Alternatives to Stoplight Pen RIP

Pen is discontinued. 
When it first became a hype I was sceptic about it. 
Now I only do this with cdr cd's. 
Main thing that realy works is the edge still is like a mirror. I made a handtool load a disk on a spindle and this may scratch your thoughts I sand the edge first lightly so it turns to a doll surface. 
I take a normal black edding marker permanent. And make the edge black, I do it twice one coat is still too light. 
The blow off sanding residue from sanding dust of the CD. When clean and dryed up black edge. 
Try it out. 
I use a teac vrds 10se cd player and external DAC. 

Bass will be a little tider overall soundstage a bit more clear heights will be less harsh. 
This is only in very little proportions. 
But cd sounds some more clear. 
I don't like to spend 25$ on a pen. 
Just sandpaper like grid 200 and a 1€ black edding pen. 
When I do the procedure without sanding there is almost not any difference. 
Making the egde doll do far more. 

The green Uni Posca water-based poster-paint marker is equivalent.

Regards,

Years ago (about 20) after hearing about painted edges improving the sound of CD's, I theorized that to work, such a marker would need to prevent the reflection of the 790nm laser light at the edge of the CD's in my CD player, either by absorbsion or transmission at the edge of the disc. Working with markers that I could find in a local craft shop (water washable so I could change colors easily) I decided to experiment with transmission properties. The result was a definite change in the sound of the discs I applied the markers to. I concluded that purple worked best, and after comparing the various colors to a color frequency chart, I found that its wavelength was closest to being an even multiple of the laser's - which I had expected to transmit best through the edge of the disc. I later set up an experiment to test my theory and found that the purple marker did indeed have the greatest tranmistivity of all the colors I used (for absorbsion I expected that opaque green would be the best at absorbing the laser light).

When I switched to permanent markers I found that they became somewhat opaque over time - no longer the clear purple color that worked so well in the beginning. I then switched to paint markers (also from my local craft shop) and found that various colors of green also worked well (my absorbsion theory). I later tested the Stoplight pen against the green markers I was using and found that its particular green color seemed to be best overall, so consequently I chose to use it for my discs, and still use to this day.

It was all an interesting project for me which if nothing else, at least convinced me of the validity of the Stoplight pen, which I now use on all of my serious listening CD's. Too bad they will no longer be available - guess I better stock up! :o)

"Auric Illuminator pen any good?"- The pen in the latest version of Auric is very, as is their new gel.

Is the Auric Illuminator pen any good? I was thinking of trying out the Mikro-smooth + Auric + Ionoclast combo to see if it is any better than the Mikro-smooth + Optrix + Ionoclast combo I have been using.

Tony

the difference between the cd stoplight and the art store markers is that the "paint is completely different and the nib on the audioprism pen has a notch to make for a neat application rather than getting it on the face of the disc.

just my experience

Sean-

Could'nt stay away huh?

Good to hear from you. Now- back to work!

Seems to me that I read, several years ago, that Audio Prism did not actually manufacture this pen. I believe it was a marker of European origin and available at some art supply stores (probably for $1.19). Any 'Goners remember this?

Check out this Greening product from LAT international.

Also consider their "Once and Done" mold remover, "Clean Disc", disc cleaner and their "C-Diamond" optical enhancer with antistatic.

This combination can surprisingly keep the upgrade bug at bay. You will be surprised at how good your software (CD's DVD's SACD's and DVD-A) really sounds once the Laser can read it.

Green Line
CD Enhancement
Green coloring on the edges of a CD disk does improve the sound quality of the disk, but why? Probably no one knows for certain, but the theory that the green material absorbs stray and refracted rays of the laser beam is as likely a theory as any. We do know, however, that our Green Line treatment will passively reduce the the effects of stray light that ultimately causes jitter. By absorbing the stray light at its source, the contact point of beam and disc, it is far better than attempting to reduce its effects further down the chain with electronic jitter filteres. Of interest also, is that we have found that the effectiveness of the treatment is related not to the actual material of the dye or ink, but rather to its surface texture and to how closely the wave length of the green is to the complement of the 790 NM laser beam. A simpler example is the relationship of a blue wave length that is the exact complement to a wave length of yellow. The blue and yellow will cancel each other out and what remains is black. Black is the absence of color. Our Green Line is formulated to match as closely as possible the required wave length. Green line can be used together with C Diamond for additional performance enhancement.

Disclaimer... I do not work for, or distribute any Lat Products, I am just a totally satisfied customer for years.

HTH dave

bllack marker may not work as well, but it definitely does work! even verified by my surprised and usuallly un-interested wife. and on a cost benefit basis, probably better...

While i've not had any positive experiences using markers on CD edges, someone posted here or at AA about a specific Cyan coloured marker working best. This has to do with the specific wavelength of light emitted by the laser and the amount of absorption / reflection that the Cyan achieves. Sean
>

oh...yeah...and ditto what Richard says...I tried the black sharpie laundry markers...they don't work as well.

Ellery

No, you cannot use any marker.

No, black will not work as well.

I would call Red Rose Music, as they were big believers in the product. I also had been told that they had bought Audioprism a few years back. But, that may have just been the amplifier line.

Good luck,
Richard

I'm sure someone has some backstock...I'd better get one myself before they are all gone...been a fan of them since 91.