A method to more quickly extract the benefits from a Perfect Path Mat, Alpha Card or Gate
I first wrote and then spoke to Tim in late September of 2017. I am one to keep all my emails and most of my messages including the first contact a PM from Tim sent to me thru Audiogon. We conversed because of my questions about adding graphene to a practical carrier and be able to apply to most any connection. He responded that he had a material that was soon to be brought to market. That product was the TC.
While the TC is a very potent product once it fully cures, it is not always great while it sets up some 8 weeks or so after the time it is first applied..Not only have I applied this mixture to connectors but also to tweeter bezels, woofer frames and utility boxes. With these larger treated surface areas you could listen for hours and days as the product setup and influenced the soundscape, and change by the minute in my audio room.
Now who here wants to listen to the paint dry and watch the grass grow? We are all wanting the real deal right away. The latest PPT products move us closer to an immediate Wow but not quite yet..they still have to do their dance with the energy fields. And I don't know why but I am always seeking the answers.The new Mat + sound as if they are an energy multiplier not just a doubler. By itself the Mat+ is nearly a Wow.
Much has been discussed on these pages about break in and it is always frustrating to bare. It is hard to make comparisons of products and materials as there is always the change factor to figure into anything newly added.. It could be less than a 1% material change and easily heard. The Mats and Cards have a major influence sooner on high power devices than they do on devices of descending current draw and operating voltage. For example the main breaker box at 100 amps or greater vs. a DAC that operates at 5 to 9 volts and 1 to 5 amps. Greater difference out of the gate on a solid state amp vs. a solid state preamp. The addition of the Mats to the mains vs. a low powered audio device made me ask Krissy to try the following test.
From the same material mix or batch make me 4 Mats. Take 2 and set aside. The other 2 will be placed on the breaker box for several days in her lab. At the end of 4 days in the evening place the 2 untreated mats on 2 devices in your well played and cooked system..and then spin some music you know well..Mute the system and remove these 2 untreated mats and replace with the 2 Mats at the same location as those that had been pretreated via the breaker box over 4 days. And she did so and she listened and the result was WOW ! Huge difference.
We then discussed sending me the same mats in 2 separate packages via postal.. They were to remain apart in case the energy field would migrate from one to the other. We also wanted to hear if the fields would be reduced over the course of their travel time said to be 2 days. All of this happened over the Christmas rush. The untreated mats got to me in the expected 2 days while the treated mats arrived 4 days after being mailed. So the pre treated E Mats+ were in transit for a total of 6 days plenty of time to discharge you would think .
I waited until I had all 4 mats in my audio room before I ran the experiment with these same mats, one on each of my power amps. The untreated E Mats + sounded great but the pretreated E Mats+ made for a huge and immediate improvement. Not slight but great! There was such a difference of impact and soundstage.
I want to say the precharged mats didn't lose any of their power in transit. What is the charge about. The precharged E-Mat+ makes for an even greater difference than moving up from the original E Mat to the E-mat + It is an immediate you no longer need to wait for the breakin to happen period of time ..So the moral of this story is precharge all your mats and cards first on your breaker box and then onto your gear..
Will an industrial breaker box of much higher potential will that add even more to this true story? Why did this happen? Tom
Last night I reorganized the mats inside my main household breaker box and smaller box that feeds the 3 dedicated 20 amp circuits on my audio wall.
I measured and trimmed the Emat + s so they would fit on the inside of the door lid so when it was closed the mats were nearly touching the breakers. The portion of the mats that were left over I was able to add those to the larger mains box over and under the 3 disconnect breakers at the top of this enclosure. I trimmed and placed 2 + mats on the inside of this door so when it closed it was near and over the top of this series of breakers. When I closed the doors I added several of the original mats to the outside of the steel door on each box. I then weather sealed again that area as it is on an outside wall in a walk out basement. The outside meter and incoming feed is directly attached to these boxes.
The system had been on all day and was fully warmed up all except my dac which is battery powered from a 12v deep cell marine battery. This thing has to go as it takes an hour or more of playing time for this dac to come alive. Not just on but playing. Even cold I could tell right away that there would be some special event occurring in this audio space.
The bass was powerful and strong as was the midbass..more texture than I ever heard before playing the same Zappa disc. The highs were rolled off but I knew from experience that like clock work the highs would come alive by the end of this 46 minute disc. They did and I had to repeat the same 1st selection..just amazing. The wall and the room was totally filled with nuance and texture I never noticed before.. They have been there all this time in disguise. Maybe the presentation is like the fabled Phil Spector Wall of Sound except this evening it was present and real at my home. Tom
Sorry for the delayed response to all your well perceived questions. My breaker box is inside my audio room sealed and covered over with a home grown acoustic panel. It is time consuming to remove a mat and then weather seal the breaker box.
