Apologies to all for the extra wait for this Newsletter – whilst change may not always occur with sufficient rapidity for P.W.B., sadly it changes all too quickly in other areas, bringing destructiveness instead of hope. Apologies also for the lack of space for some articles, and the delay in some pieces (Ken Hyam’s Ode to the Minidisc), which was overlooked when the last Newsletter appeared. It is definitely worth including as Ken has found, as I did myself, that reduced bit-rates are no handicap to enjoyable, and detailed sound. But then if you base your thinking on such quantitative measures, less is always less and nothing can change that; P.W.B. invites us to think that sound, perception, recording are related in a complex manner, and the influence of time on the experience of a recording an important factor to deal with. With P.W.B. devices perhaps we ‘hear through time’, and the object of the disc is but the guide.
Of course nothing is this simple, and comparing like with like, treated discs of different varieties, CDs do sound better than Minidiscs, and I look forward to hearing DVD-A or equivalent, since it may take us further. But then, these discs will be treated. In a treated environment, and whatever good qualities they might have will be allowed to shine through. As Ken indicates, a treated Minidisc is superior to an untreated CD.
The issue of hierarchy emerges again, and having thought I’d solved the matter a number of years ago with some Audiolab equipment, I have recently abandoned the Audiolab CD player, and replaced it with a cheap Pioneer DVD player for all disc replays. With the recent new products that are described in these pages, I am very clear that the sound I receive now with the Pioneer player is superior to that achieved with the Audiolab player last year. What does one make of this? Well, I will probably purchase a top-grade DVD player when the bickering settles, and would be tempted by a Meridian or TAG McLaren, but only when I can fully treat it. The Audiolab player may sound better than what I currently use, but only if comparably treated. There are many ways to good sound, but the P.W.B. treatment of a budget model will almost certainly outstrip a top model. If that model is treated, it may then outstrip the budget player. There are many decisions to consider, and with time, I do value a good, solidly engineered product, but this is almost at the level of comfort. Tom Marsden also writes in these pages of how he approached a decision about an upgrade. I will not describe this further but he clearly preferred one route to another. Ultimately, the sad reality is that despite the sometimes-large apparent cost for small and sometimes absurd looking items, the P.W.B. approach to good sound is the most cost-effective, and most likely to lead to an enjoyable sound.
Such conclusions are easy for those of us that have spent 10 years or more dabbling in the murky depths of the P.W.B. phenomenon. I have been fortunate to have tried a number of options over the years; from fully treated budget products to fully treated high range products. The P.W.B. effect was greater than the differences between any other elements, and one starts to turn ones mind in quite a different direction. This is of course the treatment of the listening environment, and if I could urge the reader to try anything in this edition, it is to reconsider the treatment of items in the environment. Some approaches are very cheap or even free, but to focus ones energies exclusively upon the audio equipment is to miss a great opportunity. For those with good internet access, it would be worth visiting the P.W.B. website to look at early editions of the Newsletter when we pioneers spent as much time on the water supply to the home as on the discs. Whilst some of the details have changed, the principle remains. With the new Pens, systematic treatment of all the discs, tapes and floppy discs in your home might lead to a much greater leap in sound quality than you can imagine. It takes effort, and no one would notice, as there would be no shiny new object proclaiming its false endeavours of creating good sound. As with many moments in life, what is needed is the leap of faith, the taking of the risk.
I hope it is clear that I am currently bathing in the luxury of good sound, afforded by the recent products from P.W.B. As I type this I am listening on a portable Discman to some old Berlioz recording and it is quite bewitching, and the artificial notion of Hi-Fi melts into the experience of real music. Is this what you really want? The answers lie within.
Since the last Newsletter came out in the previous millennium, many readers will have forgotten that there was a competition in which entries were to be submitted for a fabulous prize. The request was for something to be written in a hopefully amusing style, giving an account of P.W.B. devices (or related issues). Sadly whilst only two entries reached the editor, they were both (Mark Auslander and Ken Hyam) of sufficient quality that a draw was the only fair conclusion. As I write this, those at P.W.B. are developing something special, which I hope both Mark and Ken will comment upon for the next Newsletter.
So, we have quite a start to the year, decade and century. Kevin Kehoe writes of his frustration that P.W.B. ideas are still not incorporated into the wider world, and many of us share this view. It is important then not to stay silent, but to keep writing to the relevant journals, or manufacturers, or even dealers so that the issue does not stay as it has done. Whilst there are encouraging moments in some Web Journals, there is still much to do, and as the groundswell of international readers and users grow, the impact can only become greater.
Thanks again to all contributors, and pieces for the next Newsletter will be gratefully received very soon.
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
Since Xmas, we have had a very good start to the year with four new P.W.B. products to excite and enthral. This truly has been a time of great progress and innovation. As ever, what actually comes through the letterbox, visually, bears little if any relation to what is in store. Most astonishing for me this time was the Blue Pen, which quite simply has an embarrassingly positive effect; embarrassing to describe, embarrassing to witness, and humiliating for those that struggle in other ways to improve recorded sound at home or elsewhere. So, with no more hesitation, we’re off.
The Freezer Label
It has always been something of a dilemma when considering the ‘Freezing’ technique, as reported again in the last Newsletter, since not everything can get into the Freezer. I myself own a somewhat modest freezer, and always struggled to find ways of driving my car into it. Since I spend far too long each day in the car (the joy of London) it would be a very great benefit if I could. Foils, creams and the Clip go some way to make up the deficit, and even the Freezer Dome of a number of years ago makes the gap yet smaller, but there remained a gap. Perhaps reminded of this matter by the recent flurry of interest in freezing objects, P.W.B. has developed an ingenious label that seems to do more than close the gap.
