Cardas Myrtle Wood Blocks

[Asr]

You're situating the blocks directly in contact with the chassis, right? They're not supposed to be supports for rubber or spiked feet to sit on but rather supports for the chassis itself, according to what I've read about them.

[vcoheda]

Originally Posted by Asr

You're situating the blocks directly in contact with the chassis, right? They're not supposed to be supports for rubber or spiked feet to sit on but rather supports for the chassis itself, according to what I've read about them.

no. i didn't know that. there are no instructions with the blocks. just a small piece of paper describing the wonderful properties of myrtle wood. but i did try the blocks under the chassis with the G08. i used every configuration i could think of and at different placements. some differences in audio are immediately apparent; others are only noticeable over time, but of no less importance. maybe they do have a positive affect when used under the G08 and it is of the latter kind. i don't know.

[nick20]

vcoheda, would you mind taking a few pictures of them in use?


And your using the blocks on the bare chassis, correct, and not using the blocks under the rubber/metal feet?




Thanks,


-Nick

[vcoheda]

Originally Posted by nick20

vcohea, would you mind taking a few pictures of them in use?And your using the blocks on the bare chassis, correct, and not using the blocks under the rubber/metal feet?

sorry. no camera (lame, i know). and yes. i am using 4 blocks under the chassis of the apache power supply and tried them under the chassis of the G08 and amp with no noticeable effect. as mentioned, maybe a longer A/B period would have revealed some changes.

[gritzcolin]

Or how about but cheap gear and not have to worry about "vibration" this is another one of these snake oil thing I still just don't buy into. All this high end gear needs special mounting or it sounds like crap? If thats the case count me out and i will stick with cheap gear that sounds good even when im jumping around. Only thing i can kinda buy are cd players and record players but solid state amps come one what moving parts are you protecting?

[vcoheda]

^ thanks for the insightful comments.

[ingwe]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

what is the cardas logo a picture of anyway and what is the rationale behind it, if anyone knows.

Rent the movie Pi. All will be explained.

[jinp6301]

golden ratio!!!

[swt61]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

what is the cardas logo a picture of anyway and what is the rationale behind it, if anyone knows.

Yes it's a cut away view of a Nautilus shell. The Nautilus shell symbolizes life, internal harmony, and the perfection of nature, so that may be what Cardas is trying to invoke with their logo.

The Myrtle blocks may or may not work well, but it seems like a lofty price for something that could so easily be made at home. Myrtle wood is not that expensive. Of coarse if you have no access to tools it's not ridiculous like some other anti resonance devices.
I've used the Vibrapods and Vibracones, and they work quite well. I've recently purchased some of the rubber/cork/rubber sandwiched blocks, and am having great results with them. I paid $10.00 for a set of four.

[vcoheda]

found this from stereophile. mirrors my findings to a tee.

In my "Follow-Up" on Ayre Acoustics' AX-7e integrated amplifier in the January 2006 issue, I mentioned my fondness for Ayre's Myrtle Block isolation devices. The Myrtle Blocks happen to be designed and made by Cardas Audio, also in accordance with the aforementioned golden-section ratio (each block measures 0.618" by 1" by 1.61"). Unlike other things that come and go in less than a season's time, I'm still using the Ayre Myrtle Blocks; they remain my favorite and most heartily recommended cheap tweak.

There isn't much of a trick to using these tiny isolation blocks, the only hurdle being the way certain audio products are shaped: Ayre Myrtle Blocks are meant to be used in groups of three, and they want to go underneath the actual structure of a given component, not its feet—yet the columnar legs of products such as the Yamamoto A-08 amplifier are too tall to allow that. Other products are just too oddly configured—a Linn LP12 with its bottom cover discarded (the way I like to run them), for example, or those large, open-design turntables whose pointed feet are themselves too tall.

Beyond that, it's a free-for-all. I've got Myrtle Blocks under things as small and light as a Naim 110 preamplifier and as massive as my Lamm ML2.1 monoblocks (which weigh 70 lbs each), and they do nice things for my music—subtle but unambiguously nice things—in both instances. The biggest surprise was the distinct improvement I heard when I tried Myrtle Blocks under my Naim Armageddon turntable's power supply, which is, after all, a transformer in a metal box. They're still there.

Yet they give strangely little aid under certain other things. Though they've made an audible difference for the better most of the times I've tried them, I've heard the Myrtle Blocks make no difference at all under some preamps and CD players. The only time I've heard the Myrtles make a product sound worse was when I ignored everyone's advice and tried them under loudspeakers. In one instance, when I used them between an enclosure and a stand instead of Blu-Tak, they made no difference in the sound per se, but robbed the music of so much of its emotional wallop that it was downright creepy. But I had been warned.

Then again, the Ayre Myrtle Blocks work most of the time. For $5 apiece—$15 to do a single component—they're cheap enough that minor disappointments don't become major, and playing around can be safely encouraged. The Myrtles also require nothing in the way of rites, rituals, or other abject foolishness.

[nick20]

Originally Posted by swt61

I've used the Vibrapods and Vibracones, and they work quite well. I've recently purchased some of the rubber/cork/rubber sandwiched blocks, and am having great results with them. I paid $10.00 for a set of four.

How much did you pay for the pod/cone combo?

The myrtle wood blocks are about $7 a block, which isn't very expensive, of course you have to buy 6, which allows you to use 3 per component, but nonetheless, $7 a piece is very in-expensive IMO.

I have also seen the cork/rubber blocks you mentioned too.. I think I'll pick up these instead:

http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/inc/sdetail/2650

and maybe the Cardas blocks, and see what difference I can tell, if any.

[fkclo]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

what is the cardas logo a picture of anyway and what is the rationale behind it, if anyone knows.

Yes, that is a shell, but the purpose behind is to illustrate the magic of the "Golden Ratio", or specifically, the "Golden Spiral". No, it is not art only, the Golden Ratio has a strong mathematical base and it has fascinated many because when you look at many things around us, the Golden Ratio is at play.

Some interesting links :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

http://www.cuip.net/~dlnarain/golden/activities.htm

And Cardas use the Golden Ratio in their cable design, as they so claimed.

F. Lo

[fkclo]

Just to add the following on how Cardas connect their cable design (patented) with the Golden Section.

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?ar...n+Stereo+Magic

I am pretty sure if you measure the aspect ration of the Gardas block, the figure may sound familiar :-)

F. Lo

[edstrelow]

As a partial response to some of the observations made above and the sceptical comment about no moving parts to cause vibrations, transformers vibrate quite a bit and that might be why dissipating transformer vibration helps. I would assume what you are getting is microphonics generated by the transformer vibration, essentially all the components are vibrated by the transformer. The effects may be subtle but will be more obvious with good equipment.

I also agree that even cheap equipment benefits from vibration control, in fact it may be one of the cheapest ways to improve sound quality. I put small sorbethane pads ( cut from a larger sheet) under my portable cd player and then of course make sit the player and pads on a firm surface such as a hard table or even a jewel case. I find a major improvement in clarity, and soundstage.

You can get sheets of sorbethane from many locations even from Edmund Scientific for about $20.00.

I can sympathize a little bit with some sceptics who wonder about some tweaks and various upgrades. For many years I couldn't see the point of better grade IC's but at some point I did enough listening and realized that some of these things do work. Things like sorbethane are pretty inexpensive and even if you decide they don't work it's all part of the hobby.

[gritzcolin]

Myrtle wood Bam just saved you tons of money now you can even have extra for the microwave.