Are cryo'd tubes always better?

Geoffkait

There is no need to insult fourth graders!

I'm a cable manufacturer and I cryo treat my cables and the difference is not small.
But, the burn in is a must to bring out what the cryo treatment does. I've A-B'd my cables before and after many times, and after the treatment and with the burn in, they always outperforms the before.
More macro and micro dynamics, more open and airy soundstage.
More extention on both ends, and the mids have more texture and a better tonal balance all around.

I don't know about tubes, but I trust what Albert says.
If he has had neg. experiences with tube being cryoed, I would trust it.

Albert Porter wrote,

"The worst result from cryo came with treating tightly wound
transformers, both large (amps or speakers) and tiny (MC Cartridges). After
ruining several pieces we concluded that the transformer had no room to
"compact itself" when shrinkage occurred at super low
temperature. This caused fractures to the wire and even after lengthy break
in times the damage seemed to be irreversible."

That's odd. Plenty of transformers and MC cartridges have been cryo'd
over the last 15 years without failures. Besides, copper is a ductile metal
and should not fracture, even under this sort of duress. Were you able to
observe fractures in the wire? Just curious.

That's odd. Plenty of transformers and MC cartridges have been cryo'd over the last 15 years without failures. Besides, copper is a ductile metal and should not fracture, even under this sort of duress.

Were you able to observe fractures in the wire? Just curious.

If the cryo is done to bare wire I agree totally with you and Zmanastronomy, excellent results.

If the wire for the transformer is cryo before it's tightly wound, no risk and great benefit. Some transformer designs may survive and sound great even if treated after assembly.

I'm betting this varies by design, tightness and density of the windings, the core material and so on.

The discovery of the negative side came when I was involved with Benz Micro of Switzerland years ago. At one time I did all their high end photography (magazine ads and show displays).

Anyway, I was doing their new product photography line and came up with the idea to cryo their top MC cartridges to improve performance.

After the experiment failed (sound wise) with both the Sound-Lab Ultimate toroidal transformers and a couple of expensive Benz cartridges the factory in Switzerland verified the damage and explained the results to me.

I assumed the same for the Sound-Lab transformer, but it was not microscopically examined. I returned it to Roger and Connie and I don't know what happened to it after that.

It made me a bit negative on cryo transformers. The loss of those top tier Benz cartridges and Sound-Lab best toroidal was depressing even though I was not held responsible for the damage the experiment caused.

Geoffkait,

>>The improvement to the material is due to the atomic structure becoming more homogeneous, especially for metals that have pressed, bent, drawn or hammered. Thus, cryo 'd tools last longer, cryo'd golf clubs hit the ball farther, cryo'd brass musical instruments ring less and sound better, cryo'd Ferarri piston rods last longer, and the valves on cryo'd trumpets move more smoothly. Put succinctly, cryoing is cold tempering.

1- Cryogenic treating CAN is an important technique in modern metallurgy, IF the alloy and manufacturing methods are specifically designed to utilize these processes. Taking any old tube w/ steel pins and composite grids (for example) risks introducing molecular-level stress fractures and discontinuities to the matrix.

2- Using the examples that you mentioned above, Cryogenic treating methods are an integral part of the initial manufacturing process. These parts were specifically designed for such treatment, and would not perform to spec if the cryo steps were eliminated.

3- As an extreme oversimplification, cryogenic treating can result in physical properties such as improved tensile strength and improved grain edge boundaries that facilitate tighter machining tolerances. But show me one study that demonstrates how cryo-treating improves conductivity or electron flow in off-the-shelf steel parts. It doesn't.

I believe that both Siemens and Telefunken tested cold treating steel parts as part of their manufacturing process for special tubes in the early 1980s. The results were less than spectacular. To be fair, this was with much earlier technology and possibly under less than perfect conditions, but the reported problems (including spalling on carbon filaments and dislocation [flaking] of certain REE coatings on tungsten components) remain problematic to this day.

But again, if it works for you then it works (for you)