It may seem puzzling to many readers that a label can engender the sort of benefits that come with placing something inside a freezer, but this is to misunderstand what the freezing process does. Any consideration of ‘relaxing’ of this and that takes us away from the reality that freezing changes in objects (or removes from them?) patterns that seriously interfere with our senses. Through tapping, changes in heat (remember the lighter or freezing cans of yesteryear?) P.W.B. has found ways of introducing patterns, or changing them in objects, whatever they may be, to the considerable benefit to our senses. With the sort of sophistication in methods that P.W.B. is constantly evolving, these changes can also be brought about by the application of labels and foils etc, without tapping or freezing. Not so much the appliance of science, as the appliance of labels!
The Freezer label achieves the same ends, only more so, that freezing does, but is applicable to any object that can afford the space of it. And so loudspeakers, TVs, cars, electricity meters (remember them?) can also benefit as well as the smaller items of electrical equipment that found their way into the freezer. It is also much safer.
The label appears as one of the now familiar combination of foil and hieroglyphics, but this time it is flanked by two small pieces of metal – copper and aluminium. These provide the entry point for both ‘heat’ and ‘frozen’ energy patterns and are an essential part of the device. To activate the device one can use a number of methods, including ice cubes and soldering irons – plus the usual ones of Clip or saliva… - and it is interesting to witness how some of these somewhat absurd actions achieve. Which neatly takes us to the benefit of this device.
To my mind this is the best label yet, and does remind one of the benefits of freezing items around the home. Yet this label does so much more. It seems to clean up the sound in quite an extraordinary way . For those used to P.W.B. devices, it seems to bring a balance between what often feels to me the two advances brought by P.W.B. devices (those that make the sound cleaner and more detailed, and those that enrich it and make the sound smoother). With the Freezer label the sound becomes cleaner, yet richer, and just feels very right. This may come across, as a deepening of the soundstage, or bass extension, and tonal colours seem both more individual yet sumptuous. It’s great, and works well on the car, and the Hi-Fi, and is essential on the TV – well everywhere. Try one.
Blue Products
Many of you, I would hope, have had a chance to try some of the updated pens over the past year, and I would also hope that like myself you have found them to be stupidly effective. One gets so used to this process of applying ink to discs, or fuses, or bar codes, that one takes it for granted. For those that purchase the not inexpensive Black and Purple pens, P.W.B. have now thrown in a Blue pen, and with it instructions of how to use the pen with a whole range of objects, including those modern items such as floppy discs, videos, and minidiscs. CDs and LPs are well catered for of course, and it was here that the biggest surprise came. I was well versed, as stated above, in applying pens to the edges of discs, but there seemed little more to be done with the cover or case, apart from judicious use of the Red pen. Well, the Blue pen changes this, and it is applied to the innards of the case so that the disc in storage looks at it. This will be a familiar concept to many longstanding P.W.B. users, and is most easily grasped with the CD case. Here one applies Blue ink to the teeth of the case that hold the disc in place. This takes a moment yet does something quite extraordinary.
For a number of reasons, which will be discussed further below, I first tried this Blue pen on a passive disc; that is, I applied the ink to the case of a disc that was not playing. The disc thus remained in its case, looking at the Blue ink.
The effect of doing this was quite something – for some reason I found the lift in sound quality greater than that from applying the other pens, and I am always a little wary of this view since I don’t know how cumulative the effects of the four pens are. Anyway, the lift was quite something, and then one started to realise that this benefit occurs every time a disc case/sleeve is treated. And so as I have gone further with my rather extensive disc collection, the improvements have continued apace.
The same also goes for videos, minidiscs, floppy discs, and LPs; all have slightly different places to put the inks, but what an effect! So take some holiday, get a pen, and away you go into the realms of amazing music and pictures.
The problem I hinted at above does need addressing though. When the CD is taken from its case, it is no longer looking at the Blue ink, which creates a temporary adverse pattern that can be resolved in a number of ways. Firstly the disc can be restored to its case, but it doesn’t play well in this setting. Secondly the Blue pen can be put on top of the CD player, which helps quite a lot. But then one tries one of the new Blue Magnadiscs, which were developed to deal with this imbalance. Well, these little diamonds can just be placed on top of the player singly or in groups of four, and are effective on CD players, DVD players, and turntables. I even have one on my DVD Rom on the PC – for reasons that might be come more apparent later in this Newsletter….
When placed in groups of four, the Magnadiscs are placed at the corners of a square/cross, lying atop of the disc player in the position above the spinning disc. The placement of these new discs atop of a spinning disc player completely overcomes any imbalance created by removing the disc from its case.
But there is more to this than that. These Blue Magnadiscs clearly are devices in their own right and improve the sound of discs spinning whether the case has been treated with the Blue Pen or not. Of course it is better if the whole disc/case has been treated, but it should not be a handicap to trying the Blue Magnadiscs. I was very impressed by trying just one of them, but when all four are applied to either CD or DVD player, the results are truly scrumptious. A really great advance, and the Blue Pen goes so far, it, to my mind is quite essential.
Discs Again Kevin Kehoe makes reference in these pages to yet more wonders in the field of P.W.B. Electret discs. Recently, and it is clear that I am not the only one, regular P.W.B. customers took delivery of an Electret disc upgrade. This plastic disc was the further elaboration of the work that I reported upon in the last Newsletter. As ever the disc appears to be just a sliver of clear plastic with a smaller number of vital foils and labels upon it. It appears astronomically simple and uneventful, although rather stylish. As before, this disc will work just as well when placed inside the empty case or sleeve of a disc playing, as it does when on top or underneath the disc in the player. I find this is a considerable advantage since certain discs seem to slip or make a terrible noise with the disc inside the player; this is especially true of DVDs, which spin so fast.