I may have found another method to precharge the PPT products..I have an old 15 inch JBL pro driver that I rescued..but it has a frozen voice coil. I am now useing this to precharge all PPT products with including a New Device I am listening to right now..Place the mats and cards and the New Device directly on the raw speaker magnet and then hold your breath and try not to scream. You may consider buying all your cd's back and dusting off your spinner...Tom
Congratulations to theaudiotweak for perhaps the greatest tweak of a tweak! A few questions please. How long does it take to charge the mats? Is the effect permanent or do we need to periodically recharge the mats? Will mats charge best in a breaker box with or without a gate installed? I think it's established that the greatest effects of the mats seem to be achieved by placing them around a breaker, speaker, and then the power conditioner, possibly in that order. Are there placements that will help some, but the mats would better be doubled or tripled in other areas, and therefore should be relegated to last in the chain? I have a mat on the cd player, under the power conditioner, 2 in the breaker box, and one under each Vac signature mono tube amplifier. I'm not certain this makes a huge difference. I'm tempted to remove them and place them elsewhere. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) I'm in the process of moving to a new house over a several month period and I work long hours, so my critical listening time has be severely truncated. Any thoughts? Leon
Precharging--microwaving--do what you want, but what I enjoy with a new mat is knowing my system sounds better every day I turn it on for the next few weeks. I am excited to hear the differences---you just don't get that experience in audio very often, and then you get more mats, and you extend the fun into months---however long you want. Microwave? You're on your own with that. It may be safe, but does it alter the mat in the long run?
Just ran a ecard thru my old but capacitor boosted magnetizer. Measured before and after with a gauss meter..read the same. That doesnt mean there wont be an audible improvement. Tom
Another possibility is exposing the Mat to a high power strobe light. Maybe start with two minutes. Then maybe 20 minutes. Maybe longer. Who knows? Would you believe I have a high power strobe light for treating CDs?
Geoff the bulk eraser may work and so may an arc welder which I have neither. I do have a magnetizer which you just reminded me to take out of storage. Tom
One can’t help wondering if a brief blast in microwaves would be of value. Like 5 seconds, just to see what happens. No enough to damage anything, one assumes. Maybe try a Card first. After all, microwaves are electromagnetic waves just like electricity, no?
How about Pre-treating the mats and cards in the breaker box for more than 4 days, say 7 days or maybe even two weeks? Maybe turn all appliances, TVs and lights and heat ON as much as possible during this pre-treatment period, however long it is. There is no current or voltage passing through the breaker box otherwise, yes?
When it comes to audio, I do everything grannyring says (just kidding...sort of...ha,ha) so I switched out the mats in my breaker box with the ones under my amp and yep another big improvement! Makes me wonder even more what’s going on here but I’ll leave that topic alone for awhile.
Happy to hear that this pre charging of mats is working for others as it did me. The Ecards that some say they use around a turntable motor or speaker lugs or amps can also be precharged instead of waiting weeks for the cards. Just make sure you secure these cards because they can take off like a sleigh. I use gorilla tape. Tom
Sorry I did not clarify. The mats that I “charged” are only some 8 days on the gear (new). However, the dac is lower voltage and my no gain preamp is also lower voltage (15vdc) so this charging is a much quicker way of getting the most out of these mats on these lower voltage pieces of gear.
The two mats you “charged” at the breaker box were mats you’ve had in your system for quite some time already?
I have two original mats at my breaker box and two mats on my power conditioners that have been in place for the last year. If I switch the mats out I might get an increase in performance? Just trying to understand if the op’s suggestion is primarily for new mats or could it be for ones in place already. Thanks!
I have found that having the label of the Omega mat facing the component works the best (underneath). So, using that logic, I installed two Omega mats on the inside of the panel box door with the label facing towards the breakers.
I've been using two E - cards on top of my headphone amp. It never occurred to me to place them on the headphones; so, thanks for the idea!
An idea that I came up with that I have not seen mentioned is putting E - cards on the back of the speakers where the binding posts are. In the case of my speakers, they fit perfectly there.
Thank you OP for this thread. I did exactly as you said are darned if you are not 100% right. I charged two mats in my breaker box and put them back in my rig and the improvement was immediate and much more than I ever recall. Still have two mats in the breaker box, but these charged ones sure made a huge positive impact resting on/under my dac and preamp. Well done!
