Anyone try Synergistic Research PHT...

Philb7777 - I assume you are returning the PHT - I would if I were you. However, I also know all of my turntables/cartridges are/were set-up probably and I stand by my earlier comments on tracking force, the Blue vs. Purple and listener "bias".

Sbayne, it was my friends purchase and I think he will be returning the PHT. We just simply couldn't notice a difference switching back and forth, each of us blinded, between with and without the Blue Velvet PHT. If anything, although both of us skeptical, we both actually wanted to hear a difference. Who wouldn't want improvement in sound for that low a price and the ease of application of the device!

The PHT's may very well be cart-depedent. Who knows, but if it makes a positive difference to those who have purchased and kept them, I say that is great and think its awesome to get improvement with tweaks that are relatively inexpensive. I wish there were more of them in this expensive hobby/passion of ours.

"I personally have had the experience of going in to a listening test with a decided negative bias and coming out with a different opinion entirely. It may well be that when one expects to hear no difference, then the tiniest difference may register with more sensitivity than would otherwise be the case. (This was the question of whether power cords make a difference to the sound of an ESL [electro-static loudspeaker]. I thought surely they would not, but I was very surprised to discover that they do indeed, at least in my system with my pair of Sound Lab ESLs."

I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. You clearly have the knowledge and experience to work around whatever bias you have, in order to make a good decision.

Zd542, Naahhh. I'm as bad as anyone else. This is why good science depends upon double-blind testing. But I did not say audio has to be good science.

Phil, When a cartridge gets a lot of use, the only thing that wears are the stylus and the suspension; the magnet of any decent modern cartridge are is quite stable, probably completely stable for decades. Now, when you introduce a magnetized material (PHT?) or any ferrous material (PHT?) in the vicinity of a permanent magnet, I would think it's a crapshoot. The total magentic field then available to promote induction of a signal in the coil of the cartridge may be enhanced but more likely would be reduced in intensity. (Anyone who knows the physics of magnets and who thinks otherwise, feel free to enlighten me.) I don't see how the PHT can be a good thing, if it's a magnet or magnetic, but I am open to teaching.

If it's mu metal which is slightly magnetic it could be reducing the deleterious effects of "fringing" around the actual magnet, along the same lines mu metal used around speaker magnets.