Deep into the most ungodly hours of the night, I have been doing a lot of messing with the Mekon these days. Aka "Belting". Of this, I am reminded of a line in an old Depeche Mode song; 
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| "PWB Fractal Label" from P.W.B. Electronics, U.K. aka "The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." |
INTRODUCTION
Today, we have some exciting news to share!… The long-awaited
final version of the “P.W.B. Fractal Labels”. Last year, I got the
opportunity to test out the beta-version of this audio treatment device. That
was a combination of various shiny treated foils ("Silver Foil", "Speckled Foil", "Silver Rainbow Foil", "Gold-Silver Foil", "Double Gold Foil"), plus a completely
transparent version of the fractal image.
This time, the Fractal Label has been minimized to a single device; a combination of SR & Gold/Silver foil and patterns, with the fractal image printed on transparent film and superimposed on that. That, and a lot more I’m
quite sure, all in a significantly smaller package. This smaller size, as you
will see later on in this review, makes it possible to treat a device that would
have been impossible, with the earlier, larger beta version. And at the risk of
putting the cart before the horse, that is indeed something you might want to
do…..
PRE-IMPRESSIONS
Upon opening the envelope, and before taking the Fractal
Labels out of their ziploc bag, I could sense ‘something was up’. I could feel a
rather strong energy coming from one side of the bag, much more than the other.
Of course, it was the side that showed the fractal labels. The energy was more
‘correct’ when the bag was turned to a certain position. Upon closer inspection,
that position turned out to be where the writing on the instructional leaflet
was right side up.
What this energy reading tells me, is simply that whatever is in this bag, is going to have a discernible effect, "dis, dat’ or d'udda", once in play....
WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT IS
This latest
treated adhesive sticker label from P.W.B. makes use of, for the first time, a
fractal image. So… a lot of math behind this! Plus, colours, shapes, materials,
and the various proprietary methods with which they have all been treated to, will all have a
significant effect on…. sound? No! But it’s easy for people to get confused about that! On
tension.
Like all audio treatments from P.W.B., it works by reducing (or rather,
changing**) levels of human tension. Which in turn, has an effect on our qualities of sensory perception, including what we're most interested in here, our ability to perceive sound.
(**n.b. It isn't really accurate to say “This reduces tension”, because this phenomenon doesn’t work as simply as
a light switch. Although it’s possible to feel levels of tension being reduced
by such treatments, at least I do, one might say it is reduced/changed in infinitely
different ways. As different treatments, or different locations of the same
treatment, produces infinitely different qualities of sound perceived).
In this, I
couldn’t help but be reminded of my own 'Beltist' experiments with images, many
many years ago. Such as way back in the days of CD burners, where I’d completely cover my
burner with small printed images. (Some of which were so small, you couldn't say they were images....).
Some of the stronger ones, as I recall, being
images from “The Voynich Manuscript”, images of clocks, images of hypnotic
swirls, images of P.W.B. devices themselves… and even that image of the brown
dog used by PWB for the Aspirin experiment, was a nice one. Heck, I even hid
some of these images in tricky ways on the front page of my audio blog. Knowing that as soon as people
landed on it, their sound would improve, without them realizing it!
But these Fractal Image Labels…
these were curious things. They looked familiar to anyone that had previously
experimented with the transparent Fractal Label and its accompanying foils. But
I didn’t yet know how to answer the burning question; “Where do they want to
go?”. With the Beta foils, I knew some foils prefer to be placed on wood, for
example. Some were reported to work well with spinning devices, such as on turntables, CD or perhaps tape players. But with these, I was flying blind. All I knew, is that there is a
“right side up”. I gathered that from turning the label 4 times, 90 degrees each
time. One felt more ‘right’ than the others.
