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I'm trying to find an article I read many years ago, I think in Stereophile magazine describing the use of BB gun pellets in containers placed on top of HiFi components to improve the sound quality. It was quite scientific and went into detail about optimising treatment and the benefits of the tweak. I've tried googling but to no avail. If anyone remembers the article and can provide more details that would be appreciated
I'm going to get into the weeds a little bit here: Cap. input PSs draw current though the power transformer in short interval pulses. The secondary winding processes both winding capacitance and leakage inductance which form a resonance circuit. Those current pulses act like a hammer hitting a bell producing high frequency ringing. The circuit in the PS acts like a loop antenna radiating RF into the rest of amp (and probably out the power cord too). My conjecture is this: the box of BBs helps absorb some of that radiation. The better solution is to dampen the ringing at the source with a 150nF cap and an appropriately sized resistor in series across the secondary. I have tried the BB boxes in the past. With amps where the PS transformer has been snubbed the boxes don't provide any improvement. If you are interested in this topic cruise over to DIY Audio and search the PS forum for Quasimoto (The Bell Ringer).
"It is better to remain silent and thought a fool, then speak and remove all doubt." A. Lincoln
weeds i could take - but this is 2 miles below what's digestible!!
stewart margolis
Maybe you should try smoking the "weeds". More seriously, the transformer ringing can be seen on a scope. In fact, that is how the value of the resistor in the snubber is determined; by observing the response on the scope.
"It is better to remain silent and thought a fool, then speak and remove all doubt." A. Lincoln
I thought I'd post a follow up to this thread. Thanks to Kona I found the article and decided to try it myself. I managed to source some zinc-coated BBs on eBay (2 x 4000 pellet containers) and found some suitable plastic craft/bead boxes similar to the boxes used in the original article. I was pleasantly surprised to hear placing the BBs on various components of my system did have a positive benefit. The biggest impact was with my vintage refurbished tube power amp (Leak Stereo 20). Placing BBs on the top of the amp adjacent to the output and input transformers discernibly improved and broadened the soundstage, the sound was also more relaxed and had slightly increased detail. Interestingly, I replaced the lead shot in the container sitting on my CHORD QUTEST with the BBs. I must say, I wasn't expecting too much there but was happy to hear that the BBs provided a benefit over lead shot. Not as large an improvement as the power amp, but they did provide a more relaxed and slightly more detailed sound. Clearly then it's not simply a weight damping or anti resonance effect. As mentioned in the Absolute Sound article they found the benefit was specific to the zinc-coated pellets and suggested a possible effect through absorbing stray magnetic fields/eddy currents from power supplies which can negatively impact circuitry. However the BBs are working, there is a noticeable benefit. Overall, I found it a worthwhile experiment and the BB boxes are staying as part of my system. I will be trying some Sorbothane on the base of the boxes to see if there is any additional benefit through some additional vibration damping.
I came to realize any lead anywhere in the system hurts the sound. Lead seems like such a good material, too. Not too hard p, not too soft. But careful unbiased listening will show lead screws up the bass and the sound generally quite a bit, compresses it and makes it sound unnatural and funky. Ditto Sorbothane, another audiophile favorite, nit too soft, nit too hard, just right. lol
Edits: 02/08/25
Nt
Recommend by speaker stand manufacturer Skylan as their preferred dry medium for mass loading ... it's very effective and real cheap too.
I think the article you're looking for was from The Absolute Sound, December 2014 edition. Be sure and use the zinc coated BB variety!
Thanks Kona, you're a legend! Thanks to you I was able to find the Absolute Sound article. I assumed it was Stereophile since it was my go to audio mag as Absolute Sound wasn't as available in Australia all those years ago.
Here's a link to part two of the series that described the BB pellet tweak. I was impressed with how much effort the authors went to limit subjectivity in evaluating performance improvements. You were right about zinc-coated BBs being critical. Copper BBs made the sound worse through what they proposed was an "inverse faraday effect".
https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/new-methods-for-quantifying-sonic-performance-part-two/
Nt
Thanks Kona, you're a legend! Thanks to you I was able to find the Absolute Sound article. I assumed it was Stereophile since it was my go to audio mag as Absolute Sound wasn't as available in Australia all those years ago.
Here's a link to part two of the series that described the BB pellet tweak. I was impressed with how much effort the authors went to limit subjectivity in evaluating performance improvements. You were right about zinc-coated BBs being critical. Copper BBs made the sound worse through what they proposed was an "inverse faraday effect".
https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/new-methods-for-quantifying-sonic-performance-part-two/
I've used the technique for years and not due to the article. I found some very small cardboard boxes(from a hobby shop; they look like 2" or so hat boxes) and filled them with BBs. The idea was simply damping the chassis of the gear
I also have a circular plastic pill box filled with lead shot for the same use on my CHORD DAC. I thought the article was interesting in that they said it wasn't simply due to weight damping since weights alone didn't have the same benefit in their DAC test. The zinc-coated steel BBs were the critical factor. I would love to try this myself but can't seem to be able to find zinc BBs here in Australia so far. I'll keep looking.
Nt
Thanks doublej. Yes that's the very one. I appreciate your constructive reply. Cheers.
n
I still have 2 bags of them (about 25 pounds each) used to use them inside some Ocellia speakers to give them weight.
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