You want the protection diode to conduct when the LED is reverse biased. So connect them like this:
One of those diodes should be the LED.
Tom
One of those diodes should be the LED.
Tom
Quartz crystals and quartz sand can also be used in place of the salt. The Shunyata patent shows quarts in the list of materials that can be used. Quartz sand can be found in pet stores for lizards, I am told. Inexpensive Quartz crystals can be bought on Amazon for trying out their effect. DIY is about having fun!
tubeelectron,
Your power filter is impressive - I do not doubt it works very well.
I have made my own power manifolds but my AC filtering is done at the input of each device. Using the FO-FELIX filters offered in GROUP BUYS from time to time.
The reason I posted this was because of my question: Have we obsessed on conductivity and ignored radiation?
I would be the first to agree that attaching packets of salt to a switch plate would seem to be a very puny way to absorb the radiation generated by AC power circulating in our houses. But what would be wrong if something so simple actually did something useful? This is plain to hear on my system.
There is a reduction of noise and this is demonstrated by details that you knew were there but are now more plainly audible - decay is more decayed - I found vibrato - in any instrument (I consider the voice to be an instrument) to have more dynamics - the softer aspect is more plainly heard.
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I am interested in balanced power but this does nothing to quell radiation. I have tried large BEL DU-2 isolation transformers and found they did not do much. I know that has nothing to do with balanced power - I used them mainly thinking they would block noise from the AC line that toroids welcome in. I used one per channel - one was noisy which gave me concern and they both stayed almost hot to the touch. I had considered using them in balanced mode but I never did. I worried the power margin would be too small.
Your power filter is impressive - I do not doubt it works very well.
I have made my own power manifolds but my AC filtering is done at the input of each device. Using the FO-FELIX filters offered in GROUP BUYS from time to time.
The reason I posted this was because of my question: Have we obsessed on conductivity and ignored radiation?
I would be the first to agree that attaching packets of salt to a switch plate would seem to be a very puny way to absorb the radiation generated by AC power circulating in our houses. But what would be wrong if something so simple actually did something useful? This is plain to hear on my system.
There is a reduction of noise and this is demonstrated by details that you knew were there but are now more plainly audible - decay is more decayed - I found vibrato - in any instrument (I consider the voice to be an instrument) to have more dynamics - the softer aspect is more plainly heard.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am interested in balanced power but this does nothing to quell radiation. I have tried large BEL DU-2 isolation transformers and found they did not do much. I know that has nothing to do with balanced power - I used them mainly thinking they would block noise from the AC line that toroids welcome in. I used one per channel - one was noisy which gave me concern and they both stayed almost hot to the touch. I had considered using them in balanced mode but I never did. I worried the power margin would be too small.
You can but Quartz is not Ferroelectric, it's Piezoelectric.
Patents can contain a list materials most of which they will never really use. The way of copy protection I think.
I will expand a bit info about material types mostly from wiki and a bit from other sources.
Ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoelectric and pyroelectric, with the additional property that their natural electrical polarization is reversible.
Not all piezoelectrics and pyroelectrics are ferroelectric. (And funny thing most ferroelectric materials do not contain iron.)
The distinguishing feature of ferroelectrics is that the spontaneous polarization can be reversed by a suitably strong applied electric field in the opposite direction.
Typically, materials demonstrate ferroelectricity only below a certain phase transition temperature, called the Curie temperature (TC). (Curie point) and are paraelectric above this temperature: the spontaneous polarization vanishes, and the ferroelectric crystal transforms into the paraelectric state.
When a voltage is applied to a dielectric, electricity does not flow, but is divided into two parts, one charged with positive electricity and the other with negative electricity. This is called polarization. In a paraelectric material, polarization disappears when the voltage is set to zero. Ferroelectric materials, on the other hand, remain polarized even when the voltage is reduced to zero.
Piezoelectric material is a substance that polarizes when deformed by applied pressure. Conversely, it has the property of deforming when voltage is applied.
Pyroelectric materials are also materials that produce electrical potentials due to changes in temperature.
Normally, charged particles from the air are adsorbed on the surface to neutralize the charge, but heating causes an imbalance of charge with the valence particles on the surface, resulting in polarization. Pyroelectricity is also spontaneously polarized even when no voltage is applied, as is Ferroelectricity, but the direction of polarization cannot be changed.
Ferroelectricity is also characterized by Piezoelectricity and Pyroelectricity properties. Ferroelectrics therefore exhibit an electrical response to electricity and stress. In addition, some atomic configurations respond to magnetism.