Except I can’t elucidate that to
anyone else (who hasn't yet learned to feel their way through this…). The image on the front
appears to be the same, either way up. On the back are 3 lines. But with two
black lines on the exterior and one brown in the centre, no way to identify up
from down. Anyway, since the more right position is in landscape, there is only
two possibilities to listen to. So it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out which
direction sounds better, if someone wishes to try!
GETTING ACQUAINTED
The next
thing I did was to simply take a sticker and move it across objects; my TV, my
wall thermostat, a few of my speakers….. first with the image facing upward,
then with the image facing downward. Again, no actual listening involved (yet!).
Other than listening for feeling. 😉
What I observed from this exercise, was
that this thing prefers a horizontal orientation, more than a vertical one. On
every surface or object I ran it across. Not unlike the Beta foils, I should add. Next I tested whether its “working
surface” should be facing outward or inward. And like everything it seems…
(😔), it prefers inward**. Or rather, I should say, I had a stronger
preference for the type of energy feedback, given when the sticker was held to
the object (horizontally, I reiterate), with the image toward the object.
The
😔 comes because I realize this makes the adhesive backing kind of
non-functional, if applied this way. But I can still apply it using ‘sellotape’
(aka ‘scotch tape’) or blue-tak. (n.b. I have never actually tested which of
these is better, soundwise!). That’s never as good as not introducing additional
adhesives, but at least it gives me the option of moving it elsewhere, if I so
choose.
INSY vs. OUTSY
**As to whether the foil should be placed with the front
face outward or inward (toward the object it’s being attached to), I would say
that is strictly a matter of preference. I don’t feel either has the corner on
the ideal sound, but here’s what I observed in this series of tests:
If placed
toward the object, this will bring a sound that is dark, stuffy, muted in the
mids and highs… among other things. An inaccurate sound, to be sure. But some of
those other things involve a greater level of musicality, which keeps me more
engaged with the music. It also brings a lower level of tension, overall, if that matters any.
Alternatively, with
the image facing outward (which I presume is how it was designed and intended to be used), you now have a sound that is more balanced (if a bit
lighter in bass weight?). And a neutral and a fuller spectrum of the music can be
heard.
But again, I don’t feel this as engaging. Despite that I am keenly aware of the lack of details in the musical picture, when the image is facing the object. (And I do think it was designed for and intended to be used with the image facing outward). Just
knowing that you can change the sound like this, is good enough. Because it
means you can have one foil facing one way, another facing the other, until you
get a sound with a satisfying combination of the qualities you are looking for, in a sound.
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION
Well now that I
figured out how I want to apply the sticker, that’s when the fun begins…. That
leaves the question of where best to apply the P.W.B. Fractal Label. “Will it be
the ‘usual’ hot spots”?”, I ask myself. Or is this something that plays well
with certain materials or objects, more than others, like some of the Beta labels?
In the beginning, in the first few experiments, I did
not get good results, anywhere. I wondered if this was a problem with the design
itself, and if the foils that I had tried in the earlier Beta test, weren’t
already better. "Is this one too "busy", having too many things going on at once?", I wondered. This was after trying the new Fractal Label on my amplifier, my
audio rack, the baseboard of the wall behind the system, a clock, speakers, etc.
(At least initially), the very places where the earlier foils worked well, didn’t have
the same effect with this. I mean, sure, the “sound” improved…. (a larger
soundstage for example). But the way it did, did nothing for me. It was one of
those lateral improvements you get in audio… where one thing improves, while a
whole bunch of other things get worse. I knew things were off track when, even
though the sound might seem lovely to someone else wandering into the room, my
mind would wander off during the listen....
...This was no more evident than on the YouTube video that, for the sake of convenience, I was using as the test track (played on my TV, via the home cinema system). More specifically, it was a user-uploaded video of Mark Knopfler's "You and Your Friend", where someone was playing the LP on their Thoren's record deck. Where I should have been enthralled by the performance, I found myself focusing on seeing the video's uploader walking around the room, via the reflection in the turntable's platter! Which is not what I had in mind to do....
