Do you believe in Magic?

01-22-12: Tmsorosk
The big test comes in the following days when you forgot about the tweak, and walk threw your music room and get stopped in your tracks , hearing something that wasn't there before, then recall making a change.

I agree with this. Although A/B testing has its place, long term unreflective listening is the most informative way to evaluate sound quality, IME.

01-22-12: Chadeffect
It isn't magic, all you did was put some shielding around your Pre.

The use of the word 'Magic' is of course ironic. I understand that ERS fabric is designed to, in the words of Stillpoints, "absorb, diffuse, and reflect EMI/RFI energy."

What is puzzling to me is how ERS fabric accomplishes this, given its materials and design. Again, in the words of Stillpoints... "The core of ERS is made of a blend of carbon fibers of various lengths and sizes... these fibers are coated with metals, such as nickel." I am no EE, but how that design can absorb, diffuse, and reflect EMI/RFI energy is a mystery.

Incidentally, according to Stillpoints... "ERS does not operate under the same principles as a shield." Just what principles it DOES operate under are left unspecified. I assume it's Magic principles.

01-22-12: Almarg
...my feeling is that each issue and each tweak should be considered on an individual basis, and broad latitude should be allowed for the possibility that subtle and counter-intuitive phenomena may be at play. But that latitude should remain WITHIN FINITE BOUNDS OF PLAUSIBILITY!! A technical understanding of how the elements of a system work and how they interact, and of the theory behind a specific tweak, if applied with a reasonably open mind, can help assure that perceived effects are being attributed to the correct variable, and to better distinguish between the plausible and the implausible, the reasonable and the outlandish, and between pointless overkill and the possibility of significant benefit.

Eminently reasonable words from an eminently reasonable man. You are an EE, Al. Can you conjure an explanation for how this Magic Cloth works?

Bryon

A friend had this stuff inside his Meridian 808.2. His application was labor intensive, but yielded high rewards across the board.

Check out magic powers of ERS fabric layed on the dinner table, say magic word "FEED ME" and close your eyes for 1min. You should see the random meal dishes served.

There are also Harry Potter upgrades available to be able to specify menu and using magic words "FEED ME WITH dish1, dish2..."

THANKS.

Can you conjure an explanation for how this Magic Cloth works?

Hi Bryon,

Electromagnetic field theory has never been a strong point of mine, but I’ll give it a try.

The core of the material consists of interwoven strands of conductive material. Placing any conductive surface in the path of radiated electromagnetic energy will perturb and alter that electromagnetic field, to some degree.

I would draw a parallel with placing a physical object in an acoustic field. Some of the sound energy will reflect off of the object back toward the source. The path of some of the energy will also, to some degree, be diverted and spread around (“diffused”). Some minimal amount of that energy will also be absorbed and dissipated in the material, as a result of vibration that is induced. The degree to which those effects occur will depend in part on the relation between the size of the object and the wavelengths of the spectral components of the sound (wavelength being inversely proportional to frequency).

Similarly, placing a conductive surface in the path of radiated electromagnetic energy will result in some amount of the energy being reflected back toward the source. That is the underlying principle of radar. The path of some of the energy will also be altered and diffused. Some small degree of energy dissipation (“absorption”) will also result, related I believe to the displacement of charge carriers (e.g., electrons) along the conductive surface, that displacement being induced by the electromagnetic field.

I suspect that the point to the braided construction is mainly to provide flexibility and to thereby facilitate physical placement in various configurations.

It is probably also reasonable to view the material as functioning in a manner that is similar to a shield, except that the energy that strikes the material is not being shunted to a meaningful ground. Its path is being diverted instead, for the most part (I suspect that the diffusion and reflection effects are more significant than the absorption effect).

Or something like that :-)

In any event, their reference to reflection, diffusion, and absorption effects intuitively strikes me as not being the kind of implausible marketing pseudo-science that is often seen in tweak-related literature. Which is not to say that it will necessarily be beneficial in any given application.

Best,
--Al

Wow, Al. Stillpoints should hire you to write copy! :-)

Seriously, thank you for your thoughtful answer. You are great at putting things in terms that folks like me can understand. I know that your explanations are partly speculative, but acknowledging that, there is still something that puzzles me...

How is it that SO LITTLE conductive material can have a perceptible effect on sound quality? Am I wrong in my assumption that diffusion/reflection/absorption of EMI/RFI typically requires something more substantial?

bc