QuickSilver Testing

[PolkThug]

QuickSilver definitely changes the sound. Like all things audio related, whether you like it or not will depend on your gear and your personal tastes. I tried to be as objective as possible and perform tests that could be repeatable.

Here is the review:
http://www.angelfire.com/ultra2/polkthug/QuickSilver_review.pdf

Thanks to Brian Kyle for letting me test it.

Regards,
PolkThug

[jdhdiggs]

Well done! Very intersting results in that my understangint of the goal of the quicksilver is to increase the quality of contact. I would think that this would lead to an increase in overall dB. This may be a situation where a product only offers a "different" sound and leaves it to the listener to decide what to do with it.

Do you have some testing on cables?

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by jdhdiggs
Well done! Very intersting results in that my understangint of the goal of the quicksilver is to increase the quality of contact. I would think that this would lead to an increase in overall dB. This may be a situation where a product only offers a "different" sound and leaves it to the listener to decide what to do with it.

Do you have some testing on cables?

thanks! I hope to do some serious cable testing soon. :)

[jdhdiggs]

That would be sweet but establishing the accurate baseline would be rough. Could you feed the output directly into the comp to generate a baseline? This way you could take the amp and speakers out of the loop for a little more accuracy. (I know, I know, it eliminates the fun)

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by jdhdiggs
That would be sweet but establishing the accurate baseline would be rough. Could you feed the output directly into the comp to generate a baseline? This way you could take the amp and speakers out of the loop for a little more accuracy. (I know, I know, it eliminates the fun)

If I was testing three different cables, I would make the average of those three different cables the baseline to compare to. ie "Cable X was 2db hire than the average in the 2k to 5k range."

[jdhdiggs]

I wouldn't do a pure average. Try using excels R-squared approach so you can balance in the outliers a bit better.

[PolkThug]

I ran the same test with four differently constructed interconnects. There's basically no difference.

[jdhdiggs]

Nice, have you tried some of the ones that put the funny little box in the line (Transperent/MIT)?

Looking at your results, a least r^2 regression would be a waste of time.

Are these using the interconnects strait into the comp or are they ran through your whole system and picked up from the mic?

If it is the latter, you may run into som fiestyness in that people might say your rig isn't "reference" enough to show the difference. ;)

All in all, exactly as I expected though I would love to see the results on the cables that put components in the path.

[madmax]

Just wondering, could this be because everything warmed up? "5-6. 24 hours pass and during 9 hours of that, music was playing continuously. Now, there is definitely a major change in output (light blue line). Basically the SPL peaks are 1-3 db's lower than before. Purple line is before treatment." Also, you could keep track of the line voltage if you do this again.
madmax

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by madmax
Just wondering, could this be because everything warmed up?


Nope, that's what I thought at first though. To quote myself:

"7. Take a "cold" measurement 48 hours after initial application."

There were some small changes between the hot and cold measurement. Measurement 7 had basically no warm up time, and my equipment had been off for many hours before the test.

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by jdhdiggs

Are these using the interconnects strait into the comp or are they ran through your whole system and picked up from the mic?


Its "real world" results being picked up by the mic. The ONLY thing treated is the interconnect between the Denon and the Onkyo.

Regards,
PT