Sometime we should sit down and have a nice long talk about the difference between damping and isolation. This is not to say I don’t like your idea of throwing everything at the problem except the kitchen sink. 🤗
Miracles in Audio, by luck, by good choices,by design or by tweaking...
I owned a low cost headphone for many years, the Fostex TH7B, first version( a new one close version exist Fostex TH7BK), semi-open headphone...I was never completely satisfied by any headphones I ever owned: Hifiman 400, Stax basic lamda, Stax 5 gold,Akg 340,Akg 701, beyerdynamic 990, and T150... Because in each of them with all their qualities I never listen to at the same times, a confortable headphone with natural timbre and voicing, with a good imaging and a realistic soundstage(not too close to my ears)...
For the last days I tweaked this Fostex, to damp his internal resonance I used sorbothane, I put some shungite stones at the exterior part of the cups and I use some Herkimer diamond in the interior pads( 3 at 120 degree) … Now this low cost headphones crush all my others if I sum all his qualities... For example his mids and voicing cannot beat the AKG 340 but among all my other headphones it is the best that is near that mids and it is more confortable, and with longer cable than the 340...His imaging is better and more realistic than the 340 etc etc...It is the same if I compare with the others...
His most important qualities is natural timbre and clear imaging,very precise pinned point accuracy and natural, so clear it crush for that ALL the others to dust...In the French audio circle the reviews were more than very positive few years ago...Diapason d’or and choc Classica...I am not the only one impressed buy the ratio quality/price... But remember that thesae reviewers dont tweak their headphone...The difference between before and after the tweaks are staggering...
Yes Miracles happens in Audio: cost is under 100 American dollars... Few years ago they cost me 50 bucks new... I never dreamed that I will go back to headphones...
I will enjoy your miracles stories of any kind ….My best to all...
For the last days I tweaked this Fostex, to damp his internal resonance I used sorbothane, I put some shungite stones at the exterior part of the cups and I use some Herkimer diamond in the interior pads( 3 at 120 degree) … Now this low cost headphones crush all my others if I sum all his qualities... For example his mids and voicing cannot beat the AKG 340 but among all my other headphones it is the best that is near that mids and it is more confortable, and with longer cable than the 340...His imaging is better and more realistic than the 340 etc etc...It is the same if I compare with the others...
His most important qualities is natural timbre and clear imaging,very precise pinned point accuracy and natural, so clear it crush for that ALL the others to dust...In the French audio circle the reviews were more than very positive few years ago...Diapason d’or and choc Classica...I am not the only one impressed buy the ratio quality/price... But remember that thesae reviewers dont tweak their headphone...The difference between before and after the tweaks are staggering...
Yes Miracles happens in Audio: cost is under 100 American dollars... Few years ago they cost me 50 bucks new... I never dreamed that I will go back to headphones...
I will enjoy your miracles stories of any kind ….My best to all...
