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Treating crystals - my method.

Posted by bartc (A) on March 13, 2011 at 09:24:04

OK, I'm going to post this once and for all. Here's how I treat my crystals: mineral oil. FWIW, Alan Maher told me this is NOT his "liquid" treatment, so please don't confuse my method with his (and both work).

There are several reasons for using this substance, but in the end the proof is in the pudding, and this treatment proves out repeatedly in my and others' systems.

You can simply soak your crystals in cold or warmed mineral oil. You probably get more absorption more rapidly in warmed oil. Al Sekela liked to "cook" his slowly in a crock pot over days, while I simply soak mine for minutes and then drain them in a kitchen strainer. Up to your taste and patience. I'm not sure there is a big difference there.

Drain them and you can leave them to dry, but be aware that mineral oil dries extremely slowly, which is another reason it works so well in this application. To keep things from getting messy, I put my wet crystals in either Saran Wrap or a baggie or both in my applications. Any leakage is only a cosmetic issue, as it's not an electrical issue to worry about at all.

FWIW, I did not invent this. I came upon it independently when specifically researching treatments for crystals after a theoretical discussion with Al Sekela about what physical/chemical characteristics would work in such a piezo application for RFI filtering by crystals. (Crystals have been a known radio frequency filtering tweak in ham radio for decades. It's only new to audio folks.) I found via Web searching extensively that mineral oil was used to shine up crystals in this manner; then checking up on the electrical, physical and chemical characteristics of mineral oil I realized that it could be ONE of the ideal treatments for this audio application of crystals. Al agreed in theory; I tried it and we proved that it worked and improved sound of crystal tweaks in both our systems.

Originally one of the "Paul" guys and Unclestu (I think) published using mineral oil for a different reason. They posted on Iso a couple of years ago, but I had not read that before coming upon this treatment on my own. I don't claim any invention rights for this!

Mineral oil is cheap and readily available at every pharmacy. It's a petroleum distillate related to paraffin; in fact it's sometimes called "liquid paraffin", and paraffin will dissolve sort of in the mineral oil if heated long enough. FYI, it's not toxic; it used to be drunk to ease bowel movements, which is why you find it at pharmacies.

Mineral oil acts as a NON-conductive coolant and mechanical/electrical damper. It will dissipate the heat and vibrations from the piezo crystals when they deform, which is the principle I'm using here. It is safe around electrical stuff. In fact, there are computer applications that dunk the whole computer into the mineral oil (like a fish tank) to cool the computer while it operates.

I do not subscribe to Unclestu's (this yours Stu on Iso???) idea that it "floats" the crystals. This is not the operative principle here.

But whatever theory you ascribe to this treatment, it works, and it improves the performance of the various silicate crystals as an RFI filter in audio.

FWIW, the crystals I've used successfully are: amethyst; pink, green and black tourmaline; rose, clear and yellow quartz; topaz; and silica gel in that order of descending impact and preference. These are all silicates, all piezoelectric, and some may be additionaly pyroelectric. Your taste and situation may differ, of course. And I do mix them all in most applications these days, with no downside as yet. There are other piezoelectric and pyroelectric crystals you can try and if not too expensive I may eventually try. The only other known piezo crystal I tried with zero sonic impact was pure cane sugar (yep, the stuff you put in your coffee that has been a known piezo for a helluva long time.)

There you have it.

For those who demand links to "scientific proof", I say, "I don't got to show you no steenkeeng badges!" Go do your own research or don't darken my doorstep!

Have fun, amigos.

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