BREAKER BOX
THE SET-UP:
...I couldn’t see what would
bring this device to life. So I jumped on the computer to give a closer read to
those respondents on the P.W.B. Electronics forum, who had tried the device! Those who had
success in “the usual places” wasn’t working for me, so I didn’t pursue that
further. I took note of David Irvine's recounting of placing it on his hydro box (electric meter). Thus, I
went outside my place to install the device in the hydro area.
I experimented for a good location,
by feel alone, by moving the Fractal Label on all sides of the hydro meter going
into my place. But that didn’t seem all that great. Placing it over the display was probably the best spot there, but I couldn't well leave it there, for obvious reasons. After trying a few other
meters and boxes nearby, I found what felt like a “neutral feedback”, on a large
circuit breaker panel box (see photo), that feeds the entire place. I felt the
best location to be on the outside cover, at the very bottom. And that is where
I sellotaped the Fractal Foil.
TBH, I think the reason why this felt like a better location, is simply because it was the box closest to the floor.👇
THE SOUND:
When I went to listen to this installation,
yeah…. that did it for me! I also learned what that feeling of “neutral
feedback” meant in sonic terms. In this case, it was a sound that was
surprisingly bass-light. But I actually did not mind the result of that
lightening of the bass region, because of the overall sound.
It gave a balanced
sound, not shy in high end detail, and more importantly, one that only reminded
me I was doing a listening test, well and truly into the song. This meant that
not only did I no longer feel distracted while the music was playing, but I
didn’t want it to end. It also meant the sound was very fluid, and natural in
its dynamics, as with timbre and resolution.
So indeed, a welcome improvement
this time, and an improvement that was, interestingly, not of the character of
any of the foils or the original fractal image in last year’s Beta test, in my
experience with those devices. To make no mistake about it, the side effect of
an installation like this, is a reduction in tension. This can be likened to…
opening a window on a cool day, to let some air in a stuffy room.
INTERIOR BREAKER BOX
I then tried it on a smaller breaker box situated in a different and
more interior location. It was not as good as the larger box (that contained
more powerful circuit lines), but still good.
HOT WATER TANK
Next; the hot
water tank. Not near the entrance of the hot or cold pipes, the best location
was determined (by feel) to be at the bottom of the tank, near where the brass spout exits water.
This proved to be not nearly as good as the previous smaller circuit box, with a
more blurry, smaller sound. It was eliminated from the running.
THE FREEZER
Next; the back of the freezer. This is one
of those ‘hot spots’ I was talking about earlier. Specifically, on the back
wall of the freezer. After I placed it there and returned to my listening room, I finally
realized something I had only suspected in earlier trials: I could feel the
effect of the change as I walked back to my listening spot! I could feel an
easing of tension.
Still, the resulting character of sound wasn't anything to write home, or here, about. In that it was alright, but not deemed as good as the breaker box locations.
BATTERIES
THE SET-UP:
I was sorting through my battery drawer today, verifying each
one, to see which I should toss. When I came across two unusual, rectangular 2v
sealed-lead acid batteries.
As far as I know, there is only one device on the
planet, that uses these batteries. That would be the super slim Aiwa portable
tape player that I had (have?). It must have been way back in the 80’s when I
bought these, but I can still remember scouring the streets of New York City,
looking for them! I don’t know why I still have them after so long, but I was
about to toss them, regardless of whether they still work, when I asked myself the
obvious question: “I wonder if they would respond well to being treated by the
new Fractal image label?”.
Thus, I started by passing the card over the battery, to
see whether the Fractal Label might mate well with the battery, and how. So ok… it started
to look like this was worth a test. As I floated the card across the gold
contacts on the face of the battery, I could definitely sense a strong energy
feedback from that area. Not a good energy, mind. (By that, I mean the kind of
energy that increases tension, instead of reducing it).
