Shakti Stone

I have had one for decades.  Initially, I used it on top panels that had been unscrewed but kept in place for quick internal access. The Shakti did a decent job of securing/damping those panels.

Since then, I have not been able to find an application for it, so it sits in the closet.  What are you intending to use it for?

My local dealer told me that the Shakti Sone was his most returned item.  

I never got down to that level. But here is a couple short reviews.

https://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue36/shakti.htm

https://www.audiokeyreviews.com/the-reviews/shakti-stone-air-online-air

Give one a try. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. 

I've always been curious to try one too but not so curious that I've bought one.

Are those still around?

Here you go, everything you always wanted to know about using Shakti Stones.

What they don’t tell you is that when purchased used, Shakti Stones are like a crypto haven for your money - they are still selling for the same $100 they sold for 20 years ago!

My neighbor has several shakti stones under the hood of his Ford truck. 

He says his engine runs great on a 75% water / fuel ratio, but he keeps it under 40% in order not to catch government’s attention. He says "you shouldn’t be greedy", and he has a point.

I put half a bag of cement on my DAC I find it works just as well.

I have found that results will vary depending upon your location, sensitivity of audio components and the amount of (EMI) and/or (RFI) interfearence you have. 

The improvement can be so slight that the average listener may not notice, which is why many people say the Shakti Stones don't work. I'm say they work but your improvement in noise reduction will vary.

I had a friend with the Skakti stones. He also had the little tiny bowls that would hit right at the spot of the reflection point. He had a beautiful Luxman Magico system.

I think if any of these chockskies did anything at all, it was to help him pay attention to everything. It all matters a little and if that stone brings you deeper in to paying attention to other areas go for it. You can even pay $4000 for a rod with resonators on it. I saw an $18000 power strip the other day. 

Sometimes the ritual of using something deepens our appreciation of the hobby to the point that makes it worth it.   I haven't used the Shakti stone but a few of the other above with some outcomes harder to hear than others. Go after the speaker positioning so it grips your room, locks in. That's worth about a $10,000 improvement if you get it right, and it's free.  Get the stone too.

@bjesien  +1

"I think if any of these chockskies did anything at all, it was to help him pay attention to everything."

I will return to this thread in the future if I need to identify the fools.

Why say anything @unclewilbur 

How do they work?

Stoned since 1995!

What it does:

"Shakti Stone eliminates/minimizes external EM field exposure"

How it works:

US patent 5.84.761 explains it all and includes exploded views for even more clarity. Basically the Stone is an EMI dissipation or dispersion device using three different circuits. Each circuit is tuned for a certain band like microwave, radio frequency and electric field.

Circuits explained in this review.

EMI Testing - have fun...

No wonder they hold their price!

Reddit for stereos here these days

I use mu metal to shield my phono step up from EMR. HVAC is outside nearby and causes noise otherwise.  I wonder if Shakti would work for that? Would be an interesting test. 

Why say anything @texasblues1959 

@mitch2  *L*  Not so much crypto, more like cryptic....
If the former, the price would have oscillating up ’n down like a yoyo....

I’ve an old friend that still owns her fathers’ ’41 Ford with a flathead 4, the front engine mounts are a pair of water pumps.  One of the ’duties’ of being her boytoy was to periodically jack the engine up and take the weight off the pumps to replace one or the other and recycle it.  Turns out, then and likely still now, the pump traveled to Brazil to be restored and returned.

Turns out, like Cuba, there’s still a lot of the old iron still on the streets.
We thought of, but never tried, marking the case of one to see if it ever ended up back in our possession eventually....

One wonders if the stones are subject to the same song ’n dance if they end up back in a dealers’ shelf as @testpilot noted. 
Ought not to be too difficult to recycle a rock.... 😏

Personally, I’d rather just do some ’inhalation therapy’ of a fav herbal that Yes, can’t be recycled but has far more impact on my audio appreciation events....

...but, to mangle a quote, I’m just bored that way...;)

I have both the old version and newer 'air' model, tried them on virtually every component. In general they have this tendency to provide the blacker background thing, problem is they tend to darken the sound unnaturally, some of the life sucked out. Certain freq affected, perhaps a bit of micro dynamics lost as well as some spaciousness in sound stage. I purchased many years ago, have continually experimented with them, haven't used them on a component in years, currently using one on breaker box door directly in front of dedicated audio system breakers, this mostly  just to get use for one, can't really say if its having any effect. I will say if using on a component try spacing them slightly away from sitting directly on component, this mitigates the darkness somewhat such that I could imagine it could help in certain situations.

Yes, the 'device' has magnets and other stones within it....I can read the copy at the sites....😒
This one still wonders just how the 'it' and it's arrangement of 'bits' was arrived at in the first place....much like the composition of exotic cables deigned to improve signals and the blurbs exhorting same....

