Somewhat later, and perhaps the better for it, the spring Newsletter slouches towards publication. It ushers in no new products, and is none the worse for it. As we increasingly find, there is now a family of readers, some of whom have used Peter's products from the beginning (before 1987!) and those new to the fold. And like any family, the needs are that bit greater for those new to the enterprise, and for this Newsletter I will be focussing upon some fundamentals. It is often surprising to me now how much I take for granted, how much seems intuitive, and how easily I forgot those queasy first moments when I realised that Peter was onto something. Anyone who is rabidly objectivist may find some of the following wild or irritating beyond belief.. Tough! This is a place for shared experience, and if not rigorously subjected to scientific method, well…
It struck me recently, whilst admiring the struggles of Keith Howard in his pieces in Hi-Fi News on measurement of change whilst changing e.g. cables or supports, that even an enlightened figure such as Keith Howard doesn't quite get it. Keith uses outputs from a CD player straight into a computer to try and sample what is different when changing say, a support. This is a gross oversimplification, and it is worth tracking down his pieces just to see how ingenious he is. But the whole focus remains in the realm of physical science rather than mental phenomena. He attempts to measure an electrical output to ascertain perceived difference, and therein lies the problem. Music (or visual media) is detected by sense organs, and the outputs from these organs, interpreted by the brain. Our construction of reality is inevitably dominated by the functioning of these sense organs and the brain. If you want to read of how bizarre things can become, try the accessible works of Oliver Sacks, such as 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat'. Alternatively, and very popular at the moment, 'The Matrix' films reinforces a Descartes philosophy in which we may all be living in someone else's dream. We perceive, therefore we are.
I'm undoubtedly oversimplifying a great deal, but there is little objective about listening to music – possibly the whole point; to be in contact with another's viewpoint or feelings. Yet the method of reproducing music (not live music , of course) has become a realm for engineers and physicists to exploit and perhaps control. But whilst that disc is spinning inside the little box, and those cones are waffling backwards and forwards in their boxes, we cannot be clear as to which elements make the most positive impact upon our senses and which detract from pleasure. To give an example, there is a support made in the UK – at quite a price – by a company called Base. It is well received by the critics, and the argument is that it provides good vibrational isolation. It is also three-legged, and I would suggest that some of its success may be related to this latter factor. When we try a new cable, it is entirely possible that the mineral contents of conductor and insulator, and the colour of the cable, plus the ubiquity of the plugs, may all play a huge part in our perception of its success as a cable. Now some of these factors will relate to issues such as say, capacitance, but those factors may be coincidental.
Fundamentally, the fact that something appears to be good, and that an apparently understandable explanation for that is forwarded, does not explain the matter totally. I might add at this point that some aspects of engineering are clearly worth having, and even Peter's cable are well made, with good electrical properties, but that is not the whole story.
Keith's articles bravely attend to the fact that many of us do hear differences between items of equipment and their accessories, but it remains mechanical. It seems to me he is measuring the electrical properties of the wrong thing. I am wary of stating this, mainly because I am implying that what perhaps should be measured – the brain – is both an electrical object, and that the mind is totally correlated to its functioning. Whilst nerve cells within the brain – neurons – do effectively pass information by some degree of electrical conductance, how they interact may be of much greater significance. Some cells communicate with themselves by passing a sodium ion; Ohm's Law leaves us a little before that. But I found myself thinking of the developments in neuroimaging may one day be sophisticated enough to dynamically assess what happens to someone whilst listening to music. Perhaps it would tell us what happened for the person who preferred Naim or Linn or Krell to other brands. It may also tell us what happened if a mains cable, support or DAC were changed, or if a piece of Rainbow Foil were added.
The brain – let alone the mind – remains one of the most sophisticated items of creation or evolution, and may be an image of the formless and infinite (and yes I know we all know people who, let's say, don't match this). It is probably a sad reality that such advances in dynamic neuroimaging may be beyond the end of all of our lives. Yet scientific method is such that it should not stop us conceiving of an experiment, even if, like Einstein found, it could not be carried out in our lifetime, due to lack of appropriate equipment. We must, and should, move away from the belief that it is the pieces of equipment that solely influence perceived sound. We hear the music, not white or pink noise, and the enjoyment and perception of music is a dynamic process with multitudinous factors. Measuring wires will not help us alone.
You will read elsewhere in the Newsletter another piece from me that highlights the even more complex issue of the environment. Whilst cables connected make a difference, that one on the washing machine also does. I think there is further aspect to that, which I will not reveal here, but I think it will provoke further thought, even if it is for me, born of personal tragedy. It will also resonate with one posting in May's legendary digest from the Internet discussion forum. I won't join the dots for you, but the connections are there.
There is little space here for more, but I wish to thank heartily again for all the time and effort afforded us by the contributors to both this Newsletter, and the discussion forum. There is information here too of an interesting experiment for anyone online, that shows how complex even recording to a computer hard drive is! I'll say no more, and hope the surprises held here are as good for you as they are for me.
Have a good summer
Richard Graham
Address for correspondence
P.W.B.
Newsletter
P.W.B Electronics
18. Pasture Crescent
Leeds
LS7
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England
Or for you sophisticates
E-mail – to
Newsletter@belt.demon.co.uk
I am hoping the title does sound rather like a cheap line from a frightening film, because that would demonstrate the problems we face every time we try to listen to music. It sometimes is raised as a question 'What can I treat' and the answer is simple: 'Everything'. Everything in our homes has connections through Morphic Resonance to patterns which impact upon our perception of music in a really unhelpful way. So where does one stop?
Sometimes, I think people are unsure of my persistence in stressing the importance of treating the cutlery. I stress this for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is not an obvious choice – it's a Tweakers Asylum dream to tell them that freezing your knives improves your Hi-Fi! But secondly it reveals that everything that can go in your freezer should go in. Do not think of just the electrical items. I do of course draw the line at putting books in the freezer, as paper seems to curl with the moisture and so one needs to be circumspect. One can treat items in a variety of ways though. A sliver of Foil, a dab of cream, a spray or best of all, a Clip. And everything benefits from some or all of the above. Small items can be most easily treated by freezing them, but some are just too big.
The next question then relates to how all of this helps. Well, drawing on Lister, it is tempting to think that as one reduces the perceptual 'contagion', one starts to perceive more accurately what was intended. But the matter becomes more complex.
I had previously held the view that one was always reducing the noxiousness of the environment. In a sense, one was always carrying out damage limitation. But such notions are errant: some treatments seem to afford that object a quality which is best summarised by the experience that they become a device. Some users have noted that switching on all of their treated light bulbs enhances perception. Similarly, keeping some equipment switched on – even when not being used – enhances the experiences of listening to music. I myself, after suffering the theft of a treated DVD player, noticed how that item was a device. Anyone also fortunate enough to have tried Peter's cables knows how much they help with sound, and appear to become active when connected.
Well sadly it's all so true – the more you treat, does not simply reduce noxiousness, you add benefit. In Lister's case, it would be like adding antibiotics to the mix.
I often say the only limitations are time, and perhaps, money. I think time is the key issue, but start. Draw a red line through the bar code of every book in your collection, and smear a bit of cream on the cover. Treat 10 and listen. Then do more. Your brain catches up one day.
And how.
Richard Graham
As mentioned in the editorial part, I have been interested in the experiments of Keith Howard, as described in Hi-Fi News. He records differences onto his computer hard drive, and tries to analyse them. Almost coincident with this has been my discovery of the whole file-sharing protocols, such as WinMX, where one can download files which have been copied to the hard drives of other computers. In a sense, it is like having access to a huge music library, and particularly good for tracking down pieces of music that I have been looking for, for some time, and cannot buy. Keith Howard presumably has files on his PC, which if he allowed us to share them, would allow us to compare say the difference he recorded between cables.
