Cardas Myrtle Wood Blocks

[Vangelis]

I understand why people have had mixed results with the Cardas myrtlewood blocks. The large size Cardas blocks are the better size but the real problem is that there is simply no “one best variety” of wood for tuning audio components.

I first heard about tuning with wood from Charles Hansen, president of Ayre Acoustics. He told me to go to Toys R Us and buy a box of kids’ Jenga blocks. He said "maple sounds great under my amplifier” (at that time he only made amplifiers). I was skeptical to say the least, but hey, I had just discovered power cords several years earlier as a previous non-believer. When I slipped the three blocks under the amp I was very impressed with the improvements they made across the board (no pun intended) to the amp’s sound. Around the same time a friend phoned to tell me that another mutual friend had come over with a pile of wood blocks and spent the better part of a day using them to tune each component in his system. He was amazed with the results. The next week my system was tuned in the same fashion and from that time forward I’ve tuned my audio system with wood. The fellow that came over was Mike Van Evers who writes for Stereo Times. Mike explained that there is no single wood that is best for tuning because each piece of gear has it own resonence issues.

Most of the pieces of wood I use were cut to the “Golden Ratio” as discussed by George Cardas. There are a number of improvements I listen for when tuning for instance bass, detail, harmonic bloom and such, but most importantly do the musicians sound more in tune with each other, is the music line connected better, in other words is the gestalt or the whole of the musical message conveyed with a more emotional connection. All of us with an audio hobby have made changes to our systems that allowed us to hear music in a more meaningful way. Yup, tuning with wood will provide this type of result.

I could write volumes on this topic, instead I will offer a few essential tips:
1. Start by replacing all your shelves with at least 5/8 thick maple (not veneered) as the platform to start your tuning. Most lumber yards will cut the shelves.
2. Go to the hobbyist tweaky wood supply store to source scraps you can cut .
3. Buy enough of each wood to make at least 6 blocks.
4. Mix woods both above and below components.
4. Three blocks work best under components
5. One or two blocks are best on tops of components
6. A must do- Go to the Mike Vansevers web site page (see below) and read down the page where he details how to tune with wood as well as which woods affects what sonic parameters. Many of the wood varies are shown on his instruction page other than Pernambuco wood which is also a must.
VansEvers - Support - Tweak 5


Tuning with wood opens a whole new world to really improve your HiFi . WARNING: watch out if you share your wood tuning enthusiasm as you may committing audio blasphemy. Yes, you will be thrashed, scolded and accused of audio heresy bordering on sonic devil worship. A flood of postings will fly in from members who are compelled to race to their key boards just to tell you how wrong you are and that wood tuning is impossible. However, you might do your own evil laugh totally comfortable in the knowledge that your system has never sounded this good before wood tuning.. Hee…hee…hee. By the way, the naysayer members aren’t just unenlightened, in fact they just can’t help themselves, their bodies and minds have been possessed by the ghost of Julian Hirsch, repeating over & over…Amplifiers all sound the same, specs are specs, speaker wire and interconnects all the same, turntables no difference, better sounding power cords and power conditioners simply in the their imagination, and of course micro phonics and tuning with wood are surely audio Voodoo requiring an immediate exorcism for you and your system.

 

[vcoheda]

good link. thanks.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I tried this myself.

Woodwork is another of my hobbies, and I've got cuts of a number of woods as scrap, as well as a variety of saws, planes, etc.

So I took some rock maple, cut blocks to the golden ratio, then tested it under my turntable, CD player, preamp, and power amp.

It made no difference at all. Absolutely nothing. They sounded just like they did before. There was no change in the sound.

So I gave the blocks to my 3 year old nephew. He likes stacking them up and putting Hot Wheels on them. Since they enhance his toy car enjoyment, I guess they weren't a complete waste.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif When they're just posting two or three letter high fives to each other, I think they've run out of gas. It isn't easy to defend severely overpriced blocks of wood with nautilus shell designs on them. If you need to put something under your cd player, find a couple of paperback books of similar thickness, or tape some soda bottle caps under the feet. It's always good to have adequate ventilation between components. Heat kills electronics. But you're fooling yourself if you think you hear a difference in your amp because of what you've put under it. See ya Steve

I'm with you here, there is no way in heaven, hell, or earth that these blocks will make any difference in the sound of any equipment (unless you have any problems due to overheating) aslo if Cardas keep on selling these stupid things, honestly they will loose my last bit of credibility, that right now is pretty lame in favor of their producs...

Vibration control devices need to be made of soft material in order to absorb and dissipate the vibration, a solid block of wood will absorb nothing, or pretty much close to nothing...Aslo if they cost $5.00 that is OK, but at $45.00 for 4 blocks of wood, is in any sane person book, a horrible rip off. If you go to home depot you will get the same blocks for under $5.00, so they are charging 35.00 for the logos, good business, trust me than the more you buy from them this stupid things, the more useless things they will put into a market for the bunch of silly "snobophiles" to get them...

Guys are you serious about that those blocks make a difference??? My God where have the sanity gone??? I'm really worried about you guys...

 

[vcoheda]

i try to be honest with myself about what i hear, because it's my system and more importantly my money that i spend to build and refine it. i really do think that a lot of tweaks work and some work quite well. that's been my experience.

for those that hear no differences, i think a large part of it is that you tell yourself that there will be no differences, so there aren't any. of course this argument runs both ways. however, these group of people seem to be so fervent in their opinions and beliefs that i feel they more so than others lack the objectivity needed to make such discernments. that and their system may not be revealing enough.

