Sonic Tonic fom the Tweek Geek

@dlcockrum & @ozzy 
Interesting...
Thanks for the posts. 

Dave,

I do have the Mad Scientists discs, but I think the Sonic Tonic is better. I did find that too many of them will squelch the dynamics. But one on the end of the IEC should not dull the sound.

Anyway, next place I plan on trying the Sonic Tonics is inside my breaker box next to the incoming power lines and on each of my 3 dedicated circuit breakers.

ozzy

@ozzy 
Have you tried the WA Quantum fuse chip?
Thanks for your responce...

I would be interested if anyone has sent his fuse off to the Cryo lab or has applied Contact Enhancer to the end caps. Or is that too crazy? 😜 Another trick is to wedge a square of 1/8 or 1/16 cork under the fuse holder. Speaking for myself I almost always painted the end caps with a violet pen. Or any electrical connection. 

lak,

I do have a WA Quantum fuse chip on any fuses that are not the SR Black. Are these still being sold?

ozzy

@costco_emoji  It measures about 5.25 inches.

geoffkait:

I would be interested if anyone has sent his fuse off to the Cryo lab or has applied Contact Enhancer to the end caps. Or is that too crazy? 😜 Another trick is to wedge a square of 1/8 or 1/16 cork under the fuse holder. Speaking for myself I almost always painted the end caps with a violet pen. Or any electrical connection. 

How would the violet pen theoretically affect conductivity in a positive manner?

@jay23 I’m not claiming the violet pen affects conductivity one way or the other. I suppose it could be related to the photoelectric effect, which of course would be good for conductivity. Now, if we were talking about the Red X Pen which, now that I think about it, could also be used on the fuse to enhance performance, then I would say it definitely does not (rpt not) affect conductivity. Nor does it affect vibration, RFI/EMI, or anything traveling through the fuse. 🖍

@ozzy VH Aodio use to sell them, I'm not sure if they are still available?

Hey ozzy, have you tried the Sonic Tonic on your tv power cables? I took Mike at Tweek Geek up on his 30 trial for the Sonic Tonic and while I wasn’t too crazy about the change in sound it did for my stereo system I found it does increase clarity on the picture of my Panasonic tv. And it’s something that’s very quick to discern, no long settling process. I got used to the great picture that I ended up keeping the Sonic Tonic.

-Just saw your original post where you indeed tried it on your video. I currently have two bottles on the tv cable and two on the oppo cable. Which by the way I've been using the Furutech DPS-4 on my tv. I think it's the first cable to outperform the Cerious in my system. Waiting to put more time on it before putting it on my integrated amp.

t_ramey,

Yes, I have the Sonic Tonic on my TV, Satellite receiver power input and on the HDMI's inputs. Great improvement in video quality.

On the audio side you do have to experiment with where to place them. The effect is quite powerful. Too many can squelch the dynamics. I found them to be beneficial on the Amp ends, and on the subwoofer power IEC's ends. I also placed one before the power conditioners (Core Tech 300/1800).
Since all of my AC/IEC ends are now of the Furutech NCF versions I placed the Sonic Tonics on the cord before the Furutech connectors. But again experimentation is the key.

They seem to do best on areas with lots of power cords. Such as outlet strips and such. I placed one on my Circuit breaker box and intend to remove the cover and place them on the incoming power lines and on my dedicated breakers.
Get the electrical hash out at the source...

ozzy

Very nice. I'm going to try them on the speaker terminals next to see what happens. Interesting on putting them on the cable before the connector. I'd figure they're best closer to the connection but as you say experimention is key. Thanks

How can Sonic Tonic remove electrical hash in power cables if it’s simply resting on the connectors? Unless either the Sonic Tonic has some ability to attract RF from inside the power cord or the signal is traveling on the outside of the power cord, both of which seem highly unlikely. Maybe it’s a vibration issue. Hmmmmm...😳 Or......Magic? 🐇

Mike at Tweek Geek told me the "material" is suspended in epoxy that is cured or dried inside the bottle. When he makes his power cables with it he embeds it into a silicone glue that he applies inside the connectors. I thought it was more vibration control at first but it could effect rmf/emi as well as the result or effect is very immediate. This is definitely audio voodoo at its best.

Well here's what's said on Tweek Geeks site...

