Maestro lacquer is a unique
surface treatment with resonance controlling properties.
Use Maestro lacquer on speakers,
cables and electronics and sound becomes more natural, open, fine and colorful.
Basic Ideas
All mechanical parts have
resonances that influence music reproduction.
The idea to dampen them is not
really successful: while getting the amplitude down, the width of the resonance
peaks will become wider. Harshness goes down, but resolution goes down also, as
those wide resonances have the effect to ‚smear’.
The idea of Maestro lacquer is
different. It is not made to dampen resonances, but to give resonances a
harmonic signature.
How does Maestro lacquer work?
Internal resonances of a
mechanical part come to its surface, and there will be reflected into the
material again. By changing the properties of the surface we may influence the
resonances in a big amount.
Sound always has a certain
character that we detect as nasty or pleasant.
Breaking glass for example is
nothing really attractive, but everybody will like the sound of a good violin.
We tuned Maestro consequently to
those resonances which are regarded by the ear as pleasant.
One might consider that doing
this is far away from the idea of High Fidelity.
But in fact the ear integrates
those harmonic resonances, and does not regard them as something strange that
does not belong to the music. So this kind of resonances is not able to affect
the reproduction of music, but gives it a new level of freedom.
Why does it also work on
Electrical Components and Circuit Boards?
When current flows through a resistor, electrons are pushed through the
resistive material, crash together within its molecular
structure and lose
their velocity, thus generating heat.Heat is nothing more than a result of movement.This internal movement causes the resistor to
vibrate, in turn causing displacement of the molecular structure within the
resistor.The resulting distortion in
the current flowing through the resistor mirrors its spectrum of mechanical
resonance.The same is true for all electrical
components such as capacitors, inductors, semiconductors, or cables.
Tubes may not be lacquered, due to excessive heat.
So far these are the background
ideas.
For a first try we would advise
to take a pair of small two way speakers.
Lacquer the tweeter with a very
thin coating of
Maestro lacquer using the small
brush in the
bottle. Only lacquer the
diaphragm, not the surround. For the bass/midrange use a bigger brush and
lacquer from outside to the inside. Maestro dries pretty fast, and after 15
minutes you will have your first good results.
During the last years we have
treated all kinds of speakers with excellent results.
From small inexpensive systems to
Watt/Puppy’s, Electa Amators or A
Capella Triolons.So there is no need to
worry.
Just follow the instructions and
you will get very positive results.
How to use Maestro lacquer
Maestro lacquer is
applied by a brush to the surface that shall be treated. The size of the brush
to use depends on what you want to lacquer. For general use a hard brush that
is about 1cm wide is a good choice.
For smaller parts just use the brush that is mounted in the cap of the bottle.
Speakers
All speakers in a
system must be treated so the sound character remains the same throughout the
entire bandwidth.A paper cone will soak
up the first coat of Maestro.A smooth
surface is obtained by the second or third coat.Full-range speakers such as Lowthers profit
much by this treatment.Speakers with
kevlar, aluminum, polypropylene, or bextrene cones require less lacquer because
it does not penetrate the surface.
Treat
midrange-drivers twice and high-frequency drivers only one times.It doesn't matter if they are made out of
supronyl, titanium, chitin, fabric, or film.Diaphragms of horn drivers or film diaphragms as in Magnepans must be
treated in the same way.
12 ml are enough for
a pair of a small two or three-way system.Larger paper cones require more lacquer.
Some customers were
so satisfied with the results of lacquering their speakers that they lacquered
the enclosures as well. This gave an additional improvement.
Electronics in general
Some precautions
should be taken when treating electronic devices with Maestro lacquer. Never
lacquer open pots, switches or connectors, and no parts that need to stay
moveable. In addition do not lacquer parts that become hot during use like
heatsinks, tubes or tube sockets.
When lacquering
boards stuffed with SMD parts check wether there are some power semiconductors
which create heat are mounted to the board. Also those devices should not be
lacquered.
Then all circuit
boards should receive two coats on the component side.
This "glues" all components to the board and creates a coherent sound
system.
That means all
resistors, capacitors, etc. should be coated with Maestro. It also helps to
lacquer all internal wiring and transformers.
Please leave out If
you may get an easy access to it is also useful to lacquer the bottom side of
the board.
Turntables
Carefully lacquer the
pickup at least twice.The same applies
to the arm, mat and all cables.
Microphones
A recording engineer
at Telarc thinned the lacquer and treated the housings of his Neumann tube
microphones with excellent results.
CD's
For an example of
what Maestro can do, apply one coat to the label side of a CD.
Do not use it on the other side!Otherwise, the laser will not be able to read the disk.
CD Players/Transports
Mechanical parts in
the transport also profit from a coat of Maestro.But do not lacquer open pots, switches or
connectors.Always cover the lens to
prevent it from being lacquered.
