Powers of description distinguish the poet from the journalist, and from the amateur, and the complexity of the subject matter, the men from the boys. It is something of a theme that courses through this Newsletter that we lack a language to effectively describe the experience of hearing (or seeing) the effect of P.W.B. devices, and given this, communication is nigh on impossible. The embarrassed flusterings of those trying to describe the impression one is left with after hearing what Rainbow Foil achieves, is common to us all, and I, at times, feel we are in an 'inverted' Cassandra-like state: of knowing of marvels, yet finding no-one will hear. Or so it seems.
Yet this Newsletter is a testament to the ongoing struggles to represent a reality that remains painfully on the fringe, whilst still having quite an influence. Through the new technologies of Web Site and Chat Room, many more come into contact – some acknowledge, some go forward; many I suspect remain perplexed and unsure. Others write more or less successful or irritating articles, most of which are not suitable for these pages (so Hi-Fi News is our Recycle bin…) Consequently it is of some importance that attempts to communicate or report upon experience continue, for those that can acknowledge that something happens can obtain some means of describing to themselves what might be happening. Much thanks, as ever, to all contributors to this all too immodest Newsletter, especially our expanding international E-mailers!
For myself, there have been many key P.W.B. moments. Many in which the richness of sound or fullness of bass have simply taken the breath away. More recently, like Kenneth Hyam, I have found myself almost unconscious to such details, as musical values impact themselves upon my senses in a captivating manner. A singer, singing in German communicates all of the feeling, as if fluent in my mother tongue, and one has the unnerving sense that a window has opened up in time, and one is 'seeing' what happened, but in the present. History becomes a thing of the past…
New products deepen this fundamental experience, and startle the senses like the light pouring through a newly cleaned window; it didn't seem dirty, but one really notices the difference (but sadly not any lemony freshness). And the developments continue, and our limitations of time and money stop the progress alone. The new Pens, as reported later, make such a difference, that if one devoted all of ones time to treating discs in this manner, one would end up with a phenomenal sounding system, whatever the components. Of all the P.W.B. concepts the influence of passive or peripheral objects upon our senses is the hardest to grasp. How can a CD, not in the player, influence the sound of one being played?
This question has been answered perhaps too many times before, and such pearls are tucked inside the P.W.B. Website for the curious or amnesiac….
Yet in this fog of uncertainty and bewilderment comes a Christmas competition! The annual P.W.B. Xmas Competition, for that utterly new and rare P.W.B. device, is upon us again. Many readers should now sit down, drink something sweet, or put their heads between their knees in the sheer anticipation of this thrilling event.
And so, in the spirit of mockery and fun, and the more serious theme of this Newsletter, the challenge is to write a piece describing the P.W.B. effect in a certain style. Much can be left for the imagination of the reader, but there is no limit of the imagination of the reader. For example, a piece could be in the style of Basil Fawlty, Dr. Strangelove or even Jimmy Hughes. See later for a few ideas, but get your pens or keys working, for the deadline will be 31st December 1999, so that the winner can (just) receive their prize for the new millennium – along with the exciting Millennium edition of this very Newsletter.
It is usual at this time of year to express our thanks to May, Graham and Peter for their ongoing work, generosity, innovation and moral courage. Few can truly say that they have put themselves fully behind their convictions in the manner of the above trio. In a world overflowing with stale ideas and routine practices, such innovation and moral courage can only be highly commended. As Kenneth Hyam suggests later in the Newsletter, perhaps we should be doing something more than just enjoying the products or ideas. This in itself is an area for much discussion, and I can only add that perhaps in the new millennium, there will be sufficient change or even softening (as we move further away from the still dominant influence of the 19th Century Physicalist Tradition) to allow for new ideas to be born.
It is perhaps timely to note that not even Herod's cold murderousness towards the new threat could compare with some of the paranoid offensiveness that emanates from much of the Hi-Fi Industry.
This is a time for the new; be it the new baby of the Christmas story or the new hope of a new millennium.
A very Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for the forthcoming millennium.
Richard Graham
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
I sometimes wonder whether we can either track the origins of an idea or truly know where the idea came from. Given the occasional rediscoveries, or more frequent re-inventions (of the wheel) of ideas one really feels quite lost.
The title of this piece thus not only relates to the fact that 'the freezing technique' is appearing in the world again, but that we are still at the same point as we were 10 years ago or so. It is also a charming song by Madonna, and I only mention this because the origins of the technique might be attributed to her in the future (I still cling to the thought that 'White Christmas' holds all the information when played backwards….)
So now we have people freezing musical instruments, and Greg Weaver has written about freezing CDs to good effect. It is a pity that he was not able to write about the freezing of other items (plugs, cables etc..) but such advice will also be found in these very pages. But whilst it is a free technique, it is one that has been supplanted, and works better if some P.W.B. treatment has been applied to the item in question.
I myself have abandoned the technique on the grounds of too much effort being required, and that the Quantum Clip achieves the same end, only more so. This is another hard one for many to grasp. The freezing technique is nothing to do with relaxing plastics (do engineers fail to see how their anthropomorphic phantasies pollute their thinking?) or metals, and even if it was related, there would need to be a pretty astonishing theory to explain how this helped – do the photons also become more relaxed when reading the very calm binary code?.
Whatever, it is good that the technique is being reintroduced to those that are not aware of it, and I think that the opening up of thinking that can come with this, marvelous.
