It is tempting to comment on how relative the experience of time is, of how it really hasn't been that long since the last Newsletter, but this would disguise the fact that there hasn't been a Newsletter for five million years. Indeed the last one was written with a quill made from a Dodo feather. Apologies for this, and some explanations.
Firstly, as this frankly astonishing self-portrait reveals – if the format of the Newsletter hasn't given it away – I am now with computer. This masterful device of the late 20th Century and myself have become very close, but it has taken work; lots of work. The sophistication of presentation (no laughing at the back) for the Newsletter has been hard won, and it hasn't been easy. However, I think the fruits of this development are now bearing fruit, and expect a thrilling Newsletter each and every time from now on; most did anyway.
Secondly, since the last Newsletter I have changed job – promotion of sorts – but this took considerable time and effort, and I am only just starting to settle into the new position. Sadly some things had to take a back seat, and the Newsletter was one of them.
This should not detract from work going on in other areas, and nothing has stopped at P.W.B., although for many it may have seemed a rather quiet period. All will be revealed in the following pages, so hold tight.
One of the main advantages of the new technology, and this new format, is that the Newsletter will be designed in the future for the world-wide Web. For those not on the 'Net', P.W.B. now has a lively Web site, mainly consisting of past Newsletters. Still, it makes for fascinating 'Browsing' and has already stimulated interest in other countries. I think this is a very exciting development, as it not only keeps P.W.B. in the public eye, but also reminds others that there is a lively group of bright individuals following the fascinating developments of P.W.B.. Sadly our IT skills may lag behind, but this is being addressed, and thanks to Graham, it is leaping ahead.
One of the curious aspects of these IT developments is the fact that P.W.B. has been using technology for some time to get certain complex patterns into objects. The Message/Newer Foils are an obvious example with their tiny print containing pearls of information that really make the difference. The more recent applications for the Morphic Liquid Bottle – from December 1996 – reveal how subtle this work has become, with patterns almost etched on to the gossamer, translucent labels that are featuring more and more in the work and products of P.W.B.. My sources tell me that the technology that P.W.B. is using is improving all of the time, and only part of this is related to May Belt's desire for advanced technology …
You will be able to read of the fruits of this work shortly, in the forthcoming pages, but as always, there are plenty of free tips, and ideas that cost nothing but time. Nothing but time….
I suspect that it has escaped few that we are approaching the end of the Year, and for many, this will give rise to the thrill of anticipation as thoughts move to the festive season, and the forthcoming Christmas Newsletter. Thoughts undoubtedly slide easily then to other aspects of the season; turkey, 'The Great Escape', hangovers, and the fabulous Christmas Newsletter Competition, with its promise of riches unimagined (aka. A Small Prize). So, as before, a prize will be awarded for the best articles or cartoons on any of the following subjects:
1. P.W.B. Devices in the New Millennium.
2. P.W.B. Devices in Classic Fairy Tales (e.g. 'Goldilocks and the Three Domes' or ' Jack and the Quantum Clip').
3. P.W.B. Devices through the Ages.
As before, the decision of the Judges will be final, severe, and in every sense uncompromising. Anyone called Susan Belt or May Belt are not allowed to enter, and they should be working on the Christmas Cards by now anyway. Entries must be received before 5th December 1997. Late entries may be considered by the Judges if they are accompanied by not insubstantial sums of money. The winning entry and selected others will be displayed in the pages of the Christmas Newsletter. The prize is something of a mystery, but can safely be described as a product at the forefront of current P.W.B. technology. The winner of the prize will receive it before Christmas, and will be asked to review the prize for the following Newsletter.
Readers will know that Kevin Kehoe won last years Competition, and was rewarded with a bottle of the fabulous, updated Morphic Liquid, ahead of everyone else; so get busy!
Before closing this section of the Newsletter, I would like to draw your attention to the different ways in which articles can be submitted:
Until Christmas …
Richard Graham
Address for correspondence
P.W.B. Newsletter
P.W.B Electronics
18. Pasture Crescent
Leeds LS7 3QB
Or for you sophisticates
E-mail – to Newsletter@belt.demon.co.uk
Unlike the story of the M25 driver who was picked up after 18 hours still on the M25, this story has a happy ending. It all began with an observation, fleeting at first, that my Hi-Fi system sometimes got better after reading Hi-Fi magazines and some times got worse. Very rarely would it stay the same.
