Tweaks

In all fairness to the 'other school of thought', some of the science associated with tweaks is a little .... weak? Solid State Microphonics? Tubes without question, but SS? I can also see doing something with a CD / optical player. But what? Isolate? Couple to a surface? Hi hysteresis rubber? Lo? On granite? On Maple? or try a Maple / Granite laminate?

I'd love to give some of this a try, but my pockets simply are not deep enough and there is not enough time for testing.

Everyone says to 'experiment' with little or no convincing / consistent theory, as near as I can tell. Even the Stereophile article assumes the effect and how it works with no objective proof.

Of course 1000 people could be wrong!
Look how many people voted for XXX (fill in 'favorite, here'!!!)

And, like voting, tweaks without coherent scientific theory are also an 'act of faith'. Look how many supporters politician X has even after getting caught in some amazing scam or in a relationship with a barnyard animal.

I have trouble believing that vibration traveling thru the air and vibrating a SS amp could have much effect. Audible!? Does the effect get worse when you turn it WAY up?
Now, what is the modulus of elasticity of silicon? I know from experience that it is pretty brittle. A silicon wafer, from which integrated circuits and planar devices is manufactured is weird stuff. It'll break along 'cleave' lines in the crystal and if you 'tink' it with a snapping finger, it sounds almost metallic.
Indeed, Silicon is a metalloid, a material having both insulating and conductive properties....Thus 'Semiconductor'. An integrated circuit is composed of many layers and many different materials. Oxides of silicon, Silicon Nitride, Poly amorphous Silicon, Aluminum, and various doping materials all go in to the fabrication of such devices. IC's are NOT a single chunk with a definable resonant frequency. I also suspect that it will resonate at different frequencies in different directions in the material, depending on what they start with.

I'll look up 'resonister', but so far a google has resulted only in some patent application paperwork.
A look at 'Solid State Resonance' likewise yields no hifi applications at first glance.
Now there IS a form of SS resonance which can 100% effect a circuit. If you have anything Piezoelectric, this WILL HAVE an effect. Old 'ceramic' phono cartridges come to mind. Other parts may also have such effects.

Audible? Now there's the question. The post immediately above this one suggests moving stuff to its own enclosure or another room. This would be a great way to test this idea.

Also, kind of an aside: Isn't iridium a metal and as such a conductor? Haven't you added another conductive plane to whatever you painted with it? Will anyone now be able to fix a board which needs a part replaced? Didn't you form another capacitor putting a conductor over an insulator which is than over another conductor?

Dg,
I hate to be thick, but could you please provide a link to the article? I did a quick google for 'resonister' and came up with 1 reference which was apparently some patent application.

I will certainly read any link you provide, until it gets religious.

I have an idea I'd like to try, from my readings of SETI amplifiers. Where the SNR is Astronomical, (literally!) the signal needs major amplification. The amplifiers run in a bath of Liquid Helium. All molecular (nearly) is damped out since they are running at 10k or so (degrees Kelvin). This should also damp out most resonance / vibration and keep piezo effects to a minimum.

Just a thought for some 'weird science'.