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Fun Little Project for improving Dynamics

Fun little project, or Tweak that will improve system dynamics, soundstage, frequency extremes.

Try using Amethyst crystals. Get them in small sizes and unprocessed. I bought a pound on EBay for $10 including shipping.

To clean the unprocessed crystals prior to use, I soak the crystals in distilled water with Aquarium salt. Mixing it to become a strong sea salt mixture and letting them soak for about 8+ hours.
Then pour off the sea salt and soak the crystals with 90% or better alcohol for about an hour. After that, drain off the alcohol and rinse well with just distilled water.
Finally, let the crystals dry in a bowl in the sun.

Start with placing small amounts (25-40 crystals) in the plastic baggy things and tape the bag over your Circuit breakers to your system or on top of power cables IEC/Male end.
You can even buy at Radio Shack small project boxes. When using these types of boxes I put a lot more of the crystals in them.
You can use Blu Tack or 3M tape to stick these project boxes to outlet strips, junction boxes, over outlets, etc.

For reasons still unclear to me, it may take a few weeks (perhaps as much as 4 weeks) to sound good.

But, when it does, the dynamics will improve and so will the overall sound stage and frequency extremes.

Please note:
Too much of the crystals may actually surpress the dynamics, but with the baggies you can experiment with how much of the crystals to use.

I have experimented with all kinds of different crystals, from Topaz, to Tourmaline, to Quartz and etc. The Amethyst crystals seem to work the best.
128x128ozzy
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magfan
1,583 posts
 
I spent a long time....I won't admit to how long (!) adjusting a tweaking just the physical setup of my system.
Just for example:
I added a sub. Did some 'gross' testing with bass heavy music and decided I liked the sub on plane with my panels and about 1 foot from the side wall. This put the sub, sort of, in a corner. Crawled around the room and decided that for all feasible listening positions I was good. Room is 8 sided and has asymmetric vaulted ceiling, about 11' at the peak. Good for me! Started adjusting level and crossover frequency. Decided on maximum extension rather than maximum output mode. Tweaked speaker position. Tweaked some more. Shut off sub and tried yet again. Finally, put the panels 'backwards' with the mylar facing the back wall and the pole piece to the listener. OOPS! flip the sub phase switch and bass returned. Adjusted the crossover frequency down again and marked the gain position for reference.
Adjustments were minutes apart at the start and days or more at the end of the process.

Left it alone for days between above adjustments. Last week, I got out the ruler / tape measure and documented my setup. Made ONE final adjustment to panel toe to make them match. They are NOW at 30.5" to the inside edge of the trim strip and 34" to the outside edge with tweeters IN. This is about 11 degrees.

Don't touch that dial.

Point? Well, I'm not a snap judger. If something bugs me, it may take a while, especially if it is minor. I don't have that feeling now.

Same for you. If you remove / don't remove the stones, you may find your EAR adjusts to them or LACK of them. IF as you say, it takes up to FOUR (gasp) weeks for them to work in, you should notice their absence immediately, no?

Just my opinion, but I think it's the 'Shirley MacLaine Effect'. Other than metaphysics or religion, I simply can't figure how this would work with known principles.
av_tech's avatar
av_tech
2 posts
 
haha I worked in the audio industry for years and heard all kinds of whacky stuff but this post has to be the best yet! love it!
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
It all sounds too goofy to me , but then Ive had the smurk wiped off my face many times before with tweeks and such . Don't knock it till you try it .
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
Picked up some very small tumbled Amethyst, cleaned them and put them in small baggies and draped them over my power cords. There is a definite and distinct audible difference. If you are one of the ones making fun of this then you haven;t actually tried it. it makes no sense, but it does SOMETHING(?).

Too much makes things closed in and dull sounding. There also seems to be a difference when used on the plug end or on the IEC end. It didn't sound good at all on my CD player cord no matter where or what I tried. Same with the amp cord. It does improve things when placed on my phono preamp and my regular preamp and my power junction box that feeds the source components.

No BS. For $10 on E-Bay you can try this and speak with some meaningful knowledge instead of snarking at those not afraid to experiment. I can't explain it and I won't try.
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