The ‘magic’ occurred
when I finalized the positioning of the Fractal Label on this battery. That is, when I
turned the battery over to its back side, placed the label with the image
facing the back of the battery, and taped the label to the battery. (Carefully!
making sure not to reorient the tape…. but to place one small piece on either
side of the card, in the same position that the tape came off the roll. And in
another effort to maximize the potential benefit, I was careful not to fold the
tape over to another side of the battery).
Once this was done, I immediately
felt a lowering of tension, that brought my body down. Going from past
experience, as one does, I would have bet the farm that this was going to be
good, when the music came on….
THE SOUND:
And the sound was…. fuggedaboutit! And I mean
that, because there is nothing to say. It was unmistakably superior to what
was, but the fact that it was so engaging, made it impossible to listen to it
analytically, to be able to say what changed. I was just grooving to the music (Margaret Glaspy playing “Love Like This”, in this case…).
Everything came together
beautifully, as the fidelity got bumped up a few notches, and I heard the music
in a whole different light. And hey, it was already good to start off with! So
how does this translate for people who don’t have rectangular 2v Aiwa batteries?
(Yes, it occurred to me that I may be the last person on the planet who has
these!).
Well, the back of the Aiwa battery, as example, is the underside of a
9v. So in the case of a 9v, the image would face the back of the battery, and be
taped to the sides (or blue-tacked). Then, the battery
would be installed with its contacts facing the earth. (BTW, I’m pretty sure the
battery doesn’t have to have any juice in it, and it’s probably just as well if
it’s dead).
So now with three of these Fractal Labels in place… I do believe, we’ve got a party
going. But I had to ask myself now, “Well… does it work well on anything that
isn’t electrical??”. If not, it would be the first PWB product I test that
doesn’t fit a variety of scenarios. Not one to take the easy way out, I was
determined to see where else the device would work...
LOUDSPEAKERS
THE SET-UP:
By the time I get around to installing the fourth sticker, it’s two in the morning. So this time, I’m doing my listening on a sound bar at a
rather low volume, so as not to wake anyone up. Nevertheless, the sound is
fabulous. I can hear in other ways, the improvements from the Fractal treatments earlier
in the day. Melody lines in songs I’m intimately familiar with (as I use them
often in testing), but have never heard before. When this happens, it’s what I
term “a real change”.
As a starting point to find a more traditional, or at
least a non-electrical location for the foil, I took a cue on the P.W.B. message forum from Adrian Coppola’s
report. Where he tried it on the front of a loudspeaker. I didn’t expect
anything particularly good from this, as I did not get those “this is good!”
vibes, when I was passing the foil over the front of the loudspeaker, earlier in the day. I
removed the grill and felt the best location to be at the bottom of the front
face of the speaker. (Normally I prefer to place things at the back of
loudspeakers, but I did not think to try that this time).
The preferred
orientation here was with the foil in landscape, image facing the speaker, and ‘one way up
rather than the other’. Once everything was in place, and as soon as the sticker
was stuck on via Bluetac adhesive putty, I could feel a certain diminishing/neutralization of
tension energy within my person. This gave me a reasonable confidence that I was
on the right track, as I placed the grill back on, and went to listen to the
same track again.
THE SOUND:
And right away, I could hear the change! And the change was
not good! Oh, that beautiful, luscious, mesmerizing, detailed sound I was
enjoying before, was no more! It seemed to be replaced with something by
“Lloyd’s”. It was dark and dreary, worn and weary. But then another surprise
came about, when in a matter of seconds, I found myself really enjoying this
sound! That gets a big… “HUH”?? 😧
Oh yeah, this was another “fuggedaboutit!” moment. But
a decidedly different sound from the first “fuggedaboutit” experience. Yet, like the first,
it made you want to forget about analyzing the details of the sound (as if you
could, anyway!). Instead, it just made me want to sing… or dance.