Kevin comments on the enormous lift in sound that comes when this sliver of plastic is left in the empty case or cover of the disc being played. The sound is quite extraordinarily improved, and for DVDs, the picture becomes much richer in colours, and more detailed.
Yet, as often the case the story doesn’t stop there. For those with a Clip and tweezers, there is a real benefit from Clipping the disc inside the case or cover whilst Clipping. As usual, this does not just benefit that disc when it is playing, but the sound of all discs, and improves the TV sound and picture etc. The combination of message foils, water and cream, inks and clipping all come together to not just leave you with a super disc, but a better radio. The advantage of this Electret disc though is that it will benefit all of your discs whether they are treated or not, or if you have a Clip or not. Hard to know where to place such an item in the list of must haves, but given its cost, and if you use discs of any sort as a major source of entertainment, you will not be disappointed. But it has nothing to do with resonance, lasers, harmonics, and therefore sadly few will try it for this reason.
R.G.
It would be nice to see that plucky little auto in the headlines again! But this feat is not for the Guinness Book of Records. It is about how to extract the most from the latest popular recording medium: Minidisc. Sony’s baby has – deservedly – achieved a tremendous commercial breakthrough. In the war of competing formats, it has come out top because of its user-friendliness, versatility, convenience and very reasonable sound. Unlike the sound from the infamous MP man, minidisk is only slightly compressed, and it is cheap (£2.00 or less for a disc) and the players are available in Walkman format or as full size players. Of course the players also record and the mini-discs can re-record again and again.
I find that the discs themselves can be treated with P.W.B. foils easily. There is a slight depression on the case, which the manufacturers have made for a label to be stuck. My advice is to forget about the label and stick P.W.B. foils instead. There is plenty of room on the outer storage cover of the minidisc for more-than-adequate labelling. However it is vital to stick the foils on fully or they could get stuck in the mechanism.
Another effective way of treating the minidisc is to spray them with P.W.B. Morphic liquid. As with CDs and vinyl records, this will work wonders. The Purple pen, and the Red ‘X’ Pen are also relevant to treating the minidisk. The Purple Pen I suggest should be applied to the back edge of the minidisk case. Minidiscs are, of course, markedly improved by ‘clipping’ with P.W.B. Clip and tweezers.
However in my view the most essential addition to any minidisk player/recorder is the Sound has Priority label. This seems to remove any hangover effect that one is listening to compressed sound.
* * *
Sticking foils on minidiscs is safe! Initial fears about the foils getting stuck in the mechanism turn out to be unfounded. The use of P.W.B. Rainbow foil to cover the word ‘Minidisc’ proves to be a vital, essential step.
There are minidiscs released by the record companies and there are recordable minidiscs. Both respond to the use of Rainbow foil. This by itself is a huge step! An excellent, advanced combination consists of Purple Pen, Morphic Liquid, Clip and Clip Film, and other foils.
My experiences of listening to treated minidiscs are as follows. For the purposes of this review, I have used all of the above treatments and I have included a review of a CD as comparison.
Release by record company of Herbie Hancock’s 1972 album “Headhunters” (Columbia/Legacy CM65123) mid-price reissue on minidisc.
Before P.W.B. treatment on first hearing, the sounds of the synthesiser and electric bass are hypnotic. No wonder this record was once defined as ‘the best-selling jazz-album of all time’. It is the original afro-funk manifestation of Fusion. Whereas lesser Fusion albums seem to be a merging of good jazz with rather indifferent rock, this early and inspired classic creates an intense excitement from the first few seconds. “Sly” is Hancock’s tribute to Sly Stone and in the liner notes Hancock himself says he was looking for some sound that he couldn’t describe and finally realised how much he loved the music of Sly Stone. As a jazz man (keyboard player and arranger) he had to overcome deep reservations before he could affirm to himself that this was the rhythm and sound that he wanted to work with. Always true to his jazz roots, he has, of course, become a star of the ‘80s and ‘90s, recording with Wynton Marsalis amongst others.
Once the minidisc had been treated with P.W.B. foils and ‘clipped’, I soon discovered just how rich and subtle this 1972 recording really is. The bass fell in to the background without losing any of its intense power! It now became the dramatic backcloth against which other instruments darted thematically. The subtleties of the percussion range from congas and beer-bottle to Gankoqui (definition of which would be greatly appreciated).
The difference between the treated minidisc and the same minidisc before treatment was striking. Before treatment the funky bass-lines were all-dominating and drowned out the subtle effects of the jazz riffs that make Hancock one of the best jazz arrangers. The conclusion is that P.W.B. treatments open up minidisc as a serious medium for deep insight into the best recordings.
Home-recorded minidisc of CD of Roland Kirk’s “The Root of Acid Jazz”.
Unlike record company released minidiscs, which come in larger cases, the recordable minidisc is encased in a tiny square plastic sleeve, which makes for great lightness and ease of storage. P.W.B. treatments are easy to effect and in the case of Roland Kirk’s CD onto minidisc, gave the CD away and subsequently foiled and ‘clipped’ the minidisc. However, I listened several times to the minidisc before I treated it. The transformation was highly significant and demonstrates the importance of P.W.B. thinking with regard to spinning discs and records of all types. In this case the transformation was dramatic. The career of multi-jazz instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk proved him not only to be a favourite with the public but as a hero amongst his peers. However before treating the minidisc, and even on the original CD I was struggling to get into the great man’s wavelength. When at the end of the first track he interjects “the hippest chops in the world” I was amused by the cool boast, but after treating the minidisc it seemed less like a boast and more a justifiable explanation of the sound we were hearing. The highs and lows sounded extra-dynamic and the sheer speed of the attack was clearly in the highest class: an audio experience simply not to be missed.
