rubber balls, etc. Home depot thingies. You know the ones that look kike they may work.
     Recently put wooden shades left over from former window dressing at floor running vertically and got great result.
    Try weird stuff and have fun.



charles

charles

Quote from: Hugh on September 01, 2015, 09:11:58 AM
What HE said.

Quote from: Triode Pete on August 31, 2015, 04:48:18 PM
If you want to kill dynamics & musicality, go for the ferrite beads... Keep them away from ALL audio related gear!!!

My $0.02,
Pete

+2

Dave

  Check out madscientist-audio.com for magnet products.

charles

Charles, you should get some samples of the Mad Scientist power cords that utilize their "fixes". We could do a tour.