But what would happen if I 'ripped' tracks from a CDs that I had treated to a very high level. I write this because my posting on how to treat CDs to the maximum level (and believe me there are further things that could be done) proved rather disturbing for many, and I thought it would be good to see if others could sample the benefit. In considering this, I had in mind other experiments, including my own tests that the beneficial patterns that are linked to treated discs do transfer to other recording media such as tapes, and of course the legendary Albert Hall/Proms experiment (see the past Newsletters online for the thrilling account as to what happened). It is worth noting here, that treatment of a recording device also helps, and I include the camera here. If I can get most of the benefit of having treated the CDs when I copy them to blank CD-Rs, could the same benefit pass into the world-wide-web, and be transferred to someone else's system?
I suggested an experiment initially in which users could copy files on my PC that were encoded to MP3 (320kps) and if they had the original disc, compare their encoding with mine. I realised after a while that this encoding is probably a rather unnecessary step, and that many users would have broadband connections that would allow them to transfer .wav files, which when copied to a recordable CD, should be playable on most CD players.
It's perhaps early days yet, and slowly I am 'ripping' more CDs which may coincide with what you may have at home. Kevin has offered some feedback, which is very encouraging, and certainly more feedback would be welcome. But why bother?
Well – with asbestos suit at the ready – it seems to me that this is a way of letting others sample the possible benefits of P.W.B. without having to have the strain or embarrassment of applying any foil. And hopefully, the benefit would be heard.
If you're interested, you need to download WinMX from www.winmx.com, (No longer an active program) set the search criteria to search for .wav files, and search for my user name RDG-PWB941. Any feedback would be helpful, and may help us brave the other forums. How one introduces the matter without causing near strokes remains a question. But for every offended person, there may be an interested person, perhaps a lot like you, who never gets to hear what can happen.
Give it a go.
Richard Graham
My second instalment of my contribution to this newsletter is very much long overdue. Just to re'cap on the first instalment, how I was going to describe how to fully treat a car and to follow on to the treatment of a SACD player. Needless to say a lot of development has taken place in the land of Mr Belt. Moreover P.W.B. is on the Internet, which I must say is a brilliant idea, alas I do not have any access to a computer, so for now I will leave the digital era behind, and hang on to the bygone analogue era.
I have treated a Nissan Primera Saloon and my current Subaru Impreza Saloon. I have mentioned the specific models, so people will get an idea of shape and layout of the vehicle. I will start off with the Primera. If you can, please remove the courtesy light cover to have access to the bulb, remove bulb, and treat end cap of same with a minimum amount of Sol-Electret oil. Apply oil to both the bulb holder. Put back the cover, and attach a green Magnadisc which has Blue Z foil and a Black 26 foil to the outside of the courtesy light cover. Switch on the light and spray a small amount of Morphic Liquid (I tend to apply Morphic liquid with a finger – proves very effective plus a bottle of Morphic Liquid lasts for years. Wipe off excess liquid.
To the seat – fabric cover on the rear seat away from prying hands and eyes attach a Blue Boundary Ring Tie via a safety pin. Now to the front seats, which are supported underneath by metal supports on either side, fit Blue Boundary Ring Tie to the metal support bar, both the supports and it means two tie rings. Do the same to the front passenger seat. Now proceed to attach same colour tie rings, one to the metal bar of the clutch and one to the bar of the accelerator paddle. I have always used Ring Ties attached to a crocodile clip, this can be easily removed if one changes the car.
Apply Foils, various to glass windows and rear windscreen (when you take the car for servicing, the garage personnel are usually intrigued by them – one even thought it had to do with security or religion).
The speakers in the boot can be treated as if they were domestic speakers. I actually freeze treated the drive units. Results were impressive. I fitted black and yellow Ring Ties with discs to the cable of each speaker. I had access to the aerial cable inside the car boot, so I applied a Green Boundary Ring Tie onto the cable. Please ensure your boot is tidy as it helps with the outcome of the quality of sound you will get. So far as good. Let's open the bonnet cover to the engine bay, battery would be an ideal place to start. Give it a clean on the outside to ensure it is grease-free, worth it to get it immaculate – spanking new? Fit a Green Boundary Ring Tie to the earth cable from the battery, I use a crocodile clip. Use strips of the various foils you've got (I tend to use New Type Communication, Blue Z, Rainbow, Black 26, and Comfort). The positive terminal edge of the battery casing I would apply a thick strip of purple ink from P.W.B.'s thick pen. When the ink dries, I'll give about three taps of the pen along the line of the purple ink. Apply a little of Cream-Electret to the part of the battery casing. Use the Red X pen to sign off your name with Greater O.K. Apply a small amount Morphic Liquid, and now finish off with Quantum Clipping the battery body, terminals the foils and the boundary tie ring.
To finalise the treatment in the passenger compartment, switch on the treated courtesy light. Proceed to apply Morphic Liquid to the Ring Ties and Foils. I say it again, I use the second finger of my right hand (dominant hand) to apply the liquid – a drop at a time to great effect. Now to the boot compartment – get yourself a treated light on an extension – treated of course I mean the extension too. With the light on do the same to the devices in the boot. REMEMBER ALWAYS TO USE A TREATED LIGHT IN THE VICINITY BEFORE APPLYING MORPHIC LIQUID.
The car has become a pleasant environment to be in. One feels less tied or strained and you feel a sense of pleasure of driving. I'm not in a rush to get anywhere. The aural pleasure from your ICE becomes just music to the ears. The treated car enhances the music and visual pleasure even in the home and vice-versa. What more can be said.
Now to my Sony Sacd 777es player. The sliding lid on the top of the player has complicated things a bit. Any treatment of the innards is out of the question. I used it supplied with its cables. After a few days it actually sounded better in the sense it was able to dig deeper than my fully treated Marantz CD72Se with MSB Dac.Mk3 connected by Kimber cables. The Sony is built like a brick and acoustically it was inert and dead to a knuckle knock. I applied a Green Magnadisc fitted with Blue Z foil and Black 26 foil on either side of the Sony player on the outside case just at the level where the CD spins. I also applied Magnastrip on all the faces of the player except the front. I applied the various foils to the back facia of the unit. The heavy brass stabiliser I polarised it with P.W.B.'s tweezer and plastic bag, applied a small amount of Cream-Electret, wiping off the excess. I applied a Silver Foil on the upper right hand corner of the front facia and one to upper left facia on the back terminal panel (looking from the front the front that is). I applied Cream-Electret to small portion of the underside of the player. I clipped all the treatment I could affect. The quality of sound emanating from the player was astounding, in fact the listening and visual environment had changed with the above treatment. I can tell you, it's becoming more difficult to ascertain any changes you make to a particular equipment after treatment, because just about everything in the house and car is interlinked. It will only maybe possible if I took the equipment to test in a non belted environment. Try telling that to my neighbour – I have been accused of dealing with the supernatural. Whenever our neighbour visits they comment how our home environment is homely, calm and peaceful. I attribute that to Peter Belt.
