Deep freeze and specialist fuses; a sceptic converted.

Loki posted:

I just have one question: if these treatments are so effective, how come not all power leads are made this way?

At this time I don't know how many, if any cable manufacturers have the cryogenic treatment equipment in house. It requires outsourcing to a dedicated processor and shipment there and back. Costly. That, and I'm not sure enough buyers have yet been exposed to the benefits of cryo treatment to make it a mainstream upgrade choice.

Certainly here in the USA, AV Options offers they cryo treatment to things as diverse as power strips, power chords, speaker cables and certain electronic modules at not an unreasonable surcharge. Not sure if they do fuses too, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. 

Is it April 1st?

Loki posted:

Having just purchased a relatively lowly mains lead which has been frozen and had a posh fuse fitted to replace a run of the mill mains cable to the HiCap powering my Prefix, I have to say I am a convert. The difference was immediately discernible, and I mean, 'immediate '! Just so much more: depth, breadth, emotion, musicality, detail, smooth, delicate and powerful, all at the same time and at low volumes too. 

I'm confused... did you replace a non-cryogenic treated cable with an identical but cryogenically treated cable?  If not then how can you proclaim the difference is down to cryogenic treatments?

Good point Eloise. I have used the same cable without the cryo, so I know how it 'sounds'. This is way above. I have tried the better fuses and they also make a big difference. I've never bought cryo cables before, always thought it a bit if April foolery as per MrFrog. No longer. I've hopped onto a bigger lillypad. To answer Joe, yes these are outsourced by the supplier and if buying new could take up to 3 weeks to be processed as I think they send batches every fortnight.. The cables are taken down to -190. Proportionally not that expensive an option at £25 each. Are all cables affected in the same way, I wonder?

i presume you checked that it wasnt just plug changing that wiped the contacts clean?

Or plug phase?

Cryo treatment is usually a good thing. However, we had tried cryo-treating a mains block on one occasion and it ruined its sound. Much later, a differently configured, rerouted version with different cabling sounded much better. Moral of the story: cryo-treating works in some cases, but not all.

Frank.

Forgive my cynicism here Frank, but what is it supposed to do? Rearrange the atoms presumably. And won't the material gradually revert to its previous state?

tonym posted:

Forgive my cynicism here Frank, but what is it supposed to do? Rearrange the atoms presumably. And won't the material gradually revert to its previous state?

That's certainly the theory Ted Williams is banking on.

G

Tried cryo treated cords and yes, there is an obvious change in sound.  The results were a cleaner and brighter sound - I was initially impressed.  After a time I noticed that I was losing interest in my stereo - I was getting listener fatigue very quickly and felt the presentation was sterile and lean - music passages that used to have pleasing tone and harmonics now lacked.  Emotion was gone.  Reinstated the non-cryo cables and have to say it was a relief - the lean and clean presentation with the cryo was in hindsight so obviously unnatural.  I'll never touch the stuff again.

Loki posted:

. The cables are taken down to -190. 

-190 Fahrenheit or celcius?

GraemeH posted:

tonym posted:

Forgive my cynicism here Frank, but what is it supposed to do? Rearrange the atoms presumably. And won't the material gradually revert to its previous state?

That's certainly the theory Ted Williams is banking on.

G

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hastings posted:

Tried cryo treated cords and yes, there is an obvious change in sound.  The results were a cleaner and brighter sound - I was initially impressed.  After a time I noticed that I was losing interest in my stereo - I was getting listener fatigue very quickly and felt the presentation was sterile and lean - music passages that used to have pleasing tone and harmonics now lacked.  Emotion was gone.  Reinstated the non-cryo cables and have to say it was a relief - the lean and clean presentation with the cryo was in hindsight so obviously unnatural.  I'll never touch the stuff again.Who performed the treatment? I understand that not all cryo treatments are the same.

Claus

Thanks for widening the debate guys. So far we seem to be focusing on the cryo. Has anyone else tried upgrading the fuses? and I don't mean simply giving them a clean or using a purple Staedtler lumocolor!

Jon and Gianluigi, contacts clean and plugs in phase, so no previously hidden issues unearthed. 

Frank: interesting. Did you cryo the whole mains block or just the cables within it? Do braided cables respond differently from solid core? Are they done pre or post soldering/tinning?

Tony: de-stress and realignment, apparently... 

 Graeme: Ted Williams?? Not he of the Boston Red Sox?

Hastings: funnily enough my experience was completely the opposite. Almost like the difference between speakers being brought into phase.

SouthwestStokie: celsius.

Great Post on Ted William!  I don't think the folks across the pond "got it."  Ted Williams was a famous American baseball player who upon his death had his body frozen for hopes of future resurrection.

Thanks Ane and Jamie for clearing up that idiosyncrasy.