[cdacosta]

To add to the post I just made. I am listening to the system now and as I typed the previous post. One thing that stands out to me is that the presentation got livelier. Hard to explain, it is the PRaT, speed is quicker so it seems more present. Now I have not tried this but I would bet this could be adjusted or tuned by just using an even smaller or larger crystal, or another smaller crystal at the opposite side of the cable. And also possible adding/mixing with tiny other types of crystals. Using a different crystal type does change the presentation and PRaT but I have not done enough experimenting to know best practice for tuning purposes yet. Before further experimenting I need to know how the system settles in with what I have done.

 

[Ghoostknight]

@Ghoostknight your post gave me an idea that worked like a champ.

I have tried different crystals on cables and get inconsistent results. Tried it on different interconnects and same thing, ehhh was my feeling.

BUT, a small (6mm -8mm) flat clear crystal on a ground cable, at the component end. Placed on top of the Rochelle salt wrap, between the Velcro and the Rochelle salt wrap is a winner. Like in the pic. The crystal is so small that it is hard to see since it is directly under the Velcro, so I added a red circle so you can see where the crystal is. There is more air, a tad more nuance to micro information in most frequency ranges, and a tad quicker timing in the presentation. I have installed this on 4 ground cables and each one adds a tad more to the effect. The effect is not multiplicative, meaning 4 installations do not equal 4x the effect of the first. Note I think there will be a settling in time, but is sounds good. For a few $ for a bag of natural small crystals I highly recommend this be tried.

I also tried the following:

* Placed directly on the ground cable. The effect is too much. If someone is trying this and is not using the Rochelle salt mini wraps they can try using an even smaller crystal.

* Placed at varies points at the ground box end of the same cable. Now this amplifies what the other end install did. I tried at the binding post/or where the ground cable exits the ground box, under the GC Enhancement wraps, directly on the cable where the GC Enhancement wrap is. On top of the GC Enhancement wrap under the velcro, with a small amount of Blu-Tack (as a spacer) on the cable. I was ehhh too much. Effect intensity varies between the above mentioned installs. But different crystal types may works well at the ground box end, still have to try this. Will report back on this.

well if we go by my theory crystals placed on AC cables should give you "some sort of" "60hz binaural beats kind of effect", atleast partially but there is alot more going on on AC cables so its probably hard to tell

imo there are also many binaural beats "hidden" in music... sometimes its just the right melody or bpm (think of isochronic tones here), maybe placing the crystals on interconnects actually increases intensity of emotions etc because of the music signal applied to the crystals

but cable wraps are actually a great thing to test, so thanks for reminding me what i found kinda strange with placing crystals on top of speakers that it doesnt seem to matter "substanially" if the crystals are placed inside a plastic bag or not, did you also noticed this regarding the cable wraps?

Also my rca cap tests kinda showed that i can close off the end with glue completely without any meaningful change ( tho, i have to admit, this stuff is so subjective that there is definitely some run by run variation involved, so very small changes are hard to detect consistently )

 

[cdacosta]

well if we go by my theory crystals placed on AC cables should give you "some sort of" "60hz binaural beats kind of effect", atleast partially but there is alot more going on on AC cables so its probably hard to tell

imo there are also many binaural beats "hidden" in music... sometimes its just the right melody or bpm (think of isochronic tones here), maybe placing the crystals on interconnects actually increases intensity of emotions etc because of the music signal applied to the crystals

but cable wraps are actually a great thing to test, so thanks for reminding me what i found kinda strange with placing crystals on top of speakers that it doesnt seem to matter "substanially" if the crystals are placed inside a plastic bag or not, did you also noticed this regarding the cable wraps?

Also my rca cap tests kinda showed that i can close off the end with glue completely without any meaningful change ( tho, i have to admit, this stuff is so subjective that there is definitely some run by run variation involved, so very small changes are hard to detect consistently )

The cable wraps I refer to are the Rochelle salt wrap (which is Rochelle salt in a small plastic bag rolled up) installed on the ground cable at the component end. And the Ground Cable Enhancement Wraps I came up with that spiral around the ground cable at the ground box end. Sounds different when the crystal is placed on top of the Rochelle salt wrap vs directly on the cable. Directly on top of the cable the effect is more intense. Sounds more balanced when placed on top of the Rochelle salt bag.

