It depends on the system. I use all the most transparent components which makes music sound edgy and bright if the problems aren't fixed. Without power conditioning, vibration isolation and ERS Paper my system doesn't sound acceptable to listen to because the background isn't black enough. It has been bothering me a lot and I couldn't listen for more than an hour. But with ERS Paper the noise is gone and I can listen all day.
In my system ERS Paper made the 2nd biggest improvement I have ever heard. A whole new world of detail has opened up, I need to keep pausing music to confirm if the subtle sounds come from real life, but they come from the recording! I couldn't believe it and had to listen many times!
My system has never sounded this warm before, and there is more resolution and detail than ever. Background is blacker and I hear deeper into the music. ERS Paper made my system better in every way.
I have some pictures and videos here:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205316 |
I sold the uncut sheets that I still had. Totally worthless in my system. |
I have almost a fully covered system and there are no weaknesses whatsoever, just a blacker background and more resolution.
I put everything in separate compartments inside the chassis so as little as possible is touching anything. I put scotch tape at the bottom edges to avoid short circuits and keep the paper elevated a few mm above the circuit boards. The paper is separated 1-2 cm from all cables.
I used 33 sheets of ERS and 1 roll of scotch tape to do it. The only thing I haven't covered is my speaker cable, I used up all the paper in a few days. |
I don't have any fatique without the ERS. With it the music is lifeless. As always, YMMV. |
Mrtennis, I would certainly agree. I no longer use any ERS anywhere. |
is it less energy or a lessening of extraneous noise?, I have found that I can listen much longer, without fatique, and not want to stop listening. |
i have three 8 x 10 inch sheets. 2 on the transformers of tube mono amps and one on top of the ps audio power plant. also, i have a smaller piece on top of the power supply of a tube preamp.
i would assess the effect as one of softening. there is less high frequency energy. |
I placed full sheets on top of and below the CD, and two line conditions and one sheet atop the amp. with great results. then I put a 4"X7" piece to the underside of the top cover directly over two transformers in the Ayre CD 5xe. and the sound had a deeper soundstage and more articulation. I then wrapped the two SR balanced interconnects about 7" dowm from the CD player as well the SR PC and then the sound really lost something, it seemed. Or I was simply listening to sound with less noise, although the sound seemed to have less snap and dynamics. though I may put this stuff back in place and listen to this set up for a week or better to let the cables and system equalize then decide on what I like.
Where I got incredible results was by putting a sheet on top of my DVDO video processor and below it, on top of my Arcam DVD player and below it and on top of my Meridian G68 processor, WOW, the picture quality was increased amazingly so. Like buying a new projector, or CD player, as well the sound of the system really really smoothed out. I am going to do some test on the projector, i.e. firstly the video HDMI, secondly the pc going into the projector. If the picture gets any clearer than it already is I will be even more amazed of ERS cloth.
Thats as far as I have got witht this product, but do find it a lot of fun to tweak around with and overall seem to like it most for picture quality then sound, knowing exactly what I am hearing and equating that sound is tough for me for |
I'm with Tbg, I've tried very small amounts in many locations and it always killed dynamics and high frequencies. Perhaps tiny punch sizes are a possibility. |
Tgun5, I certainly did not have your good fortune with ERS although I started in largely the same manner. Everywhere I tried even small amounts, it killed dynamics and high frequencies. I am going to try some paper punch sized pieces this weekend. Presently my four sheets sit unused on a shelf. |
This product works well, however, it does take time, effort, and much experimentation to get it right. I started by placing full 8 x10 sheets on top of my preamp and CD player. Improvements were immediately heard. I bought the self-adhesive sheets with intentions of mounting several cut-to-size pieces inside each component. I started with the case of the CD player by mounting sheets on the inside of the upper lid, inside of the lower lid, and both sides. Without listening to the results, I proceeded to cover the preamp power supply case and incoming power wires. This was a mistake.
The warning that comes with the ERS cloth advises that you do not mount this stuff near any analog circuits or the high-end could become too extended or too prevalent. That is what I first experienced. I actually had to carefully pull each sheet back off each mounting location and start over. You can remove this product within a few hours of mounting on most surfaces if you are careful. I used hair dryer to slightly heat up the adhesive.
I then restarted by covering the inside top lid of the CD player ONLY above the digital section. I also added a sheet on the side panel of the same section housing the power supply. This made quite an improvement over my initial impressions with the full sheet just sitting on the top of the unit. It also means that far less material is needed when mounting the ERS cloth inside the unit. I listened for awhile and then added a sheet under the digital section on the inside lower lid. Another improvement, although not to the same extent. To test the high-end issue, I placed sheets on the rest of remaining sections of the inside case. This is when the high end became obnoxious and the sound became overall dead. Quickly pulling it back-off and the CD player returned to it's original improvement.
The same sort of results happened in the preamp test. Too much cloth affected the balance, athough not to the same extent. Covering just the power supply case - no cloth on the inside of the main case was the best result.
I then tried to put some inside the case of the Maggie 3.6 external crossover, but I found no significant improvement. This may have to do withn the fact that I use the Z-sleeves at the end of my speaker wire runs, which do the same job as the ERS cloth. Z-sleeves are produced using ERS as one of their main layers.
This tweek does indeed work, and work well. The difference is unlike some tweeks in that it takes more effort to get the proper results. |
You guys have whetted my interest to retry this material. I find it most curious that my tiny amounts just kill the dynamics of music while others using much larger amounts report great satisfaction. I will follow Phaelon's suggestion of using a paper punch and trying such dots in different locations. |
I have 2 small (2"x3") on my CPD and one 2"x3" sheet on my BAM that comes with my Merlin speakers. |
I've been playing with this stuff for a couple of years now, and believe me, it can drive you nuts. But, it can also amaze you if you spend the time.
I use many small pieces (13 on my cd player). My pieces range in size from approx. 1/8 x 1/2 inches to dots I punched out using a paper hole punch.
First: Location is everything. I get the best response on my cd player. Use a large piece (mabe 1 X 2 inches) as a scout only, to locate sympathetic areas. Then, I wish I could tell you axactly how many to use and where to put them but I don't think anyone can. Good tweaking and good luck. |
Norfish, I agree entirely about if you lose highs you have too much. I went down to 1/4" square before giving up. |
I had great results with ERS cloth wrapped around the intraboard signal cabling inside my Sony SCD-1. Small swatches velcroed on top of the the DSPs, around a Superclock 3, and larger sheets above and below the CDP didn't make any difference.
Dave |
Got some small squares on top of my external crossovers, and some slightly larger squares on top of my BPT line conditioner. Definitely don't want too much of this stuff as it does tamper down all of the music: loss of highs means that you're using too much. |
I would ditto, Sns. All of mine now sits on the shelf. If you don't like the pace and dynamics of music, ERS is for you. |
There should be some previous threads on this. Anyway, I've found just a little goes a long way. Use one sheet over top of my outboard crossovers and a small amount over my transport transformer. I didn't like it on preamp, amp and DAC transformers, veiled the highs and dried out the mids, sucked the life out of the music. |
