Miracles in Audio, by luck, by good choices,by design or by tweaking...


I owned a low cost headphone for many years, the Fostex TH7B, first version( a new one close version exist Fostex TH7BK), semi-open headphone...I was never completely satisfied by any headphones I ever owned: Hifiman 400, Stax basic lamda, Stax 5 gold,Akg 340,Akg 701, beyerdynamic 990, and T150... Because in each of them with all their qualities I never listen to at the same times, a confortable headphone with natural timbre and voicing, with a good imaging and a realistic soundstage(not too close to my ears)...


For the last days I tweaked this Fostex, to damp his internal resonance I used sorbothane, I put some shungite stones at the exterior part of the cups and I use some Herkimer diamond in the interior pads( 3 at 120 degree) … Now this low cost headphones crush all my others if I sum all his qualities... For example his mids and voicing cannot beat the AKG 340 but among all my other headphones it is the best that is near that mids and it is more confortable, and with longer cable than the 340...His imaging is better and more realistic than the 340 etc etc...It is the same if I compare with the others...


His most important qualities is natural timbre and clear imaging,very precise pinned point accuracy and natural, so clear it crush for that ALL the others to dust...In the French audio circle the reviews were more than very positive few years ago...Diapason d’or and choc Classica...I am not the only one impressed buy the ratio quality/price... But remember that thesae reviewers dont tweak their headphone...The difference between before and after the tweaks are staggering...


Yes Miracles happens in Audio: cost is under 100 American dollars... Few years ago they cost me 50 bucks new... I never dreamed that I will go back to headphones...


I will enjoy your miracles stories of any kind ….My best to all...
128x128mahgister
A simple thougth about acoustic and a simple experiment:


Simple thought:

A sound wave  with a speed of 343 meters per second cross my room of 3.9 meter, 88 times each second....Many times then each fraction of second ...


Imagine your room like a very tense string on a violin, the slightest change make it vibrate differently.... Your room acoustic space is like a tense string indeed.....The physician Helmholtz is the real father of room acoustic....



Simple experiment:


I change the diameter of the straw on my Helmholtz bigger tube(8 feet high) in my 9 foot high room...From a big straw for sloosh beverage 1/4 inches lenght to a regular straw one of lenght 1/4 inches lenght also....


Stupendous impact in bass and mid bass....The full tuba note around 35 hertz coming alive completely from my 7 inches bass driver....A miracle, listening the Empire Brass Gabrielli cd....All frequencies over bass better...


I communicate that to reveal the powerful impact of an apparent insignificant change that transform ALL the acoustical frequencies presentation...

Think about that 1/4 inches of a straw transforming all the acoustic of a room... Think about it! 😁😊😎😋

I already has known that myself by listening experiments but most people are so ignorant of that, they are ready to pay 100,000 bucks for a new amplifier that will have an another completely but similar powerful impact....

Mine has cost NOTHING.....PEANUTS....😊







Dont upgrade anything, embed everything....




If you turn on and plug the ionizer or MOSKITOFREE into a
charger in your cigarette lighter, the music in your
car can be transformed.  As if you upgraded the radio head,
speakers, and amplifier!  For peanuts.
Thanks for the tip in the name of all of us...

Acoustic is not what people think it is....

My best to you....
Very important UPDATE about my 3 Helmholtz tubes and about my Helmholtz-Fibonacci room tuner....


I tried straws with 3 dimensions, the better one for the Big Helmholtz PVC plumber tube (8 feet) were regular  straw for the bigger tube and  2 regular straws reduced to half of their normal diameter  on the other 2 smaller tubes.... The opening is closed with plastic cellophane stressed around the mouth of the tube with elastics... These tubes are plumber tubes with few inches diameter....


Results more clarity and astounding difference between the experiments with different diameters of the 1 /2 inches lenght straws...

For the Helmholtz-Fibonacci room tuner i wrapped the mouth of this thin plumber copper pipe with cellophane and elastic and the best results were with a thin hole pierced to the plastic sheet with a toothpick.... Fine tuning of high end audio indeed.... 😁


All this look insignificant and without great consequences at first sight and for the normal reader....Nothing is further from the truth, the impact is amazing and very powerful...

WHY ?

Because if you read the physics about the Helmholtz bottles you will learn how precise is the relation between the volume of the bottle and the lenght of the neck and his diameter linked to the frequency spectrum.... It is critical... When we are near the optimal numbers the impact is huge.... Like changing the amplifier...

My Helmholtz-Fibonacci room tuner is made with 3 sets of 3 pipes which lenght are near the golden ration, then they work all along a set of frequencies in synergetical effect...None of these 9 tubes has the same volume and lenght....

I am flabbergasted by the incommensurate effect  that reducing the diameter of a straw or pinning a hole with a toothpick in a plastic sheet can engender and produce a new level of S.Q.

Audio is fun, cost peanuts, and is akin to paradise...

Dont upgrade anything, listen, think, and embed everything....
Second UPDATE about my 3 Helmholtz tubes and about my Helmholtz-Fibonacci room tuner....




I made some experiment with a few Helmholtz pipes and tubes... I add one directly in front of my speakers 3/4 inches diameter, 3feet 3 inches high....The bass in the room suddenly bloom more and i never enjoy so good bass ever... The room first node is around 43 hertz, my speakers dont go under 45 hertz, and i enjoy now more of the very clear 45 hertz and the upper bass frequencies...

Some miracle happen when i decided to glue a straw on the plastic sheet closing the mouth if this tube centering this straw on the toothpick hole made on it....WOW! It was like 2 helmholtz tubes glued together , the straw is on top of the pipe....

Better imaging and better clarity....


ONE STRAW can change completely the sound of a room.... Think about that.....

WHY?

Because the air in the room is a pressurized heteregeneous complex distribution of springs cells acting on the waves and the Helmholtz tubes are pressurized engines that are able to make the room an ACTIVE participant in the sound perception and no more a boucing sets of passive walls... The S.G. also and the ionizer modify the array of air molecules that act like springs for the waves.... Remember that the waves cross a small room near hundred times each second, in my case 80 times each second....Then the air is like strings of violin under compression...

Acousticians who sells acoustic materials sells you half of the solution only....The passive materials treatment...

The other half are less easy to install and organize like passive acoustic materials can be but they are what make the room an ACTIVATED  part of the sound perception synchronized with the speakers : my grid of S.G. and especially the Helmholtz pipes and tubes grid  with the ionizers....


The room is now active like the speakers are for the creation of the sound experience....ANY small room on par with the speakers are the SOURCE of the sound experience....

Presenting the room like passive walls to be treated is NOT acoustic science it is marketing of easy to install ready made solutions for the acoustic company....

It is my conclusion after this powerful S.Q. increase with ONE straw.....

For sure the mathematical formula to calculate the set of frequencies affected by a particular H. bottle or tube use the neck length and diameter in a crucial way... But this formula was no more an abstraction for me but suddenly a powerful audible modified sound in my experiment, a living experience.....

Like usual the improved S.Q. is sensible and audible in my 2 listening positions, nearfield and the more regular one.....


My best to you all....