Part of the technique always involved a slow thaw of that which was frozen. I suspect that I am not the only one that thinks the time might be more right for a meltdown. This would make everything very relaxed, and the new shoots of development might be able to break through, into the light.
Freezing is clearly not applicable to everything.
RG
This section is more of an update/revision section than a truly new one, yet the products that have been updated seem so radically different from their predecessors in effect that I will stick to the usual title. Read on to make sense of this overcomplicated introduction!
Black and Purple
Not an album by the Rolling Stones, or even a forthcoming Gothic film by the artist formerly known as gender fishhook thing, but a couple of fat felt tip pens that might just change your life. As we all know, the audio industry in the last decade was trying to make sense of why ink of certain colours (often green), when applied to the periphery of CD, it sounded better. Absorption of light, scattered from the laser, was the usual explanation for any perceived benefit, and for a while this was a popular tweak. I must say that I never tried this, but did buy a pack of pens when P.W.B.'s experiments took him in a similar, but of course quite different, direction in the early '90s. P.W.B. eventually found that Purple ink applied to the periphery of a disc (including vinyl disc – whither the laser now?) enhanced our perception of the music replayed. The ink did not need to be continuous, indeed 4 x 4 cm lines (at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock) seemed best on the edge of any disc. This worked a treat, and as a treatment was enhanced further by the similar application of black ink on the inner edge of a disc. Fiddly, but a well worth the fuss. Tapping the ink with both ends of a special P.W.B. Purple or Black pen added something more, and we were then at the stage of identifying an essential part of the P.W.B. treatments of discs. There were some other uses of the purple pen, but they will be described further.
I will not detail any of the theories that underpinned P.W.B. 's development of these products, as there are details relating to the energy spectrum, time, and patterns held by objects that would take too long to explain; apart from that the theories evolve, and get more sophisticated, and even for hardened P.W.B.philes, they can be hard to grasp. The main issue it seems to me is whether the P.W.B. Purple and Black Pens are worth purchasing.
In my view the previous versions of the pens were well worth having, but I could not help wondering if the pens could be updated in a manner similar to that undergone by the Red 'X' Pen earlier this year. That development remains an extraordinary one, and if the same benefits could be extended to the other pens…
I am finding of late that when I start to ruminate upon these matters, it is usually sometime soon after that P.W.B. announces that he has realised the method for updating the necessary items. I would like to think that there was some sort strange cosmic link that allowed P.W.B. to translate my wishes into products. As this phenomenon has only happened twice in over ten years I do not think that I have the statistical significance to assume this.
Anyway, in late August P.W.B. made available updated Purple and Black Pens, both of which are adorned with two cable ties, and one of those hieroglyphic type labels. One would assume that they are capable of nothing, until one hears what happens when a few centimetres of ink are applied to the periphery of a CD. To my mind the benefit of the new Purple Pen was at least as good as using the new 'X' Pen, and perhaps even that of the Clip. Of course the effect of the Clip that is much greater when used after the Purple Pen ink has been applied to a disc, as with Foils; the more products applied to an item, the greater the later effect of the Clip upon the item – its own effect is enhanced.
The Black Pen had a similarly good effect, lifting the sound of CDs treated with the previous pens to quite a significant degree.
But as usual, it doesn't end there, and we get into the "You're 'aving a larff" territory as one starts to realise that the more CDs or discs treated with the new Pens, the better the radio sounds – the radio/alarm clock that is – and the TV picture improves considerably. The endless shock of this process will remain with me to the end of my days I think, but it really does happen like this. Everything in the home has an impact on our senses, and so the slow and painful treatment of everything possible is not just an indication of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but a real way to improve our enjoyment of everything at home.
For those with long memories, or continuing methods, you will no doubt be aware that the Purple pen had a few other uses. Firstly, the new version is quite extraordinary when applied to the ends of a fuse, be it in a mains electricity plug, or in an amplifier or even a loudspeaker, Just colour in the round end (the flat 'disc' part) of the fuse, and then gently tap the coloured parts with each end of the Purple Pen. I then Clip the fuse, but this is a luxury for those with the Clip. Another amazing site to try the Purple Pen is to apply a small amount to the solder contacts on light bulbs. Again tap after application of the ink.
It really remains a sort of stupidity that these things make a difference, but for those that have eschewed narcissism or any sense of personal grandeur, you really gotta try these Pens. I can't help thinking that there is more to be done with them, but apart from tapping objects with them (always worth doing with any P.W.B. pen – dial your own telephone number and tap the receiver with any P.W.B. pen to see what I mean!) I have yet to discover something else to try. Given the fact that we are currently blessed with long dark evenings in which we can practice our coloring, I suspect we are in for a fruitful season.
Discworld
Whilst P.W.B. devices might not be out of place in a strange world of magic and wizards, the practical application of certain obscure methods to bits of plastic and glitter continues to pay dividends. This remains primarily so when it comes to CDs – a device so full of advantages, yet inherently wretched. For those embarking on an odyssey of exploration with the series of Foils, Films, Pens and Creams, it is worth noting that there are other more simple devices which make the experience of listening more pleasure than ordeal. For many years P.W.B. has developed discs made of transparent plastic, of the same size as the CD, which either through sitting on the disc as it plays, or even through sitting in the case, whilst the disc is playing, enhance the listening experience.
