[vett93]

That's interesting. I don't know what to say about Bybees since they are supposed to be non-reactive (meaning they can't modify the circuit other than through their inherent resistance). Yet- their web site says they can. This is a contradiction. I do not see how they can help reduce Johnson noise either.

...

In a recent issue of The Absolute Sound, there was an article about Bybee products. It explained how they work. In short, it claimed that Bybee products can reduce 1/f noises.

I'm not sure how many people could understand it though. Even after 3 degrees in EE, I still cannot follow the description. LOL....

[Niteshade]

I would like to see a demonstration of a Bybee resistor with a scope/signal/noise generator setup. I can't locate any such or similar tests. Everything I can find has been subjective.

[vett93]

If you replace the amp's internal wiring with silver wire, it will sound different. But can you measure it with a scope?

My point is that our ears are more sensitive than the known testing methodology. One needs to trust his/her own ears in this hobby.

If I were you, I would email Jack Bybee and order some to experiment. That's the only way to find out how useful it is. Tell him I sent you too. 

By looking at your picture, I would think that you need 1 or 2 Bybee purifiers for your amp. It is not too expensive to experiment, especially you are in business to design and manufacture amps.

[Niteshade]

I will look further into it and contact them. Who do I say sent me?

 You will like this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/carbon-film-vs-metal-film-revisited-121104/

I use metal film, flameproof resistors in all my circuits. 

There's another thread out called, 'The Truth' and it's beginning to morph into a components discussion. Too bad I couldn't link them!

There's allot of good material out there regarding components, but some of it goes into this 'unmeasurable' territory. If I can't measure a component's effectiveness or ineffectiveness, how can it be justified as an upgrade or a downgrade?
 I saw an article where someone tested several kinds of capacitors for linearity across a frequency spectrum and he found most of them were very linear and I believe it was a ceramic disk cap that wasn't so good. Bybee's and exotic caps tend to be compartmentalized in the same category with me, for the time being. Everybody hears things differently and there's a good chance many people woudn't be able to hear the difference between a standard high quality commercial capacitor and a $20.00 'audio' cap of some kind, for example. If they're both linear within the audio spectrum according to concrete lab tests- should we hear a difference?

Well- that's a few components to mull over: Bybees, carbon film resistors & expensive audio caps.

It is very (extremely) important to me to use high quality components that have a good company name behind them and perform as specified by lab tests. Once we start getting into the components that can't be electrically seperated by standard lab tests, I have some major issues.  I do not believe my EE instructors would have passed me on labs if I said, "Sounds Great...but can't tell you why!" If I made to identicle plots then told him one component was different- that wouldn't float.

[*Scotty*]

Niteshade said,

I do not believe my EE instructors would have passed me on labs if I said, "Sounds Great...but can't tell you why!"

You should probably be prepared to tolerate some ambiguity when you start designing amplifiers and dealing with very transparent circuits and High Fidelity systems. It will be necessary to make decisions based on the empirical data you generate in the course of designing and listening to audio equipment. You will have to be prepared to to do something because it works even if you don't understand why it works. I think math and measurements are a good place to start a circuit design from. However if you are designing a circuit to reproduce music,at some point you will actually have to listen to it.  At the end of the day, how the circuit sounds is the reason you built it in the first place.
Scotty

[Niteshade]

"You should probably be prepared to tolerate some ambiguity when you start designing amplifiers and dealing with very transparent circuits and High Fidelity systems."


There's no question about that. I've been experimenting with ways to reduce noise in amps and preamps all along. Circuits that have high impedances in them can be challenging and so far, it's the type of circuit and how components are connected together (ground paths) and oriented with each other (physically) that makes a big difference in how the circuit operates. Wire length between areas in a circuit has allot to do with the noise floor too.

When the noise floor is extremely low and not through the use of excessive feedback, that's when there's a possibility that experimenting with components of different compositions might make a difference.

[vett93]

My power amp , a Counterpoint NP100, is a good example of component/wiring changes. Note that a NP100 is a rebuild of SA100 with a new circuit board. This is a hybrid amp with tubes in the gain stage and SS in the driver and output stages. It has gone through the following levels of upgrade: Basic, Basic Gold, Premium Gold, and Platinum.

In each upgrade, Mike Elliott changed some parts to higher grade ones. The improvement is very noticeable for each one of them. Note that the design is the same for all four upgrade levels.

Noise reduction is crucial for better performance. I used 8 Bybees for noise reduction purposes. None of them is in the signal path.

[Niteshade]

I still plan on contacting Jack Bybee and will get back to you afterwards.

One thing needs to be addressed: Non-measurable results. Scotty alluded to designing by ear more than through measurements and that is reasonable. It doesn't hurt to start with a good theory.

There is no doubt in my mind that high resolution circuits are the most rewarding to develop. They happen to be the most difficult since tube circuits are noise magnets by nature. A good circuit is priceless! The old Baldwins I posted today in the 'Photos of Past Projects' thread has a excellent circuit. You wouldn't believe what they can do with 8uf of main filtering and a single large choke! Shocking! There is another small multi-section cap and it has three sections, 20uf each. They're not dead quiet, but that's most likely because all the tubes are used and not matched well. All the caps are good.

If you replace the amp's internal wiring with silver wire, it will sound different. But can you measure it with a scope?

My point is that our ears are more sensitive than the known testing methodology. One needs to trust his/her own ears in this hobby.

If I were you, I would email Jack Bybee and order some to experiment. That's the only way to find out how useful it is. Tell him I sent you too. 

By looking at your picture, I would think that you need 1 or 2 Bybee purifiers for your amp. It is not too expensive to experiment, especially you are in business to design and manufacture amps.

[aragon63]

  Hashimoto transformers  &  Kiwame resistors....my best upgrades so far.