Tourmaline in Audio

ayreman

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Jan 2, 2017
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Has anyone experimented with tourmaline in your systems? If so, what kind gave the best results and how/where exactly you've used it?
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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Has anyone experimented with tourmaline in your systems? If so, what kind gave the best results and how/where exactly you've used it?

10-12 years ago i experimented with tourmaline crystals in a screen mounted on a hair dryer. the heat from the hair dryer would cause negative ions to be released and evidently reduced surface static (or some other mysterious process) on whatever you aimed it at. i would treat CD's and Lp's with this treatment for 10-20 seconds and enjoyed a considerable clarity boost for maybe the first 10-15 miutes. you could also blow it on cables and get some degree of temporary effect. i tired of doing this process after a while since it was temporary.

later some commercial products came out doing the same thing. here is one such product.

https://www.acoustic-revive.com/english/rio5/rio5_01.html

a few years ago Furutech came up with a line of products with tourmaline (they call it special crystalline material) related to the power grid since current in power cables puts off the heat which activates the negative ion effect in tourmaline. they call it NCF (Nano Crystal Formula). they are not the only audio tweak company doing this.

http://www.furutech.com/technology/

i use Furutech NCF plugs on all my power cords, and Furutech NCF duplex outlets on my whole power grid. i am very impressed by the performance gains from these products.

tourmaline is the real deal. i still have 3-4 hair dryers with those tourmaline filled screens in my storage attic and they still work. power grid products or even inside electronics seems like ideal places for tourmaline based products since they produce the heat required to trigger the positive effect. i see more applications for tourmaline in hifi going forward.
 
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DaveC

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Nov 16, 2014
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The benefits Furutech's NCF products provide is hard to believe without experiencing it.

As far as uses, imo it's probably best used in AC power applications. This is the only place Furutech uses their NCF material, not in signal cables or connectors. As far as I can tell so far cables that use carbon (or graphene, lol) in signal applications end up with a strange result that many do not stick with long term.

I agree with Mike that we will see more applications going forward. Currently, I have the materials to experiment with a potting compound that incorporates carbon and tourmaline powder... this can be mixed together and applied to similar places Furutech used their NCF material. So I hope to have a product that produces similar effects, including measurable reduction in AC noise, that can be applied to anything.
 

ayreman

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Jan 2, 2017
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Ukraine
Mike, I'm right there with you: Furutech NCF plugs, 10 NCF dupex outlets and all of the inlets in my components + 2 NCF Boosters! I agree completely - they steamroller top Oyaide hands down. I'm glad I've stumbled across your thread about GTX-D NCF outlets. Thank you for sharing this with all of us!

Back to tourmaline... If I bought, say, a pound of tourmaline to experiment with, put it in a cotton bag and balance the bag over one of the AC plugs in my system. Do you think this would be a good place and method to get up close and personal with tourmaline?
 

Mike Lavigne

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Apr 25, 2010
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Mike, I'm right there with you: Furutech NCF plugs, 10 NCF dupex outlets and all of the inlets in my components + 2 NCF Boosters! I agree completely - they steamroller top Oyaide hands down. I'm glad I've stumbled across your thread about GTX-D NCF outlets. Thank you for sharing this with all of us!

Back to tourmaline... If I bought, say, a pound of tourmaline to experiment with, put it in a cotton bag and balance the bag over one of the AC plugs in my system. Do you think this would be a good place and method to get up close and personal with tourmaline?

the key issue with tourmaline's benefit to hifi perfromance is the thermal reaction releasing negative ions. so either hot/warm air needs to be pushed through the right sort of tourmaline pellets and blown on the media, cables or circuits, or the tourmaline needs to be somehow encased in a material that gets thermal warming. i've not taken the tourmaline pellets and placed them on a warmed chassis or power cable or outlet. your idea of a cotton bag seems to me, based on my experience blowing hot air through the screen with tourmaline, not to be sufficient to cause enough effect.

OTOH your cotton bag idea does trigger another idea you might try; maybe a cotton 'wrap' around a power cable, with tourmaline crystals inside the wrap between layers of fabric. this would transfer the cord warmth to the wrap, maybe even an outer foil wrap layer to trap more heat and reflect it inward and hold the negative ion effect more on the power cord. I could see that working based on my previous experience.

if you do it and it works, I just want a cut of the profits down the road.;)
 
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microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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the key issue with tourmaline's benefit to hifi perfromance is the thermal reaction releasing negative ions. so either hot/warm air needs to be pushed through the right sort of tourmaline pellets and blown on the media, cables or circuits, or the tourmaline needs to be somehow encased in a material that gets thermal warming. i've not taken the tourmaline pellets and placed them on a warmed chassis or power cable or outlet. your idea of a cotton bag seems to me, based on my experience blowing hot air through the screen with tourmaline, not to be sufficient to cause enough effect.