This clearly has nothing to do with lasers, resonance, static or any other rudimentary process, and so the results have to be judged on what is achieved rather than what is explained. P.W.B. has recently let me have a trial of an updated CD Electret disc which is quite something. Equally effective sitting in the box as the disc spins, as when sitting on top of the spinning disc, it becomes even more of a treasure when left inside the box when that is Clipped. Not cheap, and more of an investment for that with high-end products, or a splendid CD collection. Imagine this device as improved lighting in a gallery of the worlds great works of art – it reveals the greatness that was there, yet not fully seen. Whilst other products, including the above mentioned pens probably represent better value for most people, the Electret Discs are special. But beware – don't ever lose one…..
RG
I decided to take May Belt's advice and purchased two identical magazines with CDs (The BBC Music Magazine). The total cost was eight pounds, and it meant that I now had two copies of Melvyn Tan's recordings of Field and Chopin Nocturnes. I then Belted one CD and kept the other in its raw, shop-provided state. The 'Belting' consisted of Rainbow Foil, Purple Pen, Red 'x' Pen and Morphic Liquid.
My first finding was that the difference was not immediately obvious although after two or three listenings it became clear that there was a difference; not with sharpness, clarity or bass extension; the usual things that people are needled by Hi-Fi Magazines into looking for.
This time around the difference was to do with touch and timing, which on the Belted CD seemed exquisite, producing a sense of melting sweetness, or of stepped flights of fantasy in just the way one imagines that Field would have communicated to his own audience.
After further listening it becomes more obvious. The un-Belted CD has nothing apparently inferior in terms of superficial sound. The trouble is with its timing; the pauses between the notes. There is a sense in which the un-Belted CD could be a different pianist who is slightly rushing this performance. Not only do the notes appear rushed but their emotional meaning is less accessible and the structure as a whole suffers.
A comparison between the CDs of track two – a Nocturne by Chopin – reveals even greater contrasts. The Belted version resonates with sweetness and depth, the touch of the pianist is absolutely sure, and the notes project into the room, in a plangent acoustic of their own.
The shop-raw version sounds more distant; the emotive power of the piece – a moment ago so clear – is suddenly missing. True the pianist sounds competent in the highest degree; everything is there except the touch of genius that makes us sure that we have got the message – even though the message is beyond words, certainly beyond analytical thought. Switching to the Belted CD, the message of Chopin and Melvyn Tan's genius or personal brilliance are clear.
Put succinctly this particular P.W.B. effect is about the essence of the music itself. I wonder what Melvyn Tan would make of this: maybe we should ask him.
Kenneth Hyam
I think a few words are in order, to augment what Ken has written, as to the average rock music fan, attuned to fast transients and throbbing bass, Ken's claims may seem rather modest. The piano is a very difficult instrument to reproduce, and using it to compare sound quite a challenge. Further, the haunting soundscapes of Chopin and Field, underpinned by their hypnotic pulses from elsewhere, are not easy pieces to use. Yet their 'charm' is such that they are ideal choices, but one wouldn't be noticing a staggering change in bass extension etc..; instead, as Ken suggests, the poignant spaces between the notes. A Chopin Nocturne can sound magical or prosaic, depending upon pianist, but also method of reproducing the sound. I have sometimes wondered whether all P.W.B. does is open our ears – that we learn to listen. Many a music critic has quite modest equipment, yet can hear into the performance in a quite stunning manner. For those of us devoid of such skills, yet wanting to enter the mercurial half-worlds of a Chopin, P.W.B. products assist our journey. They will never make Chopin sound like Duran Duran, and I am sure many a critic would be angered by this inadequacy. Think more of a Rough Guide, a Rosetta stone; making sense of what is before you.
RG
I recently purchased the "Missing Link" ties. First impressions are thus:-
A confirmation of my thoughts first expressed in Newsletter No 2 Vol. 2 i.e. the certainty of further gains to come from P.W.B. research.
I've just attached the above mentioned devices to the mains lead of my amplifier and CD player (already fully treated with ties) and the result was a revelation. As always, trying to describe a P.W.B. effect is beyond my abilities with pen and paper. I can only say that the threshold of silence has been pushed yet further back, to expose more musical detail, as an ebbing tide exposes more shoreline with each retreating wave. This impression is reinforced when listening to choral music. The silence that descends following a climax is now much more important part of the performance.
I've probably said something like this before but fact is, as others have said, Belt devices are not up for analysis in the same way in which people write about a new piece of Hi-Fi – a gain here, a loss there.
When I fitted those devices, the music is still the same music, just more of it; a huge, clean , involving sound where you can be part of an orchestra one minute, or in the studio with 'Half man Half biscuit' the next. Insight! That's what you get: insight. P.W.B. blows away vagueness! I don't think I'll ever be able to put it better than that, so that will do.
Kevin Kehoe
Pseuds Moment and Competition
As Xmas approaches, there is clearly a need for a competition, to receive that special 'Millennium' P.W.B. device as a prize. Any winner of course has to review the new device, and to get into the spirit, this years competition involves the entrant in developing the language skills to write about the effect of P.W.B. devices in a manner that would not be out of keeping in, let's say, lesser magazines. Flowery sumptuousness could be one of the approaches ('the silken tone of the strings now resembled the soft ripe skin of a peach, wetting the appetite for more bursts of such burnished tone' etc..), or historical ('the missing link tie doth' etc..) or surreal!
