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In the Forum: Melquiades Amplifier
In the Thread: Herbie's Hal-O Tube Dampers
Post Subject: Rings and padsPosted by JJ Triode on: 9/21/2007
Romy,
I wouldn't assume the ring material in the tube dampers to be sonically irrelevant. Polymer materials are viscoelastic, so should contribute to the damping effect, while a spring-like metal ring would have a more resonant behavior. In any case the contact pads are also different in the newer Hal-Os, in both the elastomer formulation and their physical design, so they "should" sound a little different. Not automatically better, though personally I did observe significant (to me) improvements.
Steve Herbelein uses some fanciful names, like in his "Way Excellent Turntable Mat," but at least he tries to genuinely improve his products without jacking up prices much. There are plenty of tweakmeisters who price their widgets every bit as outrageously as the Kharma speakers or Lamm's latest amp...Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site