Cryogenic Treatment

jmierzur

Background

Over the past three years, I have been applying various tweaks to the audio environment and system to further improve the sound quality. Several component upgrades have been introduced during this time to further refine the end result.

Among my reading, I have noted various accounts of using cryogenic treatment. Cryogenic treated items ranged from audio cabling to whole audio components. After researching the subject, I was pleased to find a local company that offered these services. It appears audio cabling to whole components have been processed at this facility. I then decided that I would have my cabling treated.

The components cryogenically treated during this batch included:

-Harmonic Technology Pro 11 speaker cables
-Acoustic Research Master interconnects
-Acoustic Research Pro Series II interconnects

The ICs treated connect all system components, with the exception of the components connected to the cassette loop. The speaker cables are used for the main L+R speakers.

I considered this treatment cycle ‘experimental’, as I was not entirely convinced of the process, or the results.

Method

The local facility can provide a deep cryogenic treatment to –300 F. Their process is considered ‘dry’, as there is no direct exposure to cryogenic liquids, which eliminates the risk of thermal shock. Items are cooled slowly at less than 1 degree per minute. The low temperature soak (-300 F) is maintained for 20 to 60 hours. The items are then brought to ambient temperature at a slow rate.

All cabling being treated was packaged in a box. The box was large enough to allow all cables to loosely coil. More on this latter. I also threw in an RS line level switching unit to see how circuit boards and cabinets handle treatment.

In the cryogenic treatment batch my cables were processed in, the cool down process required 11 hours. The soak temperature (-300 F) was maintained for 22 hours followed by a warn-up period of 19 hours to ambient temperature.

Results

On examination of the contents of the box after treatment, most of the cables were completely intact in the same manor as prior to treatment. All cables functioned normally. More on this latter.

The system was rewired and left to play for 24 hours before completing any critical listening. The first thing I noticed was the ease at which the music flowed from the system. Everything I listened to was more dynamic and natural sounding. The decay of notes was richer sounding with more detail and took longer to fade into the background. There was also an improvement in the intricacy and depth of the soundstage.

For an objective comparison of the cryogenic treatment results, an extra set of three feet AR Master ICs was not processed. These cables were used as a test to determine any differences when changing one set of interconnects within the system.

Several songs were listened to suing the CD source player. On completion of listening to the songs with the treated IC, the non-treated IC was exchanged between the source player and pre-amp. It was immediately apparent that some of the attributes mentioned above were missing. Several iterations of exchanging cables between the source and pre amp confirmed my initial impressions.

Conclusion

Overall I am very pleased with the results of the entire process. Yes, there were some problems with the physical condition of the returned cabling, but I will consider this a learning process. No performance problems were noted from the physical problems.

In short, the presentation sounds more 'natural' than prior to cryogenic treatment. No additional changes were introduced during the time the cabling was being processed. Any future changes to the system cabling will be cryogenically treated.

This is a one time process that is permanent requiring no follow up treatment. I am not aware of any of any side effects of this type of treatment and none have appeared as of this writing.

Supplement

It was mentioned that almost any type of audio cabling could be treated. I have not read any elaboration on this topic and was curious what this could possibly mean. If you are not familiar with AR Master IC cable, there are ferrite magnets on one end that are enclosed in a molded plastic enclosure. At this point, I will speculate on the intent of the preceding statement.

When the box of treated cables was opened, I immediately noticed that all but one molded plastic enclosure was shattered. It would appear that the dissimilar materials of the enclosure and cable housing caused the enclosure to fail. I may have had reservation on treating the cables had I known of this before treatment. In retrospect, some ignorance is good as after applying puzzle solving skills combined with some electrical tape made the enclosures ‘whole’ once again.

When inquiring about cryogenically treating cable, it was suggested that the cables should not be stressed before treatment. Tightly coiling cable would provide additional stress. When an item under stress is lowered to the soak temperature, there is a risk that the item may fail. Items being treated should be in as a relaxed state as possible.

Equipment

Please refer to System Showcase for a description of the current equipment list.


Till next tweak...