The entrant therefore has to write a very short piece on a certain product or technique in the most attention-grabbing, nauseating, hysterical manner imaginable. Points will be awarded for both style and content, and as usual, the editor has the final decision, and is fully open to any attempts at bribery or corruption. Let's face the facts, there aren't depths to which he would not stoop. So, for that mystery prize that will give you the most exciting sounds of the next millennium, gets those pens-a-scratching or keys a tapping.
RG.
1. When does the personal enjoyment of music through a Hi-Fi system become a political act? I have tried to piece together some thoughts on this question, which are presented in bullet points, in order to be brief.
2. There was a recent case of a Hi-Fi journalist who attributed the domestic freezer technique of freezing CDs to another Hi-Fi journalist – without even mentioning P.W.B. who had originally designed the experiment and recommended the technique!
3. This highlights the intense contradiction in recent months: more people finding out about foils and freezing ( through the Internet); more P.W.B. breakthroughs such as the Missing Link devices – AGAINST the Hi-Fi press closing down its small window of communication (even publishing but censoring certain readers letters by cutting out references to P.W.B.
4. Every community – be it the Hi-Fi community or the local tenants association – must respond to the idea that the wider body is only healthy when it enters into dialogue with the many groups and individuals who make it up. Only this way can it change for the better, and be sure of its ultimate survival.
5. It could easily be established that P.W.B. users are in fact a group of people who deserve to have a voice. This Newsletter with its humorous and independent style is proof that such a group is in existence. It has engaged with a whole range of issues – without any prompting from P.W.B. Electronics themselves!
6. The Hi-Fi Press and manufacturers in 1998/99 have set up a wall of non-communication. Let's make this a better year by writing letters to editors in a concerted effort to change their negative attitude.
7. It is the true aspiration to communicate that prompts me to suggest more articles from P.W.B. users for the Hi-Fi Press. I am not an electronics specialist, but out of some desire to communicate, I suggest the following: someone with electronics and technical skills might build an item of audio equipment, Belting each and every component along the way, as they go along. This could then become the focal point for a series of letters/articles to the press.
8. I hope that this analysis of the problems and suggested strategies may be of interest and that some of them may bear fruit. May I close by saying that the free-spirited editorial policy of this Newsletter has been a model of democracy and good judgement. Hi-Fi magazine editors take note!
Kenneth Hyam
To bring about change, good change, is perhaps one of the greatest challenges to have absorbed the minds of the great thinkers of this and past millennia. Slow change or revolution ultimately seem inadequate and the factors that maintain the status quo dwarf the often valiant attempts to move forward. Knowledge of what would be a useful step toward the better is invariably there, but translating this into widespread action, much harder. Yet despair should be countered with the realization that change does happen when the inertia is countered, as Ken Hyam suggests, by enough people putting themselves 'out'. In the past I have raged against the seemingly mindless hegemony of the Hi-Fi Press, but it is increasingly apparent that politics are so underpinned by economics, that change is unlikely. The reader of a magazine is not the customer, it is the advertisers, whose payments essentially fund the magazine. We remain cast in the shape of patronage, and it is money that talks loudest, and has the force to censor and control.
This year however has seen some unusual developments though. The Internet is challenging much via online shopping, or even via the clever and somewhat cynical marketing strategies that made the film 'The Blair Witch Project' such a huge success, and over turned the Hollywood Studios arrogance and tyranny. There is an audience available now ready for the new, and less enamoured of the printed word. Perhaps it is via the Internet that the change will really come; hopefully before the financial moguls strangle it!
And to facilitate this I will now add some words which might help someone with a search engine:
Linn, Naim, Meridian, TAGMclaren, Audiolab, Mission, Cyrus, Krell, Mark Levison, Lexicon, Sony, Pioneer, Marantz, JVC, Technics etc. products all sound better enhanced by P.W.B. products.
Let's see if this approach helps!
RG
During recent months I have been reminded of the powerful influence that Morphic Resonance exerts on all our lives in this modern world.
This particular circumstance concerns my Television set.
The background to this story is that, some years ago, I decided to change my TV set and after several visits to a large showroom I finally decided on a Sony, model No. KV-E2942U. The picture quality in the showroom was excellent and in my lounge it was even better (from an engineering point of view there are good reasons why this should be so. In the showroom, many appliances are sharing the same electricity supply and aerial feeds, however, after many years involvement with P.W.B. techniques, I am convinced there are also other influences at work).
With my new 29" TV set (actual screen size 27.5") I was now enjoying a picture quality like I had never seen before and marvelled at the Wild Life photography in particular. Make-up on male Newsreaders was now fairly obvious. I had had some concerns that the larger screen size would result in a degradation of video recording quality but these concerns proved unfounded. Video programmes I had enjoyed previously were now a revelation.
After a few weeks allowing the TV to 'settle in' I then got busy applying every P.W.B. technique, to the inside and outside of the set, that I knew, which of course resulted in an even better picture and coincidentally better sound from the hi-fi. However, this is all a preamble to the point I am coming to shortly.
Several months after installation, the TV set developed a fault. About three hours after switch on a green line would appear on the left hand side of the screen and in the course of about ten minutes would gradually drift across the screen until the whole screen was completely green and as time went on this green picture would start to break up with flashes of red and orange. The picture, as you can imagine, was intolerable to watch but since I rarely had the set on that long I was not concerned to have the fault corrected right away.