Subliminal questions flashed across my mind - would my tenacious NAD CD player sound tinny compared to the Trichord Genesis which I had just been reading about in Hi-Fi News? Not a bit of it! If anything it seemed to take on some of the very characteristics of the Genesis. In fact the more I listened the more like a Trichord Genesis my NAD sounded. The fact that I have never in my life listened to music reproduced by a Trichord Genesis should not deter the reader: unless of course the reader is a manufacturer of this or other expensive players.
Sometimes reading about a piece of equipment has the opposite effect, particularly if it has to do with "bottom end" or contains such phrases as,..." the bass fairly snaking at me across the floorboards." Then when I go back to my system I wonder whether I'm really missing something: "Shouldn't that drum solo sound more aggressive?" Shouldn't there be a juddering scrunch to the bass guitar like a ton of gravel landing on top of an empty iron container?
I have agonised over whether my double bass sounds more like a real world cello and my violoncello more like a real world violin. I start to wonder if Leonard Cohen were to give up smoking and stop the bourbon if he would sound like he does on my system.
Eventually, the idea of Morphic Messages as originally made possible by Gold Paper and a Black Pen came back to me. These enabled P.W.B.-users to draft their own Messages based on various formulae given by P.W.B.. Now that we have the Red 'x' Pen I decided to write some Messages using it.
I felt the solution must lie in Morphic Messages that would remove the conflict from listening: conflicts such as, valves are better than solid state, CD's are better than vinyl or vice versa. I reasoned that the NAD had improved in sound because it had somehow taken into itself the qualities of its competitor, thus ridding the mind and consequently the senses of any idea about this being better than that or that better than this. If it was true then my bass was getting worse precisely because it had been caught in the better- than, worse- than conflict. My bass was now perceived as inferior to something: somebody else's Heybrook Haystack or REL Storm. I tried the following Morphic messages to see what the Red 'x' Pen could do:
VALVES > O.K.
TRANSISTORS > O.K.
MOSFETS > O.K.
At first I introduced, "MOSFETS > O.K." After all my Sugden is a MOSFET. Oddly enough the sound was the same or perhaps marginally worse. This confirmed my main idea: the conflict implied by stating one only out of a pair or trio is okay is enough to create a strain, a better-than, worse-than tug of war for the senses. If valves and transistors could also be O.K. then there would be no conflict. I added the other two and the sound got noticeably better, better than before I had started. This was quite satisfactory and it seemed to open the way for further experimentation.
Having written to May Belt seeking confirmation that there was some sense in experimenting further and receiving it, I tried the following messages:
MOVING MAGNET > O.K.
MOVING COIL > O.K.
This time the sound got better (very Scrunchy) with just the Moving Magnet message and worse with both messages. I had entered the Morphic Roundabout and at first was well and truly in a tiz. I then realised that there was a problem for my Sugden amplifier: it didn't have a Moving Coil phono input. Therefore it was upset by the illogical statement that Moving Coil was okay. I spun round a couple of more times then found the exit.
It was obvious really. My next Morphic Message was:
PHONO > O.K.
LINE > O.K.
This told the Sugden that its phono input was fine and at the same time dealt with the old chestnut about some amps having good or bad phono stages. The sound got better in a most extraordinary way. My cartridge does not play like the robust forward-sounding Moving Magnet it is supposed to be. It has taken on the qualities of a Moving Coil: delicate, refined masses of ambient detail & stereo focus. It is the sort of sound that benefits from an increase in volume, revealing a whole new landscape stretching out from horizon to horizon. Could this be the open road at last?
Kenneth Hyam
PS The idea of one piece of equipment taking on the qualities of another is not new to Hi-Fi. When MOSFETS were first introduced, some of the praise associated with them was along the lines that they sounded like valves!
There's a company I've been using for those difficult to track down Classical and Jazz CD's. They are called CD Selections. Their service is excellent, with most of my order delivered the next day. They also sell many bargain CD's, cassettes and videos from 99p each. For a free colour catalogue give them a call on 01305 848 725.
Also, I would very much like to see a get together of P.W.B. enthusiasts. We have all said this, time and time again... If you like, I will arrange it for everyone, before we grow anymore grey hairs. Anyone interested? I'd like to put some faces to these names I see in every newsletter. How does a Sunday in October sound?...
