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2nd Chapter is out...Here is some more tweaking tricks for the reviewer to try out
a) Place an RIQ5010 clear quartz inside the fridge, just like Marja & Henk placing an acoustic resonator (Frank Tchang's) inside theirs.
My original references at Audioasylum to this crystal-in-the-fridge tweak are here
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=isolation&m=4241
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=isolation&m=4487b) You use the quartz crystal as footers and dampers, I place them directly my interconnects input/output terminals and power cords outlets.
The effect is like cleaning up the music congestion, improving separationc) On the RR-77, you can stick 1 piece of QR-8 on the DC jack of the cord at the power inlet (if you have a Kingrex psu, then at both ends of the DC cord). Also place one (non-contact) underneath the RR-77.
My RR-77 also did not come with the QR-8 inside but I did stick one near the LED lampActually there was a 3rd type of RIQ5010 quartz, namely the rutile/rutilated quartz RIQ5010R, this was however just a limited edition and has sold out in Japan, not sure if Mr Ishiguru will be making another limited run again. This rutilated quartz crystal is the most potent of the 3, and works on both the high and low frequencies.. The picture shows the limited edition RIQ5010R which I have 1 set (the price is of course much dearer too). If you notice, it contains strands of gold and tititanium inside. So far I have tried replicating with other rutile quartz stones (quite expensive) purchased at the local gem store, but none are quite as special as these ones..
Edits: 03/26/08 03/26/08Follow Ups:
I live in Tucson, and the Gem and Mineral Show here each February is the biggest in the world, the whole city is basically taken over by gem and mineral people from everywhere in the world you can think of. You can find just about ANYTHING gem and mineral related, or arrange to have it made. There's so much stuff here, it's overwhelming. If you're truly interested in playing with this stuff, come on down to Tucson. You can buy huge crystals of any sort, anything related to gems, metals, new age.
Anybody tried this...one of the users in Japan took a picture of his circuit breaker and claims its quite effective too.
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Amazing is all I can say
;-)
This one is on the main breaker
is one of the most common minerals on the earth's surface and is found in many forms: clear, topaz, rose, citrine, amethyst, etc.
It is highly piezoelectric and the basis for the crystal tuning in your cell phone, clocking circuit for your CD player, etc. I've read where that topaz, the golden form of quartz, has 'holes' in the crystalline structure making it very sensitive to emf fields and even being slightly photosensitive. In my experimentation I find that it is the most potent of the quartz based minerals in affecting sonics.
Your placement of the crystals on your wiring mimics the recommendations of the Shakti on lines.
Stu
would certainly belie the fact that quartz is one of the most common minerals on the Earth's surface!
I suppose finding the right type of quartz and making it flat and round gets rather expensive...
SF (New Age central), has MANY shops with various quartz pieces/types for sale. I'm thinking I may need to experiment with quartz postitioning in my system, but start with non-audiophile marketed quartz.
"...You're all welcome to stay for the next set...we're going to play all the same tunes, but in different keys..." -Count Basie
Quartz feet for $25.
- http://www.prismresearchglass.com/product.aspx?productID=982&thick-quartz-disc-1/4-in.-grou (Open in New Window)
If you live near Arkansas, that state is the center of the quartz mining in the US. Granite contains large amounts of quartz crystals, and agate again is a form of quartz, but much more heavily contaminated.
The purest quartz was once mined in Brazil and was a closely guarded military secret in WWII, as those crystals, now mined out, were water clear, and stunning in their clarity. They were used in the Norden bomb sights as quartz is thermally very stable. I had seem some samples way back and should have bought them, except they were simply ground into cylinders. with optical flats at the ends.
Fused quartz is synthetically made and is used for many lenses and things like the windows of the space shuttle, again because of their thermal resistance.
If you take a quick look at a quartz crystal there are several planes to their structure, Depending where and how you slice a quartz crystal you develop certain resonant frequencies, which is how crystal manufacturers can tune their oscillators. In addition workers will take a small grinder and cut down the crystal to achieve certain frequencies.
Quartz specimens are readily obtained however and quite cheaply, too. If you have a local rock club in your neighborhood, they often will have members with access to things like diamond saws and polishing wheels. The local club here even has a small community workshop open to its members to cut and even facet stones if you so desire.
