Do tube dampers improve sound?

Once again I have to make my plug for trying the inexpensive solution first. I got 50 industrial grade silicone o-rings from here:

http://www.marcorubber.com/material_selection.htm

for $10 plus shipping. I have a preamp with all octal tubes, so the S1000-216 o-rings were the perfect size. I use 2 per tube, and they make a noticeable difference in microphonics and smoothing out the bass, which is a little woolly without them. Would Herbie's or one of the other far more expensive dampers be better? Maybe, but I'm not sure my rig has enough resolution to prove it. I'm happy with my cheap o-rings.

Plus, you can get them in about 10 different colors to match your decor. :-)

David

Steve:
I hope you didn't infer from my post that I was questioning the efficacy of your dampers in particular because that certainly was not my intention. I have your Halos and, like I said, I think they have been of benefit. As an aside, I like your phono mat to an even greater degree! :-)

My real point is that when a manufacturer designs and builds a piece, they virtually always wax poetic about the sound quality. But, if the sound can be improved so dramatically through the use of tube dampers, you’d think they'd have already factored that into the equation. I guess what your saying is that the improvement realized depends more on the tube used than the equipment, so dampers should be assessed accordingly.

There must be a good reason that ARC delivers tube dampers on certain tubes for certain equipment (e.g., pre and phono).

Yes, interesting..... ;-)

Using the Halo's is more like an art than an exact science. There is no real formula or equation for success. You have to play round with them and see what, is any position, works best. They may only provide minute improvement or could make a huge difference based on a number of factors.

I was told by Brendan at Tube World to think of a tube like a car antenna. Closer to the base the less flexible it is. However, closer to the top is where it is most likely to sway. That is why a lot of these tube tweaks seem to work best at the top of the tube. I use my Halo's about a third of the way down from the top. Best results have been with my phonostage. They did not affect my tube preamp as much.