[cdacosta]

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

or just search for "tourmaline titan"

Link does work. What are you thinking for its use?

 

[Ghoostknight]

Link does work. What are you thinking for its use?

probably just putting them somewhere as they are... in theory these should work kind of like orgonites, whatever orgonites actually do

maybe its also interesting to see if they make a difference vs not covered ones placed on the speaker since there is a clear relationship between metals and piezoelectric crystals

 

[zanash]

reading with interest !

just a point on methodology...can I suggest that if the sound has become warm ...its because the higher freq have been attenuated and not the bass has been boosted !

the signal you start with is all you have ...any influence on it is a subtractive process like filtering.

this is not a criticism just an observation

 

[rickmcinnis]

Started working with the Rochelle Salts on AC outlets and there is something good happening.

All of this talk of crystals reminds me of the fellow who used to post at AUDIO ASYLUM - he was quite a pioneer in this - lived in Hawaii - I believe he is dead but not forgot. I cannot remember the name but I remember his work. he was the buy who started the placing a 5 Hys choke across the AC line which I admit I do not do any longer.

My question is regarding switches for lights - I am assuming the bags of salt are useful here - the information on this aspect is spread out so forgive me if I am repeating a question for the one-hundredth time! And if the treatment is not to be performed on switches then my question is moot.

But if the switch is a good place for the salt bags what does one do with ganged switches? "Hot" side bags would be beside neutral in this case. Of course, I should just try it but my curiosity has the best of me and those of you in the vanguard of these techniques know so much more than I do I decided to go ahead and ask.

Per the advice of the instruction manual I have ordered a bottle of the FURUTECH fluid and will get to work on contacts when it arrives and then FINALLY (I see I first posted way back in December) get to work on ground boxes.

Have to admit I thought much of this was fanciful but when treating the AC outlet for the gear and hearing good things I am inspired to go further, much further.

Thanks for the information which represents many hours of experimentation and determination - this is like a gift and should be fully appreciated.

 

[cdacosta]

Started working with the Rochelle Salts on AC outlets and there is something good happening.

All of this talk of crystals reminds me of the fellow who used to post at AUDIO ASYLUM - he was quite a pioneer in this - lived in Hawaii - I believe he is dead but not forgot. I cannot remember the name but I remember his work. he was the buy who started the placing a 5 Hys choke across the AC line which I admit I do not do any longer.

My question is regarding switches for lights - I am assuming the bags of salt are useful here - the information on this aspect is spread out so forgive me if I am repeating a question for the one-hundredth time! And if the treatment is not to be performed on switches then my question is moot.

But if the switch is a good place for the salt bags what does one do with ganged switches? "Hot" side bags would be beside neutral in this case. Of course, I should just try it but my curiosity has the best of me and those of you in the vanguard of these techniques know so much more than I do I decided to go ahead and ask.

Per the advice of the instruction manual I have ordered a bottle of the FURUTECH fluid and will get to work on contacts when it arrives and then FINALLY (I see I first posted way back in December) get to work on ground boxes.

Have to admit I thought much of this was fanciful but when treating the AC outlet for the gear and hearing good things I am inspired to go further, much further.

Thanks for the information which represents many hours of experimentation and determination - this is like a gift and should be fully appreciated.

Alan Maher is the one that pioneered or the first in the audio realm (also in AA) that spoke about the use of chokes. I have not spoke to Alan for about 10 years. I also stopped using chokes. All of the tweaks (including ground boxes) introduced and discussed in this thread aside crystals are vastly more effective than the chokes.

Yes treat "all" light switches and AC outlet plates on the home's AC line with Rochelle salt for optimum performance results. As for ganged or combined lights switches and outlets, will have to be experimented with. Yes you want to treat at this location, just treat and listen. Then tune by ear for optimum performance.