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It seems my idea for cheap isolation platform for my speakers, amplifier and dac was good... "Sorbothane sandwiches": quartz feet, granite plate, sorbothane sheet, cork plate, granite plate, quartz feet, bamboo plate, sorbothane, speakers..... My idea was precisely coupling- and decoupling the resonance and breaking it using different property of different resonant densities materials... It was audibly good for my ears and the cost all in all for my 4 platforms around 100 dollars for all of them ... read that design idea from a polish company : « The FOS-70SXL platform is based on the FOS-7SXL model. It consists of two separate bases. The lower one is made of multi-layer MDF, veneered with ebony wood colored black. It is decoupled from the ground with double carbon steel spikes. The upper section is a metamorphic stone with a specific, irregular structure, enclosed in a wooden box, combined with MDF (upper layer) veneered with ebony in the same black color. This part is decoupled from the bottom platform with spikes. The idea behind this model, as well as other designs of my firm, is isolating from external and internal vibrations by breaking them in many directions from side to side, along with simultaneous absorption by appropriately selected materials.» http://highfidelity.pl/@main-970&lang=en I dont doubt that they are good, but: The price for 2 would be 750 dollars x 2 = 1,500 dollars I need only 4 of them.... Then 3000 dollars versus my 100 dollars :) I dont think that their platform is thirty times better than mine tough...The problem is also they would takes way too more space than mine on my desk... :) Someday I will try the springs idea of Geoffkait and a bed of quartz sand....And compare that to these platforms of mine... |
Since I am unable to go back that far in time, IIRC the Berning amp sounded quite good (why wouldn’t it? 😬), even when he was starting out. If memory serves I sold the Berning EA-230 and got a modified Fisher 500c receiver from Bruce Wenger, remember, Berning’s neighbor. The Fisher 500c was outfitted with aircraft output tubes, a more robust PS and other niceties. That is all ancient history, and crystals, intelligent chips, spooky clocks and springy things were not yet a gleam in my eye 👁 |
You might be interested to know I bought a prototype David Berning amp, if I recall it was EA- 230 some 40 years ago. Berning lived just down the street in MD from Bruce Wenger, (now BWS Consulting in Arlington, VA), another high end amp designer, whose high power Class A tube mono-blocks and power supplies tip the scales at 600 lbs, shipping weight. - Your humble scribe and audio insider from the future. |
What is a low end system? This is relative... My tweaking are not a wasted Unfairlane , you have not listen to my audio system before and after the last 2 years tweaks... And a tweaked moderate price system can be made to sound better than an un-tweaked expensive system.Geoffkait is right on the spot.... I dont dream with a sense of urgency anymore about a high end system...I had my dreamed system in head for sure... For example to beat My Sansui AU 7700, a ZOTL Berning amplifier... To beat my speakers that are very good one, a pair of Harbeth will do... To beat my Starting Point Systems dac at lea the best of Denafrips theTerminator will do... Total cost with power supply around 15,000 thousands... My actual real cost systems bought used (speakers 50 bucks), amplifier (vintage 100 bucks) and new on ebay bid my dac ( 20 bucks) sound so good it will takes this dreamed system of mine to really beat it... And I am not even sure of that, after all, what is the difference between a great big upgrade and some improvement? In dollars enormous for me...In sound quality perhaps not so.... If you own already natural timbre of instrument,and detailed imaging, you owned music and no more just sound, good or bad... When I listened to the same system I own now before addressing the vibrations-resonance embeddings, before the acoustical room embeddings,before the electrical embeddings in the room and house, the same audio system sounded almost very bad to my ears... The same extraordinary dac, the legendary Sansui, and the best speakers Mission ever designed I dont liked them really...After the tweaks all that sound so good that upgrading them with the cost implied seems preposterous... This is my impressions after reading your remark.... My best really to you and thanks for your participation, you will be always welcome... |
Somebody hasn’t heard of the Hierarchy of Sound. I won’t mention any names. The gist of it is, a tweaked inexpensive system can be made to sound better than an un-tweaked moderate price system. And a tweaked moderate price system can be made to sound better than an un-tweaked expensive system. The only constraints are the ones you bring with you. |
Sorry, the “synchronization” of the Schumann generators doesn’t make sense. If it doesn’t make sense it’s not true. It would be like trying to synchronize some clocks in the room to all give the same time all the time. Since the accuracy/precision of the Schumann frequency devices appears to be an issue with them, then I’d say the pathway to the stars is by obtaining more accurate generators and isolating them. You may have to apply damping as well. I suspect your imagination and or your English translation might be a possible culprit in this. 🤗 |