What it also
made me do, after about ten seconds into the test track, was close my eyes. This
is an involuntary action, and often occurs in a trial, when the sound is
particularly engaging. But I only naturally felt like opening my eyes at exactly
3 minutes into the song, almost at the end of it! That isn’t common with me, and
as such, I don’t think it’s ever been that long before.
And I put on other
tracks to get a sense of what exactly I was hearing, with this atypical new
“sound”. That confirmed a few things…. Among them that, yes, it was indeed a
small, dark sound, lacking in extension and detail, if not resolution, compared
to the sound of the three previous installations of Fractal Foil Labels. But it was by no means a (totally) inaccurate
representation of the music. And on tracks with a lot of HF (high frequency) energy, you could
still hear treble. You were never overwhelmed by it, of course.
That said, I
would describe it as a “Linn Sondek” sort of sound. It would make everything
sound like vinyl. But even so, not just any vinyl — vinyl being played on a
particularly musical record deck! Oh, and it had bags of musicality! Engaging to
the point of being gripping, and all the evidence that was needed, was there
when I replayed the “You and Your Friend” video. That I had used as a test track
earlier in the day, on the HT system.
No matter that I was now listening
to it at a low volume on a sound bar, instead of being bored and looking at details
in the video like the last time, I actually felt those emotional pangs you
sometimes (rarely!) feel, during a really musical performance. (Triggered by
the notes Mark Knopfler was playing on his melodic guitar, combined with the installation of this
label!). The second thing I observed, despite that I was not interested this time in the
visual aspect of the playing of this video, was that the picture was noticeably
clearer and sharper than before. I noticed this on numerous images on the
display, since this last install.
Now, I’m not sure if there should be a second
foil, on the right loudspeaker. I mention it because, sitting at my listening
post in between the speakers, I thought I might be getting a sense that things
are little lop-sided…. (more energy coming from the left side of the stereo?).
Then again, I don’t know if having two in the chain will upset the order of
things, as I didn’t test for that.
In sum, I may have lost something(s) in my
sound, by installing this last foil, on the loudspeaker. Good things, to be
sure. But as an audiophile, this musical type of sound is something I have
always sought. Rarely achieved, actually. And if you can get a sound that makes
you one with the music; is able to communicate its emotion, and
lowers your tension levels to boot… is there anything better?
In a later experiment, I found that I can turn one of the other Fractal Labels I installed, so that the image is facing outward, and then my sound is not so dark, any longer. Sure, some of that gorgeous musicality is lost, but some of the detail comes back, and it doesn't sound so much like a 1960's hi-fi set-up.
BIGGISH TIME DELAY FUSE
THE SET-UP:
Well... while in the breaker box area, I found a 400a 250v time delay buss fuse. With a barcode on it. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yeah... let's see how it takes to a Fractal label!....
I taped the Fractal label (horizontally) to the centre of the tube, over the barcode label, with the image facing the fuse. I then brought the fuse into my place, all the way toward the back (East) wall, then placed the fuse on the floor, with the Fractal label facing the floor. (The fuse was almost, but not touching the back wall).
THE SOUND:
I then played "Put Me Thru" by Anderson .Paak. ..."MELLOW" is how I would describe this sound. Just like that. With all caps for greater emphasis! It brought not just a soothing sound, but a soothing feeling, during the listening of the soothing sound. A sound that could never tire, because all highs and mids wore a dark veil, Think a few clicks down on the treble knob. You won’t be getting sparkle on guitar strings or piano keys with this set-up.
So, not accurate, but though I know this, I don’t mind. What remains of this is a very alluring and musical sound, with fast tight bass, and a lower level of inner tension in the listener . If it sounds like the description I gave for the loudspeaker test (above), there’s two reasons for that:
1) I’m not sure if there are any notable differences between these two sounds/locations, and
2) as also described earlier, this ‘dark veil’ could be removed by reversing the position of the label so that it’s image faces outward. (I might note that the placement on the ground also contributes a bit to this quality).