P.S.: A bit offtopic but partly relevant, google "Ferroelectric negative capacitance". Neat discoveries lately in that direction.
well first question what density is the 1cm thick low density eps foam? second is how did you smooth out the 10KHz. peak? The smoothed response is Very Good indeed that would make a fine reference for eps performance.
Way back in the thread I found a post might have been yours saying a Proplex panel is half the weight of a 3mm plywood panel but I did not see a panel size. I mention this because Proplex is a PP material but I thought is was a heavy material? Am I confusing it with another material? I am going through the thread to find all of your sound clips of panels to listen to them again.
I guess that I am most interested in finding ways to make ordinary easy to find materials into very good sounding panels so other people can try a build and not have to spend a lot of money on expensive or hard to find materials. At this point in time what is your recipe to make a very good sounding small panel (smaller than a ft. sq. or so) out of light packing density eps which is easy to find at home improvement/building supply stores and at craft stores. I think that along with a card stock panel design should provide me with two very good reference panels. This reminds me did you ever follow up on using plastic wrap film as a passive tweeter? i thought the ones you posted sounded quite good and really surprised me and how much they improved the sound of the eps panel you used them on. Thanks for the help.
Way back in the thread I found a post might have been yours saying a Proplex panel is half the weight of a 3mm plywood panel but I did not see a panel size. I mention this because Proplex is a PP material but I thought is was a heavy material? Am I confusing it with another material? I am going through the thread to find all of your sound clips of panels to listen to them again.
I guess that I am most interested in finding ways to make ordinary easy to find materials into very good sounding panels so other people can try a build and not have to spend a lot of money on expensive or hard to find materials. At this point in time what is your recipe to make a very good sounding small panel (smaller than a ft. sq. or so) out of light packing density eps which is easy to find at home improvement/building supply stores and at craft stores. I think that along with a card stock panel design should provide me with two very good reference panels. This reminds me did you ever follow up on using plastic wrap film as a passive tweeter? i thought the ones you posted sounded quite good and really surprised me and how much they improved the sound of the eps panel you used them on. Thanks for the help.
Thanks @rickmcinnis !
Yes, my KRAFTWERK Unit does the job as expected : cleans the AC network going to my Audio gear, offer a differential and overvoltage protection plus soft-start, and reduces the AC mains voltage from 10V thanks to the isolation transformer secondary tap (I have an average wall plug voltage here at 240-245VAC).
This isolation transformer is completely shielded, silent, and offer a CT at the secondary, in order to generate a ground - not power - balancing, something like a XLR symmetrical connection.
All the stuff is encased in a metal and grounded main cabinet, so it avoids external radiations and adverse noises, which is complemented by the action of the integrated SCHAFFNER filter.
I checked the look of the waveform before and after the KRAFTWERK Unit, and could see a neat improvement in sinus cleaning : offset voltages, spikes, RF disturbances residues were all eliminated. I should have recorded my oscilloscope screens as a proof... 😕
That said, the isolation transformer is not an "average" one, if I can say so :
I don't feel the need to go further, notably by using "some kind of salt" for absorbing radiations... I won't deny this method, since I am discovering it through this subject - and de facto never experimented it...
But I am dubious, compared to the more classic (or rational) methods, about bringing any significant improvement to my small Audio installation, I mean : for what it is, as is.
But it's me, OK ? 😉
T
I use the TORIODY product for my line amplifier's power transformers. Beautiful quality. That is one big transformer and much more attractive than the BEL's I no longer use. Shame it is covered up!
Remember, the Rochelle salts are addressing something your big box is not.
Those with some time should read cdacosta's posts.
Why I take him seriously:
He is a headphone guy. I cannot enjoy music played on headphones but I acknowledge their inherent superiority in revealing problems in the amplification chain. The headphone guys are always ahead in discovering flaws because they can hear them so clearly.
When you read his posts you will see that he is not a wild eyed fanatic but a serious minded fellow. He did not just come up with this stuff and three seconds after installation starts writing about it as the third coming. I am speaking of HIS posts ot those of others most assuredly including myself.
The old story about how discoveries are initially laughed at and then a decade later become the common wisdom. But then there are those who still think milk will calm a stomach ulcer. Oh, well.
Remember, the Rochelle salts are addressing something your big box is not.
Those with some time should read cdacosta's posts.
Why I take him seriously:
He is a headphone guy. I cannot enjoy music played on headphones but I acknowledge their inherent superiority in revealing problems in the amplification chain. The headphone guys are always ahead in discovering flaws because they can hear them so clearly.
