Tweak tweak tweak

jmierzur

I have tried two new tweaks that have provided positive benefits to the overall performance of my current system.


Sorbothane

Sorbothane is described as ‘The ultimate damping and isolation material’. I chanced across this name while reading/researching my favourite subject on the net. It sounded promising, so I visited the Sorbothane web site to find more information about this material. This further interested me, so I called a distributor and he sent a (free) sample of 45 durometer material to experiment with.

I downloaded the manufacturer’s calculator that is used to calculate the proper amount of material to use for isolation. For my application, I decided to try coupling the speaker to the stand for 100Hz and lower.

For the LSi9 speakers, I am using four Sorbothane isolator feet and calculated a size of 16.5mm x 16.5mm. The bass tightened and the overall clarity of the speaker improved. The soundstage deepened and at the same time is now projected more into the room. Images are more tightly focused. I hear nuances of the music that I have not heard before.

My next step is to purchase a 12” x 12” x 3/16” sheet of 70 durometer Sorbothane. This ‘calculated’ a much better isolation value than the 45 durometer sample. I will be fashioning a circle cutter for the final feet as this provides additional isolation benefits, according to Sorbothane. I will be using this under my speakers as well as all my components.

DO NOT place a sheet of this material under any component that you wish to isolate. This will not provide you with the results you desire. The material is designed for 20% deflection and does not work without the proper calculations.


Bybee Quantum Filters

To start out with, this is a very controversial product/subject. Proceed at your own risk and use your own judgement. I will not attempt to describe these filters, as this review will give you an overview:

The Bybee Technologies Quantum Purifier

Balanced Power Technology offers these filters as an upgrade for their units. I talked with BPT and decided to try these filters with my BP-2.5. This upgrade was offered after my purchase of the BP-2.5, so I had the filters sent to me for installation by myself.

I have determined that the main uses for these filters are on the power supply and within speakers. Most have them in the individual components power supply and within the speaker from the crossover to the individual drivers. My ambitions are not that lofty, yet.

Being curious, I decided to try these filters with my speakers before they were installed in the BP-2.5. I connected them in series to the positive terminal of my LSi9's (no subs for this evaluation) and let them play for an hour before listening. As my main source of enjoyment is classical (Baroque) music, I conducted the listening evaluation using this musical format.

I love to attend live performances. For the CPO season before our first child was born, we decided to splurge and purchased the best seats in the ‘Dress Circle’. These were great seats and the sound was fantastic.

Having the Bybee filters in series with the speakers further deepened the soundstage. It now had very distinct layers and locations where each instrument is positioned on the stage in the orchestra. The images in the soundstage are more tightly focused and distinct (I think the article uses the word coherence). A harsh edge to music was removed. I even heard more subtle nuances in the music that I have not heard before. In general, everything now sounds more natural and realistic, like a live performance! Removing the filters and doing a direct comparison was taking a major step backwards!

In short, I will be getting five more of these filters, one for each speaker. I should probably get seven, for the future rear speakers. I can hardly wait to see what these filters do to the power supply side. I am not sure if I will be placing the filter in the speaker (still under warranty) or using them at the end of the cabling.

Please, no flame wars. There are plenty of wars being waged regarding these filters, with people using flame throwers. You may join those wars if you like; lets not burn this site down. Thanks.



Talk to you next tweak.

faster100

wow that is one long post, I couldn't stop to read this one now, maybe later when i have afew hours, kidding......

MxStYlEpOlKmAn

flame wars.....u mean reading wars.....LORD! Cant u include a vioce recording or a robot that reads it to us.....jk...id read it....but i dont even no what that first bold word is....

F1nut

I was having a major problem with cd's skipping when I turned up the volume. The only thing that worked was Big Feet from Audioquest made from Sorbothane, great stuff!
I was just reading about the Bybee filters and wondered if they were worth the price, about $80.00 each if I remember. From your review I may have to make a investment, thanks.

BTW, jmierzur...nice post.

jmierzur

Sorbothane

I have ordered a 12 x 12 x 3/16 sheet of 70 durometer Sorbothane. It will not be delivered until mid March. Will update when the material arrives and post a comparison of the two durometers.

Bybee Quantum Purifiers

Adding the purifiers to the balanced power units is stated to further lower the noise floor and increase resolution. I listened to my system without the purifiers installed in the BP-2.5. Installation required about 1/2 an hour to complete.

As the noise floor was already lowered to my satisfaction, I did not 'notice' any additional improvements. If I was able to do a quick A/B comparison with/without the purifiers, there might be a difference. With 1/2 hour required for installation, I cannot verify this claim.