Your plan of Rochelle salt AC line treatment, than Furutech Nano Liquid, then Ground Boxes is a very good one. With the same components and cabling, as you go through your plan, your system's performance level will improve in different areas. Then system performance will leap, then leap again, to extents that you will not even recognize the system you had before you started. Depending on how many ground boxes and their implementation/installation what you will end up with is: A very musical, much more resolving, more engaging, much improved PRaT system. I do not know what your system consists of, but I am sure you will agree that investing $10K more in a component would not of given you "anywhere near" the same performance level jump. Have fun, this will be a very interesting and educational project. You will learn a lot about how the different causes of noise effects your system's performance.

 

[Ghoostknight]

The topaz i bought from a US seller on etsy is also citrine, lol, atleast on etsy the seller offered a refund (to avoid negative reviews...)

i also bought 1Oz prehnite from him, just to compare it to the aliexpress prehnite, both prehnites can be scratched with quartz, they also look fairly similar (tho not quite, the aliexpress stuff is more green-ish and a bit less polished), i think because of the dark inclusions in prehnite its also hard to fake this and even the 100g/3euro offer on aliexpress seems legit... one indian etsy seller offered me 40dollar for 500g (another 35euro per 100g), so the aliexpress stuff seems to be a real bargain

the indian seller also offered me 100g white topaz for 40dollar... i might test my luck a last time here...

 

[rickmcinnis]

Thanks, cdacosta for your advice. Of course, I am trying to follow what YOU have done.

I will see how I do with the ganged switches!

 

[cdacosta]

Thanks, cdacosta for your advice. Of course, I am trying to follow what YOU have done.

I will see how I do with the ganged switches!

You will notice that as you treat more of the AC line (outlets and switches) you will hear more from your system. Oddly treating an outlet or light switch on a different circuit breaker, even at the opposite end of your home can be heard through your system. That is how I came to the conclusion that our home’s AC wiring is acting like an antenna for EMI/EMF. Then at the main breaker panel, the EMI is being transferred to the other circuits like the one the audio system is on.

For optimal results just tune at each junction or every other installation before moving on to others.

 

[cdacosta]

About the best places to treat Furutech Nano Liquid...

I have had a few emails from Head-Fi members recently asking me about where the best places are best to treat? So this post may help some of you. My standard answer is all mechanical connections (both of the mating surfaces of the connections). But there are some very good places to treat that can produce very audible improvement. These locations may not normally come to mind. I am not sure I mentioned all of these so off the top of my head here you go...

Your PC:
* If you use a PC or MAC as your source, the SATA or SSD drive power and data connectors and connections. Meaning cable connections, MB or controller connector and the drive connections. Very nice audible improvement.

* If you like what you heard by treating the HDD or SSD and cables, you should consider threating the other connections inside the PC. If you do, I suggest treating all mechanical connections aside CPU. I treat my memory sticks and memory MB slots but just in case maybe leave this alone. Everything else treat. Do it methodically, section at a time or write down what you have or have not treated. While doing this, be sure power is off and make sure you touch or lean against the case so to ground yourself to the PC and components. If you have never went inside a PC, stick to the HDD/SSD drive and cables.


AC Power:
* Do basically what Furutech does. Treat the inside of the power cable. The cable's conductors, AC and IEC internal connectors. Yes this is an audible upgrade. Also if you have a clone like from Aliexpress you may find the connections could be loose (not tightened), I did. For the ones of you not familiar with AC (hot, neutral and ground), I would do one side at a time, so you can double check you assembled it correctly. Take a pic of the conductors and where they enter the AC plug and IEC connector.

* Treat the conductors and AC Outlets. Again, if you do not know how to turn off that breaker and check to make sure it is safe, don't do it. Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you hurt yourself or your gear!

* AC outlets (like noted above) inside Power strips, distributors and Line conditioners. If there are other mechanical connections inside the units, treat those also.


Misc. places off the top of my head...
* Video gear connections and cables. Video color saturation, depth and clarity is improved.

* Internet components and cables. Whether they are RJ45, HDMI, Coax or USB.

* Headphone cables, at the headphone and amp end. This like the HDD or SSD drives is very noticeable. This was the first place I tried the Nano Liquid and was shocked at the difference it made.

Have fun, enjoy and be safe!

 

[cdacosta]

Small clear Crystals inside ground boxes...