Conclusion: a P.W.B. treated minidisc recorded at home can sound better even than the original CD if the original CD has not been fully treated!
P.W.B.-treated CD of Blue Mitchell’s “Blue’s Blues” featuring John Mayall on Harmonica (Mainstream Records MDCD710)
This CD is compiled from original releases in 1972 and 1974 and finds Blue Mitchell in his electro-blues mode; this is an uncompromising jazz-rock style that accommodates well to the shift towards Fusion in the early 1970s. Blue Mitchell was in fact extending the funky-jazz style that he had already pioneered with Junior Cook and Chick Corea in the 1960s. Now teeming up with Herman Riley on tenor sax (and flute) and Freddy Robinson on guitar, his trumpet is as clear as ever. His sound is masterful: sure yet simultaneously unpredictable.
For me the standout track is “I Didn’t Ask to Be”. Here, in line with the Blues of the album’s title all the instrumentalists stretch out in turn. John Mayall’s signature as a blues Harmonica player is original, and the counterpoint with Blue Mitchell’s jazz riffs makes good listening.
As with other albums, it has taken a while and several layers of P.W.B. treatments to hear what is going down. CD playing for P.W.B. users is transformed by the active and passive discs (one on top of the CD, the other inside the case) plus various foils including Clip film, for use with the Clip. The Purple pen and Red ‘X’ pen also come into play. When several or all of these are used, the CD is no longer the same; it sometimes even sounds like a different recording. In the case of Blue Mitchell this has been very apparent.
Imagine a bourbon-on-the-rocks, so cool that you can get a frost-bite just from holding the glass and concussion from the ice-cubes as you tilt the glass to drink!
Conclusion: if you like a CD Belt it and like it more; Belt it more and like it more. Repeat and see what happens.
Kenneth Hyam
Thank you Mr. Belt for sending me the article, published by audiomusings about your technique of placing photos in the Freezer. I tried this in both of my freezers and the sound and picture stunned me. The more outrageous your suggestions are, the more amazing it is.
John
Peter,
Cambridgeshire,
England.
One of the stranger aspects of P.W.B life that people may not as yet have registered is that copies can often be better than the original. For those of you that have ever gone down the strange path of putting your photo in the Freezer, you may be thrilled to learn that the effect may be even greater if you use a photocopy of the photograph. No explanation, just another striking discovery.
In recent years I have had a lot of fun with Minidiscs, and for the most part, they are quite sensational when portability is the issue. However, a sneaking suspicion that the good old CD had the upper hand when it came to ultimate quality led me to shift slowly to using CDs more and more on the move.
Unfortunately, I was terribly worried about damaging my collection of CDs by moving them around, and so the answer to my prayers finally came last year with the purchase of a CD Writer for the PC. The shock of this will soon be apparent, especially when one discovers that recordable CD-Rs for the PC are almost cheaper than tapes, and most players will play them. Some initial exploration led to some quite extraordinary conclusions.
Firstly recording a fully treated CD (all Foils, films, inks, water and cream etc) onto a basically treated (just Rainbow Foil and inks) CD-R led to all the benefits of the treated CD appearing on the CD-R, as if it had been fully treated. Indeed there was no discernible difference.
Further, by copying the music onto the PC hard drive, and then copying the music to the CD-R from there led to a small improvement (akin to a photocopy, I suppose).
I might point out that both PC and CD Writer are fully treated although there is scope for some more work, and I hope to write of this later, since I don’t know how much further I can go with this.
Ultimately, I can make excellent copies for less than £1.00 per disc, with all the benefits of the treated disc in terms of sound. If the disc is damaged, who cares?
There is one danger though that I have not approached – treating fully the CD-R, then recording onto it.
Why? Well if you have ever had the misfortune of applying a treatment to a disc, but then not having enough to cover ALL your discs, the untreated discs suffer by comparison. Imagine what splendid discs one might create, better than the original probably. Then if one recorded that better CD-R onto another CD-R (fully treated): a spiral of excellence leading to madness could only be the result. One would have an inverted copying system by which each generation of copy was more vivid than the previous.
This Belt process is a fundamental one, but be warned, it can blow your mind!
R.G.
You would think that after 13 years (the length of time that I have known P.W.B.) that the well from which he draws his unique, incredible (critics will assert insane) ideas would by now have started to run dry, but the facts suggest otherwise. It would seem that this well is fed from a spring that has unlimited resources that go very deep indeed, as exemplified by the flood of new products that have surfaced during the past 12 months. These latest products, which range from astonishing upgrades of the Pens to a new generation of labels (which seem to enter P.W.B. into a new phase of developments) that are leading us into new areas of sound quality that one could not even imagine 12 months ago.
At about this time last year I put aside money to treat myself to a second Pure Power Unit. Readers of “Hi-Fi News” may remember that this is a device for cleaning up the mains supplies to audio equipment and was designed some years ago by Ben Duncan. The device is available through the Accessory Club of “Hi-Fi News”. The unit is simply a 1:1 mains power isolating transformer, but it is manufactured to exacting standards, which include transformer laminations made from specially selected steel, and pure copper for the windings, thus having a hexagonal cross-section to give the tightest possible winding, and hence greater efficiency. Ben Duncan is a technical journalist for whom I have much respect, and this was a major factor in my decision to buy the unit when it first became available. I can inform readers that the device does what it claims to do, and background noise (previously unnoticed) is reduced, giving a smoother, clearer sound, similar to that experienced with P.W.B. devices. The Pure Power Unit cost me £400.00 (latest price (£450.00) which is a hefty price to pay for a 1000VA mains power transformer, but we are talking specialist devices and Hi-Fi. As I say the device works well, and all of my audio equipment is powered from the single unit.
My reason for wanting to buy a second Pure Power Unit was simply to enable me to separate Hi-Fi components, and to allow all of the analogue units to be fed from one source, and all of the digital components from the other.