 

[Sovkiller]

I believe that some tweaks can make a system sound better, and that is true, and I have seen some that really work...But what I do not consider is that 4 blocks of wood under my CD player will be a tweak at all, they will not even look nice there...there are others vibration absorbing devices, with a more "rational/scientific" approach, (that maybe will not do anything neither but at least will look better, this ones not even that)

Here in the Audioadvisor page you can find others that IMO offer at least a more scientific approach and that I do believe that will work or at least have more chances of working than this little brick of wood (even when they sell also these Cardas bricks...)

For example the vibrapods are a lot cheaper, and are made of rubber and steel, more industrial materials, with some elaboration, and some research, the solid-tech disc of silence has some elaboration and had some research behind them, they are more expensive though, but a block of wood...

...man, gimme a break!!!

Of course as you said you used your money, and if you feel fine spending it like that, that is your prerogative...But I will do my best to stop others from doing that, that is for sure...

 

[vcoheda]

so your mission in life to prevent people from spending $5.00 on a block of wood. i would think world hunger or peace - or pretty much anything - would be a better use of your time.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif so your mission in life to prevent people from spending $5.00 on a block of wood. i would think world hunger or peace - or pretty much anything - would be a better use of your time.

Really? Well think twice about that, it is not $5.00, it is $45.00, that is 9 times that amount.
Now doing a quick math, those $45.00 could serve also to mitigate some of those problems we have nowdays in the world, (that you seem to be so worried about, given that you mentioned them) right?
Well FYI some of the charity organization we have here in US, and in the world in general sometimes only ask for a $5.00 donation to feed a kid in poor countries in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, or maybe to offer proper medical care to them, or maybe send it to the DAV (Disable American Veterans) if you want to keep the money home...So IMO this money could be easily used in offering 9 kids those services, but putting the money in wrong pockets, and spending some money in 4 stupid blocks of wood will not do any good to anybody not even to your system for much that you beleive they do...

Sorry but I do not see any benefit in wasting money like that, not even $5.00...

 

[Uncle Erik]

It is interesting to note that speaker designers, builders and manufacturers almost never use solid wood in their designs.

Solid wood is remarkably uneven and inconsistent. It changes shape and size with the temperature and humidity and, internally, every piece is substantially different from another.

This is why you don't find solid wood in speakers. Resonance and vibration substantially change the way a speaker sounds. Since solid wood is so inconsistent, they don't use it because each speaker would be slightly different. Instead, speaker makers mostly use MDF. Wilson and a few others use exotic materials, but never solid wood.

Because wood is so inconsistent, how could blocks of it under a component change the sound? If it truly changes the sound because of vibrations, it would change the sound day by day, hour by hour. The specific gravity changes with the humidity. That will change the resonant value. If resonant value affects the sound, then the resulting sound would be wildly inconsistent.

These blocks are snakeoil.

Vcoheda, you miss the point. It's not about stopping someone from spending $5 on a chunk of wood. It's about critical thinking and not being sold a bill of goods by someone out to make a buck off the gullible. Why would you gulp the marketing of a corporation that wants nothing but profit? Do you think Cardas exists to make your life better or as a bearer of truth? No, Cardas is there to turn a buck. If they can sell nonsense at a profit, by god, they will.

 

[gritzcolin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gritzcolin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Myrtle wood Bam just saved you tons of money now you can even have extra for the microwave.

I repeat this. OMG it really heats my food faster with these underneath and it adds to the oven baked taste.

Yet when I posted it no one cared. it's the same thing but cheaper much cheaper with a 1 foot board you could reduce vibration on most of your gear if that what you believe and still have an extra $30-$40 since you didnt pay for the Cardas name.

 

[vcoheda]

i still don't care.

 

[Asr]

I used to respect Ayre and Cardas but the more I read about them, the more it seems they exist more to sell hype rather than well-founded technology, and despite any differences you might be hearing with these Myrtle wood blocks, there's no science to support that the difference you hear should be better. There are architects and engineers who work day in day out to discover and build the best vibration isolation, shock absorption, etc, and the optimal shape of isolator feet is a cone or spike, not a block. No offense but you can believe what you want, there's no scientific evidence that these wood blocks are a good design at all, and personally I wouldn't waste $1 on them. If you want well-designed isolator feet, cones or spikes are much better.

You have to be really ignorant to reject the decades (if not centuries) of science that's gone into researching the best shock absorption and anti-vibration isolation that tons of buildings today rely on in earthquake-centered geographic areas.

And as Uncle Erik pointed out, solid wood is a terrible material to use for something intended for use as vibration isolation. It's organic, and if you expect organic material to stay in static condition in different humidities and temperatures you're dreaming.

 

[vcoheda]

i've read enough observational impressions about these blocks to make me believe that what i am hearing is true. that's enough for me. the cost of these blocks is so cheap compared to almost everything else in audio that everyone should try them for themselves. it's the kind of tweak that like most is noticeable on some components/configurations and less so on others - but after using them for a while and then removing them, the positive effects become apparent.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif for those that hear no differences, i think a large part of it is that you tell yourself that there will be no differences, so there aren't any.

Do you think the reverse might possibly be true?

See ya
Steve

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you think the reverse might possibly be true? See ya Steve

And what do you think we see here everyday with all those "tweaks", and especially while you spend some cash on them, of course you have to hear any improvement, otherwise people could think that you are an idiot...