(A rather impatient Phillip Turner)
After using a set of inexpensive RS loudspeaker leads (each with a complete set of Ring Ties) for some time now, I decided to go the whole hog and purchase a set of P.W.B. cables.
Upon switching on, I was totally floored by the difference in sound quality. I thought I had gone too far when I purchased the thin RS cable, but this P.W.B. cable was about seventy five percent smaller again! I know that we should be used to P.W.B. treatments, and their effects on our perceptions, by now, but looking down at the wispy bits of wire supplying the speakers and hearing the huge clean sound created leaves me at a loss. This is especially so as this action was at the end of a chain of events starting with a part treated set of original Linn (fairly heavy) cables!
I unpicked the Ties from the previous RS cable (this can be done with care and a sharp object, but it doesn't do your finger nails any good) and used them, along with other purchases to make up full sets of Ties for the Hi-Fi mains leads – the amp., the CD Player and the turntable leads so far – and also a full set on the phono leads that emerge from the back of the turntable.
Next will be the treatment of the two interconnect leads between the CD player and the amp
I could go on and on giving examples of various LP's, and of the sound leaping into the room with the force of a runaway loco, but I'm too busy being flattened!
Kevin Kehoe
The current state of the Audio Industry could easily be compared to the Automobile Industry. There is a noticeable and obvious lack of revolution or new ideas. I'm not talking about digital electronics, because this is only a data storage medium as far as this argument is concerned. The basic engineering principles in Audio reproduction have remained the same for at least the past 50 years. In the car industry we are looking at pre-war technology in terms of the internal combustion engine. All we see is continual refinement of simplistic dated technologies. Repackaged and relabeled as "All new, all singing and all dancing". The differences between Vacuum tube and Silicon technology may seem miles apart but are the end results any different? The same could be said for loudspeaker designs. One could even argue that the end result of a higher component count or more modern materials is even worse
Over the years I'd spent more and more on traditional audio products, hoping to grasp audio Valhalla, but always failing to reach the mark. Indeed some of my supposed 'upgrades' turned out to be the exact opposite, even when costing more than twice the price of equipment they were replacing. I was one of the few 'lucky' chaps who happened to purchase the infamous copy of a Hi-Fi magazine, which featured cover mounted samples of early P.W.B. foils. I experimented with these, was delighted, and ordered further products from the manufacturers. At that time though I'd always thought of the little foils and Spiratube bits as tweaks; the equipment was still paramount. I definitely don't believe this now! P.W.B. products are the fundamental source of my listening pleasure, not the multiplying black boxes and reels of wire. I remember how poor my untreated system sounded; especially so when I moved house. In fact I used to complain that nothing ever sounded as good as I imagined it should. I've listened to many, many varieties of audio product, some of them were downright distressing to listen to, regardless of price. In fact the simplest or cheapest products were generally the easiest to listen to - my portable FM radio/cassette had a boogie factor way over my 10,000 UK pounds separates.
Although, the truth did take a while to sink in... In my youth I'd had visions of a fantastic mindblowingly big system, with huge American amplifiers, huge loudspeakers - in fact I used to boast to my friends 'I'll have a pair of Magnaplanars by the time I'm 27 - all with a hugely impressive price tag. With such upgrades I expected a hugely impressive sound too, but music simply got harder to listen to. P.W.B. products have redressed the balance for me, and after comparing products with a total price tag of 5,000 UK pounds including treatment, with my original system, I am more than content with the results. P.W.B. products have allowed me to hear what fantastic sound my system is actually producing. Other manufacturers don't appear to be pushing the envelope as much as scribbling on the back of it. Surely the joy of listening to music is the goal in the first place.
P.T.Turner (July '97)
Still Life with Torque Wrench
I've been up to all sorts lately - foil wise. Some of my favourite places for applying a set of foil strips (what you'd apply to a CD) are under shelves, drawers, in AC Sockets, on or in tubular steel - especially chrome tubing and loudspeaker/equipment supports - Also on radiators, the glass on the outside of the washer door, on mirrors and windows (Fantastic results: 5 Stars!). But by far my greatest discovery: specific wire problems...
TELEPHONE CONNECTING WIRE.
