Yes, definitely the leads. There could be something magnetic inside of the body, but the attraction to the leads is so overwhelming that it's impossible to say without disassembly.
It's somewhat concerning that there are various versions of the same product without any markings or documentation to distinguish one from another. Who knows which one is representative? What does one get when the extra money is laid out for silver or gold? Uranium? Tungsten? Ytterbium? I expect more from a component that sells for $90.
It's somewhat concerning that there are various versions of the same product without any markings or documentation to distinguish one from another. Who knows which one is representative? What does one get when the extra money is laid out for silver or gold? Uranium? Tungsten? Ytterbium? I expect more from a component that sells for $90.
Fitting in a few things between honey-dos. I did manage to solder these in to the AC line of my midrange/tweeter power amp for a brief listen.
My Bybee devices were given to me by Jack Bybee several years ago and they were soldered into a Blowtorch preamp. However, I removed them before shipping the Blowtorch preamp overseas, as I did not know whether they were allowed export at the time. That is why I have possession of 4 identical looking units. Since they were soldered in, my ends are somewhat shorter than maximum and solder coated.
In trying to find out what the wire is composed of, I scraped several wire ends with a scalpel made of magnetizable stainless steel over a strong rare earth magnet that I use for such testing, hoping to catch any magnetic particles with the magnet. I found that the exterior surface did not have much, if anything magnetic that would stick to the rare earth magnet. However as I scraped deeper, some particles started to cling to the magnet. At this depth, the color went from white to a copper color. I could take a picture of this, and I probably will just to have proof, but at this time, my computer can't even print, and I doubt that it can scan, as the main drive crashed 1 week ago, and I am now trying to fix it. I stand by what I am seeing, however.
Personally, I don't care to argue with SY about this. Perhaps, since he has a couple of units and knows chemistry, he can better determine the constitution of the leads. I will simply ask Jack Bybee when I can next reach him, as I am only making an educated guess from having the devices, running a magnet across the devices, noting the absence of magnetic material in the device body, itself, and Googling military grade wiring that fits the description.
Looking at other Bybee devices, some are partially magnetic, having what appears as magnetic end caps, and some leads are highly magnetic. These are the large and medium sized devices made over the last 15 years.
In trying to find out what the wire is composed of, I scraped several wire ends with a scalpel made of magnetizable stainless steel over a strong rare earth magnet that I use for such testing, hoping to catch any magnetic particles with the magnet. I found that the exterior surface did not have much, if anything magnetic that would stick to the rare earth magnet. However as I scraped deeper, some particles started to cling to the magnet. At this depth, the color went from white to a copper color. I could take a picture of this, and I probably will just to have proof, but at this time, my computer can't even print, and I doubt that it can scan, as the main drive crashed 1 week ago, and I am now trying to fix it. I stand by what I am seeing, however.
Personally, I don't care to argue with SY about this. Perhaps, since he has a couple of units and knows chemistry, he can better determine the constitution of the leads. I will simply ask Jack Bybee when I can next reach him, as I am only making an educated guess from having the devices, running a magnet across the devices, noting the absence of magnetic material in the device body, itself, and Googling military grade wiring that fits the description.
Looking at other Bybee devices, some are partially magnetic, having what appears as magnetic end caps, and some leads are highly magnetic. These are the large and medium sized devices made over the last 15 years.
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Are those the original small ones or the new "Slipstream" units? What are their dimensions?
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The components that I am scraping the leads on, are the so called Slipstream devices that SY apparently has. They look visually identical to me. I also have medium sized and larger units that I showed SY one example of, years ago.
Jack Bybee says the leads are Copperweld, with silver plating. That is all that I have to say about the subject. This is necessary because the devices are welded together, rather than soldered internally. This means that iron is involved in the conductor.
If someone is located in the SF bay area, and is a moderator of this forum, and would like to impartially look and even test a selection of Bybee devices, just contact me and get on over here, and I will show you what I have, we can measure what we can, together, and you can take them home with you to test and try.
I would suggest to the testers not to check sound differences of the Bybees against integral undamaged cable, BUT against pieces of wire of similar length and diameter as Bybees leads, inserted into the original cable .... 😎
John, I tried scraping as you suggested and indeed, the leads appear to be plated copperweld (i.e., copper-plated steel and highly magnetic). So much for the multigigahertz stuff you were throwing out there. And so much for their claims of copper leads. Are the silver ones also just silver plated copperweld? The gold ones?
Pavel, my speaker comparisons were against a 50 cent 0R027 current sensing resistor. Copperweld leads as well, not coincidentally (copperweld is cheap and rugged compared to pure copper).
Pavel, my speaker comparisons were against a 50 cent 0R027 current sensing resistor. Copperweld leads as well, not coincidentally (copperweld is cheap and rugged compared to pure copper).
SY, the copperweld comes apparently from making the resistor. Apparently, it does not effect the 'performance' however, the military often does mandate this, rather than pure copper. As you or anyone else refuses to believe what I state in any case, especially if it is just info from Jack Bybee, you can find out more for yourself, as I am not able to help further.
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