The discovery I speak about was not about the sensible state of a S.G. … I consider with you that electronic components are very sensible to micro seismic influences for example... The realization this scientific discovery made me conscious of, are the nature of the conditions required for a better synchronization about the S.G. Is the S.G. best synchronized between themselves without any modifications? or best synchronized with some modifications, like with some stones or crystals linked to them ? In my experiments my S.G. are best synchronized with the modifications that alters the identical structure a bit... I dont pretend to any discoveries on my own, but i make some observations that are new about my S.G. Thats all... |
As I’ve been saying all along the Schumann device is subject to outside influences. Such as low frequency seismic vibration. Other examples? OK, fuses, cables, vacuum tubes, CD players, turntables. There’s no end to it. 🔚 There’s nothing new under the sun. ☀️ I hate to judge before all the facts are in but this is starting to look like a fairly obvious case of not invented here. 😛 |
I just made an interesting discovery.... Why adding different stones help my identical Schumann generator in their efficiency... Why "nude" Schumann generators are less efficient for transforming my acoustical space? The reason is simple, I stumble to an important discovery in physics, by the way of this article : https://www.sott.net/article/427727-Physics-shows-that-imperfections-make-perfect-systems The principle the researchers discovered in Nature is : " Converse symmetry breaking"... In a word, «"When identical entities interact, they often behave differently from each other," said Motter, who is a professor of physics in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. "But we identified scenarios in which the entities behave identically again if you make them suitably different from each other."» Introducing different stones on my identical seven S.G. makes for them easier their synchronization... Then the enhancement produced by the S. G. is more powerful... And introducing among these seven a 8th S.G. structurally different than these 7 identical others, increase again and improve the synchronisation of all the others... :) Amazing discovery, and an illustration of this important balance everywhere in Nature between symmetry and asymmetry.... The same thing is at the bottom of Mathematics I think....Synchronization between different universes is one of the main feature of the new mathematics by the Japanese prodigious genius Shinichi Mochizuki... For him mathematics is founded on a relative synchronization between endless numbers of universes and their reinitialization histories... This guy recreate mathematics on his own, the story is unbelievable by the way, but his maths are a bit difficult, even for geniuses... This will be of interest to some of you I think.... :) |
I listen now Bach organ opus.... I own already the excellent Hurford interpretation...But the most extraordinary one for me, outpassing any I know of and probably even those I dont know yet :) , is the out of this world hypnotic rendition by the blind master Walcha...Incredibly moving and a portal to the astral world...The density of his playing is balanced by a perfect rhythmic-pulsating integration of all parts that sound like all melodies are fluid letters of a superior hologram.... If miracles exist this is one... Other organists plays well, sound in some case may be better (the Walcha sound is good tough) but Walcha plays Bach like Bach wanted to plays himself for himself, it is no more organ, it is pure music....I dont like organ music particularly and generally, I now know why; after that, all other playing compared to this one are finally only trials and errors... :) The beauty exhaled most of the times is so powerfully radiant that heaven is on earth and the Bach music is this sensible proof played by Bach or Walcha...No more needs of the distribution of primes to remind me of the universal spirit encompassing all... That says something, if you are not deaf indeed, and even if you are, listen, and wait for the miracle, it will happen .... I apologize for my rant, but it is difficult to be mere" rational" in the ecstasy of reason.... Another remark: the marvellous choices of his organs does not explain or replace the perfection of his rendition and of his playing...The sound of these organs indeed only participate in the miracles for sure...In a word these instruments sounded like metal in fusion stasis, more liquid than crystallised like most other organs.. I interrogate myself about this Walcha’s Bach version which I had known for 30 years , and which I never listened to for the last 15 years... Why did I listen to it no more is simple, I had an audio system only for the last 7 years...And the sound of the organ is too much difficult to render on a poor audio system... Now I can listen to it without end for hours, because my audio system is able in near listening field to communicate the spatial 3 dimensional distribution of the organ different stops...It is the first times in my life that I listen to this imaging with this music...I cannot underestimated in any way the magnificent playing of this giant....I have known that for years, but it is the first times I listen to it truly.... It is more than moving... My best to all... |