Shortly before the 12 month guarantee expired I contacted the retailer, explained the problem and we arranged that a service engineer would call at 11am the following Saturday morning. On the Saturday, I switched on the TV at 8am and the engineer arrived spot on 11am. The timing was perfect. He arrived to see a perfect picture but within 5 minutes the fault I had described happened before his eyes. He quickly reasoned the cause of the problem to be due to a component that had become thermally sensitive, which was the conclusion I had come to, and the set would have to be returned to a main Sony depot to be serviced. The TV was duly shipped off for repair.
Four weeks later I 'phoned, to be informed that they couldn't find any fault but I insisted they looked further because most definitely there was a fault.
Two weeks later the set arrived back with a repaired label attached.
Pleasure at receiving back into my home my cherished Sony TV was, however, short lived. About three hours after switch on that evening, the dreaded green line made its appearance again. In frustration, with the flat of my hand, I whacked the top of the set (visions of Basil Fawlty and that sod of a car I know). VOILA. As if by magic the picture cleared and once more was a joy to behold. Now, I realised, this was a different ball game entirely. The fault was almost certainly due to a poor connection somewhere in the set. This I could live with and for a long time if the fault did occur, then a sharp tap on top of the set and everything was sweet and rosy again.
Sorry about the story of my life so far but I am now coming to the interesting bit.
One weekend, about three months ago, I decided to try and find the poor connection. I removed the rear cover, switched on the TV and when the green line appeared began to prod likely areas with a wooden rod. Within five minutes, I had located the fault. This was a wire on a loom that terminated in a connector on a circuit board. I now needed to remove the connector but this would firstly require detaching the circuit board from the TV and this now became a problem. Whoever designed this fiendishly clever method of attaching the circuit board seemed to have decided that - once fitted, never to be removed. I decided to leave it for the time being and perhaps later some flash of inspiration would show me the solution.
Some hours later I made another attempt at removing the circuit board but without success. I then decided to have a read of the daily paper and at the same time to have some background music. So, on with a CD while I scanned the paper.
I hadn't read more than a few paragraphs when I had to put the paper aside to listen more carefully to the music. The sound quality had now taken on something special. Listening to superb sound is my norm but this was more than norm ! It seemed so much more smooth and relaxing and with an ease that one simply soaked up. This got me thinking. Why had the sound quality improved ? I have spent hundreds of hours in the past, endeavouring to improve the sound from my audio equipment but this latest improvement had been spontaneous. I hadn't made any recent changes to the hi-fi so it had to be something else. Could the something else be the action of taking the back off the TV set ?
Now; an Acoustics engineer would take the view that removing the back from the TV had subtly modified the sound reflections in the room to cause the effect of higher sound quality and I cannot prove whether that is true or not but I think not. I believe this is a situation where Morphic Resonance was having an effect. Meanwhile, I have repeated the exercise several times and I am convinced the hi-fi sounds better with the TV back removed.
This now raises interesting possibilities that if by changing the profile or structure of the TV set it has altered ones perception of sound, what other changes could be done to create more benefits ? Immediately comes to mind that many years ago, Peter Belt advocated strongly that all labels on hi-fi components should be removed. Looking back to those far off days, I now wonder whether Peter considered Morphic Resonance at the time. In favour years ago was the tweak of connecting low value capacitors across reservoir capacitors in power supplies. I always suspected the theory behind this practice but apparently it worked. Could the real reason why it worked be that in modifying the amplifier a Morphic link had been broken ?
In a previous Newsletter, attention has been drawn to the benefits of feeding audio signals into Tape inputs rather than conventional CD inputs.
I firmly believe that all connectors should be as small as possible and where practical I have replaced all Phono connectors with Din types.
This practice I now believe has twofold benefits
1) less metal means less circulating currents - to give a cleaner sound.
2) modifying the equipment has broken a Morphic link - to give a clearer pair of ears.
I am coming round to the opinion these days, that I am more sensitive or aware of the effects of Morphic resonance on me. When I visit the local Tesco (a huge store) walking around inside I distinctly feel a sense of disorientation, particularly in focusing. With all the thousands of products on display and all those Bar code labels, is it any wonder ? To anyone who has any doubts about the powerful effects of Bar codes, I strongly recommend they buy the latest version of the Red 'X' pen. Play a CD then use the pen to draw a line across the Bar code on the card in the back of the jewel case (the case will first have to be dismantled but this is easily done). Play the CD again and be prepared to be knocked back in amazement. I have treated many CDs but I still can't resist trying before and after with CDs even those that have had the earlier Red pen treatment.
As I 'one finger' type this on my Brother Word Processor (a cracking little machine), behind me in my lounge is Claudio Arrau; sitting at a Steinway and playing the 'Wauldstein' Sonata. He has been here many times before but his performance tonight has an extra freshness.
Which reminds me, I must not forget to put the cover back on the TV !!
PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE COVERS OFF MAINS POWERED EQUIPMENT.
Tom Marsden.
I may not be the right person to write about my experiences with the
P.W.B. products or even the freezing techniques. I am not especially scientific
about listening to music. If I hear a difference, I take it as a fact and
proceed from there. I have just begun reading Sheldrake, and while my intuition
tells me his morphic fields come a lot closer to describing reality than
current, mechanistic paradigms, my senses are what I'm paying attention to when
I listen.
