Al’s Stealth V18 Dream is a wonderful cable. So far it is best on my Preamp/Processor. I didn’t like it as well as Whisper until I started using the tuning ring. OMG what a discovery my system has never sounded better using the Stealth with Whispers . Al knows his cables. It is a digital cable. I still plan to try it versus Dragon but since it is only optimized for Digital it might not be a fair comparison.
I need to get back to my Whisper PC thread and post all my updates.
Looking forward to seeing your update. At the meantime, I am going to make some rings. Hopefully, I have enough left over for the thinner cables.
Only a guy would come up with a ring that you move up and down a tube to gain maximum enjoyment.
I would recommend starting with the absorber ring on the female end of cord. Move up 3 to 6 inches per song snippet. Use a live recording with vocals and piano. Listen about 30 seconds per move until it starts sounding better. You will know. The depth of soundstage increases and reverb noise trails off and frequencies align. Then another move until getting worse. Then move small increments.
I liken the power cord absorber ring improvement equivalent to adding a skyline diffusers on front wall. The hot frequencies disappear and soundstage depth deepens. I found the difference increases and betters nearer the male plug. Thus starting at female end difference is more recognizable and impressive.
I will try it over the weekend after my daughter going back to college from spring break. It’s a busy week.
I ordered another sheet of 3M AB7050HF. I have enough to make a 1.5” ring for the Stealth V12 PC. I figured since it’s the same design as others in the Dream family, it should give similar effect as the T ring.
The Stealth Dream V18 uses a 1.5”” ring. It is hard to determine thickness of their absorber due to plastic encasement. But I thought it was likely thicker than 3M sheet. Thus I started with a 2 “ wide on the Whisper to compensate for thickness.
What’s the diameter of the cable? I was thinking about using a piece of mylar tubing or a a split nut similar to below. Gluing the 3M sheet to the inside might work.
I need to poke at the split nut a bit more, it’s just an idea.
@Vmax - does the ring slip over either the IEC or Male connectors? If it does, how does it stay in place?
Would you mind sharing some photos of the ring on the cable and also on how it’s put on the cable?
Thanks!
From their website, it looks like the ring can slip over the IEC. If that’s the case, how does it stay in place once you’ve found the sweet spot?
The ring doesn’t slip over the iec. It is one piece. Cable diameter is 1.75 to 2 inches. They must install on assembly.
It fits fairly snug and coefficient of friction exceeds gravity due to techflex gripping inside of the tuning ring.
This split ring might work if you built up layers of tape where absorber slides. Personally I think a sewn fabric sleeve with adjustable velcro to tighten on whatever cable diameter.
Ha! I was thinking about Velcro as well as cable clamps. The issue we have is pre-built cables. With cables I make, I can simply do what Stealth is doing. We are interested in retrofit.
This is yet another reason I want a 3D Printer.
Stealth tightly controlled cable outer diameter and appears to do assembly which resembles Inakustik. Disks that control wire spacing instead of weaved wires.
https://in-akustik.com/en/cables-and-accessories/reference-air/power-cables/
I tried the 1.5" wide 3M7050 ring on the Stealth Dream V10 briefly this afternoon between the P15 and DS. I heard trivial difference, if anything, the sound seems a bit better when moving the ring away from DS and the best location may be near midpoint of the 5’ PC. Then I asked my daughter to change the location or stay at the same without telling me; I was unable to tell any difference (she has some fun with this).
The V10 is a very thick cable, so I think the single layer may not have enough absorbing power to penetrate the shield. When the new sheet arrives, I will try using a double-layer 2" ring. That should have more effect on the cable.
I feel like I am waiting for Episode 3 of a Netfilx series to be released.
I am very interested in your observations.
It’s a different experience from other 3M absorber mods I had for sure. I could tell nice improvement right the way from the P15 and PST mod. In the ring case, if there is an improvement, it is small (from an exceedingly small piece of absorber too). I ordered a new sheet and will have the opportunity to try on different cables and with different absorber sizes. If I hear something different, I will report.
You may not to hear difference unless it is the same song snippet. Which hardware is the V10 on? I am running Al’s V18 Dream on preamp. The whisper with absorber is on router cable. The piece does get wider than two inches about half way around circumference. Here are where both tuning rings sound best.
Your pictures help, and I need a bigger piece to try. So, I will try again after I receive the new sheet. I will also try it on a different gear to see if it fits better somewhere else.
The ring is on Stealth V10 which is connecting to DirectStream DAC. I didn’t move the ring all the way to the male end as shown in your pictures because I didn’t hear much difference from the female end to the mid-point. so, I stopped there.
Next time I will try placing the ring at each end, and in the middle. That should give me a better idea of what it does. Thanks for sharing this new mod, and I am sure in many systems it will make better improvement.
