Arcs & Sparks

[wkhanna]

I realize this is the place for speaker DIY....

But...there are other areas of DIY dealing with source & power.
Dan (aka PewterTA) & I have recently been experimenting with Mu-Metal & musical grade cork.



Here are the mods to my Schiit Gungnir DAC using the cork & Mu metal
CAUTION - Graphic Audio Porn Depicted








GUNGNIR STRIPPED TO ITS ESSENTIALS








IT HELPS TO HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB



CUTTING THE CORK PADS




CORK PAD FITTED TO ONE OF MODULE BOARDS






CORK PAD ON ONE OF THE MODULE STAND-OFFS







CORK PADS FOR MOUNTING THE MAIN BOARD TO THE CHASSIS




SORRY FOR SOME BAD CLOSE-UPS….NOT MY Camera’s FORTE’





The Transformers are Soldered Directly to The Chassis So I Could Not Isolate Them with Cork.
They are Next To The A/C Mains, and Solder Terminations on the Board are Dangerously Close to Where I Want to Put the Mu Metal.
I Put Some Silicone Over the Solder Joints to Insulate from Possible Contact with Mu Metal.
You Can See My Hifi-Tuning Fuse, Too






Mu METAL IS CUT……






…IN POSITION & TACKED DOWN WITH SOME SILICONE






I can only say one thing.......

This is some Amazing Schiit!


The results are quite more than obvious.

Significant increase in soundstage width, height & depth.

Any recording signatures such as room acoustics or other ambient info is so palatable it makes the OEM seem like eggs without salt.

Much better with subtle details (which was pretty effen good to start with).

The overall realistic dimensional presence has me grinning till it hurts.

It is one of those upgrades that makes you want pull out all your favorites to hear all the new information that you going to hear.


The cork alone helped......(yes, I tried with just the cork, then added the Mu metal)

Isolating the X-fromers sent things over the top.

[---k---]

Very nice work. I bet it took lots of guts to tear it apart to do the mods. Are you planing on putting the case back on or leave it naked.

[wkhanna]

Thanks, Ryan.

I am sending the aluminum cover to a local plating shop that does anodizing.
I have a bit of a fetish for black equipment, this will not be the 1st time I have altered the OEM color of my electronics.
Same goes for LED's, one of the first things I do is put in Red LED's, just as the Chancellor intended.

I also still need to upgrade the heat sinks on Gungnir MOSFETs, too.

It does not take guts to do this stuff, just good quality screwdrivers.
If you guys can build crossovers & hook them up, or work on your PC's, you can do this kind of stuff.
Just a few basic precautions, some pre-planning, patience & a good fermented beverage at the proper temperature being all that is needed.

I started out just putting the fuse in a while back.
Since then, Dan & I have been experimenting with vibration isolation (the music cork) & field isolation (the Mu-Metal).

We used the highest quality Portuguese cork that is normally reserved for joints & valve seats on woodwind musical instruments.
The best quality cork comes from Portugal where the climate is well suited to the tree it is produced from.
In fact, Portugal used to supply the world with cork for wine bottles, barrel bungs & even the seal material on the metal cap for nearly every bottle of soda in the world.

But this was years ago, & due to supply & technology, synthetic materials (polymers) have replaced natural cork.
But, if you have a fine, hand-made musical instrument like a Kielworth or Selmer sax, an Emerson DeFord flute or a French-made Buffet clarinet, most say there is no substitute for real, natural cork.

There is one other reason we used natural cork instead of a synthetic material, & it has to do with Mother Nature & the inherent properties of natural materials.
It seems the more man reinvents what was already here, the more we begin to appreciate the often superior abilities of nature’s designs.
For example, in the high-dollar realm ($2k - $12k) of turntable cartridges one of the best is the Soundsmith Hyperion moving-iron phono cartridge which utilizes a cantilever (the long, thin stem that supports the needle) made from a cactus needle.
(BTW, I got to hear this cartridge at this year's Capital Audiofest in D.C.)

http://www.stereophile.com/content/soundsmith%E2%80%99s-hyperion-phono-cartridge-cactus-needle-cantilever

For years, cartridge designers have been looking a material with specific characteristics like rigidity & vibration damping that suit this application.
These are two characteristics that normally are not shared & all manner of stuff has been tried from aluminum & sapphire to beryllium & boron... the lighter & stiffer… the better.

It turns out, one of best answers to this application has been basking in the sunny desserts of Arizona all along.

No, we did not spend endless hours with spring modulus calculations or computer modeling on this one.
We just went with our gut instincts.

As for the Mu-Metal.....nothing ground breaking here either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu-metal

Make sure to use annealed mu-metal, it possesses vastly better shielding ability.
We got ours right off of ePray.

Many high-end designs use separate chassis to house & separate power supplies from sensitive electronics.
Using the mu-metal is a less efficient but DIY means of obtaining some of the same benefits.

I have done the same to my already highly modified Carver C-19 Pre/Phono Pre & my Rotel RB-1090 power amp.

[---k---]

Thanks for the detailed response. I admit to some skepticism, but the information is very interesting. I wish I could hear the before and after.

[PewterTA]

Ryan,

I was the same way... I didn't believe how a little sheet of flexible metal (not even 1mm thick) could do anything....

Then I decided to try it out.

