Brass Screws and Brass Bolts used in Audio Equipment to Increase Sound Quality

Information for Electronic and Mechanical Parts Mounting or Fastening

Brass screws and bolts have been involved in our research prior to the discovery of Live-Vibe Technology™ in 1999. Audio Points™ first marketed in 1989 soon led us to the realization that brass alloys increased function and sound quality in every application that was applied.

This opinion is based on a successful theorem with a proven track record of products sold and reviewed by Audio Industry experts. To clear the field of subjectivity, a general understanding must be agreed upon to lessen the number of public objections as to who would ever believe a screw could alter the sound of anything.

Therefore:

1. Physics – all energy seeks the greater mass and will eventually find earth’s ground and will travel there via the pathways of least resistance.

2. All materials have natural damping factors (energy absorption capabilities).

3. Vibrations create resonance and resonance energy is conductive and attracted to all earthly metals.

4. Resonance disrupts and interferes in all-electric, electromechanical, and acoustic signal paths.

5. Resonance build-up establishes component and loudspeaker operational inefficiencies.

6. In a resonance transfer model maintaining resonance energy in a state of motion is essential for function.

7. Successes, descriptions, and analogies are based on listening tests, multiple applications, and experiments yielding functional outcomes with a measure of proof provided by Industry Reviewers and public opinions:

Loudspeaker Mounting Use:

The constant piston motion of the driver assembly establishes a heavier amplitude of resonance that propagates along all smooth surfaces including the driver surface and assembly per the laws of Coulomb.

Resonance generated from the driver motion seeks the steel framework as a secondary grounding plane because metals are conductive of resonance.

A portion of this resonance clings to the steel until energy dissipation takes place through phase cancellation or is transferred away from the steel by other resonance conductive measures and/or materials. If not removed from the speaker framework, the speaker becomes inefficient and does not fire in a 360° pattern as was intended.

Phase cancellation is a sluggish form of energy dissipation wherein motion, molecules of the same frequency collide and dissipate into the air in the form of heat.

Steel screws are ferrous (magnetic) therefore resonance movement attracted to the steel material is slowed or stagnated because of the magnetic field established by the driver’s magnet. The body of the screw also conducts resonance into the greater mass of the speaker chassis where the natural damping from the material reduces the resonance.

Brass is nonferrous yet highly conductive for resonance transfer, so magnets and magnetic fields have no effect on nonferrous materials, especially when applied to a resonance energy transfer model.

A few things happen when brass screws, bolts, or threaded inserts are used in speaker applications. Brass has a more effective shear velocity and also functions as a neutral mechanical grounding device when magnets are present.

The location of brass screws fastening the driver’s framework is not affected by the speaker’s magnetism. This allows for less resonance buildup as the flow goes uninterrupted and evenly onto the front baffle of the speaker’s mass.

A more critical application is when you can replace the screws holding the tweeter diaphragm. These are generally located closer to the center of the tweeter whereas some are located on the surface facing the listener. Replacing these screws provides the most audible effects. Do not replace screws holding the diaphragm if you lack a technical understanding of tweeter construction. A qualified technician can easily provide this service.

Years of experiencing and using three defining characteristics of music known as attack, sustain and decay became the principal component in our listening evaluations. For years we believed the faster resonance is reduced, the better result is provided. However musical sonic is not a science therefore we merged our technical understanding of how musical instruments sound and function to advance the listening test processes.

In 2004, we listened to the same shelf geometry, one made of steel and the other made of brass and for whatever reason the brass totally outperformed steel. This provided further insight into material science where the average shear velocity of steel is approximately 5,900 meters per second and the average shear velocity of a brass alloy is approximately 4,400 meters per second. Clearly, the slower shear velocity was proven to be the more musical in sonic.

Based on this research we used brass mounting assemblies and fasteners to improve function on all parts of the loudspeaker build including crossover parts and crossover mounts, internal bracing, and speaker terminals.

One step further adding proof to this theorem:

Replacing steel screws or bolts including any nylon, aluminum, steel sleeves, or offsets with brass parts wherever possible in and on electronic equipment chassis improves sonic measure.

The key to this overall functionality is you must have a resonance conductive mechanical exit or resonance transfer conduit or mechanical grounding mechanism contacting the chassis per the laws of Coulomb. In order for energy to rapidly exit the circuits, capacitors, transformers, power supplies, etc., into the chassis and then from the chassis to the earth’s ground increases dramatically, the musicality associated with sonic.

Another step forward establishing more evidence of function:

The Energy Room™ is a full-blown example of Live-Vibe Technology in operation where the entire room structure is built as a resonance transfer device. Brass screws penetrating drywall bored into wall studs reduce laminar resonance flows on all wall and ceiling surfaces via mechanical grounding. The energy is transferred into the studs which are connected to the greater mass of the flooring eventually leading to the earth’s ground. The difference between brass and standard steel or metal alloy drywall screws provides the best example of audible functionality.

Brass Screws and Brass Bolts used in Audio ©2012 Live Vibe Audio, LLC

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