Purist Audio has been using Cryo process on his cables for years. There is a specific temperature that the material must be taken down to, and at a specific rate of speed, and for a specific amount of time. After the time limit has been met, the return to normal temperature must be done at a specific temperature rate and time span as well. The way Purist gets this correct, is through a contract with NASA. My understanding is that the tanks they use for submersion use liquid Nitrogen, and are huge! These tanks are temperature and time controlled to a fraction of a degree by super computers. The is normal treatment for many of the goods entering outer space. Jim Aud's computer expertise had him involved in the nuclear project for clean energy and with NASA. That, and living in Texas, near the facility, has allowed him access. I have made a direct comparison on the power supply of my Soundlab Ultimate speakers. I first broke them in with the standard (toroidal) transformer, then had Soundlab ship an identical pair of transformers to Purist. After Cryo treatment, Purist shipped them to me, and I exchanged them for the stock units. The downside was that the Cryo treated version took nearly three times as long to break in. However, after break in, all the things that make sound better WERE better. This includes improved tonal balance, increased bandwidth, MUCH lover distortion, and even greater intelligibility on vocals and instruments. Overall there was a sense of greater ease and a more natural and less congested presentation. I also participated in a (non public disclosed) test with Benz, where we Cryo treated the Ruby cartridge. The results were similar, but there were concerns for the life of the bonding agents that held the wood body to the motor, and the long term affect on the suspension. Too complicated to get into. My advise is to just be sure if you experiment with this, get a profession to help like I did. Cryo treatment has different effects on every material (depending on its structure), and many products are made of several different materials. Taking one material to the correct temperature may adversely affect the others.
Cryo your cables?
I was talking with a buddy of mine that builds racing engines for karts and the subject of cryogenic freezing came up. For the past couple of years this has been THE hot thing to have done to your engine parts to reduce wear and friction. I checked out a place on the web called 300below.com that does this work. Now for the interseting part relating to cables. They say that one of the frequently treated alloys is copper, espescially welding electrodes. Quote- "The increased durability of Copper from cryogenic treatments is increased homogeneity of the crystal structure. The material becomes more compact, dissolving gaps and discolorations or, for example, chrome carbides found in class II copper. Because of structural compactness there is less electron obstruction which improves electrical conductivity. It has also been learned that as a result of increased conductivity, welding amperage can be reduced thereby further prolonging the service life of electrodes." This got me thinking, what would such a difference in crystal structure do to interconnects and speaker cables? It would seem that what they claim of reduced electron obstruction and increased conductivity would be a positive thing in an audio environment. Has anyone ever thought about this before or actually had their cables treated? I would like some other opinions on this. I'm definitely having my drag-bike engine shipped out this winter to be treated, but I never thought before about how it might make cables sound different.