Very recently I received, like some of you, a sample of Morphic Green Cream by post. The one thing that I really felt struck by was the price tag £250. Surely this is ridiculous. I reassured myself when I thought what I paid for the Quantum Clip. It all started to make sense. I thought I do not need this, as I have recently embarked on Ring Ties. I have only used black and yellow Ring Ties as a matter of routine - others existed but I did not have the stomach to explore, as I had too many equipment, 3 or 4 of everything ! It must sound like old hat to some of you out there. I have had a sample of a pair of yellow and red tie rings on crocodile clips. I have tried this in the past, nothing happened for me. This must have been years ago. About two months ago, I tried attaching a pair of yellow and red tie rings to a Kimber power cable that was lying in the bedroom cupboard. Things started to happen. All my active equipment started to sound heavenly. Oh the picture on the TV beats LCD or Plasma. Tie rings here I come, I had to get a large amount. So I ordered. May supplied with a good discount because I was their vintage customer. I'm still on the throngs of getting more, when this Green slimey cream intruded my territory. I gave it a go. I tried a little on the power cable. What a wow factor, it was just explosive and wonderment. The Cream has had the better of me. I tried it on the TV screens, again it was wonderment and speechlessness. I have used the Cream on the windows of the front display terminals on all equipment to awesome effect. I sent a cheque away to May Belt for the tie rings. It's near the festive season now and I'm a bit broke, but I wanted to do some belting. This thing can be addictive. I have a small stockpile of items from Peter Belt that I had used and tried years ago but had not worked at that time. It's a strange phenomenon that something seemed to work after a lot of other things that have been implemented. Before coming to the point, I want to say I have 54 Gold Electret discs under equipment and ornament. In my stockpile I had two smaller electret disc that was given free by P. Belt years and years ago, the ones with Black and Red dots. One is without P.W.B. logo and one with. On my recent application of Morphic Green Cream, I decided to try the vintage electret disc under the foot of the MSB Dac. Converter. What I heard and saw took my breath away, it has appeared to have built on the Green Cream, awesome and explosive will be an understatement. Is it possible to take it further? I had nothing to lose, so I took the second pair of this vintage disc and inserted under the clocks, which had not benefited from the Gold discs before. As I type this letter I'm awe-struck by the picture on the TV and the pleasure of music I've been enjoying in the past week or so. Strange, I took a back step to achieve what I have now.
If you do not mind, I will come to the car again. I currently own a Subaru Impreza. I have treated the car as I did the Primera, with one proviso though. The rear speakers are mounted on the door panel, as in the front. I have chickened out about removing the panel to gain access to the speaker. I applied yellow dots (stickers) that one could from the stationers. This is one of the ideas that Peter suggested we use to improve the sound quality of speakers at home. Place the dots North, South, East and West at the outer circumference of the speakers. This idea works well even with domestic speakers. The treatment, images and focuses the sound. Under the rear panel shelf of the car there appears to be cut-out of the metal to accommodate speakers, that's what I think. I fitted a yellow and black Ring Tie with discs to the cut out using crocodile clips. Do the same with the other cut out. Morphic liquid the items, presto the sound is more musical – improving your system at home too. Do not assume those black and yellow Ring Ties work only on cables. Let your imagination run wild. Let the sound run wild and free.
PS. On the 6th of this month, I thought I will do something outrageous. I had two Green Boundary Ring Ties on clips, which I had used on aerial cables, which did not have the Green Boundary Ring Ties. I said to my wife I was going to put one (clip) on a metal speaker stand which supported a video recorder and another clip to a metal stand supporting the TV. The result of all this I can say is that the performance and picture had taken a quantum leap from the Morphic Green Cream I was sent as a sample. Sound wise, the bass is so clean and tight, the vocals are so natural and clear, so too are the background vocals. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I have never heard it so effortless and insightful. The picture on the TV has so much depth and clarity, and the colours are so natural. I could literally pick at the leaves of plants, and feel the individual fur of animals. The skin colour of a human being is so real. I'm sure these advances are not going to be the ultimate. I bet there are going to be many more from Mr Belt.
John Peter.
UK
A friend of mine had a £25000 hifi set (Wadia, Mark Levinson, Quad ESL etc.) Last year he took care of the house, animals and sound system of one of his friends for a week. This was a £65000 hifi set with such esoteric brands that I don't even remember the names. When he came home after that, he couldn't listen to his set anymore and he recently sold all his equipment. I do not find this an inspiring example.
I'm pretty sure that if only he had known about, and would have been open to trying the P.W.B. products he could possibly have made his set sound better than his friend's, judging by the improvements I've made, just with some Rainbow Foil and Cream Electret.
A couple of days ago my father dropped by. He is a retired principal cellist of the Northern Philharmonic Orchestra of Holland. I had two identical cd's of Rachmaninov's Paganini variations by Michael Rudy and Mariss Janssons. On one of them I attached a strip of Rainbow Foil. I played a fragment of both, and my father asked whether I was sure both fragments were from the same recording.
Sometimes these comparisons are more complicated. Before I had heard of P.W.B., I had invited my Hi-Fi dealer over. I had recently bought a Denon cd recorder from him, and to my surprise and satisfaction, with the right cdr's, the copies it made actually sounded better than the original(unlike several other recorders I tried). This was impossible according to him. After a cup of coffee and a pleasant chat I positioned him in the 'strategical chair' and played him a couple of minutes of the original and the copy. Afterwards he said: "I hate to disappoint you, but I really think that the second one sounds slightly inferior to the first." "I agree," I said, " the second one is the original." I am pretty sure, had I played them in the expected order, original first, copy second, his conviction that the copy couldn't sound better than the original would have coloured his perception.
The reason I went about this so circumspectly was due to an experience I had some months earlier. I had just, over a period of a month, tried out almost a dozen speaker cables and had finally settled on one I was very happy with (Nordost). A neighbor of mine is an electrical engineer and music lover, so when I ran into him I mentioned my comparing all those loudspeaker cables and invited him to come and listen to the choice I made. To my dismay he got enormously agitated and angry, started swearing at me, and shouted that that was the most utter nonsense he had ever heard; it is impossible for anything to sound better than normal electrical cord and anybody paying more for anything else is an absolute idiot. Fortunately I kept my calm, and when he was done ranting I asked him to approach it in a scientific way and to do a blind test at my home. He refused, making some lame excuse about his hearing not being what it used to be!
If I run into such aggression with such relatively straightforward things as speaker cables, I shudder to think about what Peter and May Belt have to go through!
As soon as something appears that might threaten people's worldview, often all their social and scientific principles go overboard and they fight for the survival of that worldview. I ran across this behaviour numerous times when I did my master's thesis on 'objectivity in science', which is a phenomenon much less encountered than generally assumed. Many scientists (and non-scientists) are adept at ignoring evidence that doesn't fit into their theories. With excuses such as 'it's not objective, 'it's not scientific', 'there must have been an anomaly','it's the placebo effect' etc. , they manage to postpone the breakthrough of new ideas, but eventually the load of evidence gets so overwhelming that it can't be ignored anymore and the whole body of theories bursts into a new paradigm that is able to encompass the new facts and theories as well as the old ones.
There's probably a parallel with Sheldrake's 100th monkey phenomenon, where on an island a monkey drops a root into a river and discovers that it is nicer to eat without all the dirt. He (or she) from then on washes every root before eating it. The other monkeys observe and copy the behaviour. When one hundred monkeys are washing their food, suddenly the behaviour spreads to other islands as well, without physical contact or observation.
Let's hope for Peter Belt that soon we'll have our hundredth (figuratively speaking) foil sticker and cream applier!
Rende Zoutewelle
The Netherlands.
Greetings.
I copied several CDs using a Sony ES 555 CD copying machine using frozen CDR prior to duplicating.
Both the original CDs, duplicating machine and the CDRs were treated with Rainbow Foils. They sound better than the originals.