Also I find that harnessing the piezo effect means that you have to couple the quartz loosely, so that the the EMF fields can actually create movement in the crystal. Small pieces of tumbled quart work very well as they tend to have very irregular shapes (wider bandwidth and more prone to wobbling). You can use a piece of blue tack to hold the crystals down and the resilience f the blue tack is sufficient to dissipate some of the EMF field into mechanical motion and heat.
A friend who also uses the quartz reports that he has very good results with using a contact lens holder filled with oil or thin silicone to suspend the crystals. Be inventive and you can market you ides for $300 and make a killing.
Stu
Thanks, as usual, great info!
Sounds like AR probably has invested some serious R&D into their quartz resonators.
I need to research quartz some more and start playing with it in bits and pieces.
"...You're all welcome to stay for the next set...we're going to play all the same tunes, but in different keys..." -Count Basie
I purchased quite a number of cheap to expensive quartz stones from the local new-age crystal shop to emulate the effect of the more expensive Acoustic Revive RIQ5010 quartz. So far I have not been able to even reach or surpass the quality of the quartz used in AR's 'cos the effect of the various quartz are not so strong or as effective as AR's. So I guess AR did spend some time to hunt for a particular range of natural quartz that is effective as theirs. Either that or they manage to find an optimal disk shape to project effectively the quartz piezoelectric power.If you think AR's natural quartz are quite expensive, there exists in Japan another brand called Audio Replas that specializes in synthetic quartz crystal (ie not naturally mined) that is even more expensive than AR's check the weblink below. Haven't tried them as they are really even more expensive. ;-)
I've found your posts regarding AR (as well as other similar tweaks) to be truly informative.
Thank you!
"...You're all welcome to stay for the next set...we're going to play all the same tunes, but in different keys..." -Count Basie
I have been trying to source some Quartz and Tourmaline powders, and so far searches have only resulted in finding industrial suppliers in China. These companies wnat to sell 100s of pounds. Does anyone have a source for for very pure (99.99% is a standard frequently quoted) quartz and tourmaline powders in low quantities?
Check the link, but not cheap. They are from Japan..what a coincidence ;-)
at local crystal shops, and it is relatively expensive compared to other crystal when you look at how small the beads are.
In chinese, tourmaline is called "lightning or electric" stone, and it's one of the most potent source of negative ions that can come from a gemstone. More interesting info about tourmaline at the link. Seems that lots of research about it happened at the research institutes in Japan ;-)Wiki link here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourmaline
You wrote: "... tourmaline is...one of the most potent source of negative ions that can come from a gemstone..."
Is there another gemstone or material that is a more potent source of negative ions?
Thanks!
are known to be sources of negative ions,
amethyst,rose quartz,rutilated quartz, sphalerite, germanium
reveals tourmaline to be pyroelectric, whereby the positive and negative poles are not necessarily manifested until heated to 100 degrees: so a dip in boiling water will do the trick.
If you ever get a chance to visit Quartzite, Arizona from about November through February, you can [purchase quartz, tourmaline and other semi precious stones fairly cheaply. It's the world's biggest swap meet/trailer park and a lot of rock hounds winter there in preparation for the Tucson show in late February/ April.
Stu
Tourmaline will vary in color from red to black, depending on the level and kind of impurities in the crystal structure. I don't know what a 'pure' tourmaline color should be, but I would guess it ought to be easily researched on the net.
Pure quartz would naturally be clear, water clear preferably if no impurities are present. You could do what I have done in the past: purchase a small cluster and pound the hell out of it with a hammer, wrapping the crystal in some flexible material like a strong cloth. Once broken into small sizes it is then more easily crushed using something like a large ball bearing in a porcelain crucible, or you could take a large head hammer ( a two and half pound mini sledge works nicely) and simply grind the head against the quartz against a piece of clean steel.
You might also check sandblast suppliers as I believe they may have quartz blasting material already graded. They won't guarantee any kind of purity however.