The religions that stalk audio enthusiasm have a marked quality that remind me of religions in general.....

We can't prove Heaven, Hell, or an afterlife either...or one's god for that matter.

Faith should be limited to the mortal plane until some essence of quantum concepts raises the bar into that realm....then, I might be swayed to knell.

I was raised Catholic....got tired of the guilt exponent within it....

Parents didn't want me to be a 'heathen'... and I couldn't feel comfortable with a Bronze Age belief directing my life.

Extend that into my audiophila unless you've more than a blunt instrument.

I bought one because I'm a big believer in reducing EMI effects and tried it on various components with no apparent benefits.  I was about to write it off as snake oil until I rechecked where the transformer was located in my 1990s Krell preamp.  I found a Youtube video that showed a much different location than I had thought.  When I then moved the Stone to be on top of the transformer, I believe it helped with both dynamics and detail.  I'll probably buy another soon and experiment with placing it on my phono preamp transformer.  I'm very skeptical that it would actually benefit all components, but transformers notoriously emanate EMI so I think amps are the best use for them.

@unclewilbur Original.

Yep, transformers, hard drives emanate much EMI/RFI. Good one is to try on power conditioners.

@texasblues1959 

Alright, let's go for it. Wanna play?

I'm your huckleberry!

Can someone (or the manufacturer) just use an EMI/RFI meter to test it before and after, instead of making these meaningless proclamations? If the manufacturer doesn’t provide test results—or refuses to—there’s a 99% chance it’s snake oil. The burden of proof is on them.

@lanx0003 - Did you not see this link?

Sorry, I missed that. How about RFI? Oops, I made another mistake—RFI is actually a subset of EMI.

@unclewilbur  I agree.. 

@mitch2 

In fairness, hyperlinks in Audiogon forums are completely invisible on some devices / browsers. So unless the hyperlink text is actually like "go there" or "click here" readers m are very likely to miss it.

Audiogon’s forum software is terrible. You can’t even post a picture right in your post! Come on folks, this is 2025. Please get your act together already.

@devinplombier - Thanks, I didn’t know that about viewing text with links - those show in a blue color on my screens.  However, I also imagine some who are color insensitive would not see them.

Regarding the site, it would also be nice to be able to post likes/dislikes without writing a new post.  Must be easy to do since so many others do it.

Can someone please send a Shakti Stone to Amir at ASR for a full review.

Haven’t seen a post about these in a while.  Personal perception, preference and experience is such an interesting part of this hobby.  Whether or not you believe it makes a difference, you’re right.

Can a Shakti Stone double as a pet rock?  It would provide companionship for those lonely listening sessions.  You could talk to your rock but if it starts talking back it’s time to take a walk outside and get some fresh air.  

I can't believe I have made it this far ... 

@unclewilbur No you are not, let it go why, demean people for something you have no knowledge or experience with. ASR may be more your pace son. 

@lordmelton 

🤣🤣🤣

Can someone please send a Shakti Stone to Amir at ASR for a full review

It does nothing in my system.

they work really well placed on your circuit breaker you will be surprised at the difference much better then putting on a component

Chia pet.

I was given a Shakti Stone as a present from someone I helped to get hired for a job as a software engineer. I kept it for several years moving it here and there, trying to locate the power source on components so that I could put it on top. I heard nothing. Eventually I put it on eBay and got $175 for it from a guy in Japan. I threw it in a padded manila envelope and sent it off to him. I've never missed it.

Lak is right for average listeners they might not discern the difference.

Go grab an old brick from the backyard (it must be a red brick!), clean it thoroughly, then paint it blue (you must paint it blue, and use at least three coats), and you’ve now got a great substitute for a Shakti Stone at a fraction of the price. The paint might set you back $10, but such a small price to pay for such an incredible improvement to the sound quality of your system. You can expect a lower noise floor, a wider and deeper soundstage, and more definition of the individual instruments. Go ahead and give it a try. You are likely to enjoy the exact result as described above.

@wesheadley Nope, won't work. One must pay

Ok I'll sell you a red brick for $175 and include shipping and PayPal fees

These work but you need a mid level or better high end audio system to hear the effects of what the metal does for electrical/magnetic fields. 
 

I have one under my pass amp where the toroidal transformer is. The amp

is on a raised stand. Moving the stone away from under the toroidal transformer the sound becomes a little less clear and some fine details are lost. 
 

Have tried this on my buddies entry level high end amp. Really could hear no difference on his audio system. 
 

if you have a well put together high end audio system in the $15k+ range the additional clarity the stone provides is noticeable.
 

This is a final tweak when one has already minimized other distortions from cables, isolation devices, etc.