[cdacosta]

Do you think this is too much?

Hard to say. You would have to try with less to know. At the breakers it is trial and error. Probably would sound better without all that EMI tape… just a thought.

 

[dougms3]

Hard to say. You would have to try with less to know. At the breakers it is trial and error. Probably would sound better without all that EMI tape… just a thought.

It definitely sounds better with the salt.

As far as the emi tape, I was going to add another layer as I only tried a few strips initially and the sound got better as I added more.

I'm not noticing any difference on signal lines or on the power cables, if there is a difference it may be too small for me to notice.

I'll try the outlets later on. Gonna test the salt on my car amp next.

 

[cdacosta]

It definitely sounds better with the salt.

As far as the emi tape, I was going to add another layer as I only tried a few strips initially and the sound got better as I added more.

I'm not noticing any difference on signal lines or on the power cables, if there is a difference it may be too small for me to notice.

I'll try the outlets later on. Gonna test the salt on my car amp next.

Only cable applications that work well is:

* 1 gram to 2 gram wraps on RJ45, could be best on one end, or the other end, or both ends. Have to test to know.
* Power cords just above the AC plug only
* 1-2 gram wraps on ground box cables at component end. But I have not tried without the GBC Enhancement wraps installed at box end.

Best universal application is in the DIY post for AC line EMI removal. This yields many, many times what at the breaker does. Just a few outlets would be like upgrading a glass fuse in a component to an audiophile fuse. Treat an entire circuit and the performance upgrade is beyond any AC line conditioner or high end PLC will provide. Instant system upgrade. Treat an entire home or apartment and is even better... you will hear ultra fine detail, micro and macro dynamics and nuance that you never heard from your system before.

 

[cdacosta]

I came home and the Inoxia 1Kg bag of synthetic magnetite was in the mailbox. This synthetic stuff is very messy. How are you guys transferring to another bag to prevent a mess? Slowly using a medium scooper into a bag wearing gloves? I want to try this magnetite for wraps, since a few members say it performs better than natural for AC wraps.

 

[cdacosta]

Thoughts using Inoxia synthetic magnetite vs natural for headphone cable...

I use Magnetite for wraps on AC power cables and headphone cable. Have not tried synthetic on power yet. First the synthetic is very messy to work with/move compared to natural. The synthetic sticks to everything, but can be washed off hands and hard surfaces using soap and water. Using on a headphone cable, sandwiching the cable I will not say it is better than natural. I would say different. I doubt the headphone cable used makes a difference, but the headphone cable I am testing this on is a balanced 8' Cardas Clear Light. The wrap in the pic is 275 gram weight natural (with masking tape) and the synthetic is a 143 gram weight. Per volume, the synthetic is lighter in weight vs natural.

The natural offers a bit more body and warmth vs the synthetic. The synthetic is more mid range focused, in a way that focuses or high lights the mid/vocal range but slightly thins it. Both by itself sound better than without either on the cable. Only swapping back and forth listening to the same tracks over and over could I tell the difference. In a blind test I may not be able to pick them apart. If used like in the pic, one after another offers a slightly different sonic presentation, which I think I prefer. If I was asked to choose, which by itself for this application, I would choose the natural. For this application I would not pay 6X+ for synthetic vs natural. But both with work just fine for this application.

 

[Boodle]

And Finally... Started my first trip into RS land today.
l am based in the UK, my house set up is a little strange, as l have 3 power breakers in total in my house, due to buildings being added over the years, so with that in mind, l treated two of the power breaker boxes, both 14grams of RS in front of the breakers

How does it sound at my end, l have used RS already in my R26, so l was wondering what effect it would have ,just on my two power breakers using 14grams. So very very positive results... lt's hard to express using all the cliques, but it resulted into smoother,but more controlled sound,definitely lowering the noise floor further.
lt was when l revisited Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler track "For All Or Days...."
l had never heard it sound so good, harshness totally gone, dynamics brilliant, and more importantly when the chorus hits, everything is controlled and where it should be, on my previous set up,this wasn't the case, when the chorus would come in, there would be that harshness,lack of control.

Thanks cdacosta for such a great discovery, next week l will be making up small wraps for all those sockets.

Probably Rochelle salt inside synergistic orange fuse, or perhaps a mixture of Rochelle and pink rock salt?

 

[Jake2]

Graphite foil sheets update
Speaking of the tweak du jour... after a lot more experimentation yesterday evening with the graphite sheets, I can confirm those 1mm thick sheets are goddamn EMI shielding/absorbing monsters. Even if it turns out they don't work as well with your ground box design (though I do hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised) I'm sure they'll work well elsewhere in folks' systems.. as per below.