Stu
N/T
"...You're all welcome to stay for the next set...we're going to play all the same tunes, but in different keys..." -Count Basie
a
Stu
a
I have already reported that I found the RIQs work on top one of my RR-77s but are harmful to the image on the one between my speakers. Contrary to the 6moons review I found that putting three immediately under my H-Cat on top the Acapella special feet and thus on top the Acapella Silencio base enormously improved the image precision and realism of my sound. It was already shocking but this was an enormous improvement. It just shows you how far we were from realism in our sound reproduction. Putting centered on top my Exemplar Statement amp was a quite good improvement but of about the same magnitude as that in the fridge. Moving it to below the ac input ruined the sound.
Like the QR-8 Quartz Resonators, these disks can vary from improving the sound greatly to having no effect to having a great negative impact. Everything is trial and error, but it is greatly worth your time and money.
It sounds like the QR-8 pictured in the first 6moons review was placed there by the reviewer. I may have to try this.
The other tweak that continues to shock me is the AVM paint. The magnitude of its impact is greater overall than what I get with the Acoustic Revive tweaks, but they have dissimilar effects so this is really apples and oranges.
...
I have read briefly of this tweak of putting a quartz disc in the fridge and was wondering if you could shed some more light on it or post some links that expound on it.
I have already put a Ferrite clamp on my fridge PC and that made a subtle change for the better in both my main rig and the HT.
TIA,
~kenster
Not really much information to give. My fridge is in the kitchen which is below my listening room. I put a RIQ-5010 on the top shelf after listening to a cut. On returning to my room I heard more information which I associate with a cleaner top end and a lowered noise floor. Later I told my wife to remove it from the top shelf of the fridge while I was listening and I would ring our land line when I heard it. After about two minutes I heard a collapse of the sound stage. This is relative as it still was pretty good. She said that she had just removed it. She was not willing to do more of these dump tests.
Later I moved the quartz to the bottom of the fridge closer to the compressor. I heard no difference.
I have since experimented with these devices elsewhere. The biggest improvement I have had was putting three under my H-Cat line stage. Next was on top my Statement amp. When I moved this disk to under the amp where the IEC mount was the sound got worse. They also varied in their impact on my AR RR-77. This is definitely a "trial and error" tweak. Its benefits compliment other tweaks. The RR-77s, AVM, RTPs, and RIQs all are of great benefit in different ways. For me the question is how far can you take these tweaks. Before these tweaks I thought the H-Cat x7 had achieved a state of realism, I previously thought could not be achieved. The AR QR-8s and Silk greatly improved it, as the AVM paint shortly thereafter. The RTP was shockingly better yet. And so were the others. In this hole process I also added the Townshend Speaker Cradles under my LaCampanellas, which again gave a great improvement. Each night I listen in awe of the realism I now have.
I hope this helps.
makes a difference. I always left it somewhere in the middle of the top shelf. And my fridge is in the kitchen which is next door to the living room where I placed my audio system. I did try putting one additional quartz in the bottom freezer of my fridge to see whether it made any significant difference (this is quite near the compressor) but did not hear that much drastic improvement as compared to one at the normal fridge compartment. One thing I did realise is that the fridge seems to be cooler and more silent with the quartz inside. ;-)
With the quartz inside, my soundstage becomes very much more quiet and if you play violin music you can hear more texture on the chords as it is pulled. The positioning of the instrument also has more body and become rock solid stable
I've put a few quartz objects in my fridge and the location definitedly makes a difference. I'm getting good results with a cheap smoky quartz necklace in the freezer door shelf along with a 2" clear quartz egg. On one of the lower door shelves, I have a rose quartz healing wand. I tried placing the quartz in the hydrator, near the compressor, and in a few other locations, but the sound stage got smaller. I've also tried some other quartz objects with assorted new age powers, which incidentally I have not been investigating, in different positions around the room and have gotten some good results. It amazes me how much of a difference these quartz objects and the schumann resonator have made. In the last month, my stereo has gone from being very good to being really quite extraordinary. Thanks to all who have been reporting on their experiences with these tweaks.
...definitely food for thought and an avenue I intend to explore in the near future.
Cheers
Hi.
The new clothes the King wore looked gorgeous 'cause the King thought so.
