Why Do Schumann Resonators Work?


Schumann Resonators are little boxes you plug into the wall that produce electromagnetic radiation tuned to 7.83 Hz. This is the frequency that the earth/atmosphere system “rings” at when the Earth is struck by lightning. It is also a common frequency your brain “ticks” at.

When employed in the listening room, many people claim it makes their audio sound better. If this is true, then what is the mechanism of action?

-Is it a matter of the resonator producing a more relaxed mental state?
-Does it help block or alter electromagnetic interference?
-Does it add its own electromagnetic interference to your system that just so happens to be pleasing?

I experimented with one recently and what I noticed is that it seemed to remove some of the high frequency nasties or what some might call “digital glare” (although digital glare can also show up in analog systems). When I made this observation, the resonator was placed right next to my power strip that my CD player, preamp and some other devices are plugged into.

My “proof” of the effect is that I could turn the volume up louder than usual without it sounding “too loud.” The sound levels of the system weren’t any quieter, it’s just that the digital glare was reduced so that I could go louder before thinking “this is too loud,” which usually isn’t a sound level thing per se but the point as which some frequency (often the highs) become irritating.

So who here has experience with these devices? Do you like them? Does anyone know why they work?
128x128mkgus
I bit. Four cheap ones are coming to try out and if they fail in audio but make my wife sleep better it's still a win. I have a high confidence level though, based only on those who have actually heard them in use. Perhaps the $45 total delivered cost is chump change; no worries on my end.
I've just received a second SG in the mail, a third on the way. Right now listening to a second system, one SG near the NAD amp, closer to the left speaker than the right, the other SG near me.

Will try them next in the main system, one between and behind the speakers, 6' high, the other near the electronics (pretty much equidistant to the amps, ADC power conditioner, turntable, and DAC). When the third one gets here, it will be at my listening sofa.

Where do you place yours? How much have you experimented, and what kind of differences have you noticed?
Has anyone noticed that the Schumann "fundamental" is approx. 7.83 Hz, but the "harmonics" are not harmonics of 7.83, but instead are harmonics of 6.5 Hz?  Anyone know the reason for that?

The idea came from a study of our atmosphere. The ionosphere is a high layer of the atmosphere that because it is charged reflects a certain range of electromagnetic radiation back to earth, where it bounces back again. Since the Earth is round this layer is spherical and so like anything else if you hit it with some energy that will excite it and the whole thing will vibrate or ring. 

So your lightning or volcanic eruption puts energy in, triggering the so-called Schumann resonances. There are a number of them. I don't know if 6.5Hz is any more representative or not. Where the 7.83 came from, for all I know it is easy to make them that way, it falls within the range, and more numbers to the right of the decimal point makes any number sound a whole lot more sciency and precise whether it is or not.

Everywhere I've read, the spacing between each "mode", from 14.3 Hz on up, is about 6.5 Hz in spacing.
It occurs to me that, since simple pulse generators based on oscillators like the 555 timer put out a square or rectangular pulse, their outputs cannot be correctly simulating the Schumann Resonances, because the discrepancy between the true harmonics of the pulse generator's 7.83 Hz, and the Schumann partials at 6.5 Hz spacing, keeps growing as you move up in frequency.
The only frequency the two have in common is the fundamental, of 7.83 Hz.  This problem has bothered me for a while, and suggests to me that we really don't understand the reasons for the discrepancy. Wikipedia and others say it's due to the spherical geometry involved, but that really doesn't explain things adequately. And the formula they give seems empirical and gives erroneous answers for the predicted frequencies of the upper modes or partials.
Just thought I'd post this question to see if anyone else had noticed that things don't quite add up.
Thanks for your response.