 

[Ghoostknight]

Sounds different when the crystal is placed on top of the Rochelle salt wrap vs directly on the cable. Directly on top of the cable the effect is more intense. Sounds more balanced when placed on top of the Rochelle salt bag

yo, could you test placing the crystals directly on the cables with a piece of paper inbetween cable and crystal vs no-paper ?

i found out that crystals stuck inside the uv glue ( which hardens quite well ) have a negative impact, this might is something specific to uv glue since it also seems to conduct small amounts of electricity (after googling here) but in theory also bad dielectrics like pvc can build up static charges etc that might impact the crystal in some way (or the crystal might even charge up the pvc)

 

[Ghoostknight]

i just measured the uv glue, its non conducting, i can still measure 3 megaohms over my skin where i measure no resistance at all with the uv glue.. so the thing i heared maybe has more todo with the crystals being stuck/bonded to some larger object/glue, tho the uv glue could still have some properties that i cant measure with a multimeter

 

[Ghoostknight]

i also tested the cable wraps on the XLR cables i use to feed my active speakers, at the end of the active speakers, around 50g prehnite 7-9mm each and i actually think the effect the prenite has changes kinda dramaticly compared to placing it on the speakers, imo the strength of "kinda" the same effect definitely increased, first time (beside my rca prototypes) that i hear prehnite with increased strength....
imo tourmaline boosts subbass where prehnite seems to boost/emphasize midbass, smooth "precise" sounding highs, with tourmaline the highs can get kind of annoying to some degree

hard to say whether this increases "emotions" like my theory says, tho placed on top of speakers they also get the music signal, so maybe a bad comparison
i definitely feel like the "crystal effect" typical to prehnite is much increased with cable wraps on XLR vs placing it on the speakers, i would say doubled to trippled

so far my preference for only one crystal kinda really shifts towards prehnite, tho some subbass boost of tourmaline is also not bad imo, but it feels like you can easly overdo the tourmaline effect where its not so easy with prehnite

thanks again for reminding me of the cable wraps its really a good question whether we just need to "aggregate" the crystals with a electromagnet field (or vibrations) for large part of the effect they produce...

 

[kenincalgary]

@Ghoostknight your post gave me an idea that worked like a champ.

I have tried different crystals on cables and get inconsistent results. Tried it on different interconnects and same thing, ehhh was my feeling.

BUT, a small (6mm -8mm) flat clear crystal on a ground cable, at the component end. Placed on top of the Rochelle salt wrap, between the Velcro and the Rochelle salt wrap is a winner. Like in the pic. The crystal is so small that it is hard to see since it is directly under the Velcro, so I added a red circle so you can see where the crystal is. There is more air, a tad more nuance to micro information in most frequency ranges, and a tad quicker timing in the presentation. I have installed this on 4 ground cables and each one adds a tad more to the effect. The effect is not multiplicative, meaning 4 installations do not equal 4x the effect of the first. Note I think there will be a settling in time, but is sounds good. For a few $ for a bag of natural small crystals I highly recommend this be tried.

I also tried the following:

* Placed directly on the ground cable. The effect is too much. If someone is trying this and is not using the Rochelle salt mini wraps they can try using an even smaller crystal.

* Placed at varies points at the ground box end of the same cable. Now this amplifies what the other end install did. I tried at the binding post/or where the ground cable exits the ground box, under the GC Enhancement wraps, directly on the cable where the GC Enhancement wrap is. On top of the GC Enhancement wrap under the velcro, with a small amount of Blu-Tack (as a spacer) on the cable. I was ehhh too much. Effect intensity varies between the above mentioned installs. But different crystal types may works well at the ground box end, still have to try this. Will report back on this.