Additionally the Sony recorder was treated with Cream Electric and Morphic labels.
I am, at this time, interested in confirming whether it is possible to improve the CD sound quality without treating discs - and treating only the environment on a budget of less than 200$. I think it can be done even with my limited experience.
Treating the environment takes time .Everything on the person's body including watch, pen, anything that moves in circles like fans, including radiator, HVAC fan, wall clocks, appliances that are on most of the time such as water heater, fridge, kitchen appliances.
Displays such as fluorescent, LED on telephones, electronic equipment, all known RF, EMI emitting sources such as security alarms, remotes, telephones, car alarms, keyless entry, garage doors, electronic ballast of lamps, dimmer switches. These alone, without opening the case of electronic equipment, can produce a easily perceivable audible change in few hours. It takes lot of time and effort but for 60 dollars of Cream and Rainbow Foils it may be a bargain.
Regards
V.R. Sola
USA.
In the just-released The Sense of Being Stared At (and other Aspects of the Extended Mind), Sheldrake continues to build his case for powerful 'Morphic fields' controlling certain animal behavior, especially group behavior. These highly specialized, external, 'organizing fields' are thought to form at the beginning of a species evolution, developing & strengthening over millions of years. A Morphic field links all members of the species, allowing them to interact, even at great distances - along the lines of mental telepathy. Needless to say, Sheldrake's explanation is very much at odds with the generally accepted explanations of 'learned experience' and 'genetically inherited behavior'. How can we be sure there's anything to Sheldrake's preposterous-sounding theory? It would be nice if there was some way to at least help prove or dispel the 'Morphic field' theory? It turns out there is.
One approach to help prove or dispel the 'Morphic field' theory is to examine the motion of a flock of birds during banking manoeuvres. Even a very large flock of birds can suddenly change direction without getting all tangled up, similar to the 'flash expansion' performed by a school of fish. First, measure the elapsed time from the point one bird begins to change direction until its neighbor begins to change direction. Then, measure the bird's 'startle reaction time' - i.e., response to a stimulus - (in a lab). If the bird's startle reaction time is less than or equal to the time taken for the bird to start its banking movement, the bird's movement could simply be a reaction to a (visual) stimulus. But, if the startle reaction time is greater than the time taken to turn, the 'response to stimulus' explanation must be wrong. And, if the 'response to stimulus' explanation is wrong, the 'genetically inherited behavior' & 'learned experience' theories can probably be eliminated, since they both assume a bird's movement in flight is simply a reaction to seeing it's neighbor move.
It turns out measurements of bird behavior were performed in the 1980s by a biologist named W. Potts (he was not looking for Morphic fields at the time -- they were probably only a gleam in Sheldrake's eye). Potts filmed banking movements of large flocks of dunlins (a species of small wading bird) using high-speed film. His analysis of the film revealed the 'banking manoeuvre' was not initiated by all dunlins at the same instant, but by a very small number, sometimes only one. Then the manoeuvre proceeded in a wave-like fashion throughout the flock, with the entire manoeuvre lasting less than a second.
Based on the high-speed photography, Potts calculated the average time from the start of one bird's movement until its neighbor started to move to be 0.015 second. Subsequently, Potts measured the "startle reaction time" (reaction to a stimulus such as light) of dunlins in a lab setting. The average 'startle reaction time' of a dunlin was 0.038 second - more than twice as long as a dunlin took to change direction in flight. This very surprising result means that startle reaction cannot be the explanation for the flock's banking manoeuvre. Does it mean the Morphic field theory is unquestionably the right explanation? - no, but it certainly doesn't hurt.
The Morphic field theory might also explain other bird behavior such as feeding, courtship rituals, etc. For example, the blue tits described in The Presence of the Past picked up on the peculiar behavior of pecking through the thin foil caps of milk bottles left at the door (back when there was such a thing as a milkman) in order to get a drink. This blue tit behavior seems to have appeared out of the blue (so to speak) in the UK as early as 1921 and was documented for more than 25 years.
It's easy to jump to the conclusion that the blue tits must have learned this trick by watching other birds who had already picked up the habit. But that's almost certainly not correct, at least not completely, because the bottle cap-piercing behavior was observed all over the country - yet blue tits are not migratory. There would have been no opportunity for birds up North to directly observe bottle cap-piercing birds in the South. In fact, milk-drinking blue tits were also spotted in other European countries. While some birds could have learned to rip up the bottle caps by directly copying others, many of the birds must have learned the behavior at a distance - the distance in many cases being hundreds of miles.
Geoff Kait
www.machinadynamica.com
I'm a newbie to the mysterious world of beltism A friend brought me some magic foil (Silver Rainbow Foil) and we applied the said foil to a compact disc and low and behold the sound improved. Because of this experience I have read all 500 plus chat room messages and all the newsletters that are posted on the P.W.B. web site. I have purchased the P.W.B. Cream Electret, P.W.B. Red 'x' Pen, Silver Rainbow Foil and have my photo's in the freezer and have frozen all speaker cables, interconnects, power cords and yes, I even froze my amplifier, preamplifier and DVD transport. Let me make this perfectly clear, I'm having lots of fun and I enjoy music and movies more than ever. When explaining my experiences with fellow enthusiasts, I have taken my share of criticism. While many make fun of the principles of Peter Belt's work, most have brought in a compact disc or movie to transform.
May Belt sent me a sample of the P.W.B. Morphic Green Cream, the most powerful of all the devices I have tried so far. I'm eager to try more items but with over 55 items listed on the latest price sheet what should I try next and more importantly, how do I apply them? This is my only complaint; I would like to see more information on how to apply all of these products. I realize that some of these products have endless application possibilities but others need more clarification on application. Also, someone needs to list hot spots in the home for treatment. It seems that everyone in the chat room lists the water heater and cutlery as major hot spots. What else is lurking in our homes that cloud our ability to enjoy our music and video systems? Am I volunteering? No! I don't have enough experience with the products.
And for anyone like me who is new to these experiences let me save you some time by simply stating, there is much more to treat than the equipment. I have made more positive changes by treating the home rather than the equipment. I look forward to someone stepping up and guiding me to new experiences with P.W.B.
Good Listening,
Tomtweak
USA
There are those who purchase Belt devices in tandem with continuous upgrades to their equipment. And others, who, sticking mainly with existing gear, achieve all their sound improvement by Belting. I am one of those who follow the latter path except of course replacement through the natural death of any component. Even then, seen from a non-Belt point of view, I would appear to be upgrading in reverse. My turntable has long lost its moving coil cartridge; replaced by sixty pounds worth of P.W.B. treated moving magnet. Heavy Linn speaker cable has been replaced with thin P.W.B. standard issue. The CD player expired some time ago and a cheaper model replaced it.
If more cash had been available to spend on leisure activities, I would have probably followed the upgrade path myself. But it is precisely because I have a limited amount of funds that I found myself using Belt devices to improve my listening lot. I have now reached the point where I cannot imagine any single piece of equipment, whatever the cost, adding significantly to my musical enjoyment. It is when playing less than perfect recordings (CD and vinyl) that this is brought home with some force.
I have long followed musical trails back in time, sampling musician's influences sometimes as far back as the recording process will allow (which is about the mid twenties for practical purposes). Modern sound engineers perform miracles transferring early, mostly worn, sometimes the only known last copies of 78's to CD.
Even then a significant amount of noise remains. You see, removal of background hiss also lifts some of the precious performance.
Belt treatment on all discs produce a much more enjoyable listen. But, it is the less than perfect ones that I find lift the most. The more treatment, the less intrusive irritants such as hiss and pops become. To the point where I can now listen to a twenties recording and be unaware of noise because of the increased "connection" between mind and performance.