I followed the instructions for freezing and slow thawing for
compact discs contained in some of the enclosures you sent me. The difference
was significant enough that I determined to freeze all my discs. The difference
was a deepening of what I've come to think of as the P.W.B. effect: a
relaxation where it all becomes clearer - musical lines and interrelationships,
vocal and instrumental textures, details, words - the gestalt. Oftentimes a
song I have been listening to for years takes on a new color and I understand
its emotional argument better. Usually I will foil and cream a disk and its
case, and listen to it before freezing it. The initial improvement from that
treatment is dramatic enough that I can still be surprised at how much better
the disk can sound after freezing: how much less mechanical, how present the
musicians can be.
I have also done the experiments outlined on the Website
under the heading "What a Mess - an alternative view of reality." So all my
treated discs, a lot of my equipment, my mirrors are marked with " 'X 26 'X ".
Getting this done is a certain amount of trouble. I would rather be listening
to music. I wouldn't bother if the procedures didn't allow me to hear a lot
more music from the recordings I play. My next P.W.B. purchase after this
homework is done, when the budget allows, is the red X-pen. I keep thinking
I'll stop being surprised by the improvements. But I haven't yet.
I froze
the CD player and headphones I listen to at work, after treatment with rainbow
foil and cream. Wonderful. My old AR turntable that I just had rehabbed, along
with the maple slab and inner tube it rests on, I treated and froze. Likewise
wonderful. As time allows, I intend to freeze all the equipment I can fit into
the freezer including the wood blocks and ceramic cones I use for resonance
tuning.
Techs can worry about the reasons why these things work, and, if it
results in further improvements, I hope they do. Meanwhile I will gratefully
enjoy the fruits of Peter Belt's labor.
By the way, when I was last in
Cleveland, I treated some of the environments there. Linda and I continue to be
pleased. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mark
Kirby
Baltimore, U.S.A.
***********************************
Dear Mrs. Belt:
You may use the following as you see fit, in its entirety or not. Sorry about the length!
It has been several months since I began to use the Belt Rainbow Foil, the only Belt treatment that I have applied to my system and music media. As suggested by the marketing information supplied with the Foil, I first tried it with CDs, hearing less of the noxious noise that makes reproduced music sound less acoustic and more mechanical. As the noise floor receded, to my astonishment, there was a concomitant rise in audible detail. Gratified, I experimented with freezing Foiled CDs and thought the technique valuable, however, it was not a practice that I used rigorously.
Instead, I pressed forward attaching little bits of foil to everything that I thought might remotely generate an electrical field. Hence, capacitors, transformers, wires, speaker spades, etc.., were "foiled." Yes, I went inside of my tube amp and sub woofer amp and wrapped R/Foil around the wiring of the inputs/outputs/ground and caps. The pre amp got the same treatment. WARNING!: Dangerous voltages persist in electronics even after they are unplugged. Allow time for the capacitors to discharge in any tube amplifier before attempting any work within.
And the result? The sound of music in my sound lab advanced to a higher level: the dimensionality of instruments was more pronounced, the low end seemed to extend even deeper, the air in the recording environment was more evident. All the good stuff that had already been happening got better.
I had several power line conditioners in my system: three serial and one parallel. The parallel conditioner is a Marigo Apparition and beyond reproach (an auditioned MIT Z was not in quite the same class). However, one of other conditioners was a rugged brute better suited to surge protection for a PC. It was noisy and tended to limit current draw and so I took it out of the system. The problem was that this line conditioner functioned as an outlet box for most of my components power cords, so I needed a replacement.
The new PS Audio Power Plant came to mind, but the wherewithal in the bank account was accounted for, thus, I needed a cheaper solution for the time being. I had two average surge protector strips courtesy of Home Depot that cost about $6.00 and thought that they might do temporarily. I listened to the system after they were installed and found new dynamic freedom with music's that I could now enjoy anew! There was no real dulling of the sonic stage or other problem, but the thought came to mind: why not Foil the little buggers? So I took them apart and applied R/Foil to each metal connector. After I reinstalled them and powered up the system, I sat down to listen to Danny Elfman's "Mission Impossible" soundtrack. Track 4 has a percussive shock wave that seem to bend the walls, but had heretofore seemed constrained (by not having enough amplifier power in reserve, me thought). Now the deep bass wave shook the room, as before, but the direction of the wave as it traveled across the room was now very apparent and quite impressive! The low end definition sussed out more ambient air and the harmonics of instruments seemed much more natural than before. It was a time for the jaw to drop.
Hmm. . . I stopped thinking about the PS Audio unit and R/Foiled my HSU Research sub woofer! I'd already done the crossover/amplifier, so I removed the driver and wrapped a bit of R/Foil around the thin speaker wire. Once again, I listened and heard definition that defied my expectations. I played the first track on The Higher Intelligence Agency's first CD only to have the sound of chimes extend out towards me and far to the left and right. Electronic sounds popped out space with unusual solidity and when the bass line appeared the pitch definition was superb. The Reference Recording "Trittico", specifically the Adagio was up next. The drums had a placement and tumbrel naturalness that was enthralling, but when the cymbal crashed it smeared a bit. So I R/Foiled the speaker spades and tried that passage again; the crash lost none of its dynamic impact, but the distortion had been put to rest.
