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Cryo your cables?

I was talking with a buddy of mine that builds racing engines for karts and the subject of cryogenic freezing came up. For the past couple of years this has been THE hot thing to have done to your engine parts to reduce wear and friction. I checked out a place on the web called 300below.com that does this work. Now for the interseting part relating to cables. They say that one of the frequently treated alloys is copper, espescially welding electrodes. Quote- "The increased durability of Copper from cryogenic treatments is increased homogeneity of the crystal structure. The material becomes more compact, dissolving gaps and discolorations or, for example, chrome carbides found in class II copper. Because of structural compactness there is less electron obstruction which improves electrical conductivity. It has also been learned that as a result of increased conductivity, welding amperage can be reduced thereby further prolonging the service life of electrodes." This got me thinking, what would such a difference in crystal structure do to interconnects and speaker cables? It would seem that what they claim of reduced electron obstruction and increased conductivity would be a positive thing in an audio environment. Has anyone ever thought about this before or actually had their cables treated? I would like some other opinions on this. I'm definitely having my drag-bike engine shipped out this winter to be treated, but I never thought before about how it might make cables sound different.
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rayd
83 posts
 
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
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lak
4,707 posts
 
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).
alexc's avatar
alexc
265 posts
 
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 :-))
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Mike Vansevers' reference level power conditioners and cables uses Cyro treatments.
ehider
286 posts
 
Answer to question, What does dry ice do? In a nutshell, it has the same sonic benefits as the cryo deep freeze process. Some history: In the past one of my buddies and his audiophile friends would rent out a deep freeze cryo container in which they could cryo all of their equipment and wires at the same time, to save on the cost (If I recall it was $800 per cryo session). Everyone throughout the country would have to ship it to one of the audiophiles in the Chicago area (where the cryo service was). This saved everyone money, but overall, it was a logistical nightmare for everyone involved. One guy started to wonder if the same sonic benefits could be obtained from a lesser "deep freeze", invoving the use of something like dry ice. He made a styrofoam contatiner in which he could put dry ice and cables, sealed it, and put it in his freezer over night. After this process was done, he compared the sound of the dry iced cables, to his cables that had been cryo treated (Note: The cryo and dry iced cables were the same exact design) It turned out to be better than he had hoped. Both cables were indistiguishable from one another! I am sure that the cryo treatment is the best way freeze alloys, but...when you compare costs (and more importantly, the identical sonic improvements) the dry ice choice is a no brainer. Who cares if this process does not last forever? For $15 bucks in dry ice, you can refreeze your entire system! If the true cryo process is temporary, you'll be out of some serious money.
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