My new addition, well, one of my new additions, is Double-sided adhesive *highly conductive* metal-cloth tape. The tape is copper/nickel + high-conductivity acrylic. A Big roll, free shipping from China, from eBay. I lost confidence in the adhesive backing that comes with the shungite plates. Of course, the adhesive for the shungite needs to be highly conductive. In any case, the metal cloth tape seems to better than the rubbery adhesive - I.e., more conductive. I removed the original adhesive with isopropyl alcohol, then apply a one-inch section of tape. Voila! My new configuration for 2 BLACK Schumann doohickies is one eCard on one side, one shungite plate with Flying Saucer on the other side, using the metal-cloth tape for attaching to the SR. All isolated with 1 Hz suspension. I’m also using stacked eCards, two per side, all of which are charged for 2 days on breaker box, on my Sony MDR-700v headphones. As usual, I have a bunch of simultaneous experiments going on so I’m not 100%, maybe only 92%. I return you now to your regular channels. |
I read one of the first positive experiment confirmation with my golden plate on another thread... I am glad that someone report something favorable about my free product and creation...But alas! none here for the time being... :) For me for the last weeks, with all these experiments ongoing, the audible upgrade is in his last stage...If you had immersive imaging + natural timbre of instrument +dynamic, the only future upgradings will be minor ameliorations that could seems important for sure, any positive minor change is a treasure for an audiophile, but minor changes tough compared to where I come from... My best to silent Geoffkait, and other ghosts, inhabiting this thread... |
In my last upgrade post I forget to add to the list this spectacular changes when I put tiny quartz stick on the arms level of the tone controls of my Sansui AU 7700 and on the arms level of the loudness, muting, and mode controls...This simple tweak made a big impact indeed...With the addition of the last 2 big plates on the router (3 now) and on the breaker panels (6 now) it is the last necessary addition I think, the audio system begins to settle around his highest potentials on all counts... I reintroduce some thinner golden plates on some S.G. with success...The problem, if there is one, is to always balance the plates with tourmaline or H.D. for the best S.Q. and use a not too big thin shungite plate for cell phone.... The proof for me is there, we dont know how much good any relatively good audio system we owns is already, and we spend big money to upgrading it by changing it, instead of the necessary simple modifications. I repeat that because nobody insist on this fundamental information and fact...It is not always a so called "better electronic component " that can transform the audio system, it is simply addressing the vibrations-resonance problems, the acoustical room treatment, the electrical embeddings of the room and the house, and some other simple and homemade tweaks... Now I will wait for some of you to confirm some of my simple experiments..... My best to all... |
Now a particular update on my actual changes and improvement... I added one very big "golden" plate on the central breaker panel and at the same times another big plate on the router-modem of my house(there is 2 plates instead of one now); after removing some 2 days ago some thin plates off the S.G. (3 now had thin plate, 5 had not) with a resulting more balancing effect and after that, 2 days ago also, adding one big plate on the peripheral breaker panel near my audio room, all these make very great upgrading changes indeed... In fact the changes for the last few days are staggering, they are cumulatively going in the same direction always: clarity, natural timbre, better dynamics, 3-d holographic encompassing imaging in nearfield or regular distance listening... If I had read this forum thread of mine like I was a complete stranger and not the writer, I would had been very sceptic, especially with the repeating same metaphors used to describe a set of continuous upgrading that seems without end... There is an end in fact, the process seems without end only because my audio system was one year ago so far off his maximum potential quality, that his actual sound is in no way related to this initial sound...My amazement comes with that... And each little change has appeared big to me at first because they were unexpected and very audible... It is because of this that I know for fact that most of us dont even know the potential of their actual owned audio system to begins with...I am near the end of this process I think with these golden plates tweaks and other methods I was using...With all these last results, i dont need to upgrade my gear, except for a fundamental upgrade that I cannot afford anyway, going from an under one thousand system to a 15 thousand one to really beat it... This speak volume about my happiness and actual satisfaction because music is music, I have it, and I dont feel frustration in any way... In the next few days the postal office will deliver to me 2 other big plates, I will put one on the router-modem adding to the 2 already there, and put one more on the central breaker panel...These will be the last moves probably... To continued.... My best to all... |