When you read his posts you will see that he is not a wild eyed fanatic but a serious minded fellow. He did not just come up with this stuff and three seconds after installation starts writing about it as the third coming. I am speaking of HIS posts ot those of others most assuredly including myself.
The old story about how discoveries are initially laughed at and then a decade later become the common wisdom. But then there are those who still think milk will calm a stomach ulcer. Oh, well.
So just be clear, I believe that you and several others here are suggesting that somehow placing these Rochelle salts or various other minerals in or around the AC power wall outlets and switch plates throughout the house has a substantial effect on the sound quality that emanates from your stereo system. That the difference can actually be easily heard.
In the first post you claimed that ..."what this does is extraordinary. It does allow a reduction in noise which is about the only way to explain the far greater level of detail one will hear."
And then referring to cdacosta, the promoter of this idea, he assures "that the more 'junctions' are treated the better. He goes into detail about tuning the amount of salt used."
So, we are expected to believe then that if I have a two-story house with a stereo listening room on the first floor and I put some kind of magic salt crystals on the AC wall plates upstairs I will hear a difference in the sound from my stereo system. Not only that, but a substantial difference.
But let's go back and examine your main premise above... "It does allow a reduction in noise which is about the only way to explain the far greater level of detail one will hear."
Exactly what kind of noise are we talking about here. It is 60 Hz AC hum, which is usually far below the threshold of hearing for modern stereo systems? Is it white noise from some other sources? Or is it some other kind of mysterious noise? And just how is this noise getting into the system to begin with.
The point I am getting at here is that your claim the magic salts eliminate noise is nonsense since there is virtually no noise present in a modern quality system to begin with. And even if noise of some sort was present there is no way in the understanding of electricity and RF fields that these magic salts could reduce that noise.
I cannot believe putting something in a packet in a wall plate can do anything except possibly create a safety hazard.
Seems easy enough to test. Get a portable AM radio and do noise sweeps with it (several times both with and without treatment). Preferably double blind with well controlled noise output measurement and positioning of the radio. Several times as line noise is quite variable.
I have used the am radio trick to find the noise emitters in my home so that they can be treated or turned off when needed.
Seems easy enough to test. Get a portable AM radio and do noise sweeps with it (several times both with and without treatment). Preferably double blind with well controlled noise output measurement and positioning of the radio. Several times as line noise is quite variable.
I have used the am radio trick to find the noise emitters in my home so that they can be treated or turned off when needed.
What if it does?
If there is a difference in sound, the claim that it is due to reduced noise may be wrong. IMHO, most likely it would be wrong.
Could be.
For some people a "substantial" difference is like making a mountain out of a molehill. IOW, the claim is overstated.
Again if something real is going on, IMHO its probably not a reduction in noise.
Now you are starting to not sound like a scientist. The guys making the claims about the salts jumped to conclusions about the causal mechanism. Now you are jumping to conclusions about whether anything real could be happening. Humans always have a tendency to jump to conclusions but it can sometimes lead to wrong conclusions. According to one expert its a kind of lazy thinking we all do, such as is easily seen in the bat and ball problem. However we can also invoke slow, careful, systematic, and effortful thinking if we need to.
False. Please see the attachment. If you want to be taken more seriously than the salt guys, maybe you should try to be more accurate in your own claims. AC line noise often involves EMI/RFI extending up into the GHz region.
Probably true, but maybe a bit overstated.
The AM radio band is 540 kHz up to 1700 kHz. What if whatever effect may be happening is outside that band? What if its not amplitude modulated?
Not saying the radio idea is a bad one, actually I agree it could be one useful test to look for noise. However multiband receiver with AM, FM, SSB demodulators and external antenna capability is probably better for such testing, rather than a typical AM radio band receiver.
Too bad we just can't use ferrite, as the noise reduction of ferrite can be measured.
What if instead of noise reduction, its a noise generator? What if AC socket plates can act something like a microphone diaphragm to couple room noise into a piezoelectric material?
Perhaps there is a psychoacoustic effect whereby some people find RF noise modulated into their system to sound subjectively better and more detailed?
What would most people attribute as causal for allowing them to hear more detail? Noise reduction?
Perhaps there is a psychoacoustic effect whereby some people find RF noise modulated into their system to sound subjectively better and more detailed?
What would most people attribute as causal for allowing them to hear more detail? Noise reduction?
Actually, I am sounding exactly like a responsible scientist. There is no respectable scientist in the world who would believe that placing some kind of minerals into the AC wall plate on the second floor of a house would any affect whatsoever on the sound emanating from a stereo system on the first floor. This is all nonsense and anyone with an education in the sciences would laugh at it.
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