 Inside each bottle of Sonic Tonic is a blend of materials solidified in epoxy that together are activated by electromagnetic fields. Once activated, they work to reduce noise and distortion caused by high emf, eddy currents, and hysteresis.

Addendum: sorry, not be be hysterical but such a scenario with the hysteresis, etc. seems rather unlikely, at least for shielded power cords, due to the uh, shielding. Anyone who doesn’t see what I mean raise your hands. ✋🏼 ✋🏼 ✋🏼 How can you be in two places at once and really be nowhere at all? 🙄

geoff, Do own copyright or registered trademark? If so you could sue, how fun is that?

And, although tweeks sometimes work in mysterious ways some do actually work.

rja wrote,

"geoff, Do own copyright or registered trademark? If so you could sue, how fun is that?"

What? Whoa! Wait a second here! I’m not addressing the product name coincidence here. What I’m saying is - based on what has been described - the Tweek Geek product Dark Matter violates the laws of physics. It even violates the laws of quantum mechanics. But I don’t think you can’t get sued for that.

Then rja also wrote,

"And, although tweeks sometimes work in mysterious ways some do actually work."

Tell me about it. This is me, Geoff. Hel-loo!

I just installed 5 of the Sonic Tonic’s in my circuit breaker box.
2 of them went on the incoming main connections. The other 3 went on each of my dedicated lines.
I think I can already tell the difference...in sound quality. Better, deeper, livelier soundstage. I’m not kidding.
I also have the Bybee iSQE and ERS cloth on the breaker inside cover.

Perhaps these will also lower my electric bill???

ozzy

@dlcockrum 

Dave,
Have you had a chance to compare the Dark Energy speaker cables to your Cerious GE cables yet? If so, any conclusions thus far?

Hi bsavage,

I first bought the Cerious GE speaker cables about a month before deciding to try the Dark Energy speaker cables on trial from Tweek Geek. A friend also loaned me his Duelund 20 gauge ICs (built by Chris at Parts Connexion with Dueland Rhodium RCA connectors) and Duelund 16 gauge speaker cables - 1 run per leg (2 per channel) channel and unterminated bare wire vs 3 runs per leg (6 runs per channel) of the Duelund 16 gauge wire in the Dark Energy speaker cables terminated with WireWorld Rhodium spades treated with Sonic Tonic.

The reason for my even trying the Dark Energy cables was that my pair of Cerious GE’s are 8 foot lengths and about 2 feet too short for me to locate my amplifier in its preferred position so it gives my system are awkward look (to me) with the amp positioned out further into the room. The pair of Dark Energy cables Mike sent me for trial were 3m (10 ft) which gave me the extra length I need for my preferred amplifier placement.

The Cerious GE speaker cables deliver an amazing "live energy" sound character to the upper-mids that leaves me awestruck at how absolutely realistic they reproduced horns, cymbals, strings, and percussion. Eerily accurate in portraying the bite, clarity, and attack of percussive instruments and so convincingly palpable that I find it easy to visualize images precisely placed in front of me and actually present in my listening room.

The Black Energy speaker cables deliver sound that is extraordinarily open with impressively realistic energy in the upper registers. Bass is less full and prominent than with the Cerious but more defined, accurate and airy. Very much like the difference between the sound character of the SR Black fuses (lively and forward with a full, ripe bass) vs the Blue fuses (more refined with a leaner, more defined bass).

The Black Energy cables reproduce more natural ambience, complex harmonic texture, and more protracted decay on piano notes while the Cerious cables capture the percussive attack of the hammers on the piano’s strings in a completely realistic and superior way.

I preferred the slightly darker, more refined character of the Black Energy cables on most vocals, but often missed the extraordinary live energy of the Cerious. As with all things audio, the ultimate winner in a head-to-head comparison between these two will come down to system synergy and listener preference, but listener preference even more so than usual IMO.

The basic Duelund 16 gauge speaker cables from Parts Connexion are the shockers of the group. Very inexpensive and visually minimalistic yet they deliver more of the sonic strengths of the Dark Energy cables than they have a right to based on their ridiculously low price. Not as refined and harmonically rich as the Dark Energy but with an even more extended and detailed top end. Bass sound character is completely indistinguishable between the two, which really surprised me since the basic Duelund wires are so thin compared to the triple run of Duelund wire in the Dark Energy cables. The Dark Energy is the better sounding speaker cable of the two to my ears, but at a considerable price premium. Is the extra cost of the Dark Energy worth it? It is to me, but YMMV.