In the meantime, for relaxing I am listening Kurt Weill, Dreigroschenoper, the version with Nina Hagen and Max Raabe... Another level of sound quality I do not enjoy a month ago...incredible...Same cd files, and not the same imaging at all and a better rendition of the voices timbre and instrument... Proof for my ears about these tweaks value... |
I listen now to Jan Dismas Zelenka’s trios sonatas, chamber music by the bohemian Bach... (Heinz Holliger interpretation) I nerver listened till now to this same cd files with so beautiful 3-d layerings of sound waves... Thanks to the experimental working of the last months tweaks (no upgrade whatsoever)... By the way Zelenka deserved to be more known...His music had the same stable perfect density chords ratio as that of Bach, a feat difficult for anyone to match... addendum: I listen to the first cd file without being able to stop for the last hour... I feel must compelled to continue without stopping with the second cd files of this perfect musical opus which I know already for years now, but which I never had listened with a so musical sound quality …. Almost unrecognizable and more than pleasurable now... :) |
When you put a nephrite, or a jade, a jasper, a quartz, a tourmaline, an agate, an amethyst, a shungite, an Herkimer diamond, a malachite, or a chrysocolla, and many other less audio-wise efficient stones, like ruby, labradorite, fluorite etc., on a Schumann Generator, located in the room, the effect on the sound is VERY SPECIFIC, and none of these stones will act only passively by solely absorbing and transforming vibrations... Some like shungite or lava beads are not even piezo-electric crystals and their working effect is similar in power and they are in fact more powerful, and they must be used with some cautions to be positively effective... Each stones seems to lend to the S.G. or near the gear where the stones are located, some VERY SPECIFIC quality inherent to their own structure...This quality work actively like a filtering action potential at the acoustical and electronical and electro-magnetic level, all at the same times... This observation of mine is there to convey my impression and is absolutely not science nor scientific, only metaphors...But anyway nobody has never explained to me the facts discovered in these experiments with sound...Perhaps there is a scientist that can, unbeknownst to me; probably, but for the moment I need to hear from him... |
GENERAL UPDATE CONTINUING : I had counted 15 big "golden" plates in my system + 15 small one... The sound will be compressed if the G.P. are too much near amp, dac, cd player etc... In general using them with tourmaline or Herkimer Diamond or quartz will be balancing or compensating, decreasing the compression, increasing all positive effects... The most effects will be on the breaker panels and behind speakers... At the end effectively located, with compensating stones, I had 3-d imaging, with no compression, on the contrary an atmospheric imaging... The key is to experiment because each audio system is very peculiar and ask specifics tweaking... My best to all... |
GENERAL UPDATE: After many experiments, I must conclude that the "golden" plates are at their best used in these locations: On the exterior electrical meter of the house On the central breakers panel of the house On the peripheral breaker panel of the room Behind the speakers On unused wall plugs On some interconnections ( not all of them) determined by listening experiments On the computer router or modem On some of the computer connectors (hard drive, optical convertor etc) On the power conditioner They works optimally where they are not too much near the audio system except thin "golden" plate on some connection which location are determined by listening experiments... I decide to remove the thin "golden plates" and keep only Herkimer diamond and tourmaline on some of the Schumann generators... Sound is more balanced with some of the S. G. with the "golden" thin plates +tourmaline, but Some S.G. with only Quartz or Herkimer Diamond or tourmaline... On my small usb S.G., 3 had a "golden" plate with tourmaline or H.D. now, and the 5 others had tourmaline or some other stones only...These varieties and variations create a more harmonious sound... |