Perhaps the greatest gift P.W.B. products bestow over time, is the realisation that you have lost that ever-present nag at the back of your mind that something in the system is not performing up to scratch. Maybe new interconnects. Or, perhaps an anti vibration platform under the turntable will cure it! No, those days are a distant memory; I have plenty of problems that niggle away at me but listening to music is now a stress free zone.
Kevin Kehoe.
Over the past few years I have made many attempts to engage the curiosity of friends and colleagues at work in P.W.B. products. I have even made mention in previous Newsletters of prospective results, which I had hoped to pass on to the benefit of others. Unfortunately, up to the present time, the feedback has been pretty thin on the ground. The success rate in persuading them to beat a path to the Belt's door to try for themselves some of the wondrous products has been even less fruitful.
Although none of them treat music as a leisure activity to the same extent as most P.W.B. users, the apathy that feeds back, even from those that hear positive changes, never fails to shock me. Has anybody else had experience of this apparent inability of people to express a sense of wonder? A perfect example of this came about in the last few months. May Belt is aware of the fact that I give some of my P.W.B. products to others to try out. I received a sample pack of Green Cream and Foils specifically for the purpose of letting someone have a real chance to experience the Belt Effect for themselves. I duly passed on the sample pack to my chosen subject with the instruction that, after playing a few tracks of well known music, to try a very small dab on the emitting surface of all the infrared items within his home. Those include TV remotes, security detectors etc.
After progress chasing him a few times I eventually got some response back. Yes, he was certain that the music played after treatment was better than previous. But if he had a "knocked back on his heels" moment (as May would say), he did not report it to me. The best I could get was something like "well, I'll be dammed if I know how that works". I'm currently trying to find out the result of his treatment of water pipes and electric cables. Are we so smothered in science fiction such as The X Files, The Matrix and hundreds of other similar TV shows and films that we have lost the ability to be awe struck when confronted by new science happening in front of our eyes and ears?
But enough of my dooming and glooming! Something very positive did come out of the above scenario for me. In the course of telling me how many infrared devices he had within his home to treat, he mentioned one on his mobile phone. Now, it turns out that we have two mobile phones within our home and each has an infrared location on the side of the body. Neither of us has need of the facility and so was unaware of its presence. My original reason for telling my friend to try treating the infrared devices first was because I had a very good response following treatments to the devices within our home. Although our phones had had P.W.B. treatments, I was of course unaware of the specific infrared location.
A tiny dab of the new Green Cream was applied to said location on both phones and I was rewarded with a considerable lift to my music reproduction, along with an improvement to the TV picture. P.W.B. does what it says- Treat one object, get an improved sound, treat them all to get the best.
My current obsession with American Roots based music continues at a pace. Have recently seen in concert for the second time three girls called "The Be Good Tanya's".
Although from Canada, they sound like they come from the Southern States and from any era going back to the twenties. Gorgeous harmonies and sparse but lovely instrument playing, recorded with no fuss, makes their first CD "Blue Horse" a must have Album for me. They can be found on the Web by entering their name on Google where you can listen to tracks and read up on them. Another CD I love is the current release from Gillian Welch. " Time (The Revelator)" Is again a lovely "unspoilt by production" record where the voices and the songs matter most. One more I would like to mention is a newly released CD of demo recordings made in the early sixties by Willie Nelson. Called "crazy" it features the first performances of many songs which would become future classics, including the title song which was one of Patsy Cline's biggest hits. Hi-Fi it isn't but MUSIC it certainly is.
Kevin Kehoe.
UK
Hostile environment can reduce the effect of treatments?
I have a Sony ES 222 dual tray CD recorder in my home office room with computer, printer, fluorescent table light , fluorescent torch and some audio equipment in boxes stored in the closet. (I have no rack space for it in my stereo Rack at my listening room).
My whole house including this office room is treated with a few message foils (samples) Rainbow Foils, Cream Electret and Morphic Liquid. The computer, monitor, lights and printer are treated with Foils and Cream except the old audio equipment in boxes.
I duplicated several CDs. Both originals and the Blank CDR s were frozen, creamed and foiled . When the recorded CDRs were played in my regular listening room they are no better than the originals and sounded brighter.
I moved my CD recorder to my bed room (no computers, printers or stored audio equipment of yesteryears) with incandescent lighting. The recorded CDs sounded much better than the originals.
I think the computers, FL lighting etc. is a much harsher environment for my basic copper standard P.W.B. treatments even though they only act on the listener. Going back to some basics, such as cleaner power( I prefer quantum clear power from audiogon 40 $), elevating the cables from the floor, preventing cables running parallel to each other maybe of additional help for P.W.B. treatments.
Some times Less is more.
When my wife was away I froze her portable CD player ($79.95) in freezer bags after the application of Cream and Rainbow Foils. I did not freeze her headphones. Later I connected it to my pre amp in my listening room. The sound quality is closer to my $1700 CD player -DAC set up ! I have no satisfactory explanation, I think less electronics may be better at times.
V.R. Sola.
USA.
One of the particular areas suggested by us for 'P.W.B. Treatment', has intrigued many people.
Firstly, because the people who have tried the treatment and have gained improvements to their sound are amazed and cannot quite believe it and
Secondly, wonder how Peter could possibly have discovered the effect in the first place.
In a recent reply I gave to our Internet discussion group, I promised that although I had described, during a talk I gave in 1998 to a group of some of our customers, how Peter made many of his discoveries, that I would try to describe, in print, how Peter first realised that there could be a problem regarding - "Bar Codes" !!
Because so many of Peter's discoveries are inter linked, I cannot extract one particular area, I have to jump into a continuous line of discoveries, grab a section and magnify it.
In my original letter to Greg Weaver (which he published in 1999), I described how Peter had made the discovery that we (human beings) must be sensitive to particular chemicals - some of which Peter and I now describe either as 'stress chemicals' or as 'friendly, relaxing chemicals'.
So, I will start at the point where, working from that knowledge, Peter had produced our P.W.B. "Cream-Electret". However, at this beginning, you have to realise that the Cream-Electret is not just a particular chemical made into a 'cream'. Because, at around the same time that Peter was discovering that chemicals are important, he was also discovering how to induce certain beneficial (friendly) energy patterns into materials. Also, again in the talk I gave in 1998, I tried to make people aware that we have to use materials which will respond well to our 'programming technique'. We cannot chose what materials we would prefer to use if those materials will not respond well to our 'treatments' - I always use the expression "We may wish that something looked good - was (for example) gold plated and diamond studded - but if gold plating and diamond studding does not respond well to our treatments, then we cannot use it whereas if 'common or garden plastic material' responds the best, then we have to use 'common or garden' plastic." !!
So, in the late 1980s, Peter has the Cream. But the problem with demonstrating the effect of the Cream is that once it has been applied - that is it ! It has done it's job and you then cannot remove it - so you cannot do 'before and after and back to before' demonstrations. Peter said to me "I need something suitable to be able to demonstrate the effect of the Cream. The next time you are in the stationery store, have a look and see if there is some suitable sticky backed plastic. I will see if I can demonstrate the effect of the 'cream' - once removed - by 'creaming' the sticky backed plastic, attach a piece of the 'creamed' sticky backed plastic to an object, listen, then remove the 'creamed' sticky backed plastic and listen again."