So what's going on here? Belt's explanation for how the Foil, et. al., works is moot, to me. I hear audible changes and even though I have not subjected the Foil to scientific rigor, I hear that the Foil is doing something very right to what was already a good, very musical system. As it is now Foiled, the system is hard to stop listening to. Instead of just listening to one favorite tune on a CD or LP, I end up listening to most if not all of the tracks. This plays havoc when there are things to be done to keep the body solvent, but, for the lover of music and the tranquillity it can convey (even with grungy acid vis a vis The Crystal Method) some sacrifices must occasionally be made.
The Rainbow Foil is a significant component factor that should be considered first before making any other expenditures on equipment upgrades. This stuff is really the most cost-effective upgrade you can make, without exception. Hear what you really have, before you change it!
There are those who deride the Belt devices on the Net and in a rude and vulgar way, at that and I wonder if they have actually listened to a system using the Foil or any of the other seemingly bizarre items that P.W.B. produces. Bizarre or not, what the Belt Foil can do is immediately audible which suggests that the critics that hear no change at all should have their hearing checked, ASAP. Viva Belt!
In good listening,
M. Blackburn
Chicago, U.S.A.
***********************************
Dear May
I had always been fairly happy with my stereo system. The sound right
out of the box was very good, perhaps the best I had heard in my limited
experience.Gradually, I began to realize that a whole world of improvements
existed for those who were willing to experiment and "tweak" their system. I
started by building my own loudspeakers, modifying a commercially available
electronics component kit and constructing my own cabinets that had been
modified from the recommendations of the component kit supplier.
My system
took a quantum leap forward, and I was quite pleased. For a stereo, it sounded
great. The problem was it still sounded like a good (or very good) stereo
system. Since my wife and I both play musical instruments, perhaps we are more
conscious of things that just don't sound like "the real thing". I did more
investigation and discovered Greg Weaver's monthly column. Wow! Building my own
interconnects, raising the speaker cables off the floor and placing sand bags
on top of my components and partially deflated inner tubes under them brought
the system to never before achieved heights. Everyone that listened thought it
sounded great. Then came Greg's article about "the itty-bitty UK foil". This
was something I had never heard of and could not even begin to understand. Why
would a tiny piece of foil attached to a CD improve the sound. Well, P.W.B. was
so sure of their product that they were shipping free samples to anyone who
asked. Plus, Greg heard definite differences, and he had not let his readers
down to date, so what did I have to lose? I requested the foil. The foil
arrived and I followed the instructions to the letter, cutting 1-2mm wide
strips and applying them over the "compact disc" logo on my favorite CD's. I
put the first one in…I listened …
How could this be happening, my
stereo that I had always been very happy with now suddenly came alive and
sounded like never before. I started reading the P.W.B. Website in the hopes of
an explanation (being a scientist by trade, I like reasonable explanations for
observed effects). While P.W.B. wasn't divulging their secret, they did have a
site packed with other free tweaks to improve the sound of the stereo.
The
first thing to be done was to find pictures and place them inside "x-marked"
baggies in the freezer.
All CD's and stereo components were then marked
with the same red pen. CD's were then frozen and thawed slowly as recommended.
Now things were starting to get really bizarre. How could my picture in the
freezer and small red writing on CD's and such be causing this large an
improvement. The sound was startling to say the least. CD's that I rarely
listened to before now became some of my favorites. All of the glare and high
frequency harshness was gone.
The sound sang forth from my speakers like I
had never heard from any stereo system before. I ordered the foil and also
received a free sample of the electret cream and blue Z morphic message foil.
All components, speaker cabinets, and stereo table were foiled as was the
circuit board for my house. All driver frames and the chassis of each component
were then rubbed with a thin layer of cream.
While I have no explanation
for what transpired, this does not detract from the improvement that was heard.
Some instruments just poured forth from the system with such realism that it
was startling. Cymbals, oboe, and tympani were the ones that struck me first.
While the oboe had always sounded kind of nasally on my system before, this was
no longer the case. It sang forth with a sweetness that was heartwarming.
Tympani now no longer sounded as if they were located across the street, but
right in my living room. One of my favorite CD's, the Mobile Fidelity gold
reissue of Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz took my breath away. The vocals and the
saxophone had no right to sound as real as they did.
It was as if I was no
longer listening to music through a stereo, but listening to music without any
passage through electronics. Since my wife and I have a son, much of our time
is spent listening to music in the background. This is almost impossible now.
The sound is so wonderful and so many delicate passages that were heretofore
unheard cause us to just stand before the stereo listening in wonderment.
All I can say is thank you to Greg Weaver for alerting his readers to P.W.B.
electronics and to Mr. and Mrs. Belt for their kindness and generosity in
sending me the samples of these products. I cannot imagine my system ever
sounding better, but from what I read on the P.W.B. Website, my journey into
true musical reproduction has only just begun
Thank you again,
Chris Porada, Ph.D.
Reno, U.S.A.
***********************************
Dear May
I am writing as a novice P.W.B. customer. I learned about
the amazing P.W.B. "treatments" from SoundStage! writer Greg Weaver, whom I
have found to be one of the most credible and useful American audiophile
writers. Thanks to a variety of recommendations from Greg, through his regular
columns, I am enjoying my sound system more than ever. But without a doubt,
Greg's recommendation of P.W.B. foils and crème has been the most
eye-opening. The changes in reproduced sound associated with P.W.B. products
are difficult to characterize in orthodox audiophile terms. With the P.W.B.
stuff, quality recorded music just sounds much more like live, amplified music.