As most that follow this thread know, I have 12 ground boxes in my system filtering the entire system including cables. I started with 3-5 crystals in one box, then the same with the second box, then same with third box. Then same with two more boxes, so far totaling 5 boxes. The key was placing 1 crystal, listen. Then second and listen, and so forth. When the balance on the top end got close to the extreme I would like, I stopped. You will have to tune to your liking. When I say inside the ground box I place/lay the crystals on top of the mix. Let the system settle for a couple of days and critically listen again. The tilt toward neutral does mostly come back toward the way it was, but not all the way.

Also placing 1-3 clear and 1 of other types on top of the lid of the ground box, offers a slightly different effect for overall system tonal tuning. Does work with the few crystals placed inside with the ground box mix. NOTE: I do not like any crystal type except clear inside with the ground box mix.

I definitely like what the clear crystals do with the ground box mix. Pushes system presentation more toward like a live performance. After the fifth box, each instrument and vocalists got more air and separation, while still all timed together like before. Clear crystals are very inexpensive. Definitely recommend trying this.

 

[popquisling]

Was wondering if there was any thought on the material of the switch plates? Most of mine are steel. I replaced the first eight with black plastic ones since i had them. Treated another eight that are steel. I have a long way to go to fitting these packets to all junctions. I will continue, of course.

Does anyone think the plate material matters?

The FUROTECH fluid has been a worthwhile purchase.

 

[cdacosta]

Was wondering if there was any thought on the material of the switch plates? Most of mine are steel. I replaced the first eight with black plastic ones since i had them. Treated another eight that are steel. I have a long way to go to fitting these packets to all junctions. I will continue, of course.

Does anyone think the plate material matters?

The FUROTECH fluid has been a worthwhile purchase.

Never personally compared the difference of different plate material. Maybe you can compare and tell us if there is any difference?

I am curious how the Furutech Nano Liquid effected your system’s performance? Also how much of your system did you treat with the Nano Liquid?

Same curiosity with the treating of AC line at junction points (AC outlets and light switches)?

 

[popquisling]

With all that has been written about the NANO fluid I worry there is some expectation bias as to the individual effects but there is no question it is better - fine details are revealed ore effortlessly - I notice how vibrato is more varying in intensity and decay is improved.

I was using inverters and three 200 Ah child slavery batteries due to the breathless prose of the fellow at TWEAKAUDIO. I did initially think it sounded better than the completely untreated AC, well that is not completely accurate since each device had a mains filter from the most popular group buy that I am aware of at DIYAudio, the FO-FELIX. I used one inverter using two of the batteries in parallel for the four class a (Pass derived) amplifiers which drew a constant 480 watts and I do not think the 5000 watts rated inverter was up to the task. It started acting funny - buzzes and such - so i went back to AC and dynamics and quiet returned. Even when new the things put out a 22KHz spike. I would cover the inverter and the spike was still there. The smaller (3000 watts) was used with one batter and powered the low level stuff. It produced a 24KHz spike. Even though i cannot detect such a frequency I think it is obviously not something one wants to deal with.

From my experience I can say that AC from the line is superior and with the treatments recommened by cdacosta one can be happy with the AC coming into the house.\

I was inspired to try the inverters by Michael Fremer's article in STEREOPHILE where he spent a tremendous amount of money in search of good AC power. I do not doubt that system is extremely good but one wonders what could happen with his system using these methods? At the same time I wonder if the perfectionist AC supply would benefit less due to mitigating the problems early on? I know I will never know. All of this is band-aids for an AC line that can never be pure and what is wrong with that? It is all we have. Even if we generated our own AC it would have the same problems since it is AC. I should have said earlier that Mr. Fremer did not use inverters at all but I thought at the time that maybe these could produce a similar result. The inverters were higher than average quality but still toy like when you think of what it would take to generate 5000 watts of power. GIANDEL was the brand name. I asked them about the spikes and they assured me that is just how it is. I wonder if anyone has looked at an RTA with the STROMTANK inverter setup? Those that have written about it do not mention doing any investigations.

