I asked Jack Bybee about placing the Purifiers on the return (negative) side of the speakers, and why I was getting positive results. As it turns out, I was not the only one. I have been talking with another Bybee user who was experiencing the same results. He then forwarded me an email from Stewart Ono of Audio Direct in Honolulu (he is also a Bybee dealer, with much more experience than I):
"...I commented about the effect of adding a second purifier on the return leg to Jack a while back, soon after I became a dealer. The effect is quite noticeable and in my systems I cannot live without it..."
"...The positive terminal seems to add the highs (very broad sweeping generalization here) and the negative seems to emphasize the lows. In the case of the negative terminals on the speaker wire, the purifiers are actually acting in the amplifier's feedback loops, which is critical for sound..."
"...I've grumbled to Jack about the vagueness of his website description, especially for us installers. Through careful experimentation, here is what I have learned, Jack's devices are a new class of devices and essentially I believe what they are doing is to place the current and voltage into
correct phase. One could call them power factor correctors and essentially be correct, but whereas most power factor correction involves slowing the current further to be in phase with voltage (AC applications, here) Jack's units accelerate the current.
Once understanding this, then it is relatively easy to properly install the devices and one could almost determine a hierarchy for installation sites. Current and voltage phase shifts occur anywhere there is inductance. Output transformers,voice coils, power transformers, crossover inductors,
chokes, wire wound resisters are all prime sources of inductances.
In the case of speakers the signal going through the positive terminals have to enter the inductors but once passing through the speaker itself, has to go through the voice coil, sometimes encountering another inductor, depending on the crossover design. If you are running a tube amp the entire output goes through a transformer , of course, and so do most digital amps as they use an inductor to smooth out the pulse wave just before the speaker terminals.
What tipped me off to the nature of the purifiers was the fact that it did not work on the transformer leads to a tube rectifier. Sound difference was nada, absolutely zilch, something which puzzled me since it worked so well on solid state diodes. Careful consideration of the nature of the
vacuum tube and how it propagates it's actions and how it affects the voltage/current phase relationship led to understanding the purifiers. It also led to understanding why tube gear sounds so much better (to my ears, anyway).
I'm not sure what speakers Cryotweaks has been using for his experimentation, so I cannot comment about them, but I have worked on the Eggleston Andras and have noticed that their tweeters are phase
inverted to the mids and the woofers. The problem of phase inversion of the drivers relative to each other is a problem I wish you reviewers would pounce on. In viewing the tech reports (and listening) to speakers like the Dynaudios and the Wilson Sophias, I cannot understand why such an expensive speaker can have such glaring deficiencies. This problem clouds the assessment of any component forward of the speaker. Even the speakers I sell suffer from phase anomalies. The old Hales had the
midranges inverted to the other drivers, as does the older Alon's. The Triangles have their tweeters inverted. Only the Vandersteens are phase correct but the thick grill cloth obscures any detail that they may have.
Sorry to rant about this, but all too often I notice that the phase problems leads to a perceived fault when Jack's devices are installed. I haven't tried the devices at the amplifier terminals, but I certainly will conduct a few experiments over the next few days and report back on the results..."
