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Reptisand in the crossover

24.228.53.78
Posted on January 25, 2016 at 12:48:45
BobM
Audiophile

Posts: 1400
Location: Long Island, NY
Joined: September 24, 1999
 I read some time ago of a gent who bought a big bag of Reptisand. This is finely ground 100% pure quartz sand to be used in a reptile tank. Since it is 100% quarts he tried filling his outboard speaker crossover with it and reported good results.

So I picked up a 25lb bag and (mostly) filled each crossover. Now I don;t know if it is vibration absorbing properties, quartz properties, or just plain added mass, but my speakers sound a bit more relaxed than before and perhaps have a quieter background. Dynamics are unchanged. Tonality is unchanged. Not night and day, but to my ears it is an improvement.

Anyone else try this and have similar results? Or perhaps dissimilar results?

Thanks,
Bob

A gentleman is best defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion ... and doesn't.

 

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Haven't tried that, but I sacrificed a chicken and that seemed to help. nt, posted on January 25, 2016 at 13:28:19
Mr. Dick Hertz
 nt

 

RE: Haven't tried that, but I sacrificed a chicken and that seemed to help. nt, posted on January 25, 2016 at 13:34:35
mkuller
Audiophile

Posts: 38130
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: April 22, 2003
 ...LOL

What changes did you notice?

 

Sound seemed to be less bovine..., posted on January 25, 2016 at 14:40:20
Mr. Dick Hertz
 ...and more avian.

 

RE: Sound seemed to be less bovine..., posted on January 25, 2016 at 14:50:59
mkuller
Audiophile

Posts: 38130
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: April 22, 2003
 ...ahhh, the elusive avian sound :)

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 25, 2016 at 15:09:38
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 Quartz has crystalline form and can also passively absorb RFI and EMI as well as the other things you mentioned. Often with just quartz, especially white quartz used in proximity to electronics power cords and outlets people have reported HF clarity increases sometimes too much. You said it didn't change which is fine. Speaking of fine how fine is this product? Perhaps it is ground down so much there is less or almost no crystalline structure. There are many posts you can search here about using crystals (amethyst, tourmaline,topaz,rose and white quartz and others) with audio gear and AC.

ET

ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

This thread,........, posted on January 25, 2016 at 15:11:36
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 Is going to the birds!!

ET
ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 25, 2016 at 20:59:42
rwiley
Audiophile

Posts: 1050
Location: Southeast
Joined: February 20, 2001
 That "gent" was Al Sekela (RIP)...much missed in Tweaksville and other haunts. :)

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 26, 2016 at 09:25:21
BobM
Audiophile

Posts: 1400
Location: Long Island, NY
Joined: September 24, 1999
 Yes, that was what I was alluding to ... RFI/EMI properties absorption around the inductors and caps. Or possibly just vibration absorption around them. Or perhaps a little of each.

It looks like sand, not crystals.


A gentleman is best defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion ... and doesn't.

 

Did you choke that chicken?, posted on January 26, 2016 at 09:25:56
BobM
Audiophile

Posts: 1400
Location: Long Island, NY
Joined: September 24, 1999
 That could explain your good feelings.

A gentleman is best defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion ... and doesn't.

 

Some real mothercluckers popping up around here..., posted on January 26, 2016 at 09:47:30
musetap
Audiophile

Posts: 31879
Location: San Francisco
Joined: July 8, 2003
Contributor
  Since: January 28, 2004
 This song (in it's various forms) keeps seeming appropriate on AA this month:
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 26, 2016 at 10:31:36
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012



Hi Bob,

I also used the Reptisand in outboard XO boxes. I had the Reptisand on hand from a speaker cable project in 2012, so I just bought some cheap boxes. Works for me. I have removed the plastic bags and just placed the sand in the boxes.

BTW...Inmate Dawnrazor was a fan of Reptisand also....

Take care...old guy

 

Nope because I already have to wear glasses., posted on January 27, 2016 at 07:19:59
Mr. Dick Hertz
 No more chicken choking because I might go blind.

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 27, 2016 at 07:39:12
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 I don't know how small the material can be and have the crystalline structure still be effective for RFI/EMI. Surely there is vibration damping.


ET
ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

Hence, your moniker., posted on January 30, 2016 at 12:16:43
Lew
Audiophile

Posts: 10912
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Joined: December 11, 2000
 nt

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 30, 2016 at 16:29:56
bartc
Audiophile

Posts: 4424
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: November 25, 2002
 That is correct, it was the late Al Sekela. And it does work, and he and I would posit that it is both the vibration and the RFI damping characteristics of this pure SiO2 crystalline product.

I've used it successfully in other places for both properties.

As i recall, someone made a power cord commercially part of whose construction secret was pure silicon crystalline sand.

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 31, 2016 at 05:28:06
Ryelands
Audiophile

Posts: 1867
Location: Scotland
Joined: January 9, 2009
 . . . he tried filling his outboard speaker crossover with it and reported good results

Having read similar reports in the past and about a year after upgrading my cross-overs (moving ex cabinet, fitting fancy coils, caps, etc, etc, the usual biz, to two-way, bi-amped, transmission-line speakers) with striking results, I decided to try the sand thing. But, even after buying 16Kg (35 pounds) of a local Reptisand equivalent, I decided I'd be wasting time as well as money and so had to make a tough choice - get rid of the sand I'd just bought or adopt an iguana. Anything other than just trying the thing. Where else to turn except to that fine audio-hobbyist tool, procrastination?

In light of your post, I decided to give the sand a try as, if nothing else, it'd make the boxes more stable. In short, I'm most grateful for your nudge as the results, though not as marked as upgrading and isolating the crossovers, were obtained at a twentieth of the cost and much less effort. My boxes look much like Old Guy 42's except that I filled them to the brim and fitted lids that came with. (BTW, OG42, what are those PVC pipes for?)

So, when you ask "Anyone else try this and have similar results?", I'd answer Yes, eventually, though I'd add that the effect seems to have been more striking in my system than in yours. No idea why further damping already well-damped components (see MusiCap, Dueland and Jantzen data sheets) would make such a difference but it did.

Well worth others trying IMHO even, I suspect, on cheaper crossovers, at least for "proof of concept".

Thanks again.

Dave

 

RE: Reptisand in the crossover, posted on January 31, 2016 at 08:20:23
old guy 42
Audiophile

Posts: 388
Location: Eastern Pa
Joined: August 12, 2012
Contributor
  Since: August 26, 2012



Hey Dave,

The PVC pipe is part of a re-enforcement system to make my Magnepan MMGs more rigid. Another inmate gave me the idea.

Take care...old guy

 

Exactly! nt, posted on January 31, 2016 at 08:34:53
Mr. Dick Hertz
 nt

 

Mystery solved..., posted on January 31, 2016 at 13:26:33
Lew
Audiophile

Posts: 10912
Location: Bethesda, Maryland
Joined: December 11, 2000
 I used to wonder why you did not use "Richard".

 

I've always been a Dick. nt, posted on January 31, 2016 at 16:39:21
Mr. Dick Hertz
 nt

 

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