I have a cd cover like a pressed bottle cap...made these years ago it covers the top and edges. Hard to maintain the form consistently. I do have one I treated with TC but the materials in the mat will have more power..if there were only a way. Tom
The best place to start with the mats has been covered in the various PPT threads over time. With that said, my own experience tells me that the circuit breaker box is the best place to start. If you can fit a couple of Omega + mats right up against the switches, then do that. If that is not possible, then put them up against the metal door that encloses the switches.
Before he passed, Tim was treating the label side of his CDs with Total Contact. He said that it made a significant improvement in SQ. I'm tempted to treat a burned CD and compare it with the original.
I see many mats atop components with several cds on top of all below..Any takers here, someone with mats and double cds? Or may the difference be so obvious you wouldnt need 2 discs. Tom
To have a valid test you would need 2 identical cds stamped at the same plant. One being charged and other being played. Build a cage or box to surround many cds for staging before they are played. Tom
I did..there is a 7200 volt pad mounted transformer surrounded by shrubs 40 feet from my breaker box in my audio room. Will let them rest on this charging station till sunset at 5:30 this day. Tom
Some explaining to do. The original mat test was charged vs uncharged packaged and shipped separate. There was a big difference between these mats.
This new mat test had again charged mats and uncharged mats..but shipped together over a 48 hour time.. I separated the pairs and let them set all day.
Last nite I again repeated the test first with the 2 un charged and then the charged.Clearly the charged mats were better than the uncharged but the latest shipped together pair was not far behind.
So my speculation here tells me that a charged mat will migrate energy across to the uncharged..So it seems like that same migration will happen from mat to component. I need to come up with my own horizontal table like, charging station. Tom
Does the mat placement depend on location on any object or do they just react to what energy is around them? The mats appear to me to be something of a mobile energy storage device that may somehow have a slow medium and fast charge. If you want a fast charge and reaction time I would place them on the breaker box first..and then move to your component locations. The E Cards should also charge faster on the breaker box than on any other low power device..ecards are usually placed on small stuff. Placed on big stuff first and then transferred to small stuff the larger charge seems to populate the small device more completely. I will run another test tonight like I did for the subject of this thread..Tom
Mine is on the outside of the door facing out so when the inspector comes he will see I am a crazy audiophile and be afraid to look inside. I mean in case the constant static zapping from my Tesla coil isn't enough. Also on the outside it helps balance out the Greg LeMond cycling and Porsche art on the walls of the garage. But mostly because it fits that way.
Krissy tells me they have an effective range of several feet. Is closer better? This way, or that? Only one way to know for sure: try and see.
When you guys suggest putting the mat in the breaker box, do you mean over the breakers or on the door? If the door on the inside or outside. The PPT website is devoid of instructions.
I just took the two Cards off the top of my portable CD player where they’ve been for a month, a Mat under the player, and taped one Card to outside of each ear cup of my vintage SONY MDR-v700 headphones. Whoa! Is that even possible! Are the Cards already broken in? You mean the cards break in, not the player? What the ding dong?! One of the several times recently I got a little scared and stopped the player. 😩
side note: I guess nobody has gotten serious about the Graphene paste and pasted all the solder joints in their preamp or amp? Yes, I know you have to take the cover off. 😬
Pretty sure Total Contact will be a whole different story.
It is. It shouldn't be thought of as a contact cleaner.
Keep in mind that it works on things other than the contact points. It works on surfaces as well.
In addition to having Omega mats in the circuit breaker box, I've also pasted the inside of the breaker box door with TC. Same with all of the outlet plates in the listening room. Same with the inside of the lids for my power conditioner and the CD player.
I will be putting TC on everything. Starting back in the 90's its been my practice to take everything apart and clean and condition all points of contact. Sometimes as often as twice a year, sometimes a few years go by. Sometimes clean one way, sometimes another. Much as I'l love to be able to say the XLO was clearly different than the alcohol or the Flitz or the whatever it was, sadly that has not been the case. Which is probably why I can't even remember half the stuff I've tried. The main benefit seems to be cleaning, what or how hardly matters, and if you want to hear a really big difference then wait a really long time.
Pretty sure Total Contact will be a whole different story.
Speaking for my system only, here's where I find the Omega + Mats to be most effective in the following order:
1. In or on the circuit breaker box. 2. On the speakers. 3. Under the power conditioner. 4. Under the electronics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- geoffkait ...
Yes ... lowered the noise while using my Grado RS-1s.
Also, try using a little Total Contact on the headphone jack.
Krissy certainly has an open mind that does not hold her back from trying a new idea or method. She is moving forward in so many ways..Tim would certainly be proud of all her great work. Tom
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