Dave

Dave,

Thanks very much for your review of all three speaker cables. Given your descriptions, it seems that each has its strong points, but in the end, as in all things audio, it will come down to system compatibility and what sound brings the listener the most musical enjoyment.

Brian

Hi again ozzy, I had gotten notice from the tweek geek touting the Sonic Tonic. His money back guarantee convinced me, as I felt I would hear little improvement but was curious. I ordered 4 and where I placed them at first the music seemed irritating. I wrote to Mike in an email I will copy and post explaining initial problem that ended up an unexpected blessing. I will post the first and after reading if anyone cares to read the rest of emails I will post also.  It starts here.  Very interesting Mike! Last night around 2 AM I had been enjoying music playing some well known favorites in preparation for testing sonic tonic . I got the 4 bottles of sonic tonic and curiously placed 1 on each of the 2 Shunyata PCs feeding my JL1300 subwoofers at the wall and the other 2 on both ends of the PC feeding my Deviatet 200. This is a a Shunyata Sigma PC cord. There was an almost immediate difference in sound that seemed bright. I had read where its may be bright for possibly 2 days. BUT the more I listened the sound seemed irritating! I grabbed the 4 sonic tonic bottles and held them while listening again and all was back to wonderful. Wow, one side of my brain is enjoying music while the other side is trying to sort out what just happened. So I put them back again and same thing happened. I was very torn as I trust your ears but my ears were were hearing something negative. As I was deciding what to tell you and even going so far as to wonder what tweak I should try next. Not wanting to change my current tweak set-up I then realized due to it's small size it could easily fit in area where the resistors are for crossovers of my Wilson Sophia 3 speakers. About 20 to 30 seconds later, after tonic seemed to charge up, then it was a good WOW, the midrange and treble were improved just as described. Excited I then put the other 2 back on subwoofers at wall and bass likewise improved nicely. Ended up excitedly staying up playing many hours more of glorious music.    Now I want to buy more product in order to sort out why the negative reaction at Devialet happened and of course further improvement. I have some theories, as I have multiple other tweaks in the Devialet area, and I think interaction between these may be responsible. One question is I saw where you will have an active sonic tonic. Will these be as small or almost as small as the original? If so I want some of those instead because I am limited as to where I can put tweaks due to a fruitful and major simplification of stereo 3 years ago. Also have you tried 2 sonic tonics very near each other? I read where the bybee iqse and tonic were a good match so I was curious if 2 sonic tonics had similar gains? Thanks Marc Brown PS So let me know cost and when available for the active sonic tonic.

Ozzy I decided to post the 2nd email since it ties in, the rest if any interest. 2nd starts here.      Well Mike another night of testing sonic tonic. Since I had such success placing tonic in resistor area of Wilson Sophia 3 and at the wall of my 2 JL 1300 subwoofers I started there. The reason I had thought of the resistor area in Wilson speakers is the English magazine HifiCritic's editor had his Sophia 3 speakers as a test bed to try different resistors for sound. The Duelund CAST won by a large margin. I totally agree so I wanted to mention that fact that I have those in.Well the improvement was unexpectedly as much or more than first night. I was expecting some improvement but what I got pretty much totally amazed me. When I put a tonic across both tweeter posts and one across both posts of subwoofers the music was tighter and more fluid with both high and low extremes extended. Everything was clearer, easier to understand and everything seemed more in time, even though my stereo already excelled in timing. One example, a favorite blues song has a bass drum that NOW when struck it is so much more distinct and the timing so dead on I could hear leading transient from the tweeter perfectly timed with subs, something I have not ever noticed. All acoustical instruments are improved as well as voices. Extremely addictive.       So there I was having only used 8 of the 12 tonics you sent and more than totally satisfied I listened for hours before I finally got curious as to where I would place the other 4. Having so much success at the Wilson speaker I realized I had a Skakti online across both speaker posts so I wondered how much better tonic would be in their place. While playing music as I was testing placement I confidently removed the onlines and replaced with tonic. Hmmm music was less distinct and out of time some with less air. Very surprised so I took tonic back out and music better but with less sparkle and air. Hmmm again so I replace onlines and ahh all good again. So I retried and same thing. Double hmmm, hard to fathom. 2 tonics close together in resistor area sound suburb but adding one more at speaker terminal muddies up sound. Head scratch! I was enjoying music sooo much I stopped there for now to experiment later. I will let you know after I finish testing. I uncovered one of the problems as to why tonic did not sound right at the PC feeding the Devialet. Some vials of crystals made by the Mad Scientist were causing the irritation, but there is still another problem I plan to uncover when I test with the other 4 left.        Right now the synergy between Sonic Tonic, Stein, bybee and quantum qx4 is amazing. Either turning off the qx4 or Stein or removing bybee or Sonic Tonic causes a collapse of sound stage and other detriments to sound. Totally addictive!!