Before spending a few hudred bucks, I think we consumers want to know how/why those crystals work.
c-J
a
nt
Rutile inclusions are often pyrite if gold and titanium if black: usually, but not always.
Stu
Their rutilated quartz is red, thus the R suffix to the model no.
Note
1) Smoky Quartz (RIQ5010) has no suffix ('cos this was the first quartz they introduced to the market
2) Clear Quartz (RIQ5010W) suffix is W (white/transparent)
3 Rutilated Quartz (RIQ5010R) suffix is R (red/rare)
So far I have not been able to source such rutile quartz stones at
local gemshop where most sold are gold or black in color so I guess
the quartz used for RIQ5010R is quite rare
The smokey quartz is probably topaz.
Like you, I have never seen red rutile inclusions, but there are means of chemically altering the inclusions. I'll have to do more research: interesting, though.
Stu
Searching the Gem rock auction site, there are tons of red rutile quartz cabs available, Apparently they are a form of TiO2 also.
Stu
Titanium Dioxide is a photo catalyst with some interesting properties. There is a company marketing compact fluorescent bulbs coated with TiO2 claiming antibiotic properties. The there is the "phiten" craze just beginning. Apparently developed in Japan it uses TiO2 ti generate negative ions which are supposed to have healing benefits. There are a number of major League Baseball players who use the products (Boston, IIRC. They claim to be able to impregnate even clothing with it to provide some measure of heat and pain relief.
According to Wikipedia, the TiO2, wen exposed to UV creates a redox reaction, normally breaking down water molecules into an HO- and O- constituents. The use of this in an extremely low humidity area may be negligible, but the Phiten products are worn on the body so the normal water within provides the material for the redox reaction.
I recently posted something abut this on Iso, as I was given a bracelet for my left wrist after undergoing a fistula. In driving around, I noticed that my car stereo sounded more dynamic and fuller in the lower frequencies. Simply sticking my arm out the window reduced the effect although the bracelet was still on the wrist and line of sight with my ears. I queried the couple who had given me the bracelet, and they went to listen to their system with and without his bracelet, and he reported the same effect, noticing that when placed closest to the speaker the effect was more pronounced.
Now the effect is not huge, but it is audible ( also visible on my LCD set, BTW).
Anyway, food for thought, YMMV, etc.
Stu
Did the phiten help with your physical condition? I wore a Phiten ring on a finger which has arthritis and I felt no benefits.
I do not feel any pain associated with the surgery, but since circulation is reduced, my hand is noticeably colder and at times my thumb seems to be numb, even in the noon day sun. I do notice my hand feels much warmer and at times feels the same temperature as my good hand.
My affected thumb is quite cool now as I type this but I had removed the bracelet about a half an hour ago.
Stu
I've just ordered some quartz pieces from the "Spheretress" on Ebay. She has lots of polished quartz pieces in different sizes and shapes--massaging crystals, healing crystals, crystal balls...Many of them have the words "Reiki Wicca" in their description. What you ask is Reiki Wicca? Here is a brief description of Reiki: "Reiki is an ancient hands on Healing Technique that was also used as a spiritual guidance system. Reiki was discovered by Dr. Mikao Usui; a Japanese monk in the 1800's. He found that by tapping into the unlimited Universal Life-Force energy we are able to heal each other and bring about positive change in our lives." Sounds good to me. I wonder what it will do for the stereo.
And then there's Wicca: "Wicca is one variety of pagan witchcraft, with distinctive ritual forms, seasonal observances and religious, magical and ethical precepts." Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I ordered an assortment of healing paraphenalia made of rose quartz and I will report on their effects after I've spent some time with them. I have already tried the Acoustic Revive quartz dots and was quite impressed with the results that I got from them, however none of these effects struck me as being particularly otherworldly.
or cleaned after a while. My quickest way to do this is just to rinse it under running water and leave it to dry under sunlight. Have you tried re-charging the crystals? ;-)
But I popped a rose quartz "healing wand" and egg shaped stone into the fridge along with some cheap costume jewelry, and they really made a difference. According to the information on your link, things may improve even further if I offer some tobacco to the crystals and sleep with them; I think I may pass on this.
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