As noted while testing the purifiers at speaker level connections, there was a definite improvement in the overall resolution. Once again, the soundstage deepened and the level of detail and intricacy increased. The presentation was once again layered and images were tightly focused. Placing the purifiers in the BP-2.5 did not remove the harsh edge noted at the speaker level connections.

My experience with quantum purifiers has been very positive. The best results were achieved using the purifiers at the speaker level connections. Over the next few months, I will be acquiring seven of these units to be placed in series on the positive terminal of each speaker level connection. The benefit of having the purifers in multiple locations is supposed to be cumulative. It will be interesting to hear the differences when the purifiers are once again placed at the speaker level connections.

Tour2ma

Very interesting read jmierzur, both your post and the review to which you supplied a link. (Smacked of "The Hunt for Red October" meets home audio... )

Originally posted by jmierzur
Bybee Quantum Purifiers
As the noise floor was already lowered to my satisfaction, I did not 'notice' any additional improvements. If I was able to do a quick A/B comparison with/without the purifiers, there might be a difference. With 1/2 hour required for installation, I cannot verify this claim.

Not that it matters, but the fact that you can not testify to hearing a difference in the power conditioning application, in my eyes only adds to the credibility of your speaker test results.

Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the post.

For anyone who is interested here is the link to the Bybee site:
http://www.bybeetech.com/

jmierzur

Originally posted by jmierzur
As the noise floor was already lowered to my satisfaction, I did not 'notice' any additional improvements. If I was able to do a quick A/B comparison with/without the purifiers, there might be a difference. With 1/2 hour required for installation, I cannot verify this claim.

I should elaborate on the above statement. The BPT BP-2.5 provides many benefits I described in my Balanced Power post. The unit dropped the system noise floor to the inaudible level before the purifiers were added. After adding the purifiers to the BP-2.5, I was not able to notice any difference in the noise floor, as it was already lowered. I am not implying this does not further reduce the noise floor, but with 1/2 hour separation of time for installation, I can not determine if a difference exists.

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Not that it matters, but the fact that you can not testify to hearing a difference in the power conditioning application, in my eyes only adds to the credibility of your speaker test results.

There was a definite improvement having the purifiers in series in the power conditioning unit. The results were almost identical to having the purifiers at the speaker level connections. The only difference was that a slight harsh edge was not removed when the purifiers were in the power conditioning unit.

It has been mentioned that the effects of the purifiers are cumulative when added to various locations in a system. I can hardly wait to add the purifiers to the speaker level connections while having them in the power conditioning unit…

Tour2ma

Sorry for the misread of your earlier post. Thank you for your clarification. Normally I am skeptical when someone hears a difference in every tweak they try, but I am still intrigued here.

Your observation of your speaker test vs. your conditioner test would be consistent with the claim that the purifiers work better the closer they are applied to the drivers.

Any plans to test install a set between crossovers and drivers?

jmierzur

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Your observation of your speaker test vs. your conditioner test would be consistent with the claim that the purifiers work better the closer they are applied to the drivers.

Any plans to test install a set between crossovers and drivers?

No.

The wife will never allow me to purchase the number (21) required to install them in all the speakers. It will be difficult to purchase seven of these purifiers; one for each speaker. Adding four more (for each driver in the 9's) in additon to the seven would be 'The straw that broke the camels back'.

Each speaker is still under warrenty. I am not sure how Polk would view the modification if something happened to the speaker.

Based on my listening tests, I will (have to) be content with building the purifiers into the speaker cables. This will do until next tweak...

Tour2ma

Understood. And yes, I believe the warranty would go down the tubes.
Will look forward to your update when all are in place...

Tour2ma

jmierzur,
Any update on the Bybee's???

jmierzur

I really have not had much opportunity to listen to the system lately. This old client/server developer is learning the J2EE (web) environment and languages and most of my attention has been directed towards this. I have ordered five more Bybee's, one for each speaker's positive terminal. Will update this post when I have them connected.

jmierzur

Received one 12" x 12" x 3/16" sheet of 70 durometer Sorbothane. Calculated that I required four 15mm diameter circles for each speaker. Cut the eight circles and replaced the Sorbothane square feet (16mm x 16mm x 3/16" 45 durometer) with the circles.

The front to back layering improved and the soundstage was more precise and intricate.

The circles were cut assuming that each would have an equal load. The next experiment will be to calculate and cut specific feet based on the load (the front of the speaker is much heaver than the back).