PolkThug

Nice write up.

For the objective part, did you swap the cables yourself, or was it a blind test?

$?

Did the place you went to mention doing this process with automotive parts or other applications?

Regards,
PT

Skynut

Real nice review, I allways wondered about cryogenic treatment and now I know.
I was looking at your system and would like to know how you like your Bybee Quantum Purifiers? Did you notice enough of an improvement to recomend them?

Nice system btw.

jmierzur

Originally posted by PolkThug
Nice write up.

For the objective part, did you swap the cables yourself, or was it a blind test?

$?

Did the place you went to mention doing this process with automotive parts or other applications?

Regards,
PT

Yes, I was required to swap the cables myself and no, it was not a blind test this time.

There is a $50 minimum cost. My box was CDN$50 + local tax.

This is an oil town. Most of the other equipment in the batch was for the oil patch.

jmierzur

Originally posted by Skynut
Real nice review, I allways wondered about cryogenic treatment and now I know.
I was looking at your system and would like to know how you like your Bybee Quantum Purifiers? Did you notice enough of an improvement to recomend them?

Nice system btw.

I really like the BQPs. They remove a harsh edge that makes everything sound more natural. I have not tried them after treating the cables. Not sure if I will need them on the mains anymore. May move them to the surround channels.

The BQPs are cryo treated themselves, but I forgot to stuff the complete adaptors I made into the box for treatment. Next time I guess.

Thanks.

Early B.

Thanks for the review. That's the first time I read about a consumer's impressions of cyrogenic treatment. I have some interconnects that were cryogenically treated, but I figured it was a marketing gimmick. Sounds like $50 well spent.

BobMcG

Some time ago, I had a relative (not blood) working for a Cryogenics company in FL. One of their sales points involved the treatment of chainsaw chains and planner blades. Treatment was claimed to keep the sharpend surfaces sharp much longer. I and others did extensive testing on both of these subjects only to determine there was just nothing to prove it worked well enough if at all to justfy the expense.



Speaking of FL, anyone interested in investing in some property Cheap!

steveinaz

Well done. Interesting read.

heiney9

Is there any way you can get into the physical aspects of why cryogenics would improve the sound of your cables? I need some science behind the results to really consider it to be anything more than pure opinion. Also, it seems to me that all the nuances you desribe would be somewhat negated by the fact that you had to piece the plastic enclosure together with tape. Doesn't that ruin the control portion of the experiment? Certainly is curiously interesting

You didn't see Ted Williams anywhere, did you?:D

H9

dragon1952

Originally posted by heiney9
You didn't see Ted Williams anywhere, did you?:D H9

LOL! If he were revived he'd no doubt hit .500 ( if you believe in the virtues of cryogenics) :rolleyes:

Skynut

Originally posted by heiney9


You didn't see Ted Williams anywhere, did you?:D

H9

No but Walt Disneys head was there.:D

jmierzur

Originally posted by heiney9
Is there any way you can get into the physical aspects of why cryogenics would improve the sound of your cables? I need some science behind the results to really consider it to be anything more than pure opinion. Also, it seems to me that all the nuances you desribe would be somewhat negated by the fact that you had to piece the plastic enclosure together with tape. Doesn't that ruin the control portion of the experiment? Certainly is curiously interesting

You didn't see Ted Williams anywhere, did you?:D

H9

If you want to examine the physical aspects of the science, the net has the information you require. Follows is one link of interest.

Not sure why any improvements would be negated by having the plastic enclosures taped. On one cable, I completely removed the enclosure and taped over the magnet. The control portion included the treated and non treated cable.

This round of treatment was an experiment. When I replace the seperate pre-amp and SSP processor into a single unit (Anthem D-1), I will be updating all ICs. They will not include any enclosures that could shatter during cryogenic treatment.

Had to look up Ted Williams. No he was not around. Not sure if he would like being re-frozen every couple of weeks.

Frozen Solid Audio

Edit

As a perminant solution, I may remove all plastic enclosures and use heat shrink over the magnet. I was too excited to install the cables in the system to use heat shrink.