When you know about something, that something begins to exist without doubt and in a new way, you can think about it and perceive it in a new contextual embedding... I know for sure , for the last 2 years, especially in the last months, that the electrical embedding, the radio interference or any electro-magnetic interferences, interact negatively with any electronical pieces of audio, increasing the level of noise... Today, this knowledge permeating me, I was looking at my amplifier in a new way and at a new angle, then i decided suddenly to try something that I never have tried before... I was seeing the tone controls of my Sansui AU 7700, some kind of small aluminium arms, welling out of their hole or apertures in the metal frame of the amplifier, and suddenly, like the holes on a unused wall plug, I begin to understand that these holes are like some doors open for any electrical interference, like some vulnerable holes in the shielding armor of the thick frame... I decide to put some 5 thin quartz sticks horizontally layering on the small arms... And guess what? The more refined sound coming from the amplifier trough the speakers touch another level, a truly more subtle and delicate imaging was being born before my eyes ( ears) a truly unheard musicality … :) There is no end to the cleaning of noise it seems... The musicality is now so refined, it is like I bought another better amplifier ....Incredible truth I know... Simple as that : 5 thin sticks of pink or smoked quartz made miracles in an already heavily tweaked audio system...The change is audible in regular listening and in near listening field without any doubt nor placebo effect... Too great impactful effect to misplace it... My best to all music lovers... IMPORTANT OBSERVATION: In a less cleaned embeddings than my actual audio system, the same tweak would not gives the same perceived impactful effect... Probably way less amazing, because the increased level of noise already there will veiled his impact greatly...For example decreasing the noise coming from the central breakers panels of the house is more a priority and will gives some clarity to the sound, making possible for some future subtle and more refined changes, but absolutely no less spectacular improvements in any way, to be perceived greatly... |
Thanks for your wise observation about synergy between components... But except for some electronical incompatible choices, assessible by measures comparison, which is your point, synergy are really only assesible at the end in an optimal electrical house embedding and room, and in a controlled vibrational-resonance embedding, and finally in an optimal acoustical room embedding also...Then the most important point is to create the conditions that will makes possible a final judgement about all synergies... I wish you the best ... |
I'm an IT guy who has written hundreds of interfaces, integrating dis-similar systems with each other. As I've pursued my journey as an audiophile, I paid attention to the "synergies" of the various components I've selected over the years. As I've gone thru the process of upgrading this and that, I've understood that it's difficult to say "this amp is the best" or "those speakers are the best", rather it's the synergies between this amp and those speakers that produces an outcome that either "works" or "doesn't work"...for my hearing. Fortunately, I've been able to hear "this amp" with "those speakers" and enjoy a system with a lot of great synergies, one that I'll enjoy for years to come. |
The only thing this audio hobby have teach me is that what we already owns is able to reach a potential sound quality unbeknownst to us, sometimes at very high level...Nevermind the price.... The only thing the audio market advise us generally is to buy to upgrade the audio system we already owns without thinking about the conditions of his right implementation and embedding which could make it able to reach this true sound quality potential unknown to us to this day...Nevermind the price... Think about that discovery: most of us dont know the fine audio possibilities of our audio system that are veiled behind, vibrations, high noise level, bad acoustic room, and the least effort to "tweak" what we have, when we contemplate the easy solution : to buy.... Nevermind the price.... This thread about miracles is truly about the greatest miracle in audio: The transformation of a system we dont like enough in one that is at the top of his potential and which we begins to truly love...Nevermind the price... |
I put a golden plate, not on the central electrical panel of my house in the basement, I had already 5 G.P. there, no, this time, I put it on an electrical breaker panel in the second floor of my house near my audio room... I had only lava beads on this panel already, adding the golden plate makes a big difference... I accidentally forget today to connect 2 USB Schumann Generator, and the sound was slightly more compressed, I connect them anew and bingo! the imaging was there like never... This 10 dollars S.G. works marvellously and at around 80 bucks for all the 7 ( I dont count the BLACK UFEEL one at 50 bucks) I dont know if the top Hi-Fi audiophile Acoustic Revive one will be able to replace them all... I dont think so for the simple reason that their range of action all around me at different height variation is better than only one, even more precise and powerful... The Black UFEEL is precise tough and in the critical spot seating on my screen computer that makes a big difference...The Acoustic revive S.G. is way too big to be located there... But the difference in cost is so much I dont ever think about that one...And they work audibly well indeed located around my listening position in my small audio room...Then for me it is the deal...Cheap to replace also... And believe it or not I use one of them near my bed and my sleep has never been better for the last 3 months... |