Tír Na HiFi

One day I was just walking and enjoying the beauty of Eden (I guess my stereo was down at that time), when God came to me and asked: "Adam, what do you think if I made you a woman who will love you unconditionally and take care of you? She will always agree with every decision you make. She will not nag you and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will be happier than you when you spend a lot of money on your stereo, especially when you cover your walls with expensive 3M sh!t".
I asked: 'How much would that cost me?"
God replied, "An arm and a leg."
I said: "Wow, that's expensive! What can I get for a rib?"

...........I guess that you all know what happened next! ;-)

Cheers,
Adam

tony wrote: Now you are talking what is this custom made shielding? Is it providing the same level of supression that this bloody paper?

Nothing fancy at all. Simply a thin aluminium plate with the corners cut and the sides folded down. It will sit down over the circuitry and be attached to the ground plane of the board. A few holes drilled out in a grid pattern to let heat disappate from the chips below. You have to be careful though that the shields are gounded otherwise you could end up picking up more RFI.
You cant just throw this stuff around randomly. The affected signals though are tiny. Wouldnt have thought this stuff would be audible though but there you go.

Shielding is good, but in some places you also need something to absorb the EMI and not only to bounce back! The best is to have both. 3M facing the EMI radiating and sensitive chips and shield on top of that.

sima66 wrote:One day I was just walking and enjoying the beauty of Eden (I guess my stereo was down at that time), when God came to me and asked: "Adam, what do you think if I made you a woman who will love you unconditionally and take care of you? She will always agree with every decision you make. She will not nag you and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will be happier than you when you spend a lot of money on your stereo, especially when you cover your walls with expensive 3M sh!t".
I asked: 'How much would that cost me?"
God replied, "An arm and a leg."
I said: "Wow, that's expensive! What can I get for a rib?"

...........I guess that you all know what happened next! ;-)

Cheers,
Adam

Now Dave compared to your carry on last year with speakers and amps etc there is a man who knows how to get from A to B quickly and get the right result! Perfect silence and beautiful grey interior. Adam thanks for the laugh brightened up a miserable Monday evening!!

tony wrote: Now Dave compared to your carry on last year with speakers and amps etc there is a man who knows how to get from A to B quickly and get the right result!

Last 2 years you mean. Took me ages to undo the damage I done.

tony wrote:

DaveF wrote:

tony wrote: Sure it would only cost a couple hundred to cover that black plate you now use for hifi!

lol ouch! At least it looks good. :-)


On a serious note though I could see where EMI/RF shielding could be of use in an audio PC. We use such shielding on sensitive circuitry on our board designs at work. Its not always required but on power circuitry it does have an affect. Custom made shielding that cost tens of euros though. The prices above do seem quite extreme.

Now you are talking what is this custom made shielding? Is it providing the same level of supression that this bloody paper?
Totally agree the price is crazy but actually cheap by comparison to EU prices which work out at €54 a sheet!
Nobody has ever suggested there is a workable cheap alternative but I am all ears?

BTW this is meant to work for amps/cd players/power supplies your fuseboard etc etc.
Whether it is in my mind or not don't know would need abx testing to confirm but it seems to have a noticeable impact.
Sima66 swears by it and has wall papered his complete house in the stuff!

Edit: I know Nigel re US order I don't see it happening. Amazing either the americans as a nation are afraid to enter group buys or they all just buy 50 sheets when they take the plunge. You would think with 600m people they wouldn't be depending on some sheets from france,Ireland and lithuania!!

Well it's happening!!

That's great to hear Mark well done for pulling it together. I gather you will be dispatching a fair chunk to Ireland? When are you expecting delivery I did check back on the jplay thread and saw you were going for a second box so knew it was happening but there seemed to be some doubt that the supplier would get them back in stock.

I believe the second box will be like the first, on backorder so 3-4 weeks before I get them. But at that price, I reckon it is worth the wait.

An alternative:
Stillpoints ERS EMI/RFI Suppression Cloth: In appearance a grey cloth like material impregnated with carbon fibes that are wash coated with metals in a proprietary process. This material not only shields from and reflects EMI/RFI, but absorbs it, so merely laying a sheet on top of, or wrapping, noise emitting components (anything digital, AC junction boxes, power supplies,
transformers) can have dramatic results. Even speaker drivers, crossovers, and turntable platters may benefit with this treatment. Users have reported spectacular reductions in glare, hash, background noise, etc. The polyester fabric will insulate the core of ERS, to some degree, but can be easily penetrated with shape edges. Caution should be exercised when used in close proximity
to circuitry. See Positive Feedback & Stereo Times articles. 11" wide by any length @$2.95 per linear inch - from Michael Percy www.percyaudio.com.

I would think this cloth would be superior to the paper, which I have used at the breaker panel.

By the way there is much group buy activity in the US - that is AT LEAST as active as any I have seen on sites elsewhere in the world. Look here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-buys/

wademcinnis wrote:An alternative:
Stillpoints ERS EMI/RFI Suppression Cloth: In appearance a grey cloth like material impregnated with carbon fibes that are wash coated with metals in a proprietary process. This material not only shields from and reflects EMI/RFI, but absorbs it, so merely laying a sheet on top of, or wrapping, noise emitting components (anything digital, AC junction boxes, power supplies,
transformers) can have dramatic results. Even speaker drivers, crossovers, and turntable platters may benefit with this treatment. Users have reported spectacular reductions in glare, hash, background noise, etc. The polyester fabric will insulate the core of ERS, to some degree, but can be easily penetrated with shape edges. Caution should be exercised when used in close proximity
to circuitry. See Positive Feedback & Stereo Times articles. 11" wide by any length @$2.95 per linear inch - from Michael Percy http://www.percyaudio.com.

I would think this cloth would be superior to the paper, which I have used at the breaker panel.

By the way there is much group buy activity in the US - that is AT LEAST as active as any I have seen on sites elsewhere in the world. Look here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-buys/

Kinda gone unnoticed this week but interesting post. Seen this stuff mentioned on Jplay maybe will need to investigate this also.
Re the group buy it was a comment really on the Jplay forum where I think a few group buy efforts floundered but maybe they all use diyaudio for this. Fair play to Mark for pulling it off and hoping it arrives safely next week.