First thing I did was modify a Rotel RB-1080 that I don't use and is my "okay to break" amp. I used the cork and wrapped the transformer in Mu Metal. I then performed a back to back against it's bigger brother RB-1090. The 1090 is basically identical to the 1080 in every aspect of sound except it doesn't go as deep in the low range and have the power of the 1090 on deep notes. You definitely notice the power differences between the two. But other than that, they are exactly the same.

First thing I noticed after the mod is that the 1080 had as much bunch and bass as the 1090. Which blew my mind. I couldn't believe that the little guy could drive my B&W 802D2s exactly the same. The next thing I noticed is a more neutral sound with instruments sounding more realistic and having air or openness around each instrument. The sound stage got a little bit deeper or more well defined in the depth (front to back). I probably went back and forth about 10 times swapping the speaker cables and everything. It was enough that I left the 1090 unplugged for about 2 weeks and didn't miss it at all.

After about 2 weeks I got to take it over to Bill's and let him see what he thinks. We listened to his Rotel RB-1090 for a good hour or more and then decided to swap the same way I did at home. I didn't say anything until Bill made the first comments on what he was hearing (probably two full swaps of the amps) and he voiced the same things that I had heard at home. One thing he noticed that I hadn't at home (or at least didn't think about) was that the 1080 sounded about 2+ dbs louder than his 1090. So after pointing that out we busted out the sound meter and went back and forth 4 more times, this time making sure to volume match the two.

Here's where we ran into a conundrum that we still can not explain. We both plainly heard the volume difference in the 1080 over the 1090 however, none of our 3 sound meters detected ANY volume change. Both amps were dead exact with all test material and tones we used. Bill and I probably sat for about 30 minutes without playing a single thing while we were trying to figure out if we were nuts or what.... All times we tested one of us was up right at the speakers making the cable changes between the amps while the other was at the listening position....so we even had two points of reference every time and we both admitted that the sound was purely louder...but no meter could detect any difference.

So needless to say, that night is when we modified Bill's amp (as I had brought everything and left it in the car figuring that he'd want to do it) because he seriously wanted to get rid of his 1090 for the 1080.

So that evening we did the mods in the pictures Bill posted while I was taking things apart... and I think Bill was completely happy with the difference in the amp as it then matched the exact sound of the 1080 except it once again hit lower/deeper than the 1080. Speed and transparency seemed to go to another level over what the amp had been (which was modified by silver soldering all the connections over a stock amp).

Since then, I've done my RB-1090, RMB-1095, NAD M51, Cambridge Audio 840c, Yamaha RX-v820 (I think that's the model) and a friend's Yamaha RX-v820. Our friend's Yamaha, he didn't believe it would do anything. So I took my Yamaha over and left it with him for two days and he came back and said he was blown away by the change in the sound and how much better in all aspects the sound was. On the AVR he said the big difference for him was a volume change and how seemlessly the surround sound is now. For music listening there was basically the same aspects increased that Bill and I noticed in our amps.

With having done about 8 to 10 pieces of equipment and every single one making a noticeable improvement.... I think it's broken past the point of skepticism for myself.

We even had a stock CA 840c vs. mine and everyone noticed a difference (for the better) in mine over the stock one...which means 8 to 9 people in a room heard all the same things. Which how often does that happen!?!?

Anyways, for anyone willing to open their equipment, spend the ~$50 per piece of equipment... it'll give an estimated $500 to maybe $1000 upgrade price tag in return.

I call that a win any day.

[---k---]

Thanks for the detailed response. I have to admit that reading this tempts me to tear apart my Outlaw amp. But, I've got so many other projects going right now...

I wonder if the louder sound you perceived was a lower noise floor. I know when the furnace or whatever is running, it doesn't sound very loud where I'm sitting, barely notice it running, but as soon as it stops I usually turn the TV down.

I think the biggest source of my skepticism comes from the fact that Rotel is not a bargain basement brand. And, it isn't like they are selling a basic and premium line. I doubt another $50 in price would matter at the price points they are selling. So why don't they do it from the start? I would be interested to see whether/ how some of the even higher end brands do it. Like JonMarsh's Ayre Acoustic gear.

[kevinm]

I have to say, after reading through these agin, I am definitely intrigued. After I finish my new cabs and bass traps, I'm thinking this is a good experiment. Where did everyone get their materials?

Anyone try it on an Emotiva amp? I have 3 XPA-1s that seem like prime candidates - perfect for A/B testing too.

[wkhanna]

Hi Kevin.

I was reading up on the Chorale Pre than Jon posted about in the Digital forum....


Interesting that at the end of the 'spiel' they note power supply isolation & the use of mu-metal as an integral part of their design philosophy.

Ayre milled their chassis in at least one of their units from billet aluminum with all the power sections isolated in their own isolated pocket.

[JonMarsh]

Yeah... and now Ayre is using what amounts to series + shunt regulators in the new 20th anniversary version KXR-20 preamp, and the diamond output stage for the preamp too (which I was using in my own discrete preamp modules back in the 70s). Sometimes things go around in circles; there are often not new things under the sun, but new implementations of them! That still, is innovation, if everyone else has forgotten the old tricks.


A lot of people are using the milled chassis trick these days- even Berkeley uses it to isolate power and processing in the Reference DAC.

[wkhanna]

Speaking of old tricks (or as I like to call it, curmudgeon’s clout), have you had any experience with op amps?
I had sockets put in my Carver C-19 but have yet to try any rolling.

These Bursons are on my short list.

Dug up a review here

[wkhanna]

Some more interesting reading here