I remember the impression upgrading to P.W.B. loudspeaker cable made on my senses - Stunning!. I've now found an upgrade that is at least equal, if not greater than any previous efforts. Yes, it's the telephone connecting lead. A full set of ties (including Blue Z, Black X, White X and Blue/Green Boundaries) here, sprayed, quantumed, tapped and clipped, caused jaw dropping improvements to my perception. The sound took on a delightful sweetness, and a never heard before sense of what I could only describe as sounding 'right'. A new found commanding strength in the sound one could only revel in. The TV image gained depth and appeared sharper, but was also easier on the eye. They were easy to apply (no lids to remove), but I did find that when it comes to fitting the ties, the tighter the better; obviously don't go mental, just so the ties can't slip or spin around. Highly recommended. (5 Stars! +)
TV AERIAL AND SATELLITE COAXIAL FEEDS
Peter has come up with a special combination of ties especially for this boundary breaking problem area. I tried a set on the satellite dish cable feed and was delighted with the effects. Results were similar to treating the telephone lead but not quite as potent (N.B. less than half the amount of ties were involved). They were also more difficult to apply, as the cable was lost in the wired spaghetti that resides behind my family of black boxes; but well worth the effort! Recommended. (4 Stars)
BEING WELL CONNECTED
Another useful tip well reported in the magazines is the socket phenomena. Try using an AUX. or TAPE port for your CD player. The sound does improve; warmer, richer etc..; justifying the inconvenience of using an incorrectly marked input. Magazines state that this improvement must be due to a shorter or more direct signal path. Nothing of the sort. I've followed the circuit board tracks and it's simply not the case. Do these people ever try these things properly? I don't know why the CD input tends to be the worst sounding of the bunch, could it be that most peoples CD players are plugged into this input? I tried three different amplifiers in two different systems to confirm results. In fact one pre-amp with a tape direct input sounded worse via the tape direct input than the CD input. What was interesting though, was that whilst listening to the TV, the TV sound was better with the none operating CD plugged into the TAPE input. I've noticed similar effects when moving AC mains plugs. Even when the plugs and wall sockets are treated, using different power points affect the whole sound from ANYTHING in the house. The whole thing can get a tad obsessive at this point, so it's more sensible to just stick to the interconnects. Even there I found the CD player sounded better when looped through the treated VCR!! (but I don't use it this way). All in all, I've found experimentation with interconnects can reap great rewards, all without having to spend a penny.
That's all for now, but if anyone else has any favourite 'hot spots' for treatment, please let us know.
P.T.T. (August '97)
Note From P.W.B.
Phillip Turner reported to us the phenomenon of plugging the CD player into any other neutral input on the amplifier, other than the CD input. We tried changing the CD player into the tuner input - with an immediate beneficial effect. Here is an obvious example of Morphic resonance patterns. Whenever a number of identical amplifiers have a CD player plugged into the identical CD input circuitry, they link and form a mutual adverse sensory interference pattern. Isolating your particular amplifier by changing the input to a different arrangement of circuitry isolates you from the established Morphic resonance pattern and removes the mutual adverse interference.
We commend Phillip Turner for his observational ability and recommend that P.W.B. users try this experiment. It would also be advantageous to experiment by relocating the tuner into the CD input socket.
It should be noted that all new or prototype audio equipment does not, initially, significantly suffer from the Morphic resonance problem and that manufacturers who introduce any new equipment such as a new type moving coil input or a new digital to analogue converter, will have an initial (beneficial) reaction to the new equipment. When a significant number of people then use the new type equipment, the advantage is reduced or removed. Reviews of newly introduced equipment should therefore be read with this caution.
It may have seemed as if there has been little going on at P.W.B., but I think it would be more accurate to think that P.W.B. has turned himself to the bigger and more complex issues, and that these have required special solutions.
Over the past months I have been in the fortunate position of trying some prototype samples of the P.W.B. Dome. This has been a major project for P.W.B., and it has been a long time coming.
The aim originally was for a device that anyone could fit easily, that would negate the need for other devices, such as Foils, Labels, Ferrite's etc.. Some prototypes of the Dome seemed to achieve this end, but more recently P.W.B. has acknowledged that the current, and final version of the Dome works in conjunction with the previous treatments, and indeed, enhances them.
The Domes that I have seen are the clear variety, having a variety of small, discrete labels and substances attached. The aesthetic effect is often very pleasant, and sophisticated. Recently, the Dome has come with a number of little bags, each containing special Foil and earthly materials. All of this is treated of course to the highest levels now available.