The next time I was in the stationery store I looked everywhere for some suitable sticky backed plastic without success. It was only when I was leaving the store and walking out through a children's section that I noticed a packet containing some squares of sticky backed plastic, a pair of plastic scissors and a card with black outline shapes. It was obviously intended that a child should cut the shapes out of the sticky backed plastic and stick the shape onto the relevant matching outline on the enclosed card.
I took the packet home and Peter took the first square of sticky backed plastic out of the packet, 'creamed' the square and cut a strip off. He attached the strip of 'creamed' sticky backed plastic to the steel central heating radiator and sat down to listen to some music. His jaw dropped open. The sound was now so much better and when Peter removed the strip of 'creamed' plastic, the sound was perceived as worse !! Peter said "That is it. That is exactly what I want - to be able to demonstrate the 'cream'. Now I can do 'before, after and back to before' demonstrations."
Peter cut a second strip from the 'creamed' plastic square and attached it to the wooden cabinet of the nearest loudspeaker and sat down to listen - fully expecting to hear as good an improvement in the sound as he had just experienced when 'treating' the central heating radiator. Well, yes. He could hear some improvement and when he removed the strip of 'treated' plastic the sound did deteriorate but the result of the experiment with the wooden loudspeaker cabinet was nowhere near as effective as it had just been with the central heating radiator. Throughout that week, Peter continued attaching strips of the 'creamed' plastic to various items of equipment and to various objects in the room and listening to the effect - sometimes he had excellent results, sometimes just small improvements. At the end of that week, after using the first full square of 'treated' sticky backed plastic, Peter said "It is disappointing. The results are too random. Unfortunately there is no application where we can definitely say it will work each time. I will just have to keep experimenting to see if a pattern emerges which I can rely on."
So, at the beginning of the second week Peter took the second square of sticky backed plastic out of the packet, 'creamed' it and cut a strip off it. Because, in the first week when attaching the strip of 'treated' plastic to the nearest loudspeaker cabinet and not getting as good a result as he had had with 'treating' the central heating radiator, he had not 'treated' the second loudspeaker cabinet but now he did - although not expecting good results, merely to see what happened. But, when he listened he got as good an improvement in the sound as he had experienced the previous week when 'treating' the central heating radiator. Next he attached a strip of 'treated' plastic to a second central heating radiator at the far end of the listening room - fully expecting to have as good an improvement as he had had the previous week when 'treating' the first central heating radiator and as he had just had when 'treating' the second loudspeaker cabinet. Much to Peter's surprise, he only perceived a slight improvement in the sound. This was difficult to understand just why. Over that second week he continued experimenting but he still only got random results - no reliable pattern emerged which he could rely upon to demonstrate the effect of the 'cream'. Peter said that he would still have to keep experimenting so, at the start of the third week, he went to the packet to take out the third square of sticky backed plastic.
He suddenly realised that the third square was a different colour and he realised that all the four plastic squares in the packet had been of different colours - Blue, Red, Green, Yellow. Peter began to consider "Were the actual colours of the sticky backed plastic squares important ?" Peter decided that he would have to halt these particular experiments, take off all the bits of different coloured sticky backed plastic he had already attached to objects and start his experiments all over again, but this time being aware that the different colours of the sticky backed plastic could be significant. I bought a completely new pack and Peter started again. He took all the four coloured squares of plastic and 'creamed' them, then cut a strip from each of them. He then systematically attached one of the colour strips, listened, removed that strip, attached another coloured strip, listened and so on, until he was able to judge which was the 'best' colour for which object. A pattern soon emerged. The colour Blue, when attached to steel objects gave the best improvements, the colour Red, when attached to wooden objects gave the best results and so on. This was showing us that the energy pattern from different materials was important, and that the energy pattern from different colours was important. It now became obvious that during the previous experiments a pattern had been there, all the time, Peter just had not realised it.
So, the discoveries Peter had made were:-
1) That we (human beings) are sensitive to the energy patterns from different chemicals.
2) That we are sensitive to the energy patterns from different materials.
3) That we are sensitive to the energy patterns from different colours.
This list may seem like a goodly number of discoveries to make but all I have done so far is prepare the ground work for some major discoveries yet to come !
However, just knowing that specific colours were important still was not helping Peter to know how to effectively demonstrate his techniques - in fact, knowing that different colours and different materials were important seemed to make matters even more difficult.
Then, we found adhesive backed Prismatic Foil - what we call Rainbow Foil. Peter realised that the basic prismatic foil had all the colours of the rainbow available and would therefore have the particular colour any material could need and, even more importantly, Peter found that the prismatic foil responded beautifully to his unique 'programming' techniques.
During this period, all our experiments had been carried out using vinyl discs as our music source. We did not have a Compact Disc player nor any Compact Discs. So, when we did acquire a Compact Disc player and a few CDs, we were already aware that materials and colours were important. As soon as Peter saw the coloured patterns and coloured printing on the label side of CDs, he knew that this area would be a problem. As soon as he applied strips of Rainbow Foil to the printed label side of a CD, he obtained a remarkable improvement in the sound - so he knew that the Rainbow Foil could be a very versatile, all round device.
Whenever Peter visited audio journalists, manufacturers and retailers, he would always make them aware of his discoveries of how important colours could be. In fact, in an article in the October 1988 issue of Hi-Fi News, Christopher Breunig described how, after a visit from Peter, he, Christopher, had carried out an experiment. Christopher Breunig had removed the coloured ink printing on a PolyGram CD and, when this CD was compared with an identical but untreated control CD, the 'washed' Compact Disc 'opened up the sound'.
One weekend, our son Graham (who works with us) was in a city centre branch of a large newsagent chain, leisurely browsing through the rows of Computer and Amateur Radio magazines. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a display of a new Hi-Fi magazine, a free CD attached to the front cover, issue No 1. Price 99 pence !
Graham thought "Aha, my father is always complaining that he never has enough CDs to listen to. I will get him that new magazine. He may not like the musical content of the CD but you can't go wrong at the price of 99 pence"
Coincidentally, that weekend, I was strolling through my local supermarket, past the magazine section and saw a display of a new Hi-Fi magazine, free CD attached to the front cover, issue No.1. Price 99 pence. I thought. "Aha, Peter is always complaining that he never has enough CDs to listen to. I will get him one of those. You can't go wrong at 99 pence."
So, come the Monday morning, when Graham arrived at work with his copy of the magazine, Peter had two identical Hi-Fi magazines and two identical Compact Discs. He played one of the Compact Discs first without any treatments. He found the sound to be 'harsh and shouty'. After he had attached a couple of strips of Rainbow Foil to the label side, the sound was considerably improved.
Peter always listens to the beginning of each track on a new disc to see what is actually on the disc, then he starts again and listens to the disc all the way through. I was in another room but could hear him listening to a particular track over and over again. When I went into the listening room, he said "Yes, the Rainbow Foil has improved the sound considerably but when the trumpet comes in, it goes harsh - and trumpets are not harsh. I wonder what else could be causing problems ?"
He picked up the second (identical but passive) Compact Disc which was laid on the sofa next to him and looked closely at the printing on the label. He could not see anything which might be significant but he picked up a piece of Rainbow Foil and began to move the Rainbow Foil slowly and gradually over the whole area of the printed side of the CD.
Most of the time, Peter can feel/sense a build up of tension or the tension easing off without actually playing any music - he uses music to confirm what he has sensed. Now, people may call that 'dowsing' but Peter cannot dowse for water, for oil, or for precious minerals but he can sense the build up of tension or the easing of tension. As Peter moved the Rainbow Foil over the label area of the CD, the spot which gave the best results was the actual Compact Disc logo ! One is then left with the question "Why should the Compact Disc logo be so significant, over and above the rest of the colours and the printing ?" As soon as Peter applied a strip of Rainbow Foil over the Compact Disc logo on the passive CD, just resting on the sofa next to him, the sound quality improved yet again.