Just before I was about to place an order for the second unit, through the letterbox popped a letter from P.W.B. with an enclosed new product and the invitation to give it a try. This proved to be very fortunate timing.
The new product was the ‘Sound Has Priority’ label.
Later that evening I had the time available and with anticipation to sit back to hear what this latest creation from P.W.B. would bring.
So, as is my usual procedure when evaluating new devices, first of all, in the CD player goes a disc and this is played for at least half an hour, with the amplifier volume set to zero. All of my audio equipment is powered continuously, and is stuffed with foils etc, but a playing/warm up time is still a significant upgrade.
The CD in the tray was Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (VPO/Maazel). This recording I have played many times such that I know just about every chair creak and musicians intake of breathe on the disc. I played the first 20 seconds or so, and repeated this several times to attune myself, and now I was ready and so attached the Sound has Priority label to the front of the CD player.
I started the player again and knew immediately that I would not be removing the label to observe the before and after effect as I normally would. My mind was made up. That Sound has Priority label was staying where it was. I was so totally absorbed with the sound that I had to let the disc play through to the end. This recording has been a favourite since the day I bought it and over the years the pleasure has constantly increased as P.W.B. upgrades have been added, but now it seemed the whole ensemble had been transported to a superior recording venue, where all instruments took on a crystal clarity, and in the last movement Kathleen Battle was singing to me personally. After experiences like this one can only sit back and wonder what on earth is going on, and what is P.W.B. doing to cause this to happen.
I now had a problem. My mind had been set on purchasing a second Pure Power Unit, but Peter Belt had put a spanner in the works by producing this new label.
Truth is, it wasn’t a problem at all.
I spent the lot on Sound has Priority labels!
Tom Marsden
Have you bought any P.W.B. Electret ties lately?
I know I must have purchased a multitude of the multi-coloured Morphic variety over the years. Always delighted by their effects, it seemed such a waste to throw away the remaining 'tail'. Since the whole tie is treated, most of this useful material has been consigned to the dustbin over the years. The easiest application for the remaining 'tails' is to stick them in any plant pot, inside or outside the home. To multiply the benefits, you can cut up the 'tails' with a pair of sharp scissors. I generally use sections of greater than 10 mm of each colour. These little plastic bits can then be 'seeded' in any soil, vase, cistern or fish tank!
You could also try experimenting with the little wonders. Glued or taped to components, cables, furniture, etc. I was surprised at the effects, especially in plant pots!
Phillip
Turner,
Halifax.
Pitch With Ball Analysis
(From the Archives of Channel Four)
M.N.: Thanks to our new advanced technology on Channel Four there is a growing legion of fans for...Pitch With Ball analysis or P.W.B. for short. By matching the exact state of the ball to the exact state of the pitch there is clearly ........... more ... in ... form ... ati .. on. For example Darren Gough’s effectiveness yesterday with the in swinging Yorker was as much to do with the Tudor Wave leather ball agreed on by both captains as with the pitch. So I think the policy of... analys...is of pitch with ball is right......Don’t you R...itchie?
R.B.: That’s a remarkably good Elvis there. Brylcream looks a little dry though - and it’s the Drinks Break. Well, in answer to your question, Mark, it tells me what I for one already know that Cricket is an unpredictable game. Though for a minute when you said P.W.B. there I thought you were referring to the Leeds-based company who specialize in moving the art of High Fi out of the Village Green Era into the record books: Wisden and beyond.
M.N.: I beg your pardon Ritchie?
R.B.: Oh! I thought you music freaks had cottoned on to this by now.
M.N.: No. what do you mean Ritchie?
R.B.: I was saying there is a company pioneering a new technology -
M.N.: Is this a reference to Dennis Lilly’s new Radio Controlled Cricket Boots?
R.B.: Absolutely not. I’m referring to creations scientific of a musical kind Mark. (Close-up of Phil Tufnell grinning or grimacing into a still-full glass of lime aid).... I for one disapprove of that kind of time wasting - both teams are casually sipping their drinks, whereas in my day we counted ourselves lucky if we were given the chance to down a pint of water in one gulp between deliveries on the boundary rope.
As I was saying the company - P.W.B. - has created a range of sound- improving techniques which improve not just the sound of CDs but the thwack of the common or garden cricket bat.
M.N.: Mmmm..........
R.B.: You may be aware of the fad currently popular in S.W. Australia for freezing a cricket bat cryogenically - that means down to extremely low temperatures. The idea is to zip your bat up in a body bag, freeze it right down and then bring it back up to cricket pitch temperature very very slowly. Well P.W.B. have found a far simpler and more effective way of doing it: you simply stick a label on the back.
M.N.: Tufnell has just spun his plastic glass of what previously contained some kind of drink into the crowd. Now this is indicative of the new true team spirit we have all been expecting. Did you say squeezing or.... teasing a bat. R....itchie? Weren’t you a bit of a tease Ritchie?
R.B.: You should know me... I do however remember teasing out eight English batsmen in one innings. But it was the seam that had the last laugh, as my fingers were extremely sore next day. Absolutely not, Mark. I’m talking about freezing as in cool, as in long, tall cool one. Try freezing a CD or sticking these absolutely super foils on your amplifier or tuner and well, the sound will be excessively to your liking. I can assure you won’t regret it. I’m listening to the Pythagoras Transcriptions at the moment.
M.N. Sounds.....inter....esting. But will it help England win the series?
R.B.: Well, yes. The freezing or labelling of bats results in the sonic bamboozlement of the opposing side. The sound of bat on ball is so stunning that the bowling team can’t help but listen for it. The cliché “four from the moment it left the bat” - coined by one or your countrymen, I believe - perfectly sums up the sound to which I refer.