The whole pack of 250x200mm 1mm thick graphite foil sheets is now experimentally deployed in my system like so:

• 1 cut up & wrapped around a ground box as pictured yesterday
• 2 stacked on/over the power cables coming out of my vertically oriented Puritan power conditioner partly with the sheet also half supported by the edge of my hifi rack (1 good, 2 better - effect was so pronounced it was like a tone control turning down the treble, rather treble edginess. Took some acclimatisation, felt too much initially)
• 2 on network switches - one on the LHY on top of the copper grounding plate that's already there & another on the Netgear
• 1 under the copper grounding plate resting vertically on the inputs to the master active speaker (they're both quite light so no issue)
• 1 at the back of the sub, vertically resting on the input cables leaning against the sub back plate (again a full frequency spectrum effect, so an upstream effect on the L&R amps/DAC/streamer)
• 2 side by side leaning against the side of my wireless router that faces the hifi (alas it's in the same room corner not ideal, I do turn wifi off from time to time when critical listening but miss the convenience)

I could hear the delta with each addition and removal. Consistent theme with the sheets was sweeter midrange (residual glare/hardness banished) particularly female vocals sounding so soft, natural and effortless; greater refinement and realism in the representation of an acoustic space - wider & deeper, more precise placement of instruments with a richer and more nuanced decay of notes; leading transients more fully drawn with layers and body, less etched leading edges. Also more life, tempo and seemingly dynamic range.

Graphite v copper sheets
Here's the interesting bit. So once again I compared to the 0.5mm sheets on several places, the 1mm still consistently better. No surprises there. Then it occurred to me I should compare to some 300mm x 300mm pretty heavy gauge 0.6mm copper sheets I have kicking around. I did so - on the Netgear switch, sub and Puritan conditioner. Another consistent theme emerged - the copper thinned the midrange a little or a lot, got a little drier, female vocals lost their charm, while soundstage scale (height & depth) and dynamics flattened.

Remarkably the delta was greatest, IIRC, with the sheets leaning against the wireless router. Where one might have thought the more potently conductive and larger copper shield would be better. Though I realise the router and sheets are fairly close to my Goundmaster external ground rod connection so maybe that's part of it, perhaps alongside some denoising of the router itself as an upstream ethernet signal source… mental note, test this again with wifi off.

The graphite sheets give my system a sweeter, fuller, bigger sound than copper sheets placed in the same locations. Idle speculation as to possible reason for this:

• graphite has RFI absorptive/dissipative properties copper lacks i.e. not just reflective
• graphite has better vibration damping characteristics, incl being softer and much lighter (it 'feels' dead/inert to the touch whereas copper feels more resonant)
• differences in their electrical conductivity - although graphite is a very good conductor, copper is two orders of magnitude (~100x) better and is equally conductive in all X-Y-Z planes, whereas I understand graphite is strongly conductive length wise within (parallel to) a rolled layer but not so much across the layers comprising the thickness, in this case 1mm.

I can see myself ordering some more of this stuff, incl trying using it inside components. It's very effective IME, it’s cheap, light and easily cut. And it’s stealthy in a Batmobile or B-2 bomber kind of way. What’s not to love? It also breaks easily if you're careless with it so spares are good.

Graphite felt.. a new arrival
So in my parallel line of experimentation to CDA's trail blazing with Rochelle Salt which I heartily agree is most excellent, I've tried another form of graphite. Ordered at the same time as the graphite foil sheets, I got a single 300x200x3mm piece of graphite felt, which just arrived. It is very soft and porous as expected and as with the foils you get a fine graphite residue on your fingers from handling it. Supposedly 98% graphite for use in battery electrodes, air and water filtration etc

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqTk80G

I ordered it to experiment with different porosities/densities of graphite as per strategies used in industry to optimise RF absorption by maximising 'bounces' within graphite material and the associated absorption opportunities.

And y'know what, it worked a treat. This felt sheet, rotated for use across my system in combination with the existing 1mm thick graphite foil sheets (and subsequently added RS bags) in place in multiple locations brought the same characteristic improvement to a greater or lesser extent: a timbrally richer, fuller, more lush and warm sound. Hardness and glare dropped further away. Vocals sound fuller, more palpable true to life. Bass juicy as! Lovely flow. Acoustic decay richer.

Removing the felt, and just listening to either the RS alone, or the RS + GF sheets, or trying the felt alone or felt + RS was not as rich, natural and dynamic than all three together.

This with just one sheet in rotation like I say.

I shall be ordering more in different thicknesses. The felt sheets are a little more expensive than foil sheets which come in a 10 pack, but still not bad. Shipping is per sheet so more again. Oh well, still cheap as overall relatively speaking, certainly relative to the bang for buck.

 

[kingoftown1]

Probably Rochelle salt inside synergistic orange fuse, or perhaps a mixture of Rochelle and pink rock salt?

Could be silica gel in there as well. Very similar look

 

[EDhaenens]

Thoughts using Inoxia synthetic magnetite vs natural for headphone cable...

I use Magnetite for wraps on AC power cables and headphone cable. Have not tried synthetic on power yet. First the synthetic is very messy to work with/move compared to natural. The synthetic sticks to everything, but can be washed off hands and hard surfaces using soap and water. Using on a headphone cable, sandwiching the cable I will not say it is better than natural. I would say different. I doubt the headphone cable used makes a difference, but the headphone cable I am testing this on is a balanced 8' Cardas Clear Light. The wrap in the pic is 275 gram weight natural (with masking tape) and the synthetic is a 143 gram weight. Per volume, the synthetic is lighter in weight vs natural.