Basically, the loudspeaker sound described above, is the result of a change to attack & decay qualities, where they are very short (n.b. I know this from years of training my ears with the "bonger" test on the Chesky Audiophile CD!). In the case of this buss fuse, same sort of thing, but either the attack or decay (not sure), is somewhat longer.
It may not be for everyone, but I quite like the fact that if I ever find my sound too grating, I know exactly how to pacify and smooth it over. And can do it in a matter of seconds, with the use of a single Fractal label. And I'm happy with the sound as it stands, so whatever its shortcomings, I'm not planning on moving this one.
n.b. I realize a "big-gish" ("big-ly"?) time-delay fuse is not in everyone's kitchen drawer.... A good substitute would probably be.... nothing. That is, location here is probably playing a significant role, and some of the effect described can perhaps be had, by following everything but the "fuse" part. That is, just taping the label (face up) to the floor, right near (but not up against) an exterior wall.
A TREE
...Ok, this is kind of stupid. At least, that’s sort of how I felt, trying to tape this Fractal label to the trunk of a young tree, near the base. (It had been raining recently, and it kept falling off!). At least the tree, outside my residence, was still on the grounds. It was a “boundary test”. Just earlier, I had done a related test, where I stuck a Fractal label on the circuit breaker box of a nearby building (on the same grounds), and heard about as strong an effect, as I had when it was in my building. ….So would it extend to the trees out in front?
In word…. no. The resulting sound was “ ‘orreebulla”, as the French say. Very possibly worse than having nothing there at all. Is this a condemnation of trees, though? Does it denote where boundaries lie, wrt Beltism? I am not prepared to answer either of those questions! Moving on!….
THE SMART PHONE
Do you want to know the best location I found in this series of tests, though? My smartphone. Specifically, the battery of my smart phone....
THE SET-UP:
This last test was done at another time (on another day), when it was late at night. So I listened to mp3’s on my smartphone (paired with a pair of Monk earbuds), as the source for the test. Via the phone, I first listened to the effect of the Fractal foil label located on the front face of the loudspeaker, behind the speaker grill (as described earlier).
Then, for the next test, I removed the foil from the speaker, disassembled the cell phone, and taped the foil (landscape position) to the back bottom of the battery, with the image facing the battery. Then I replaced the cover and case, and listened again to my mp3 songs on the cell phone.
THE SOUND:
For once, and for whatever reason, I was listening to a sound I could not fault. Much much better than what I heard when the foil was placed on top of the loudspeaker. This time, the sound was not cold, nor overly warm. Engaging, but not too engaging. Tonally balanced. Fluid, but detailed. Bass is tight, mids precise, and highs are not muted, nor overstated. Well, it’s hard to fully describe a sonic character with words. Suffice to say, I know good sound when I hear it, and this was good sound.
This good sound could later be heard simply listening to unboxing videos on my iMac's built-in speakers, via YouTube! I could resolve new levels of detail, such as the crispness of plastic or paper when the videographer was opening packages or moving objects. Or cues about the size and nature of the room, when the subject spoke.
I had a feeling that the idea might have potential, because the foil would be treating a working battery, that would always be active while the listening was going on. Of course, I had no idea that it could sound better than anything I’ve tried before. The cream on the cake, is that I could take this improvement anywhere! Normally, my good sound goes when I leave home. But in this case, wherever I go, the treated phone goes with me.
Ah, but what if your cell phone has no removable battery, like most recent models? Then the label could still be affixed to the back cover, as if it was the battery. The sound could be not as good as on the battery, or potentially, it could even be better. (I've not tested). The thing is, the phone still contains a battery....
THE FLOOR
THE SET-UP:
Sorry, but when I said "Do you want to know the best location I found in this series of tests?" under the Smartphone test, I didn't know I had another test in me, before I would finally wrap this all up. It all started when....