M.N.: Well......I just can’t wa.....it to hear Mambo Number....... Five on this new system. I’ll freeze my CD of it tonight.. And it looks as if Tufnell is going to take up the...... attack for England. Yes. He’s given his sweater to Umpire Bucknor.
Kenneth Hyam
With apologies to Channel Four
******************************************
Dr. Graham:
Here is my entry for the Millennial Edition of P.W.B. Newsletter, in the tone of a Jimmy Hughes-like audio reviewer. Hope you like it!
Yours truly,
Mark Auslander.
Happy Millennium and New Year!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
December 30, 1999
********************************************************************
Belt Article (Jimmy Hughes-like Review).
When I first put together my system, it seemed that the music was an inexhaustible fountain of splendour that could never disappoint. After some months, I became accustomed to the improvements, and over the years, well...my enjoyment deteriorated significantly. Familiarity breed's contempt? The P.W.B. company has another take on this situation, P.W.B. asserts that the use of unnatural equipment worldwide has created a type of pollution, that is getting worse as the digital cornucopia brings forth more devices daily, drastically reducing sensual experience. Muted senses can’t perceive much of the inspiration and vitality that is embedded in the grooves or magnetic media, not to mention video, photographs... Can this be? Intrigued by this hypothesis, and remembering early and promising trials of a Belt product many years ago, I contacted the company and over the past year have applied:
Quantum foil and cream, Rainbow, Comfort, Blue Z and New Communications foils, Red X pen (not the newest one, yet), ‘x 26’x and freezer tricks applied to LP’s, CD’s, video tapes - liberal treatments to my equipment, furniture and appliances etc. in my place - as well, a 60 HZ label added on the back of the Linn, and some red ties.
The resulting improvements are staggering, all out of proportion to the amount invested, and the improvements are throughout the whole system (perhaps even to the room itself?). Describing the nature of the improvement is very difficult, but here goes. It’s as if the system was fighting to get the sound into the room before, the air in the room not caring an iota for the sound issuing out of the speakers, as if a movie is cast on a screen that shakes slightly, with ambient light interfering with quality.
After Belting the system, it’s as if the screen tightens, becoming a solid foundation, the lights go out, giving complete darkness to allow the incredible quality to come through...finally, the screen disappears altogether. Ambience effortlessly and correctly surrounds voices, instruments - textures are more realistic, the wood of the clapper, the tight fuzz of the bass, the metallic sweetness of the trumpet. In addition, overall coherence and stability of each component in the soundstage improves, each part speaking with its own voice, effortlessly merging into the whole that was the original performance, no, that IS the original performance. It is the difference between listening to a cunning re-enactment of the musical event and then having the event itself unfolding in front of you, free of electronics and transducers. Solid yet delicate, just like live music.
Having just described the indescribable, let me also say that the improvements seem to increase over time, unlike usual improvements - one’s capacity for enjoyment is increased, listening into the music is easier and more rewarding.
For me, music has always been about one thing: does the artist’s soul contact mine in a profound and transcendental way, does the music fulfil me to the core, the way it does when one is in love, or through peak experience.... when I listen to The Beatles (on LP), for example, the actual artists are now live in the room, playing their fantastic music for me - not great because it sounds so lifelike, but because it IS live, as if John Lennon’s soul and creative, musical genius is HERE, NOW...playing his unforgettable music for me, so “right” - Peter Belt’s treatments allow the strengths of my system to come through, as if for the first time and to an unprecedented degree. It’s as if previously one’s soul was constricted, and only the sound was getting through, now the “valve” of the soul has relaxed greatly, allowing the soul-substance of the original performance to be FELT. Surely this is what Ivor Tiefenbrun, Boothroyd and Stuart, and the other geniuses that have designed my equipment intended to be heard - not to mention George Martin and groups like the Beatles, whose artistry is legendary, and for good reason...
The best stereo system is the one that disappears, and thanks to Peter Belt’s treatments, mine does just that on a regular basis. Will it make all the difference for you? I enthusiastically suggest you audition the treatment for yourself, and to do so with no expectations beyond an open mind. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve taken my modest home system and transformed it beyond what I would have thought possible, for very little cost. Before going the conventional upgrade route, if you are or were very satisfied with the quality of your system, but staleness and boredom has set in, I can recommend no upgrade more meaningful.
The Hi-Fi industry has got it wrong! It’s the only conclusion I can reach after listening to the sound emerging from my relatively modest pair of speakers. Previously unheard harmonics shimmer in mid-air with a realism that does not seem possible. It makes you question how four plastic cones can build such a reconstruction of the original voices and instruments. How long is it going to take before the myth that every new mega-expensive piece of Hi-Fi kit is a cut above the last effort is completely blown away? Judging by the latest P.W.B. devices I’ve tried, namely the latest pens and Electret disc, not for much longer.
Although I have quite a bit of P.W.B. products, I am fairly certain that the above devices would produce startling results in their own right.
The act of inserting the new Electret disc in to any empty album cover before playing the album produced, for me, a result equal to anything I’ve yet experienced from Belt products. I won’t dwell on the nature of those changes, as readers of the Newsletter will already know what I’m getting at.
In a letter to May Belt about the above revelation, I wrote that if I could paint watercolours with the same transparency, I could give up the day job!
Back to what I said at the beginning, if an ordinary bod like me can make an unreserved statement such as that at the start of this letter, then surely, surely, the time must be close when the P.W.B. debate will be taking place with a vastly greater audience. What is it that will get the stone rolling?
There are, however, encouraging signs; overseas letters and emails – printed in the last Newsletter – may point to the beginning of a new momentum.
Now just in case these words are being read by someone working in the Hi-Fi industry, with a little curiosity about them, think about the following: -
Take one LP (or CD).