Sorry to be slighly off the topic but more than anything I wanted to warn people not to waste their time and money on inverters. The ideas in this thread have made some very welcome imnprovemnts to my system and I cannot wait to try some of the ground boxes. The magnetite is on the way,

 

[cdacosta]

With all that has been written about the NANO fluid I worry there is some expectation bias as to the individual effects but there is no question it is better - fine details are revealed ore effortlessly - I notice how vibrato is more varying in intensity and decay is improved.

I was using inverters and three 200 Ah child slavery batteries due to the breathless prose of the fellow at TWEAKAUDIO. I did initially think it sounded better than the completely untreated AC, well that is not completely accurate since each device had a mains filter from the most popular group buy that I am aware of at DIYAudio, the FO-FELIX. I used one inverter using two of the batteries in parallel for the four class a (Pass derived) amplifiers which drew a constant 480 watts and I do not think the 5000 watts rated inverter was up to the task. It started acting funny - buzzes and such - so i went back to AC and dynamics and quiet returned. Even when new the things put out a 22KHz spike. I would cover the inverter and the spike was still there. The smaller (3000 watts) was used with one batter and powered the low level stuff. It produced a 24KHz spike. Even though i cannot detect such a frequency I think it is obviously not something one wants to deal with.

From my experience I can say that AC from the line is superior and with the treatments recommened by cdacosta one can be happy with the AC coming into the house.\

I was inspired to try the inverters by Michael Fremer's article in STEREOPHILE where he spent a tremendous amount of money in search of good AC power. I do not doubt that system is extremely good but one wonders what could happen with his system using these methods? At the same time I wonder if the perfectionist AC supply would benefit less due to mitigating the problems early on? I know I will never know. All of this is band-aids for an AC line that can never be pure and what is wrong with that? It is all we have. Even if we generated our own AC it would have the same problems since it is AC. I should have said earlier that Mr. Fremer did not use inverters at all but I thought at the time that maybe these could produce a similar result. The inverters were higher than average quality but still toy like when you think of what it would take to generate 5000 watts of power. GIANDEL was the brand name. I asked them about the spikes and they assured me that is just how it is. I wonder if anyone has looked at an RTA with the STROMTANK inverter setup? Those that have written about it do not mention doing any investigations.

Sorry to be slighly off the topic but more than anything I wanted to warn people not to waste their time and money on inverters. The ideas in this thread have made some very welcome imnprovemnts to my system and I cannot wait to try some of the ground boxes. The magnetite is on the way,

Cool, glad the ideas or tweaks in this thread is improving your system.

What I am curious about is how much of your AC line has been treated with Rochelle salt? And how much of your system is treated with Nano Liquid?

 

[rickmcinnis]

With the Nano fluid the major junctions - signals for electronics and loudspeakers. For the salt packets - about half of the upstairs switches and sockets. The downstairs is on the other phase so I wonder if it will matter that much but I will eventually do this for every one.

I used the fluid on my AC plug and it arcs/flashes when I insert the plug - everything is attached to the same plug. The only thing that is ON when the plug is inserted is a line stage and two RYTHMIK subwoofers all of which require minimal power. I rarely unplug this but I had to yesterday and it flashed just like it did after applying the liquid. I had thought, maybe, the liquid having been recently applied may have caused the arcing but this time was a week later. Have you experienced anything like this?

I have an area of confusion with the ground boxes - are you using a 14 gauge wire connected to the ground pin of an RCA or XLR connector - that seems like lots of wire for an interconnect cable to contend with.

Are you using an unused socket with just the ground connected or is this part of the cable? I guess for those without additional jacks on their gear there is no choice what to do. I am using a DAC that has both XLR and RCA and their grounds are shared so I will use the extra jack. Still want to be sure I have this correct: 14 gauge wire from the box to component (DAC) ground?

Thanks for your work. I think this will eventually be considered as something that is done for a good music system by people who have no idea who you are and where this was born. That is the highest compliment someone's work can receive. I suspect there will be many out there who will claim to have "discovered" your discovery and this is considered flattery but it is of the lowest order.