....I brought the time-delay buss fuse into my listening room, just to see if it would fare any better in my actual listening room. As opposed to being located at the opposite end of the house, in my home office. I placed it under the a/v cabinet exactly in the manner that I had initially done in the office. With the Fractal Foil Label taped to the bottom of the fuse, and the fuse situated horizontally on the floor under the cabinet, very close to but not touching the wall. I had a feeling it would be worse in my listening room, and I was not disappointed. It was worse.
I played Diana Krall's cover of Tom Waits' "Temptation". Which has a lot of double bass notes at the beginning. This session was very late at night again, so I had to play at a very low volume. But I could still hear that it was worse, than when the fuse was in the office room. There was more high end energy, yes. But resolution and sound-staging were smaller, bass was lighter. I also found that the video picture on TV was more "3D", when the fuse was in the office. Not a good sign.
So out of curiosity, I decided to answer a question I had wondered about earlier: "What about simply removing the fuse from the equasion? What would that do?". Yet surely the label is doing something good by being "fused" to the fuse. I mean look at it! Does that fuse look like it's doing anything good to your audio sound?? Anyway, I removed the fuse and instead, taped the Fractal Label directly to the floor, under the a/v cabinet, in the middle of my speakers. Close but not touching the wall, and with the label's image facing the floor.
THE SOUND
I listened to Diana Krall's cover of Tom Wait's "Temptation" again, under the new set-up... I did not know what to make of this sound?? What was I listening to, what was I hearing?? Something unexpected, I can say. I might describe it as a "non-sound", if that makes any sense to anyone....
It's difficult to describe a "non-sound", in analytical terms. Especially when it's the first sound I've termed a "non-sound". But I did notice right off the bat, the bass was.... really different. Those rapid start/stop bass notes at the start of this song, that could all be heard clearly and individually in the "buss fuse" version, were all washed over and blurred, in the "direct-to-floor" version.
So.... this was much, much worse.... right?? Hmmm.... that was my first reaction. But as I was listening, I realized I was listening to a (character of) sound I had not heard before. And that really shouldn't be the case, because it's not like I've never placed a PWB device on the floor before! In fact, it's where I located the last Christmas card from PWB! (Though I've never tried labels alone, or taped anything to the floor). Yet it sure seemed like it was.
It seemed like the sound had no character of its own. It just played out like a very, very natural sort of sound. Not even a riveting sound, as I described on the loudspeaker test above. Nor a boring sound, by any stretch. So while it did not cause me to close my eyes during the music, all I could think to want to do, was listen to the music. And while this might suggest that it was similar to the mellow, musical sounds I was able to obtain with the Fractal Foil Label on the loudspeakers or the time-delay fuse, this sound seemed entirely unrelated to them.
Like them though, it'd be difficult to call it "tonally neutral", as there were warm embers all across the entire frequency spectrum. And while there was no sparkle here either, it did not seem the result of a short attack/short delay type of change. Nor did it seem like anything was really missing, since the soundstage became expansive, and I could hear details in familiar songs, not heard before. Just imagine your sound took a wide leap forward in fidelity, but never got rough or ragged on the edges of the harshest notes.... and you'd have some idea.
I suppose it might be called "neutral", in the energy it imparts. That is, since and long after this installation, I have felt the absence of a layer of tension, that is normally not absent. Moreover, I can now hear and feel the absence of tension created by vocals, in music! Which is to say, I'm only keenly aware of it now, that before this, vocals (along with other parts of the music I'm sure), create some degree of tension in the listener. It is because they are not properly being reproduced. (Think "shouty" vocals, but to a much, much more subtle degree). It's only when that is gone, that you realize it shouldn't have been like that, before!
So I'm not sure what to compare this sound to. I just know that I like it. A lot. It is the most preferred sound I was able to obtain with the Fractal Foil Labels these past few days, out of all the experiments listed (and not listed...) herein. And I'm going to have fun re-discovering my music collection in the next few weeks.