Thanks for this cdacosta, this tweak is a level up for my system. I placed them at the most effective ground box location: the xlr interconnects.
I have more crystals and lots of ground box cables to treat, it's gonna be fun.

 

[cdacosta]

Thanks for this cdacosta, this tweak is a level up for my system. I placed them at the most effective ground box location: the xlr interconnects.
I have more crystals and lots of ground box cables to treat, it's gonna be fun.

Did you do exactly as I did? Single small clear crystal on top of the Rochelle mini wrap, at the component side of ground cable? Curious what did it do for your system, like what I described or?

 

[kenincalgary]

Did you do exactly as I did? Single small clear crystal on top of the Rochelle mini wrap, at the component side of ground cable? Curious what did it do for your system, like what I described or?

I did what you did, your descriptions are indeed what I'm hearing. The hologram is more solid and the sense of "thereness" is greater. Any subtle fuzziness or looseness of the presentation has been improved, an analogy would be like snapping in the focus of a fine lens.

My casual experiments with quartz led me to believe the effects are very subtle and much less impactful than the ground box/Rochelle/hBN treatments so I've not spent any more time on them (the quartz piece is still in the refrigerator). In a few weeks I'll be essentially finished applying those technologies and plan to investigate the rca mineral tweak. But this one was easy and is right up there with the salt and hBN alchemy.

My experiments with magnetite produced detrimental results when applied to signal cables so my initial approach with the rca connectors will be various mixes of quartz sand (Reptisand), Rochelle salt and hBN. I'm weeks away from that but meanwhile it's going to be fun applying the flat quartz pieces.

 

[cdacosta]

I did what you did, your descriptions are indeed what I'm hearing. The hologram is more solid and the sense of "thereness" is greater. Any subtle fuzziness or looseness of the presentation has been improved, an analogy would be like snapping in the focus of a fine lens. My casual experiments with quartz led me to believe the effects are very subtle and much less impactful than the ground box/Rochelle/hBN treatments so I've not spent any more time on them (the quartz piece is still in the refrigerator). In a few weeks I'll be essentially finished applying those technologies and plan to investigate the rca mineral tweak. But this one was easy and is right up there with the salt and hBN alchemy. My experiments with magnetite produced detrimental results when applied to signal cables so my initial approach with the rca connectors will be various mixes of quartz sand (Reptisand), Rochelle salt and hBN. I'm weeks away from that but meanwhile it's going to be fun applying the flat quartz pieces.

I did what you did, your descriptions are indeed what I'm hearing. The hologram is more solid and the sense of "thereness" is greater. Any subtle fuzziness or looseness of the presentation has been improved, an analogy would be like snapping in the focus of a fine lens. My casual experiments with quartz led me to believe the effects are very subtle and much less impactful than the ground box/Rochelle/hBN treatments so I've not spent any more time on them (the quartz piece is still in the refrigerator). In a few weeks I'll be essentially finished applying those technologies and plan to investigate the rca mineral tweak. But this one was easy and is right up there with the salt and hBN alchemy. My experiments with magnetite produced detrimental results when applied to signal cables so my initial approach with the rca connectors will be various mixes of quartz sand (Reptisand), Rochelle salt and hBN. I'm weeks away from that but meanwhile it's going to be fun applying the flat quartz pieces.

I did what you did, your descriptions are indeed what I'm hearing. The hologram is more solid and the sense of "thereness" is greater. Any subtle fuzziness or looseness of the presentation has been improved, an analogy would be like snapping in the focus of a fine lens. My casual experiments with quartz led me to believe the effects are very subtle and much less impactful than the ground box/Rochelle/hBN treatments so I've not spent any more time on them (the quartz piece is still in the refrigerator). In a few weeks I'll be essentially finished applying those technologies and plan to investigate the rca mineral tweak. But this one was easy and is right up there with the salt and hBN alchemy. My experiments with magnetite produced detrimental results when applied to signal cables so my initial approach with the rca connectors will be various mixes of quartz sand (Reptisand), Rochelle salt and hBN. I'm weeks away from that but meanwhile it's going to be fun applying the flat quartz pieces.

