Cryo your cables?

Purist Audio has been using Cryo process on his cables for years. There is a specific temperature that the material must be taken down to, and at a specific rate of speed, and for a specific amount of time. After the time limit has been met, the return to normal temperature must be done at a specific temperature rate and time span as well. The way Purist gets this correct, is through a contract with NASA. My understanding is that the tanks they use for submersion use liquid Nitrogen, and are huge! These tanks are temperature and time controlled to a fraction of a degree by super computers. The is normal treatment for many of the goods entering outer space. Jim Aud's computer expertise had him involved in the nuclear project for clean energy and with NASA. That, and living in Texas, near the facility, has allowed him access. I have made a direct comparison on the power supply of my Soundlab Ultimate speakers. I first broke them in with the standard (toroidal) transformer, then had Soundlab ship an identical pair of transformers to Purist. After Cryo treatment, Purist shipped them to me, and I exchanged them for the stock units. The downside was that the Cryo treated version took nearly three times as long to break in. However, after break in, all the things that make sound better WERE better. This includes improved tonal balance, increased bandwidth, MUCH lover distortion, and even greater intelligibility on vocals and instruments. Overall there was a sense of greater ease and a more natural and less congested presentation. I also participated in a (non public disclosed) test with Benz, where we Cryo treated the Ruby cartridge. The results were similar, but there were concerns for the life of the bonding agents that held the wood body to the motor, and the long term affect on the suspension. Too complicated to get into. My advise is to just be sure if you experiment with this, get a profession to help like I did. Cryo treatment has different effects on every material (depending on its structure), and many products are made of several different materials. Taking one material to the correct temperature may adversely affect the others.

I had a cable cryogneically frozen and could not tell any difference. However, a friend of mine had cables and CDs frozen and there was a vast improvement (much more open and easier sound). I have heard of freezing car engines and after doing some research I discovered that members of the Chicago Symphony brass section have had instruments frozen at at an instrument repair shop called The Brass Bow in Arlington Heights, IL. The results have been very positive with the players feeling that the instruments retain the same tone throughout the entire range of the horn. If top notch players feel there is a positive difference on there instruments, I've got to believe this is a lot more than just another tweak. Rayd

I know some professional musicans that have mouth pieces cryogenically frozen and they say it improves the sound. They also say it is a temporary fix, and must be repeated over a length of time (I forget what the time interval is).

Sounds like Purist Audio know what they are doing and do it right. If done by the manufacturer (who should know the alloy composition), then this should work. As to whether the effect lasts, again it depends on temperature "history". If, after cryo tratment, the cbales are esposed to a temperature where phase transitions can occur, therer will be reversals in the structure. If the intent is to obtain long, ordered crystals, the "system" (the alloy) will want to return to a more favorable (higer) entropy state and will do so if allowed to (heated to a point where mobility and rearrangement are again possible). But..under normal use conditions, this should not happen to audio cables (unles you are running them right in front of a fireplace :-))

Mike Vansevers' reference level power conditioners and cables uses Cyro treatments.