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In Reply to: RE: As you've discovered, the placebo effect doesn't explain what you're hearing. posted by Paul_A on March 03, 2009 at 18:30:22
Hi Paul
Thanks for the very helpful reply. I'll try those spots out and see what it does. What is the conditioner you have in your breaker box?
Chris
Follow Ups:
Hi Paul
When you say an increase in soundstage, do you hear this in width or depth? I only ask because it seems like my soundstage width is more or less the same, but I hear much more of the recording venue with decay, etc., giving the impression the performer is sitting about 10 feet behind the wall in the front of my listening room. I'm not sure yet whether I like this effect and I'm wondering if perhaps the spots I picked have overdone it. Also, did you notice an apparent decrease in volume when you used topaz? It seems that the quiet passages are much quieter than I remember, yet the loud passages are about the same volume as before. All in all, it's fascinating, but kind of strange.
Thanks so much again
Chris
The soundstage width increases, but also the sense that the musicians are in the room. The sense of having the musicians in the room on certain recordings has increased strikingly with these tweaks. I have noticed this on string quartets where I am guessing the musicians were sitting around the microphones. On these recordings, you really feel submerged in the sound. On recordings made in larger venues, I really seem to be able to guage the dimensions of the room. The recording that shows this most strikingly is Wagner e Venezia by Uri Caine. It was recorded in the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the sense of being in the Piazza is really quite amazing.
I haven't noticed the difference that you're talking about with quiet passages. What I have noticed is that instruments sound much more precisely renderred--all of the Stereophile gushing talk about palpability and hearing exactly what the sound is that is coming out of the instrument.
Here's another interesting tweak, and it's probably the strangest one in my arsenal--a Schumann generator. The one that I use is by Earth Calm. I think that this tweak is almost certainly due to a psychological change in me--but that doesn't mean it isn't happening. A friend of mine listened to the Schumann generator with a switch to turn it on and off. He said that without it, he could sense edges of the sound stage. After it was turned on, the edges seemed to dissolve. If you are interested in entering the territory of the truly strange, you could try one of these devices.
My rig has an awful lot of tweaks, so it can be hard to distinguish which one is doing what. I can say though, that before I started tweaking, I didn't have much at all in the way of three dimensional imaging. Now I have it in spades and it's obvious to anyone who hears it. People who hear it for the first time--non-audiophies--usually get a goofy look of disbelief on their faces. No shit!
Hi Paul
I, too, have an Earthsafe. It seems to make a big difference with sound and (curiously) also for our plants, which are growing much larger and are much healthier than ever before. This indicates to me that whatever that thing does is far more than just psychological. Where do you have your Earthsafe set up? Mine's in a room adjacent to the family/listening room, since Earthsafe says it should treat a whole house. Did you find any effect from changes the Earthsafe's position? Also, when you say "overload" with topaz, how much topaz are you talking about? Would a rough tumble the size of a gumball be too much inside a SACD player? Should all the components have crystals inside as well as on their IEC inputs? Should crystals be placed within the listening room as well, kind of like the Acoustic ART system by Synergistic Research? Does tourmaline overload as well? How many crystals do you need to put in the breaker box? I agree with you about getting a sense of the dimensions of the recording venue. This is something I really didn't appreciate before putting in just these three baggies of crystals. I guess I need to buy some more...
Thanks!
Chris
My Schumann generator is an Earthcalm, not an Earthsafe. It uses the house wiring as an antenna, so I don't think that it matters where it is located.
I noticed the overloading with QR8 quartz resonators from Acoustic Revive. I put all eight of them on top of a speaker and it sounded horrible. The Topaz doesn't cause distortion nearly as much, but I began to notice that while I was increasing my soundstage, there was some distortion creeping in. I had put dozens of crystals in various locations. I have removed most of the loose crystals, so now I'm left with the crystals inside of my electronics and a few on my speakers. The distortion has decreased quite a bit now. I don't think you want to use lots of these crystals. Once the initial big effects took place, I have found it difficult to sort out what is happening. You just need to experiment and take a lot of time. I've been using the crystals for more than a year and I'm still not finished refining.
I'm not sure that placing baggies of crystals in a single location is a good idea. I would try placing individual crystals in discreet locations. Despite having said this, I do have a custom built (by me) power strip that I have half filled with tourmaline pebbles. It only serves my phono preamp and doesn't seem to have added any distortion, but it is currently under scrutiny.
There are lots of places out in the room where crystals can have quite a profound effect. As much or moreso than around electronics, I'd say.
nt
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