The Sonic Tonic are a very good cost effective tweak. Placement experimentation is important. Very good on Video and at high power sources. Careful though on interconnects. IMHO.

ozzy 

ozzy: When you attatched the Sonic Tonic bottles to your dedicated lines ( I assume you mean the Romex coming out of the breaker box or sub panel), how did you attach them? Lengthwise or with the bottom of the bottles facing the wire?  Did you use the supplied Blu Tac or just electrical tape? Thanks in advance. Jeff

yoby,

On the mains, I placed them with the bottom of the bottle up against the mains wire/connections.
On the breakers, I spaced the breakers apart so that the Sonic bottles could attach to the breaker above or below the breaker.  
I used permanent glue dots on the Sonic Tonics. It secures them very well.

ozzy

Because they cost to much cash.Hello!!!

Hi ozzy: Have you seen this?  https://www.tweekgeek.com/super-sonic-tonic/

yoby, 

Thanks for the link. 
I dunno the Super Sonic bottles I have are pretty powerful.

ozzy

Agreed.

I noticed that Mike (Tweak Geek) in his add now supplies more information that answers some of the questions asked earlier in the forum.
Has anyone tried the new Tweek Geek Super Sonic Tonic that comes in a larger container? I have read the ad but I'm wondering if the larger container actually is an improvement and if anyone has tried it for room placement as the ad describes?
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/tweaks-229-introductory-offer-2018-01-06-accessories

Hmmmm, the name of the new product sounds familiar. Oh, SuperSonic Stabilizer is a Herbies Audio product. Kind of like Sonic Tonic is the name of one of my products. 

Yes sir, we've heard your thoughts on this topic before. I'm so sorry others have run with your ideas. I believe that's what a patent is for.

Uh, lack, I believe the term you’re looking for is intellectual property. Besides once a thing has presence on the internet for one year, which mine has and Herbies’ has, it has intellectual property rights. Besides, it’s an ethical as well as legal issue. Capish? In addition, do you have any idea how much a patent costs? 😛

Not only does it cost a lot to get a patent, but enforcing it from being "knocked off" is almost impossible for the "little guy".

Yes, I totally agree...dam free enterprise!

The products are entirely different even though the name may be similar.

ozzy

Huh? Nobody said the products were the same. And the names are exactly the same, not just vaguely similar. Hel-loo! Do you think names grow on trees? 🌲

Growing On Trees would be a good name for one of your products!

ozzy

What does that even mean? Are you hot dogging me? 🌭

Sorta...

Relax its only a name, are you even making products anymore?

ozzy

Am I even making products anymore? No. Not since last week, Junior. I only have like about thirty or something.

Sorry, Pops settle down. 
The topic that I posted is about the Sonic Tonic made by Tweek Geek and you keep trying to change it into something personal.

ozzy

where can I buy sonic tonic now? seems here and tweek geek are not listing now

Hi littlecx: Although I use Sonic Tonics (now for video/computer only), I prefer to use Perfect Path Technologies E Cards instead for all audio applications. They have a less bright/tipped up presentation than the Sonic Tonics. The cost is the same.

I have not had good results with anything from Tweek Geek.  I believe they sell stuff that should be found in a rabbit hole.  Feel free to go down it, but it is better just to listen to you system and enjoy it.  Mike has bad advice and I couldn't get any improvement from  sonic tonic.

Wow, That's surprising. The owner (Mike) has always worked well with me, even providing trades! Highly recommended.

ozzy