QSA Stones

SIX out of the last 13 posts on the Recent page are by one person. He has nothing of value to say in any of those 6 posts. What he does have to say not only runs counter to the purpose of the discussion, it is derogatory and insulting as well. The overarching attitude is one of stubborn unyielding arrogance. Why oh why is this guy even allowed on the site?

You are right t_ramey he should be banned. Maybe if enough of us request he will be? Meantime please report his abusive posts as what they are: abusive of other members and off-topic. If he wants to start a discussion about snake oil and shills he is free to do so. If he keeps wrecking discussions imposing his unwanted opinions and insults on us we are equally free to report him and request that he be banned.

ecpninja-

Really love Miller carbons setup. Great looking room as well.
Interesting to know how he decided on that speaker setup and what the process was to decide on them.

Thanks. 

The system is in a room built 30 years ago, the culmination of a lifelong dream to have a dedicated listening room. There is so much nonsense around this I won't even go into except to note everything I am talking about is based on actual experience. 

So the room gets built and having drilled into me how important this is first thing when empty the floor is gridded out and I am trying all possible speaker locations. I mean literally gridded out, lines on the floor. Every speaker location I listen to music and also play test tones. Remember 30 years ago we don't just push a button, we have to actually try and learn and understand. By the way when I say all possible I mean all, including listening locations. Speakers go one spot, listen here, then 6" farther back, 6" farther, 6" more- move speakers, move chair, lather rinse repeat. 

 Again, 30 years ago. Thanks to this exhaustive work I have enjoyed really excellent imaging right from Day One. JBL L7, Linaeum Model 10, Vandersteen something or other, Talon Khorus, Moab- if it ain't broke don't fix it. 

Acoustics went through the same process. When my turntable was built Steve Clarke took some pictures and they are a kind of snapshot of what things were like at that point in time. https://theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm We had some guys over recently, Brandon was impressed with how smooth the response was but there is a peak that creates a bit of ringing and this is a good example of how none of this push a button stuff is necessary. I said yeah listen and clapped my hands. Flutter echo, ringing. Moved, clapped, no flutter echo no ringing. Could use some diffusers. You can figure out where just by clapping and listening. Don't cost nothin'. Works. I even know what I want them to look like.  Just need to actually stop and build the damn things.

jerryg123-

I also have the right to debunk junk science. 

Okay, but there is no junk science, and you debunk nothing. If you want to learn to debunk, drop the snarky insults and innuendo and propose some actual science. But you can't, and I know it, and advise you not even try as it will only give me reason to show just how inept you are at it. tick to what you know, blather, only take it somewhere else. Please. I recommend Audio Science Review. They don't know how to listen either. You will feel right at home. 

I wonder if they have a similar effect to SR’s GCT’s (or whatever they’re called)? Those, supposedly, are the bees knees, but I have no experience with them.

SR has so many you got to get it right- HFT, ECT, PHT, probably more. Some like their fuses and outlets use a similar substance. So does NPS1260, so did PPT Total Contact. There are a lot of different aspects to improving sound, and a lot of different approaches resulting from this. A lot of these are complimentary and work together very well. I have a lot of different things in my system that work. Not everything I've tried does work. But everything used in my system sure does, and I have done the demos with people to prove it.

A quick check of the people interested only in mockery shows most of them don't even have a system. One has a decent entry level setup on a normal shelf in front of a fireplace. Just the kind of thing that could be improved a lot for not much investment of money if only he were interested in investing some brainpower to improvement instead of mockery. This is how you do it. Another one seems okay until reading down the system components we find "Cables Gone thru so so many". So a guy who has yet to figure out the basics is mocking more advanced audiophiles.

For reference- and I do mean reference- here is the system of the kind of advanced audiophile you all should be doing your level best to learn from. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 It really doesn't have to cost a lot to make some big moves in the right direction. Just last week someone posted how much better their system sounds just from routing cables as I recommended here. You guys could do it too. First step, maybe not be such a yugebohner. 

QSA Stones are one of a number of different things that do make a very noticeable improvement in sound quality, in spite of the fact no one has a very good explanation of how they work. There are many such things in this world. For example, no one has a very good explanation for why things that work bug certain people so much. Why don't they just pass on to the next thing? Why so triggered they have to make jokes about things they don't understand? No one knows. Yet the lack of a reason never stops them trying to not make their system better. So why should it stop us trying to make our systems better?

There is good reason to think things like this work some sort of effect on the field, which is after all the music signal. Most talk about electricity using the water metaphor, which is all well and good but hopelessly inadequate. Water in a pipe is not affected by radiation outside the pipe. Electricity in a wire most certainly is. This is in fact the principle upon which transformers, phono cartridges, amps and speakers all work.

If you look at any of the Synergistic Research fuses or AC outlets you will notice little blobs of goop stuck on there. They will tell you not to remove the blobs. If sold separately people would mock the blobs. Heck they mock the fuses, they are like Walt in Breaking Bad, "I am the one who mocks!" But it is no surprise the blob is one of the active ingredients.

QSA fuses, when you go up into the more expensive ones they have black stuff stuck on the outside. The more expensive the more black stuff. What is it? How's it work? WTF cares????!!! Are you trying to improve your system or make your own? If improve your system I strongly suggest ignore WHY and focus instead on WHAT. When people say they hear it, do you want to hear it? Or do you want to argue about why?

If you want to build your own then in that case I strongly suggest start reading mahgister. He is doing all the same stuff, only using easily obtainable inexpensive ingredients. Go ask him why. Me, I just want the sound.

Pretty big. I went from Light Blue to Violet, that was insane! Frank has compared QSA Yellow with the new SR Purple and he slightly prefers Purple. I like Yellow enough to feel it is not worth the time and trouble. Now if Ted wants to send me one for free, hint hint, happy to compare! 

I would do it anyway but the darn things are different sizes. I don't mind different values for comparing but different sizes just don't fit. My general approach anyway is once one thing like this is elevated above stock then instead of looking to upgrade that one again it is better to look for something else. Like Pods, elevators, outlets, contacts, that kind of thing. The nice thing about QSA though at least via tweak geeks you can exchange for full value towards a better one. So many little things to consider....

Yes the Stones are quite good. If you want more I would try the QSA Light Blue fuse which is very similar results (if not more) but costs less than Stones.

Mine are on the Blackhawk transformers. I first tried them one at a time. The colors are apt in that red is warmer, clear really is more clear, etc. That is the main thing to keep in mind, they are sort of refined system tuning devices. Not tone controls, the effect is much more sophisticated than that. I could see someone fairly happy with their system but just wishing it was very slightly less aggressive or edgy and not wanting to risk something like cables that might change it a lot the red stones might be just the ticket.

Or if you already had plenty of body and wanted a little more lively dynamic detail then blue or maybe clear would get you there. Or if all three are used together they combine to come back to being an overall neutral across the board improvement. Pretty cool. Only thing I don't like they look like little brown cow pies. With a really, really cheap looking QSA decal. Proving once again you can never have it all.