Remove the disc and play it.
Now pop a round piece of thin plastic inside the LP cover.
Play the record again.
You find a substantial lift in sound quality.
How can such seemingly unconnected actions produce such an effect?
Does this not stir the imagination?
Just suppose you tried it and heard the difference? What could you offer as an explanation?
The readers of this Newsletter are almost used to such bizarre links between actions and effect. P.W.B.’s devices produce them like rabbits out of a hat these days.
But the thing is this: SOUND REPRODUCTION IS NOT JUST GOVERNED BY THE MECHANICS OF A SYSTEM
And now to finish, an analogy.
Take Peter Belt and Elvis Presley. Now if you equate this Newsletter’s editor, Richard Graham, with Sun Records, out there, somewhere, in the big Hi-Fi world there is a potential RCA Victor. Could it be you?
Kevin Kehoe
My name is Eric Daniels and I live in Los Angeles. I was recently introduced to P.W.B. products and I am very thrilled about it. I am placing my first order soon but am already determined to do all the treatments all the way to make my system sound its best. I have studied the products and the Newsletters and got familiarized with the endless possibilities.
I read one of your letters in the P.W.B. Newsletter regarding system upgrades. Currently I am trying to decide on new components (I only have an entry level system) but at the same time want to incorporate the P.W.B. theory into my decisions as guidance. I am definitely intending to put together the best system I can with the least compromise and I am willing to pay for it. I realise that P.W.B. are VERY important in shaping the final sound. I was hoping I could benefit from your experience in this regard.
Two of the items I have been considering getting are new speakers (I currently own a $1,000 set of Canton speakers) as well as a valve amp. I realise that treating my current amp and speakers with Electret cream, different foils as well as other products may take it to a much higher level. Yet, I have been wondering about one main issue:
In the audio world out there, there are endless speakers, each one with its own signature. I realise that treating will benefit them all. I know some people using P.W.B. products have been able to produce good realism from good treatment of the system.
MY BIG QUESTION here is this: while you can make a $1000 speaker sound MUCH better by treating it than a $6000 speaker, wouldn't a treated $6,000 speaker sound better than a treated $1000 speaker?
Also, in the $6000 range, for example, there are many speakers out there, each one having its own signature! While treatment may improve them dramatically, will they still maintain their individual signature or sound more alike?
I am trying to decide if it will be worthwhile to spend a lot of money on an expensive award-winning speaker and then TREAT it, instead of just treating the cabinet, cones and parts of my current cheap speaker. Again, I really want to aim as high as possible
Will truly appreciate your input.
Thanks,
Eric Daniels
Los Angeles
I am a tweaker by nature, but I take pride in the fact that I usually have a scientific method behind my tweaks. Along comes Peter Belt with his Rainbow Foil. What the heck is someone like me supposed to make of claims that a foil-sticker will improve a CDs sound quality just by placing a strip of the stuff over the CD-logo? To the normal person the claim seems ludicrous. But alas, Peter was offering a completely free sample of this product so I felt compelled to prove or disprove his claims. Eight days later when the sample arrived at my Seattle home I had no idea that my audio senses were about to head-off in a direction I didn't even know existed.
To best describe my experience with the Rainbow Foil I would like to compare it to an experience that everyone has had at one point or another: the ability to hear something only after the sound is gone. Have you ever realized that a sound existed only after it has stopped? A refrigerator? A generator? The hum from a fluorescent light? An annoying sound from outside??? All these things may not have been noticeable had they not come to a halt, yielding the way they clutter your audio senses only in their absence. Such is my experience with the Rainbow Foil.
To say that the Rainbow Foil improves the imaging, depth, warmth, and fullness of the music would not be doing Peter Belts creation justice. I feel that these audible improvements are benefits of something else occurring at a much deeper level. To use another analogy: Imagine what would happen if someone were looking out a dirty window and then a second person came along, cleaned the window, and inquired what visible improvements had been made to the image on the other side. One might say that the image on the other side was more colorful, vivid, and sharp- that one could make out details not possible before. Such has been my experience with the effects of Rainbow Foil and what it has done to improve the sound quality of CDs. The only way to describe the phenomenon is to say that the foil cleans the window through which I experience the music, and as I mentioned earlier, the dirt, which the foil removes, is something that one cannot experience until it is gone. Every CD in my collection now has Rainbow Foil on it and I am even beginning to experiment with the foils effects on DVDs as well. It is truly a remarkable product.
Dan Stewart
Seattle,
USA.
****************************************
Dear May,
Here is my little article for your next Newsletter.
I hope it's not to late...
Kind regards,
Michel
Since my earliest contacts with the Belt family, May and Chris regularly insisted in their mails asking me to try an astonishing and inexpensive experience: freeze one of my CDs. Knowing how enormously their other advices and suggestions had helped me to increase my listening pleasure (by having used, for example, the Silver Foil and Cream-Electret samples they amiably offered), I was very excited about this project. But human beings are often halted in their enthusiasm by some inertia or pragmatical constraint: in my case, I always postponed making this test just because the fridge in my apartment wasn't cool enough!
A little bit stupid, isn't it?
Finally, I decided to ask my neighbor if I could use his freezer to put a CD in. Well, he looked at me with some amazement (he knows me as a "radical" audiophile but here, he wondered if I wasn't become totally crazy). So, I arrived with a copy of the well-known recording "Jazz at the Pawnshop", carefully wrapped up in a bath towel with two "ice cubes" (May had explained the most important thing was to come back SLOWLY to the ambient temperature). One day later, I extracted the parcel from the freezer, let it reheat very gently in the hall, then in my apartment and began to unpack it. Before listening to the result, I patiently repeated this process twice.
