Are cryo'd tubes always better?

09-26-12: Br3098
Exposure to extremely low temperatures will almost always cause a weakening of the structural integrity for most metals and alloys. One of the guys I went to school with worked for NASA and NAA on the Space Shuttle project, and later on the initial planning for the ISS. Anyone who believes that cryo is universally good for any commercial metal structure should read some of the white papers and technical information that is available to the public.

I understand your position and in some cases I can verify your statement is true. In other cases not.

The worst result from cryo came with treating tightly wound transformers, both large (amps or speakers) and tiny (MC Cartridges). After ruining several pieces we concluded that the transformer had no room to "compact itself" when shrinkage occurred at super low temperature. This caused fractures to the wire and even after lengthy break in times the damage seemed to be irreversible.

On the other hand, what Geoffkait claims is also true. I sell electrical outlets that are cryo treated and it does help the sound. If the cost is low enough to be worth the benefit I see no harm. Especially product that appears after many years experimentation to suffer absolutely no harm.

Precisely on this topic, my experience with cryo tubes are that they sound the same or worse. I have (unfortunately) not been successful with cryo versions. Then again, I suspect the tube type, tube design, circuit it's used in, personal taste and other factors all play a role.

That's odd. Plenty of transformers and MC cartridges have been cryo'd over the last 15 years without failures. Besides, copper is a ductile metal and should not fracture, even under this sort of duress.

Were you able to observe fractures in the wire? Just curious.

If the cryo is done to bare wire I agree totally with you and Zmanastronomy, excellent results.

If the wire for the transformer is cryo before it's tightly wound, no risk and great benefit. Some transformer designs may survive and sound great even if treated after assembly.

I'm betting this varies by design, tightness and density of the windings, the core material and so on.

The discovery of the negative side came when I was involved with Benz Micro of Switzerland years ago. At one time I did all their high end photography (magazine ads and show displays).

Anyway, I was doing their new product photography line and came up with the idea to cryo their top MC cartridges to improve performance.

After the experiment failed (sound wise) with both the Sound-Lab Ultimate toroidal transformers and a couple of expensive Benz cartridges the factory in Switzerland verified the damage and explained the results to me.

I assumed the same for the Sound-Lab transformer, but it was not microscopically examined. I returned it to Roger and Connie and I don't know what happened to it after that.

It made me a bit negative on cryo transformers. The loss of those top tier Benz cartridges and Sound-Lab best toroidal was depressing even though I was not held responsible for the damage the experiment caused.