I did what you did, your descriptions are indeed what I'm hearing. The hologram is more solid and the sense of "thereness" is greater. Any subtle fuzziness or looseness of the presentation has been improved, an analogy would be like snapping in the focus of a fine lens.

My casual experiments with quartz led me to believe the effects are very subtle and much less impactful than the ground box/Rochelle/hBN treatments so I've not spent any more time on them (the quartz piece is still in the refrigerator). In a few weeks I'll be essentially finished applying those technologies and plan to investigate the rca mineral tweak. But this one was easy and is right up there with the salt and hBN alchemy.

My experiments with magnetite produced detrimental results when applied to signal cables so my initial approach with the rca connectors will be various mixes of quartz sand (Reptisand), Rochelle salt and hBN. I'm weeks away from that but meanwhile it's going to be fun applying the flat quartz pieces.

I find minerals like Magnetite or Tourmaline not to be any use for signal or digital cables if used as wraps. I will do further experiments and see if I can improve on the recent tweak concept. My gut says it can be improved on.

 

[cdacosta]

Here is an update on adding the small clear crystal to 4 ground cables as described in yesterdays post. Has been about 27 hours or so since I applied this tweak to the ground cable. Have not touched anything since. Nice guys, is like @kenincalgary describes. A touch of warmth and sweetness is now also present in the overall presentation. The air and finer focus is still there. Different than when placed on components or inside with ground box mix.

I will give it another day or two before applying this tweak to more ground cables. I think I have 14 or 15 ground cables in total. Want to know what treating more ground cables do. Then I will try different other types of crystals and smaller sizes to see what that does. Will report back with findings.

 

[cdacosta]

Another update on the crystals on ground cables:

* First by placing different types of small (5mm to 8mm) crystals one a time on top of components or ground boxes will change tonal character. The effect is kind of tuning tonal character of areas/frequency ranges of the presentation. I would do this one crystal at a time. What is heard is slight (compared to the impact of the other tweaks I introduced in this thread), but I think this good. Slight is easier to tune. Again the different crystal types effect different frequency ranges. Most used crystal for me is clear (white-ish actually).

* Again, small crystal, with one side flat at ground cables between Velcro and Rochelle Mini Wraps. I tried varies ones and sizes on the ground cable located at the coax connector coming from the wall. Too strong or did not like it depending on crystal type, removed them. But at the ground cable on the modded Odin 2 power cable, very nice. More air and tad more precision of everything heard. This Odin 2 power cable powers the PC (source). This ground cable filters the IEC end, so PC power supply.

So I would say try all the ground cables with small clear crystal. Install one at a time and listen. If the installation improves overall system performance/you like what you hear, wait and let it settle for 2 days or so before doing another install. Then do another install. Ones that sound off leave alone for now.

Ground boxes designed properly and installed properly, allows the system to reproduce more from the original recording. The more of the system that is filtered with ground boxes, the more refined and resolving the system gets. The crystal installation at ground cables as I have been describing, do the same for adding air and focus to the presentation. My recommendation again is to do one and let system settle. Because one installation will take the system almost one step toward neutral. But after settling in, the system tonally takes a 3/4 step back toward the way it was, leaving the air and focus benefits.

 

[Ghoostknight]

just found this: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005005645248977.html

its black tourmaline with galvanic treatment, essentially adding a conductive metal layer onto the black tourmaline as far i understand it, i think this is interesting to test

EDIT: the description even says titan covering .... titan is a good conductor

 

[cdacosta]

just found this: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005005645248977.html

its black tourmaline with galvanic treatment, essentially adding a conductive metal layer onto the black tourmaline as far i understand it, i think this is interesting to test

EDIT: the description even says titan covering .... titan is a good conductor

Going to that Aliexpress link, says “not available in your area” (which is US).

 

[Ghoostknight]

Does this one work? https://www.aliexpress.us/item/1005005200686257.html

or just search for "tourmaline titanium"