Has anyone experimented with ERS paper in the DAC and PWT? I like to try various inexpensive tweaks and lately I’ve been reading about ERS paper. Supposedly it is ideal for digital equipment. You attach a few squares to the underside of the top cover and also to the bottom of the chassis. However, both the DAC and PWT already have EMI/RFI tabs along the perimeter of the chassis. I am concerned that extra isolation might be over-dampening. Has anyone attempted this? Normally I don’t think that I would care about this, but I am stacking the two components, and they are sitting on a Powerbase (unplugged), so I sometimes wonder if emissions from the units are affecting each other.
No personal experience with those components and ERS paper, but here are my thoughts:
Be careful, the ERS paper can conduct, so make sure it won’t fall, buckle or otherwise come into contact with the electronics.
As you mention it’s possible to over dampen (just a 1/4" ring around the power cord for my amps was too much.)
I think above and below the power supply transformer might be interesting as well as over the digital card.
Thanks, Ted. I’ve also read about the dangers from the paper’s conductive properties, so I’m a little reluctant to experiment with it. Both machines already have the tabs.
The tabs are there to satisfy the government that RF is not being emitted from the DAC. Beyond that they have no sound altering properties. The ERS paper should work just as well on the outside of the DAC as on the inside since the top is fiberboard.
EDIT: I take that last statement back. My unit was one of the earlier PWDs and has no EMI clips or metal shielding in the top. I don’t know about other units.
I might go ahead and try it, just for giggles.
Ted, do you have any suggestions for how best to apply it? For example, should I attach one square-inch above the transformer, another square-inch over the digital card, and maybe three or four on the bottom? Or is that too much?
Personally I’d try a bigger square (2" square?) over the power transformer (mid right hand side) on the top and bottom outside of the box - if you don’t hear anything bad then it might not be worth trying different sizes. Over the digital board I’d stay away from the holes where the analog transformers almost reach thru. Probably a narrow strip over the connectors and say, 1/4 to 1/2 wide down the center from about the ribbon cable (the one that goes to the analog card) back to over the connectors - perhaps something like the red rectangles below. I suspect that things might sound a little duller, with less life, if you use too wide of strips, but I don’t really know.
Still, you probably want to try your own ideas too. If there were a universally good place to put tweaks like this we’d probably design it in 
Thanks, Ted. If I decide to try it, I will follow your advice. Like I said, I normally wouldn’t worry about this, for exactly the reason that you stated: you would have designed it in, if it was worthwhile. I only think about it because I’m stacking the components, so I wonder if the proximity is generating interference