How does the Ayre System Enhancement CD work?

Can't say what's happening but it certainly works in the several system iterations I've had lately. The improvements were subtle but sweeter, and smoother, and maybe more relaxed, which I happen to prefer. Works for me.

Maybe its electric drano.

I think Charles Hansen explained this in a thread on Audio Asylum where he regularly posted. It has to do with the sweeping tones clearing/demagnetizing residual fields off of "solid state" chips. I'm sure you need a more technical answer than this. :-(

Warren: My thoughts on this are that most of this disc and specific track tend to "work" all of the components in the system to a much greater degree and do so in a much more consistent manner than any type of music does. Given that most music is a series of short duration impulses based on ( mostly ) standardized tuning arrangements, there are some parts of the audible spectrum that never really see much signal in terms of duration and / or intensity. In fact, there may be specific frequencies that are never reproduced as a primary signal in some systems. This is especially true if one listens to the same type of music using a limited number of instruments using standardized tuning in those recordings.

By slowly sweeping the entire spectrum using a steady state signal of longer duration, every part of the audible spectrum, and therefore the equipment trying to reproduce it, is given a thorough work-out. The fact that all of this energy is concentrated in a very narrow frequency region at a given level of intensity at a given time, and all frequencies are covered equally, is akin to working each muscle in your body individually, but in a very thorough yet equal manner. Most of the "work-outs" that your equipment undergoes during normal use does NOT do this. How this "conditions" or "demagnetizes" the equipment, i don't know. All i know is that it works.

When used in conjunction with the other tracks on this disc, it is the most effective method of "breaking in" componentry that i've found. Some of the other tracks maintain a very high average output level over a very wide spectrum, which is exactly the opposite of the narrow bandwidth sweeping of Tracks 1 & 7. The "equal but opposite" stressing of these types of signals on the gear is probably what is responsible for most of the benefits i notice, but i'm sure that there are other things going on here. Sean
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thanks Sean....

So the consensus is that this thing works? No magic pebbles or tin foil here?

Swampwalker: After rebuilding my Father's speakers, my Brother and i listened to them. To be quite frank, they sounded like hell. My Brother was worried that we had done something wrong i.e. that the speakers were worse than when we started. I told him that even though we used all of the existing parts ( caps, resistors, coils, drivers, etc...) that had thousands upon thousands of hours on them, all of the solder and new cabling inside of them was new. As a point of reference, the sound was phenomenally bright, harsh and fatiguing.

When I told my Brother that the speakers and system needed to "play in", he laughed at me. After he left, i put the Ayre disc on repeat and it ran for 3 days through the system. I had the volume up pretty good, as high as i could run it without damaging the system. Needless to say, nobody was home while doing this.

When my Brother came back and heard the system three days later, he thought that i had changed every piece of cabling in the entire system. It was so much warmer, smoother and focused that the differences in sonics were undeniable. When i told him the only thing that i had done was to play that disc repeatedly, he went and looked at all of the cabling for himself. Not only was he convinced, he now uses this specific disc for break-in purposes himself.

Having said that, anyone attempting to use this disc should use extreme caution. Not only can it damage your system if caution is not used, it is possible that other items outside of the system could sustain damage due to extreme low frequency energy and the resultant vibrations. This disc WILL shake your room and possibly the entire structure depending on the construction of the building and the volume level. As such, one should listen to the entire disc at low volumes to see what each track entails prior to adjusting volume beyond that point.

Yes, this disc works. Especially track 7 played on repeat at good volume. Those with vented speakers beware. Sean
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But how do you know that three days of, oh let's say Norah Jones at high volume, wouldn't have yielded the same improvement?

Anyway, you are talking about using the disc for break in, but it's raison d'etre is demagnetization or whatever it is that it does with but one or two sweeps through Track 7.

Warren, I believe the frequency tone sweep was purposely used to find the system frequency bandwidth potential. It can also be use to find peak and dips in a speaker and room. I used to have a cleaning disc that had this tone sweep and many other useful tracks. One of the tracks had two 60 hz tone bursts which suppost to help eliminate static residue in the circuitboard. I see some improvement in the background but not dramatic.

thanks
Alfredo

How often do you do the Ayre disc? I'm a once a weeker, when I remember. Turns out that I forget quite a bit, but this is one of my New Years resolutions: To Ayre every week. One rez I can keep without too much work...lol..

Drubin: I've used "pounding" heavy metal discs and other types of music at higher volumes for longer periods of time and gotten lesser results.

As far demagnetization goes, i don't know if it does that or not. All i know is that seems to work wonderfully as a break-in disc and "cleans things out" if used once in a while. Sean
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