There is a realism that untreated CDs or components do not achieve. (Whether
P.W.B.'s corollary of Dr. Sheldrake's hypothesis is the explanation, I can't
say. But it is all very interesting, and certainly merits consideration. I'm
still pondering).
Now, I must admit, I do not subscribe to the notion that
P.W.B. products have the ability to make "rack-grade" equipment sound like the
stuff we read about in the various respected audiophile magazines. What I do
believe is that the P.W.B. products will make systems capable of decent sound
resolution sound better. As a result, I'm baffled. There seems to be an
unwillingness on the part of the audiophile hardware community to accept the
P.W.B. effect as real, at least to some of us. Ostensibly, they feel that such
an admission would somehow adversely affect their profit margin. I think the
converse is true. I believe the better designed audiophile-level components
sound the best, but that P.W.B. products add another dimension (particularly if
one knows how to listen). There is no conflict.
If I was a high-end
hardware producer, I would value P.W.B. and its products much as I would the
proprietary wire producer from whom I would buy a product that, in combination
with my design, would make my product better. The fact of the matter is that
P.W.B. is not in direct competition with hardware producers. P.W.B. treatments
should not be considered a replacement for hardware design, but instead, should
be considered a mandatory complement to all well-designed sound systems.
Why do hardware manufacturers not recognize P.W.B.? It can only be that they
feel they would be ostracized if they acknowledged P.W.B. and the effects of
its products. I would remind them of a time when people were tarred and
feathered for merely uttering in public the notion that the earth might not be
flat.
I encourage P.W.B. to continue making us ponder alternatives.
Tim Kirkpatrick
Atlanta, Georgia
USA
***********************************
Dear May,
First of all, I would thank you for sending me a copy of your reply and the New York Times article about this "freezing saga rebound". As you, I hope it will help to allow the prospect of a new global and deeper debate around the sound...
I've written herein below some lines for your next Newsletter; I hope they will perhaps be a bit useful to sustain your full of significance point of view...
Since you've had the kindness to make me discover two of Peter's essential products - two references: the Silver Foil & the Cream-Electret - I must tell you that I use them everyday to increase my listening pleasure. I should say I am living with them because I can no more conceive to "fine tune" my system or take care of my CD collection without the invaluable help of those magical creations.
I won't try to explain the whys and the wherefores of the incredible improvement they bring but I think I have a good ear which is, of course, the final judge and, believe me, I now realize immediately when I accidentally forgot to treat some strategic parts of my audiophile system.
I'd like to share here with you a more concrete example. I get used to putting on my CD player an Audio Technica CD stabilizer. In fact, I have two copies of this platter, one is "Silver Foiled", the other not: I lent it to a friend a long time ago. Recently, he gave it back to me and I inadvertently inverted it with mine. I immediately noticed there was a problem: I suddenly felt that my sound was "narrow and stifled" and I began to check all my components, one after the other, founding nothing wrong. Then, I was going round in circles in my room, very perturbed, when I finally remembered I might have inverted the two stabilizers. This was the case, indeed, and fortunately I only had to reinstall my "Silver Foiled" accessory to recover my familiar "open and airy sound". This kind of accidental blind test revealed to me with more accuracy than never the strong efficiency of those little rainbow strips, as the disappearance of two of them could ruin the subtle musicality of my complete construction.
As I also told you, I decided to use them, in a way maybe not classic, to tweak the rare Telefunken ECC82 valves I use on my amplifier and then they "flourished" even more (I join here a picture). I installed with always great success the Foil strips on what I feel to be the different core nodes of my installation (on some capacitors, near the numerous connections between the components and so on).
Concerning the Cream-Electret, it serves me from the treatment of all my CD surfaces up to the maintenance of my connections, the "polishing" of my speakers, etc.. Taking into account the price of this product and the little quantity I need each time I use it (it seems to be inexhaustible), I consider this cream to be the most incredible and the best-value-for-money improvement substance I ever found since I began my musical Quest of the Grail…
Kind regards,
Michel
Delneuville
Bruxelles, Belgium
***********************************
From Alfredo Espino Gracia,
Mexico.
Extracts from his e-mail for publication in the P.W.B. Newsletter.
".........I have just heard a sampler of your marvelous Rainbow Foil at a friends house. I have to tell you that when he told me about your product, I thought it was a joke. I can't understand how it works so, I laughed and asked him to make a little test.
We took two identical CDs (Sycronicity/The Police), first, we played the same track of both discs without your magic tape, the sound was identical. Then we applied the tape to one of the disks, I sat in the couch focused in finding a tiny, insignificant difference or nothing at all, and....Surprise !!!, the sound improved dramatically. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, then I took off the little tape and the magic was gone.
I was even more impressed when I played an Audioquest record (Mighty Sam McLain/Give it up to love), I haven't heard before certain sounds that I heard at that moment, so I have just arrived home and went directly to the net to find about you.
I have to confess I can't understand how your product works, but I think this is the most revolutionary product of the decade (for not saying the century)..........."
Afredo Espino
Gracia,
Monterrey,
Mexico.
© P.W.B. Electronics 2001 - 2002 - 2003