The natural offers a bit more body and warmth vs the synthetic. The synthetic is more mid range focused, in a way that focuses or high lights the mid/vocal range but slightly thins it. Both by itself sound better than without either on the cable. Only swapping back and forth listening to the same tracks over and over could I tell the difference. In a blind test I may not be able to pick them apart. If used like in the pic, one after another offers a slightly different sonic presentation, which I think I prefer. If I was asked to choose, which by itself for this application, I would choose the natural. For this application I would not pay 6X+ for synthetic vs natural. But both with work just fine for this application.

I didn’t like it at all on my speakercables. It sucked away all detail for some reason. Only place it stayes is on the nanoflux powering the system. Still have to make some more bags for the other cables but the messiness is holding me back a bit. I don’t think I will be making a ground box with this synthetic because of the staining nightmare.

 

[cdacosta]

Graphite felt.. a new arrival
So in my parallel line of experimentation to CDA's trail blazing with Rochelle Salt which I heartily agree is most excellent, I've tried another form of graphite. Ordered at the same time as the graphite foil sheets, I got a single 300x200x3mm piece of graphite felt, which just arrived. It is very soft and porous as expected and as with the foils you get a fine graphite residue on your fingers from handling it. Supposedly 98% graphite for use in battery electrodes, air and water filtration etc

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqTk80G

I ordered it to experiment with different porosities/densities of graphite as per strategies used in industry to optimise RF absorption by maximising 'bounces' within graphite material and the associated absorption opportunities.

And y'know what, it worked a treat. This felt sheet, rotated for use across my system in combination with the existing 1mm thick graphite foil sheets (and subsequently added RS bags) in place in multiple locations brought the same characteristic improvement to a greater or lesser extent: a timbrally richer, fuller, more lush and warm sound. Hardness and glare dropped further away. Vocals sound fuller, more palpable true to life. Bass juicy as! Lovely flow. Acoustic decay richer.

Removing the felt, and just listening to either the RS alone, or the RS + GF sheets, or trying the felt alone or felt + RS was not as rich, natural and dynamic than all three together.

This with just one sheet in rotation like I say.

I shall be ordering more in different thicknesses. The felt sheets are a little more expensive than foil sheets which come in a 10 pack, but still not bad. Shipping is per sheet so more again. Oh well, still cheap as overall relatively speaking, certainly relative to the bang for buck.

Exactly where are you using the felt and 1mm sheet and how are you using them together (ie.,layered on top of each other)?

 

[EDhaenens]

Just to let you guys know I tried this magnetite

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1651230788...PqdQyeK2yrVlVwL8WWKqVZQA==|tkp:Bk9SR_qgv6z-Yg

I made wraps and a ground box with it and it performs 100% the same as the Arizona magnetite.
I also had contact with the Arizona magnetite seller and he ships to Europe again. Prices for shipping are normal again, don’t know what happened there exactly. Price is now 245 euro/ 5 bags shipped to Europe.

 

[cdacosta]

Just to let you guys know I tried this magnetite

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165123078854?hash=item26721a3ac6:g:J2cAAOSwGlVh998L&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAA8IkpjcNRo95tIgvmoGH0jMf1ATYi4pPxsB7sRawPENSutlLyF0kr2zqKMtB3D4Xpaxqoxak+EKUSY6vJEB5HRJXu7LiuM+Mdq0xBnq9/Y8/fhpwf/GM0XjQrIVt2g7SG4H6V+wY2cszvliY9YKfoG9DkgIvm4Ka720VpQOW7J87CnLk7dquYeeJj25T+btV8oj3OsdLrIrfLC28yxeG3MFjjPWGLT8h0S1wy6VkfThV/lgLhsQDmHQZ5KXQZXruiWv2tDBebz81nunOagq64K4Q4Cb8kvOqeoZAcxcqWl2PqdQyeK2yrVlVwL8WWKqVZQA==|tkp:Bk9SR_qgv6z-Yg

I made wraps and a ground box with it and it performs 100% the same as the Arizona magnetite.
I also had contact with the Arizona magnetite seller and he ships to Europe again. Prices for shipping are normal again, don’t know what happened there exactly. Price is now 245 euro/ 5 bags shipped to Europe.

Agreed. I also have used this Magnetite.

 

[dougms3]

Man,, its hard to believe this rochelle salt is doing this to the sound.

The reduced noise is adding quite a bit more depth to the sound. Microdetails are shining through nicely.

 

[cdacosta]

Man,, its hard to believe this rochelle salt is doing this to the sound.

The reduced noise is adding quite a bit more depth to the sound. Microdetails are shining through nicely.

Did you do what was in my DIY post to remove EMI from AC line at junction points or what?

 

[dougms3]

Did you do what was in my DIY post to remove EMI from AC line at junction points or what?

Just on the ac outlet covers, breaker box and the light switch so far.