OTOH your cotton bag idea does trigger another idea you might try; maybe a cotton 'wrap' around a power cable, with tourmaline crystals inside the wrap between layers of fabric. this would transfer the cord warmth to the wrap, maybe even an outer foil wrap layer to trap more heat and reflect it inward and hold the negative ion effect more on the power cord. I could see that working based on my previous experience.

if you do it and it works, I just want a cut of the profits down the road.;)

Mike,

I think - but I can't be sure, please correct me if I am wrong - that in power supply devices, the key issue with tourmaline should be its high magnetic susceptibility and complex composition and structure, not the ionizing capabilities. And the Furutech Nano Crystal Formula is not connected to tourmaline, although Furutech sells a power supply distributor including NCF connectors having a chassis filled with tourmaline and other mineral powders.

We should not forget that there is no real science behind power tweaks. Just plenty of knowledge of material properties and empirical findings, based on people experience. And then manufacturers pick what helps to sell!
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Mike,

I think - but I can't be sure, please correct me if I am wrong - that in power supply devices, the key issue with tourmaline should be its high magnetic susceptibility and complex composition and structure, not the ionizing capabilities. And the Furutech Nano Crystal Formula is not connected to tourmaline, although Furutech sells a power supply distributor including NCF connectors having a chassis filled with tourmaline and other mineral powders.

We should not forget that there is no real science behind power tweaks. Just plenty of knowledge of material properties and empirical findings, based on people experience. And then manufacturers pick what helps to sell!

I have no idea about the exact science, only what I observed over a year to 18 months of using the hair dryer heat blowing over a tourmaline screen onto various things and it's considerable positive effects. and exactly what tourmaline and Furutech's 'special crystalline material' they call NCF have in common I don't know. I don't think we can necessarily accept that this 'mysterious' material is not tourmaline......or another crystal that is similar.

my suggestion would be relatively easy to do, I hope someone does try it and report. the materials would almost cost nothing.
 

microstrip

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I have no idea about the exact science, only what I observed over a year to 18 months of using the hair dryer heat blowing over a tourmaline screen onto various things and it's considerable positive effects. and exactly what tourmaline and Furutech's 'special crystalline material' they call NCF have in common I don't know. I don't think we can necessarily accept that this 'mysterious' material is not tourmaline......or another crystal that is similar.

my suggestion would be relatively easy to do, I hope someone does try it and report. the materials would almost cost nothing.

LP's and CD's are electromechanical spinning creatures, surely extremely sensitive to static forces. I also did several experiments with tourmaline hair dryers - I tested them in the shop with a portable electrometer, a real success - and ionizing guns when I read about such thinks - some of the highly debated Peter Belt accessories were just electrostatic devices.

Considering the NCFs , as IMHO no one knows what is there, you are correct : anyone we can suggest anything - their funny technical descriptions will accept almost all hypothesis.

BTW, my main point was on the physical properties of materials and their possible correlations with mains noise. But yes, just guessing ...
 

Folsom

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I use an ionizing blower for cleaning off LP's with brushes. But I paid $30 for mine off of eBay... and I'm sure mine works better since it was designed for a lab. Beats the hell out of the little zap gun. Plus I can hold my LP's up to it and brush at the same time. CD's and cables? Na.... Although I admit if I want my teeth to feel super clean I open my mouth and let it blow into it, then brush. It's like using an ion toothbrush on steroids.
 

BobbinHobbin

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2016
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We should not forget that there is no real science behind power tweaks. Just plenty of knowledge of material properties and empirical findings, based on people experience. And then manufacturers pick what helps to sell!

Wasn't there scientific papers & research done in the late '90s on Tourmaline. It was one of the things that got several companies to experiment using it.
 

Bodhi

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2014
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later some commercial products came out doing the same thing. here is one such product.

https://www.acoustic-revive.com/english/rio5/rio5_01.html

a few years ago Furutech came up with a line of products with tourmaline (they call it special crystalline material) related to the power grid since current in power cables puts off the heat which activates the negative ion effect in tourmaline. they call it NCF (Nano Crystal Formula). they are not the only audio tweak company doing this.

http://www.furutech.com/technology/

i use Furutech NCF plugs on all my power cords, and Furutech NCF duplex outlets on my whole power grid. i am very impressed by the performance gains from these products.

tourmaline is the real deal.
I use an Acoustic Revive RIO-5 II, along with an RD-3 demagnetizer & RR-777 + KR PSU MkII. If I want to listen critically to a cd, my routine is I negatively ionize, demag, then 'Schumann' the disc before playing it. That works a treat, but as you noted the effect is temporary & needs to be repeated each play.
 

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