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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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In Reply to: cryo treatment of power cord posted by markheadphonium on April 25, 2014 at 21:52:17:
I have decades of experience with cryo and audio, even to the point of having had a set of violin strings cryo'ed.
Most explanations I have read on bulletin boards are as far as I can tell wide of the mark.
Yes, it is very well understood in the tool-steel industry that cryogenic processing of steel tools like tableting punches increases tool life by changing the ratio of martensitic crystalline structures to that of austenitic crystalline structures in a favorable direction.
Problem is, when people grab onto that factoid and parrot it as the panacea explanation, it would seem to me that they are ignoring the fact that the usual audio power cord has no component or subassembly that is made out of--tool steel! Copper and brass, right? Usually, not a ferrous metal in sight, when you are looking at a power cord.
The effect of cryogenic processing on non-ferrous metals (non-iron containing--steel is an alloy of iron) is as far as I know as POORLY understood and the effect of cryogenic processing on ferrous metals is WELL understood.
There is a consensus that cryogenic processing improves the tone of gold flutes. As far as I know, gold is gold, pure gold has only one crystalline phase, and the things that alloy gold to make it less easy to dent are non-ferrous. So, in that case, cryogenic processing can't be said to work the way it does on tool steel, but, reportedly it does work.
The theory that I think is least bad is that for all of extruded wire, mechanical connections, and soldered connections, cryogenic processing provides "stress relief" of residual manufacturing or soldering mechanical or thermal stress.
One of the smartest engineers I know once told me, "When you find a problem in audio engineering, it is more likely a mechanical problem manifesting itself in other ways than something that started as an electrical or acoustical problem."
You pass a 60Hz sine wave through a cable, it will resonate mechanically--a very small amount. But there are those who think that that small amount is enough to fog up the sound, and, if I can be allowed to attribute words to him, I think that that is something that George Cardas believes. NOTE WELL, all I mean is that George Cardas' white papers on cable design on his website speak of combatting mechanical resonance through cable design, NOT to suggest that Cardas Audio cryos its cables, which I believe is not the case.
At one time I knew of two prestige amplifier manufacturers who cryogenically processed either stuffed and soldered printed circuit boards or complete chassis except for the casework.
All that said, if a piece of gear is perfectly balanced, some people claim that cryogenic processing can smooth the sound out too much.
There are people who think, for example, that cryo'ed CDs are wonderfully free of "digititis," yet others think they sound lifeless and veiled.
Of course, we often exaggerate comparatively minor differences.
ATB,
JM
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Follow Ups
- In this case, I think that a very simple explanation is likely to be wrong (sorry) - John Marks 04/26/1414:42:54 04/26/14 (0)
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