I have no plans of not adopting this type of installation. However, this was placed on the South wall, and just from looking around the place (with my eyes!), the best energy seems to be coming from the East wall. This theory was confirmed when I reluctantly brought the label back over to the other side of the place; my office room with the exterior East wall.
One final small detail: As to where to place it along the wall, I presumed around the centre of the room. (That is usually where I locate such things). Just to confirm, I held my open palm sideways, and started 'slicing' segments of the room, starting from the North side. I found that energy goes from lighter to darker here, as you move from North to South**. ('Darker' is the preferred energy profile!). Which I then presumed meant the label should be placed just near the baseboard of the East wall, in the South corner of the room. (Which would be the right corner of the room, in my case).
Except.... as I moved along, I found energy peaked before the right corner, and then got lighter again. So for the record, the final spot where this last Fractal label ended up, is about two-thirds along the East wall of my office room, approximately 3' from the right (South) corner. The Chet Baker Quartet agrees. Will have to be careful about mopping over that area, in the future! (I think sweeping will be ok, since its taped to the floor with a type of strong, flexible tape).
**Sidenote: (I almost forgot doing this... but I recall now, that a couple of days ago, I was doing a Google image search for "orange satsuma". I wanted to know what colour this was. It was triggered by a post from John Peter on the PWB forum, saying it made a good background for a treatment.
It brought up a lot of pictures of Japanese mandarines and such! So with my eyes, I scanned rows of pictures of oranges, to feel if there was anything 'special' about them. I felt that the picture to the right of the first picture, was a bit 'better'. Then the picture to the right of that, was a bit better than the previous. Then the picture to the right of that... ok, to speed this up, I started to realize the energy I was reading wasn't in the pictures themselves. It was in the location on the screen, regardless of which row of pictures I was scanning. All pictures on the right side of my screen were somewhat 'better' than those on the left.
...Then I thought, "Is it even the screen?? What if I pull out of that, and just scan the room?". You can probably see where this is going!... From my desk perch, as I started focusing on the left corner of the room in front of me, slowly moving my eyes toward the right.... I could sense energy got progressively darker from left to right. So even though I'd forgotten that moment, it makes sense that I would see the same pattern in my test today.
And as you might imagine, if an energy is read as 'darker', this is the effect it will have on the music. ie. If I place an object (any object) in the left (North) corner of this room, and it changes my sound to a perceptible degree (everything changes sound, but 'perceptible' is another matter....), the character that sound is likely to exhibit, is a brighter and less engaging sound).
CLOSING REMARKS
The combination of foils/image in last year's Beta test of this product, with careful placement, allowed me to create a sound superior to any PWB product I can recall testing in the past. We're talking real changes that make you rediscover your record collection.
What "The Floor" experiment revealed to me was, the Fractal Foil was on another plane. If one is able to reproduce what I experienced, it'll make you raise your standards of what reproduced music in the home should be. Experiencing that sort of improvement, reminds me of why I ever got into this audiophile nonsense in the first place. Oh, and if you do manage to get to a place that sounds like my description, with the floor installation? My advice to you consists of three simple words: DON'T. MOVE. IT. 😡
Given that my success with them was slow to start, I might say that the Fractal Foil Labels seem to require more care in placement than the previous batch of foils. At
least, in my personal, and initial experience, in this round of tests. They're well worth the effort though, IMO. As example, if one tries to duplicate the character of sound achieved with a single Fractal Foil Label in The Floor test using conventional audio devices, well... they can't.
I know what conventional audio components can and can't do. They can certainly bring a lot of good things to your music, and potentially have a much greater (as in "more noticeable") effect on sound, than the Fractals. But they won't change the sound in that way, as heard. It is not the type of sound that electronics (including wires) can create.
Well, with such good things coming out of
the audiophile magic factory, methinks P.W.B. is heading in the right direction….. 😀
- The Advanced Audiophile.
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