Rick Schultz
By Larry Deniston, SFAS Director of Membership Support
On March 18, 2017 the San Francisco Audiophile Society (SFAS) was lucky enough to have Rick Schultz join us at Leslie’s audiophile garage and provide us with an afternoon of education and interesting discussion about magnetic conduction which is the basis of the High Fidelity product line. Rick is the owner and CEO of High Fidelity Cables (http://www.highfidelitycables.com/).
Leslie in her space kicking off the event*
Rick opened up the event asking the question “how does the consumer make an informed decision with so many choices” of different Hi-Fi cable manufacturers, each having their own house sound. Rick advocates that a consumer who is able to understand the basic physics of electrical power and magnetic conduction will be better suited to make an informed decision on what the best cable is for their system, understanding that the primary role of a cable is to transfer an electric charge. With the premise set, Rick began explaining and demonstrating some of the basics of magnetism, electricity and induction; that electric fields and magnetic fields co-exist. Rick explained that generators, the source of electric power for our houses and hi-fi systems, convert physical energy to electrical energy and transformers convert higher voltages to lower voltages via induction. Induction is the mechanism in which we receive electric power from the power companies. Rick spoke about ac and dc current and demonstrated that magnetic fields affect both. Magnetism occurs any time a charge (electrons) or current flows which is why magnetic fields in the cables and equipment is so important. We don’t know exactly what causes magnetism, but it is thought that it can be attributed to spinning objects creating a magnetic moment which in turn creates a magnetic field. And we are certainly able to observe the effects of charges, currents and magnetism.
Rick demonstrating magnetic field effects in a non-ferrous material
With our heads full of physics and magnetics, we took a brief break and listened to some beautiful music through Leslie’s excellent system.
Starting the session back up, Rick explained that the reason it’s important to have a basic understanding of the physics of electric power and magnetics is to help us understand how and why High Fidelity cables work. Electrons, in an electric field such as a cable, naturally tend to become more diffuse which explains the skin effect and impedance of conductors. According to Rick the skin effect also produces a large amount of energy and is a magnetic phenomena. This can lead to time distortion in a cable, i.e. higher frequencies will arrive quicker than lower frequencies. Multi-stranded wire can increase the amount of time distortion and larger gauge cable will have more skin effect.
As Rick demonstrated with the cathode ray tube (CRT), a diffuse beam of electrons became focused when a magnet was placed at the end of the CRT. Similarly, the conduction magnets in High Fidelity cables focus the signal in the cable concentrating the electrons into the center of the conductor yielding less distortion and reproducing music more accurately. Please note there are examples of the demonstrations and additional explanations on the High Fidelity Cable website under the Technology tab (http://www.highfidelitycables.com/technology.html)
To close out the event Rick was kind enough to bring several MC-0.5 Magnetic Conduction power conditioners ($299) and a pair of Reveal Interconnect cables ($699) for a raffle (results below) and offered a 30% discount on equipment purchases to attendees at the event (I’m really looking forward to receiving the power cord I ordered).
The lucky winners of the raffles (from left to right) MC-0.5 – Jeff Lindeman, Two MC-0.5s – Gary Getman, Reveal Interconnect Cable – Ken Peters, Rick Schultz.
The following are some reviews of his latest gear from the audiophile press:
Vade Forrester – Soundstage Ultra
September 15, 2016
http://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/equipment-menu/670-high-fidelity-cables-ct-1-ultimate-digital-link-interconnects-speaker-cables-and-power-cords
Tweek Geek
August 17, 2016
http://tweekgeek.blogspot.fi/2016/08/sometimes-you-know-immediately-review.html
Audio Bacon
August 2, 2016
https://audiobacon.net/2016/08/02/high-fidelity-ct-1-ultimate-power-cord-and-mc-0-5-review/
Audio Bacon
July 1, 2016
https://audiobacon.net/2016/07/01/high-fidelity-cables-magnetic-rca-adapters-elevate-your-system-for-299/
* Description of Leslie’s stereo system:
Prototype High Fidelity amp, Marantz preamp processor modified by High Fidelity and virtually all cables and cords are high fidelity; speakers are Lawrence Double Bass and two SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofers. Source material was on a Synology DiskStation DS4 NAS and a Window PC. Digital to Analogue Conversion was accomplished using the DAC in the Marantz pre-pro.
One thought on “Rick Schultz Teaches Magnetic Conduction at SFAS”
Alón says:
March 23, 2017 at 9:34 pm Edit
I was so sad to miss this event, as I’m a huge fan of Rick and his brilliant products. The best excuse I could come up with for missing his event was I needed major surgery, which just barely qualified. The effect of these cables and devices on the musicality, ease and naturalness of a system’s sound is not at all subtle… for me, his products are a game changer!
Congratulation to all the winners!
Alón