Now, time had arrived to hear: I was extremely feverish. And then the miracle sprang: a friend was there with his "Pawnshop" copy (I had especially chosen to first freeze this audiophile commonly used CD: It would be easier to make some comparisons). He simply told me: "Well! Michel, are you sure it's the same record?"
Mine sounded so much brighter, clearer, more accurate, with a lot of new "never heard" details, fineness in the treble, impact and firmness in the bass... But the most spectacular was the easiness to perceive the improvement. Really, you should be deaf or in bad faith to deny this evidence...
So, it's my turn to insist now... Please answer to the "Belt's call": FREEZE YOUR CDs! (And I promise I will buy a new fridge for this purpose only).
Michel Delneuville,
Brussels
Belgium
****************************************
Heat Freeze Labels: An Evaluation
After having used various P.W.B. devices over the last twelve months I acquired the "Heat Freeze" label in January of this year. Although the device itself is not cheap and I concede that the actual device is in no way representative of it's capabilities, as a purchaser of P.W.B. equipment it is reassuring to know that everything they supply is backed up with a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the results.
Attaching the labels (there are three) is simplicity itself and I would recommend that they be attached to the amplifier rather than individual sources, to obtain maximum benefit.
So does it work and how does it sound?
Its effects are immediate so yes, it does work!
It has the effect of tonally elevating the sound system to a different level - it is about subtlety, nuances and "shades of sound". It has been said many times before in other reviews that the sound takes on a "rightness" that was not there before. It is similar to driving a car after a major service; you didn't realise how much performance you were missing until you drive it afterwards.
As with anything from P.W.B., I would recommend that anyone considering such a device should trust their ears over all else - after all if you can't discern a difference the P.W.B money back guarantee is a safeguard no other audio enhancement company is prepared to offer.
John Traynor
Wednesday, 29
March 2000
****************************************
Dear May
I have been using a combination of Rainbow Foil with an application of Electret cream on all of my music CD's for over a year now - this sound enhancement is a mainstay in my stereo system. For anyone considering a cable upgrade, or component tweak - I would recommend trying the foil/cream combination on a few CD's and see if you too aren't hooked. I suppose the foil application can be compared to a speaker cable upgrade although the sound enhancement in my opinion is more of an overall naturalization of music than an expansion of tones or inner detail that you normally get with a wire upgrade. More inner detail is uncovered by use of Peter Belts enhancements but a consistent improvement to vocal and acoustic instrument qualities and improvement of the overall feeling of the music is also achieved. You won't get this type of a sound upgrade by spending any amount of money on any component. Any system no matter how expensive or elaborate will still reproduce these sonic improvements when foil/cream combinations are used. I would venture to say that the more musical detail a system already exhibits, the more of an improvement in sound will be achieved by using these products. There is no reason not to use them!
For the price, Peter Belt's foil and cream are a necessity, the latest foils - the Morphic foils achieve an even greater musical improvement than the rainbow foils. I was delighted to try them when May sent them to me with my last order of Electret cream. Thanks to Peter Belt for his achievements -
Martin Reynolds
**********************************
Dear May,
Thank you for even asking for my opinion and it would be my pleasure to oblige. Ever since first being introduced to the P.W.B. treatments almost a year ago, I have been an avid believer and advocate. My favorite among the few that I have tried so far is the rainbow foil. It has been such a needed treatment that it pains me to see any CD being played without the treatment on any CD player, anywhere. Realism and liveliness are the words that best describe the results I get repeatedly each and every time. Everything about the music improved considerably and seemed truer to the essence. I have given up figuring out why it works as long as my ears tell me that it does.
Best Regards,
Hung T. Luc
Los Angeles
*********************************************
Dear May,
I am not sure if your letter was intended for me but I have had a few experiences since and don't mind to share.
I am a newbie to P.W.B. products being armed only with one pack of rainbow foil and a sample of frosted foil there were a few surprises as to the most effective positioning of these.
At first attaching the foil to CD's was only mildly effective, but after applying a few strips to surrounding furniture including the speaker cabinets the effect of putting foil on CD's seemed to be magnified.
But the first big surprise came when I placed strips on the sides of the mains circuit breakers and fuses. I was having problems on weekdays, my system was sounding very harsh and hard to listen too. I put the problem down to local industries chopping up the power supply and that I would need too plug in a mains filter to fix the problem.
But after applying the strips to the fuses at the front of the house all the clarity and smoothness miraculously returned. I was eager to hear how the system would sound at night, and found, it was very much the same as usual. So what adverse energy was coming through the power lines I do not know? But the foil has filtered or converted it very well. I have also tried this on the phone lines also but could not notice any effect at all. It would be nice if there were a device that could detect where you should P.W.B next for greatest benefit. But until then it shall all be a matter of trial and error.
Another thing that had a greater effect than I would ever have expected occurred when I was having a look at the volume control, which isn't tracking very well. I noticed very quickly that the sound was improved with the plastic knob removed. Then taking it a step further applied a strip of foil and put the plug back on and presto the trebles, which I had been a bit concerned about, popped out from a huge veil and were as crystal clear as I ever heard. I am stumped as why there was such a big difference with just one little knob being treated. The effect was as great as putting many strips all throughout the amplifier. I suspect though that there is some sort of cumulative effect occurring and when a certain point is reached the switch flicks*
And my guitar has never sounded sweeter after putting just one strip on the bridge, even with rusty old strings (and it looks nice too). The best thing of all is that I have only used the rainbow foil thus far and it is unimaginable how much further the sound will go. I am looking next to build a kit valve amplifier, treating and freezing all the individual parts and then putting it together with treated tools and soldering iron. Although it will be a killer waiting for all those parts to defrost, twice.
Paul Topic...
N.S.W.
Australia
© P.W.B. Electronics 2001 - 2002 - 2003