Although Peter had spent the first thirty years of his working life working fully within conventional electronic and acoustic theories, he is also capable of taking the blinkers off and (what I call) thinking sideways - what many people would refer to as 'lateral thinking'.
Peter now began to think along the lines of:-
If this was a new Hi-Fi magazine with a free CD on the front cover at the special price of 99 pence, then the publishers would have gone for a print run of, say, 100,000 copies. So, they would have ordered 100,000 identical CDs. So, there would be 100,000 CDs with identical musical content and identical label printing - but, what is different about the Compact Disc logo, printed on the CD label, is that the identical logo is printed in virtually every CD which is produced - which runs into millions ! This concept may explain why it may play a significant role but it does not explain why it should affect the sound !
Peter then picked up the Hi-Fi magazine and looked at the highly coloured printed front cover. He did the same exercise of moving the Rainbow Foil slowly over the entire front cover, sensing the effect as he went along. To his surprise, he found that the best result was when the Rainbow Foil was over the bar code label, in particular at the beginning of the bar code label. Peter began to think along the same lines as before.
There would be 100,000 identical magazine copies with 100,000 identical colour printed front covers but there are millions of printed bar codes. But, although there are millions of bar codes, we knew that the bar code on the Hi-Fi magazine , although it might look identical to millions of other bar codes, the bar code on the magazine carried specific information relevant to that magazine. Then we noticed that, on the long number belonging to the bar code, the first three numbers were 770. Peter picked up another magazine - a magazine in no way related to Hi-Fi, and noticed that the first three numbers on that bar code started 770. Peter picked up that morning's newspaper and the first three numbers of the bar code on the newspaper were 770. The more we investigated, the more we realised that anything printed in the UK bore the numbers 770 at the beginning of the long bar code number.
Now, Peter was improving the sound by 'treating' a passive Compact Disc and a passive Hi-Fi magazine, just laid on the sofa next to him !!
Peter now began to consider further :-
The bar code carries specific information about the object it is attached to. The bar code is scanned and this information is fed into and stored in computers along with millions of other bar code information. Peter wondered if he could find a way of 'treating', in a (bulk) way, many of the things which carried a bar code instead of having to treat every one individually.
He was realising that if he could improve the sound by 'treating' a bar code label, then the bar code label must have been creating an adverse effect prior to his treatment. An effect on what ? On us (human beings) ? Peter got a large plastic bag, gave it as many 'treatments' as he knew how - to try to create a 'relaxing/friendly' environment, and then inserted the second (untreated) Hi-Fi magazine into the 'beneficially treated' plastic bag. The sound improved considerably ! Peter began to think "What else was present in our environment which has information that has been collected and stored on computers". We knew that the telephone was physically connected to the telephone exchange in common with thousands of others. But we also knew that the quarterly telephone bill carried our telephone number, our name and address and that information was stored on computers in common with millions of others. So, Peter placed the printed telephone account inside the 'treated' plastic bag. The sound improved again ! The bank account statement, the credit card statement, the gas bill, the electricity bill all carried the details of our name and address and this information was stored on computers along with millions of others. All these were placed inside the 'treated' plastic bag and the sound improved yet again. Peter began searching through a pile of papers, looking for other examples. He saw the instruction booklet belonging to the video recorder. The booklet did not have a bar code but it had an illustration of the video recorder on the front cover and the model number of the machine. Peter placed this instruction booklet in the 'treated' plastic bag - the sound leapt up in quality. We had a colour photograph/leaflet of the loudspeaker model we use. Peter placed that in the 'treated' plastic bag - again the sound was further improved. Peter said "Find me a photograph of myself, only of me - no one else in the photo" This I did and Peter placed a photograph of himself in the 'treated' plastic bag. Again, the sound leapt up in quality. This was mind boggling !! All Peter could do was to sit, shaking his head in absolute disbelief.
Peter said "What do we know about linkage?"
Well, we knew of James Lovelock's 'Gaia Principle' - that everything is linked, somehow, to everything else. But James Lovelock's linkage concept is that 'this event has an effect on that, which in turn has an effect on that, which affects that, and so on, along a huge chain of events'. But this was not the type of 'linkage' we were observing.
We had heard the name Rupert Sheldrake and the term 'morphic resonance' associated with his name but that was the extent of our knowledge.
There is an audio journalist called Paul Benson who used to write for the Hi-Fi magazines (in fact he was an editor of one of these magazines for some time). Paul would telephone Peter on a fairly regular basis. "Hi Peter, how are you doing. What are you working on now. What are your latest discoveries ?"
It was during this particular period that Paul telephoned Peter. "Hi Peter, how are you doing. What are you working on now. What are your latest discoveries ?"
Peter said "I don't really know Paul. I cannot come to terms with what I am discovering. It seems that things that are identical are linked. I will really have to find out more about what Rupert Sheldrake is meaning with his 'morphic resonance' concept."
Paul said "That is a coincidence you should mention Rupert Sheldrake because a particular magazine I subscribe to published a few articles by Rupert Sheldrake a couple of months ago - I will dig them out and let you have copies." Which Paul did.
The articles were good in that they made Peter and me aware that we should investigate Sheldrake's concept of 'morphic resonance' further and, just as importantly, the articles gave the titles of the two books Rupert Sheldrake had written at that time. We borrowed Sheldrake's first book from the public library and we found it interesting enough to purchase Sheldrake's second book "The Presence of the Past". Both Peter and I much prefer Sheldrake's second book.
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and teaches biology at one of the London Universities. So, he is an academic and therefore approaches his subject and writing in an academic way. He first sets out the background to the theories which have formed people's thinking over the ages and this part took up the majority of his first book. In his second book "The Presence of the Past", Sheldrake covers the background in the same way as in his first book but does it much faster, so gets to his own concepts much quicker.
Sheldrake takes one through the history of how certain groups thought and about their understanding of the world from the beginning of human thoughts and writings - all the way through to the present day and the present conventional biological theories. Sheldrake then points out that there are things which happen in biology which cannot be explained using conventional biological theories and so proceeds to explain what his own concepts are.
With apologies to Sheldrake who took years to write his books, I will be very brief in describing Sheldrake's concept.
Sheldrake's concept is that as soon as anything exists (even a single thing), there is created a 'morphic resonance' energy pattern. One simplistic example would be the formation of the first Quartz crystal when the earth began to cool down. The Quartz crystal has a specific chemical formula and a specific crystalline structure. Sheldrake's concept is that there would now exist a 'Quartz crystal morphic resonance' energy pattern but, if only a single Quartz crystal existed, then the 'morphic resonance' energy pattern would be a weak one. As more minerals cooled, as more identical Quartz crystals were formed (anywhere in the world), the 'Quartz crystal morphic resonance' energy pattern would become stronger and, because the Quartz crystals shared the same 'morphic resonance' energy pattern, they would be 'linked'!! Sheldrake believes that this concept applies to everything - to animate and inanimate things.
Sheldrake had been observing that, with various species, certain behavioural patterns just could not be explained by conventional biological theories and concluded that 'there must be something else going on'.
In the P.W.B. Christmas 2002 Newsletter, Geoff Kait gave a brief but very good outline of Sheldrake's concept regarding behavioural patterns, so I will not add to this only to say that Peter and I believe that communication (language, words and the meaning of words) is also a behavioural pattern. Simultaneously with reading Rupert Sheldrake's book, Peter was discovering that he could use words to 'tap into' certain beneficial energy patterns.