If you are going to purchase Sorbothane, I would recommend 70 durometer instead of 50 durometer (in my case, I received a free sample of 45 durometer).

madmax

I would try them but not at $85 each until I knew a lot more about them.
madmax

jmierzur

Originally posted by madmax001
I would try them but not at $85 each until I knew a lot more about them.
madmax

The sheet of Sorbothane is 12" wide, 12" long and 3/16" thick and cost CDN$29 + shipping. If I do not waste too much material, I should be able to cut up to 400 15mm circles. Just for you, I will sell each circle for US$63.75 each, a 25% savings from your quoted retail price.:cool:

gacole2000

Excuse my ignorance on this post, but could you please describe exactly how you used the isolation pads. Did you cut small circles to use as “feet” to your speakers and equipment to absorb the vibrations? You mentioned they sent you a four foot sample, did you mean four inches (that is what they are sending me)? I wanted to clarify before I went cutting up my sample. Thanks, I appreciate your help!

Greg

jmierzur

Originally posted by gacole2000
Excuse my ignorance on this post, but could you please describe exactly how you used the isolation pads. Did you cut small circles to use as “feet” to your speakers and equipment to absorb the vibrations? You mentioned they sent you a four foot sample, did you mean four inches (that is what they are sending me)? I wanted to clarify before I went cutting up my sample. Thanks, I appreciate your help!

Greg

I use the isolation pads between the speaker stand and the speakers. If you have floor standing speakers on tile, hardwood etc., place between the speaker and the floor.

The circles (and squares) were used as feet instead of the rubber, plastic etc. material you usually get with speakers or stands. I am currently using half of a super bounce ball (two balls produce four feet) as feet for my amp, pre-amp and CD player. I have not had the time to use Sorbothane as isolators for electronic equipment. The ball solution was quick, effective and cheap.

Download the Sorbothane calculator from sorbothane.com. The parameters I use are:

-select the shape you wish to use as an isolator
-select the durometer of the material
-enter the load per isolator (each foot)
-assumed natural frequency can be left at default, I enter 20
-I use 100 for the excitation frequency; I want the speaker coupled to the stand below 100hz and de-coupled above 100 hz
-enter your thickness

-modify the shape dimensions until the calculated "Percent Deflection" is 20.
-you will then see the calculated "Percent Isolation" that the feet will provide.

For 33 pound speakers, the isolators are 15mm circles of 70 durometer. Using more material does not produce better results. This material is designed to have a 20% deflection. Very important to use the calculator as a starting point!

To cut squares, use a very sharp knife and a cutting board. Drawing the knife across the material does not work. I used a meat cleaver and pressed strait down. This produced the best cuts.

To cut circles, I used a piece of tin strapping I had left over from installing duct work in the basement. I sharpened one side with a file, and formed a circle. I then taped the 'die' to the create the diameter I required. By re-taping, I can adjust the diameter of the die. Use a big block of wood as a base, place the Sorbothane on this. Position the circle die on the Sorbothane, place a smaller piece of wood on the circle die and strike with a hammer. Instant circle.

Hope this helps.

jmierzur

Installing the BQP (Bybee Quantum Purifiers) to the BP-2.5 deepened the soundstage and increased the resolution of the system. I have now placed a BQP on the positive side of each main speaker level signal path. A BQP is mounted in a small enclosure with binding posts on one end and Kimber 4TC cable terminated with banana plugs on the other. The system was allowed to play for two hours before I had a chance to listen.

The soundstage is deeper (the image moved forward while still keeping the depth) with more precise localization of individual instruments. The level of resolution has increased as I can now hear finer musical nuances. All program formats sound more dynamic and natural with the addition of the BQP at this location.

A negative of increased resolution is that I can hear more background noise (sheet music pages turning, feet shuffling, performers moving in their chairs, etc.) in better classical recordings. The positive; I will begin my enlightened listening experience by revisiting my Led Zeppelin collection and move on from there. This might be a good time to connect my DBX equipment and start listening to analog sources again.

The next phase will be to enclose a BQP in the above-mentioned fashion for the centre channel speaker. Surround speakers will have the BQPs spliced in the middle of a length of Kimber 4TC that will run from the in-wall binding posts to the speaker.

Tour2ma

Thanks form the update... looking forward to more.
BTW, what dbx gear do you have? Still love my old 3bxIII for vinyl (especially classical), old cassettes and even the odd early CD.

jmierzur

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Thanks form the update... looking forward to more.
BTW, what dbx gear do you have? Still love my old 3bxIII for vinyl (especially classical), old cassettes and even the odd early CD.

The one remaining tweak that is left is to install a differential noise filter in the BP-2.5. After that, I plan on spending time on my Litespeed road bike.

The DBX units I have are 3BXIII, 224X and 120X.

jmierzur

Link to latest tweak to BPT BP-2.5 balanced power conditioner.

Finished tweaking for now.