In the 1850s, about the same time that the first perpetual motion clock was attempted, the miasma theory of how cholera was widely believed by all scientists. Cholera, they thought, came from bad air and bad air came from human excrement. They "knew" Dr. Snow's notion that it was passed in water was simply "impossible." Foolish them!
Rain-X as CD Enhancement Treatment
I have used the Auric Illuminator treatment on my CD collection for several years now. I am a believer in the AI, and repeated A/B tests of identical treated/untreated CDs bore out significant improvements after treatment with AI.
I ran out of the fluid and my marker dried out, so I was searching for mew treatments on the market before buying another AI kit or choosing something new. That's when I ran across this article by Greg Weaver at Soundstage, where he talks about having used Rain-X and a green marker(Staedtler Lumocolor 357, price about $3.00) as a treatment on his CDs to great effect.
http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize200005.htm
Being the complete geek that I am, I had to try it for my self. I found the marker at Office Depot, and picked up a little bottle of Rain-X for $2.99. I treated a couple of CDs that I have ended up with duplicate copies of (Grant Green's Green Street, Frank Sinatra Sextet Live In Paris)and tested the Rain-X/marker treated vs. untreated disks.
Well, low and behold, the treated disks sounded notably improved; the music was clearer and louder, especially the midrange, the soundstage was larger with better definition and separation of instruments and the bass was tighter and deeper.
I can't say that the Rain-X treatment was or was not better sounding than the AI, but at the least very it is close, for a fraction of the price.
Has anyone else ever tried the Rain-X treatment?
I ran out of the fluid and my marker dried out, so I was searching for mew treatments on the market before buying another AI kit or choosing something new. That's when I ran across this article by Greg Weaver at Soundstage, where he talks about having used Rain-X and a green marker(Staedtler Lumocolor 357, price about $3.00) as a treatment on his CDs to great effect.
http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize200005.htm
Being the complete geek that I am, I had to try it for my self. I found the marker at Office Depot, and picked up a little bottle of Rain-X for $2.99. I treated a couple of CDs that I have ended up with duplicate copies of (Grant Green's Green Street, Frank Sinatra Sextet Live In Paris)and tested the Rain-X/marker treated vs. untreated disks.
Well, low and behold, the treated disks sounded notably improved; the music was clearer and louder, especially the midrange, the soundstage was larger with better definition and separation of instruments and the bass was tighter and deeper.
I can't say that the Rain-X treatment was or was not better sounding than the AI, but at the least very it is close, for a fraction of the price.
Has anyone else ever tried the Rain-X treatment?
- ...
- 118 posts total
It looks like the Rain-X treatment came to the fore about the same time as the green marker pen. I don't necessarily subscribe to the views in this article but it is interesting that this was in vogue about 18 years ago . |
I just tried the stuff on one of those pesky, non-playing, scratched all to hell DVDs from the video rental store Friday nite. It worked just as well as my UltraBit Platinum(the disc played perfectly after treatment). This thread will save me a lot of money in UBP($4/bottle vs $65/bottle). It's in vogue for me as of two days ago. I'll save the UBP for my CDs. |
- 118 posts total