This sounds all very simplistic but the more experiments that Peter did, the more seriously we had to take Sheldrake's concept because it was the only concept which could explain what Peter was discovering.
Peter was not the only person who was discovering that colours were significant. At the same time that Peter was discovering that applying the colour Purple to the outer edge of a Compact Disc, others were discovering that they could paint the outer edge of a CD with a green pen and get an improvement in the sound. Their explanation as to why an improvement took place was 'something to do with refraction or reflection of the laser beam'. Whereas Peter had found that the best colour was Purple, not green, that you did not need to colour the entire outer edge of the CD with the colour purple, you only had to make a one centimeter mark to gain an improvement in the sound BUT, more importantly, you could also obtain an identical improvement in the sound if you made a similar mark on the outer edge of a vinyl record or on the outer edge of the plastic housing of an audio tape !! So, if this is the case, then the explanation of 'something to do with the refraction or reflection of the laser beam' is no longer acceptable - as there is no laser beam involved with either a vinyl record or an audio tape ! What is even more startling. Whilst listening to a Compact Disc, you can make a Purple mark on the edge of a PASSIVE vinyl record (just sitting passively on the platter of a non working record player) and improve the sound of the Compact Disc you are listening to OR, whilst listening to a vinyl record, you can make a mark with the Purple pen on the outer edge of a PASSIVE Compact Disc and improve the sound of the vinyl record ! All this makes a nonsense of any explanation to do with 'refraction or reflection of the laser beam'.
The reactions by members of the audio industry ranged over the whole spectrum, from many claiming that they could hear significant improvement to the sound when they marked the outer edge of the CD with the green pen, through others who claimed that they had tried it without experiencing any changes to their sound, to people who ridiculed the whole thing.
For example. At one end of the spectrum you have John Atkinson (Editor of the American magazine Stereophile) in the July 1995 issue stating " that the CD Stoplight (green pen) offers a clear improvement in sound quality ....... But as to why CD Stoplight has any effect, don't ask!"
And, Martin Colloms, on marking the edge of CDs with a green marker, in the April 1990 issue of Hi-Fi News saying "........matched samples of the same CD were compared in treated and untreated states ...... the magnitude of observed improvements was surprisingly high at around 20% - the kind of improvement you can pay large sums of money for. Subjectively the improvements were heard over many fronts. e.g. stereo focus, depth, ambience and transparency." And the Musical Editor of Hi-Fi News added a footnote to Martin's column - ("Interestingly, P.W.B. has recently made similar claims for CD improvement, using a purple marker.")
And, Jimmy Hughes in the August 1991 issue of Audiophile. "Having compared the Violet pen from P.W.B. with the Lasaway (green pen) I've formed a preference for the former .......... Interestingly, the improvement with vinyl is much as it is CD, with the treated LPs sound cleaner. The question, of course, is why."
Through :- Ross Walker of Quad in the March 1992 issue of Hi-Fi World saying "As far as the green pen is concerned, it can be shown that it has absolutely no effect whatever upon the performance of any player."
To :- Barry Fox, in an article he wrote for the magazine "New Scientist" in October 1990 saying "Recently I have been dragged, most unwillingly, into a ludicrous debate about whether hi-fi systems sound better if the room, records and electronics have been treated with coloured inks......I regret that this is not a joke."
These are typical examples of people who:-
1) Have tried the experiment and it works for them but they do not know why.
2) Have not tried the experiment, have no intention of trying the experiment because they KNOW that it cannot possibly work ! End of discussion.
From the results of the discoveries that Peter made during this period of time, we developed -
'Treated' Rainbow Foil,
'Treated' Cream-Electret,
'Treated' Coloured Magnadiscs,
'Treated' Coloured Pens,
A colour sequence of 'treated' Ring Ties for AC power cables, interconnects and loudspeaker cables.
And various 'treated' Foils and Labels which carry beneficial messages.
On the subject of the Coloured Ring Ties for cables.
In January 1992, Christopher Breunig (who, until recently, was the musical editor for the British magazine Hi-Fi News) wrote to us after we had sent him a selection of these Coloured Ring Ties to try.
Parts of his letter to us reads
"I have just spent some considerable time with the coloured bands, and I think they have a dramatic (good) effect ........... On orchestral recording the layering and separation and tonal accuracies were enhanced -- the more straps the better. In fact, I would love to further the tests if you're in a generous mood......
This letter may be copied to anyone. However, I cannot guarantee persuading Steve Harris (the editor of Hi-Fi News) to allow anything in the magazine."
In other words, Christopher Breunig could 'hear' improvements in his sound but he would not be allowed to write about it in the Hi-Fi News !!
All these discoveries left us with many unanswered questions which Peter has struggled to find answers for over these past twenty years.
"What are we sensing and reacting to ?"
"How are we sensing ?"
"Why are we reacting ?"
If one accepts the concept that it is our (human beings) reactions which are causing so many changes in the sound, then our hearing cannot be solely about air pressure waves and vibrations. The sound air pressure waves and vibrations must only be a small part of our hearing mechanism - the rest must be provided by our brain searching for, sensing, and computing numerous signals from different energy patterns in order to obtain the best possible information about the environment we are in, in order to judge what action to take in order to survive !
The more of our 'treatments' you carry out on both equipment and on passive objects, both in the listening room and in rooms outside the listening room, the more you begin to realise that you cannot possibly be either 'having an effect on the audio signal' nor 'having an effect on the acoustic air pressure waves'. As you gain improvements in the sound each time, this means that you are now 'hearing' additional information. But, if you are not affecting the audio signal nor affecting the acoustic air pressure waves, then you have to ask the question "Where has this additional information come from ?" The answer can only be "that all this additional information has been there, in the room, all the time - you just have not been able to perceive it correctly." Also, if our 'treatments' are having a beneficial effect, then this means that prior to 'treatment', the object must have been having an 'adverse effect'.
The conclusion can only be that our hearing is far better than anyone has ever realised - it has just been under some form of suppression - and that the actual audio equipment you already own is capable of 'handling' far more information than people have been led to believe - which is why so many people report that even their modest audio systems can be perceived as 'sounding so much better'.
This concept - that it is the human being who is doing the reacting and not 'something affecting the signal or the acoustic air pressure waves', begins to explain many of the so called 'tweaks', over the past decade, which have been so controversial.
The subjective observations, reported by so many people, that certain things 'changed the sound' were, in so many cases, correct. But, at the same time, the engineers and technicians who attempted to measure these reported changes and could find no changes taking place in their measurements were also correct. This is what has caused so much controversy because the people who wish to measure, and can then find no changes in their measurements, instantly dismiss the claim that any changes to the sound actually took place - instead they chose to insist that it was always a case of 'autosuggestion'.
It is just as important to investigate and understand what has an effect on the 'sound' when using non technical, non conventional methods as it is to investigate and understand what affects the sound using traditional and conventional technical methods.
May Belt
Just recently I have re-discovered an audio tape recording of two radio broadcasts which Peter was involved with in 1989. Both are BBC broadcasts and the total recording time is approximately 30 minutes. The radio programmes were Robin Day's "Waxworks" and Ned Sherrin's "Loose Ends".
For those of you who would be interested in hearing this recording, we can send a copy on audio tape, CD, MiniDisc, or as a .wav/MP3 format via WinMX.
Hopefully, in the future, we should be able to supply copies of a Granada TV broadcast "The Acid Test" involving Peter and a copy of a talk given by May Belt to a group of P.W.B. customers. This, hopefully, will be available on DVD and WinMX.
May Belt.
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