I don't want to say too much as I have only lived with the early versions of this product, and hope to report more in the next, Christmas issue of the Newsletter. What I will say though is that this device represents the pinnacle of P.W.B.'s work to date, and when a Dome is placed upon a piece of electronic equipment, the effect is really quite astonishing. Not in a 'whizz-bang' Hi-Fi manner, but in the way the music becomes even more natural – frighteningly so. All varnish of electronic sound melts and one feels there is contact with something more real, less reproduced.
I am very much looking forward to reporting upon this device more fully, and you will know by now that news of this device is coming with this Newsletter, with a taste of what might be achievable. Whilst there cannot be a silk purse from a pigs ear of a recording, it is astonishing how this device makes one so much less aware of such problems. With the great recordings and pieces though "Wow! Wow! Wow! Unbelievable!" as Ms Bush once sang.
Worth pursuing.
RG
Work has been an almost constant consumer of my time these past eight months or so, with little time for music. I can however confirm Kenneth Hyam's experiences in that every play of a CD or LP , especially after a break of a week or so, can be quite devastating. A period of absence from the Hi-Fi can be an alarming way of realising the potency of P.W.B. treatments! As well as Kenneth's Schubert and Rachmaninov, the same goes for Folk Music, Blues, Choral, and even early stuff recorded from 78's. a sense of space exists around each voice and instrument, which allows you to 'latch on' and understand far more easily what is going on
As an experiment, I fetched down from the loft a long discarded LP and gave it a few P.W.B. treatments, including a blast of Morphic Liquid. After a few seconds of playing the disc, I'm thinking "This old album used to sound as dense as lead, but now the pea soup mix is separated out to a bouncy bass and instruments with their own voices". This kind of revelation will always leave me somewhat startled by virtue of the very size of the difference that the "Before and After" effect that P.W.B. treatments can have
I recall reading about the beneficial effects of placing CD's back in their cases with the wording on the label aligned squarely with the case edges. Now I thought, this time consuming fiddling won't be of any benefit to me as I now have a fair amount of P.W.B. treatments all over the Hi-Fi and house. Any minor benefit would be swamped by the purchased devices. Wrong!
I squared them all up and listened. Against my expectations, a very definite improvement was heard. Would I be correct in thinking that it is because of all the P.W.B. treatments that the benefit of such seemingly insignificant tasks can be perceived so clearly?
Kevin Kehoe
In the previous article by Kevin, he raises a number of issues that I think are worthy of examination, but he also echoes an experience of my own. Of this in a moment.
I think many of us underestimate the advances occurring at P.W.B. Electronics, and by this I do not refer to new devices for us to purchase. As I have written before, thanks to the principles of Morphic Resonance, any improvements made to a product in Leeds, or to processes generally, leads to considerable benefits for anyone using the products; this is of course the inverse of what Phillip writes about, whereby the more a product sells, the more are made, the worse the product becomes. This makes a mockery of reviewing, as any product assessed after its initial success will appear to sound inferior to a newer product. P.W.B. products however have the reverse effect, and one simply does not go home to the same devices each day; they are usually improved from the day before
I found Kevin's remarks on the lining up of the print on CD's with their cases very interesting, because I have been shocked a number of times recently by how the 'Old' P.W.B. principles remain as potent as ever. Many readers may know of how it was suggested many moons ago that it was best to remove magazines etc. from the listening room. Since the introduction of the X-Pen and the Clip, I have largely abandoned such practices, and indeed leave vast amounts of paper in the flat for planned trips to the recycling bin. Not any more
On taking a vast bundle to the recycling bin, I was aware that the sound of the car stereo was simply terrible, and I could not think of why this should be so. On removing the papers from the car, I listened to the stereo again and it was kinda "Wow!"
Despite their treatments, these papers and magazines were not helpful devices, enhancing sound; they were positively noxious agents, dragging the experience of music down. Removal was like opening a window in a stuffy airless room.
I applied this principle to the home, throwing out any clutter, and whilst the effects were not staggering, they were worthwhile. Having read Kevin's piece, I think there is still much to do with the environment, and whilst P.W.B. .devices get better at dealing with the noxiousness, the results will always be influenced by many other things.
Now where is that screwdriver – I'm off to check the alignment of all screw heads again!
RG
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