Several products exist in the market to reduce vibration for better sound. Footers and isolation pads on sources, amplifiers, DACs, etc. claim to address piezoelectric, microphonic and phonon disturbances inside components. No doubt, these hypothesized mechanisms do play a role; however, AudioWise proposes that vibration effects are largely manifested at the connector interface:
- Vibration induced inertial forces on mechanically coupled cable connections cause microscopic gaps to form
- This changes the area of electrical contact and hence changes resistance (R) and capacitance (C)
- This time-varying R+C introduces noise and other distortions modulated by the signal voltage and frequency
In other words, cables are not soldered but held in place by mechanical force, so the connector contact pins and sleeves jiggle ever so slightly with vibration and this changes the signal transfer function.
STABILANT•22 is a patented polymer liquid that is non-conductive but in the presence of an electric field between the narrow gap of metal connectors, becomes conductive. When applied to electromechanical contacts, STABILANT•22 provides the connection reliability of a soldered joint without forming a physical bond. So STABILANT•22 electrically stabilizes a cable connection to substantially reduce signal impact due to vibration.
The industrial science behind STABILANT•22 comes from its widespread use in air transport, marine and automotive environments where vibration induced electrical connection discontinuities are common. In professional audio applications (recording equipment, microphones, mixing boards), STABILANT•22 is the industry secret that yields measurable benefits:
- lower harmonic distortions (particularly high order harmonics)
- reduced connector microphonics
- less signal-to-noise distortion
- better signal rise-times
STABILANT•22 includes a small container (5ml or 15ml concentrate) with a "dropper-type" cap plus reusable micro brushes to aid in application. The concentrate may be used directly but is most commonly diluted (4 to 1) with 99.9% alcohol (isopropanol or ethanol). The alcohol acts as a carrier, spreading the material evenly before evaporating to leave a 1 to 2 micron film on the contact. Use STABILANT•22 on line-level (RCA, BNC, Balanced XLR), speaker-level (banana, spade), digital (S/PDIF RCA, BNC, AES XLR, USB, RJ-45), DC power (barrel, multi-pin) as well as AC power connections.