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A Big DIY Bang for Your Buck?

I believe in getting the biggest bang out of my audio buck that I can. I don't know about you but my audio budget is actually limited. I find it interesting when I hear about folks spending a zillion on the best magnetic cables and then someone comes along with some new cable technology like new liquid-infused cables that equal or best the magnetic cables at a fraction of the price. Some makers of magnetic and other cables may want you to believe that a patent pending means there must be something there that ordinary Joe Audio could never make himself. My experience leads me to say -- don't believe it.

I have been using neodymium magnets for years in my cables and around my system to improve SQ -- at a fraction of the cost that makers of magnet-containing products charge. OK, mine may not be at the very top of the performance chain when compared to those expensive products, but who cares? I have managed to get stunning returns for a pittance. It would have cost thousands, or tens of thousands, to obtain similar results from various makers.

The same applies to audio makers with a patent pending (or an actual patent) who market little aluminum audio resonators the size of pimples. I make my own resonator pimples for about a buck apiece -- with stunning results. I saved over $4,000 making 70 of my own. Maybe they are not at the very top of the performance chain compared to those expensive products, but who cares? I am very happy with results that are far beyond what I expected when I started out.

I am having a lot of fun doing DIY projects at home that reap wonderful results at a small fraction of the cost charged by audio makers for their similar products. Have others had similar experiences making their own audio products at home? Can you share your DIY experiences with us?
sabai
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

Herman
If you focus on what is really happening in a cable or any path that a signal follows then it makes sense that magnets will affect that signal.

Actually, it doesn't make any sense at all. The reason it doesn't is just as I got through explaining a few posts ago - the magnetic field produced by the magnet on the cable is orthogonal to the signal flow. Which in layman terms means it won't affect the signal.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
geoffkait,

You stated "... it won't affect the signal". But the ears say that it does -- and that this is clearly not subtle. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Sabai, I never said it wouldn’t change/improve the sound. You seem to be under the rather odd impression that I'm a naysayer.

😛
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
geoffkait,

It improves the sound by affecting the signal.
herman
2,254 posts
 


Someone mentioned magnets were being used to cut down on RFI/EMI. That’s an interesting idea in light of the fact, no pun intended, that RF is comprised of photons which as we know have no magnetic charge
 
EMI stands for ElectroMagnetic Interference. RFI stands for Radio Frequency Interference which is comprised of electromagnetic waves, not photons.  


the magnetic field produced by the magnet on the cable is orthogonal to the signal flow

Since you can orient the static field of the magnet in any direction you please and the magnetic field of the signal is constantly changing it makes no sense that this would be true. Anytime you bring 2 magnetic fields near each other they will interact.

I'll leave it to the group to decide who is correct. The person stating facts that can be found in countless scientific textbooks or the person stating RFI is comprised of photons. In the meantime, I will bow out as there is no point in any further debate about  pseudoscience versus real science.




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