Acoustic Revive QR-8

Sixmoons Reviews the QR-8 - "...Somewhat contrary to my expectation, I heard a difference: the sound took on a subtly more natural, less electronic overall character, with tone that was subtly deeper and note decay that trailed off longer. All in all this was a worthwhile though subtle improvement and the little QR-8 disks are staying on the Harbeths!..

...I placed one QR-8 on each of the glass front panels of my McKinnon Bellevue Symphony walnut media cabinet and one on the walnut rail on the front wall behind the cabinet that holds up a wall hanging. I also placed one on the front face of my glass-enclosed gas fireplace on the left sidewall of the listening room. I have to confess that I find it rather bewildering that these little quartz disks could make any difference at all but they do particularly at louder volumes. At louder volumes the room was less likely to overload and become harsh sounding, giving the music a more natural and 'live-in-the-club' feel...

...Next I tried sticking a QR-8 inside by the laser assembly of my Sony PS1 SCPH-1001 used as a CD player. Same result: a subtle but positive improvement in naturalness, with a more organic and less electronic overall character...

...With them I have somewhat of a reputation for not being impressed by tweaks in general. But the Acoustic Revive products have made me a believer in the power of tweaks to optimize the musical performance of a system. My HiFi rig has never sounded better than with the Acoustic Revive products in place..." - Jeff Day, Sixmoons.com

QR-8 Installation chart

Natural smoky quartz used as material
Until now, aluminum, specially treated aluminum, ceramics and special metals have been used as material for tuning chips. These materials carry their own resonance and sound. It may block the resonance you are trying to treat, but is also adds its own resonance. Even though they stop the resonance, their particular sound affects the audio, and the more you use these tuning chips, the further away from your objective you actually get. The QR-8 does not carry any resonance sound and particular sound, so you can get a sound quality that is realistic and a feeling of dynamics and intonation. This is the reason why Acoustic Revive adopted the natural smoky quartz.

As long as you don’t choose the wrong resonance point, as more and more you use the QR-8, the sound quality of the audio system gets filled with a feeling of dynamics and intonation.

Material of adhesive sheet is also carefully chosen
It doesn’t matter how the tuning chip's material is superior, depending on what adhesive material is used, the sound quality changes and in the worst case, the sound deteriorates. Some adhesive materials stop the chip from working as resonance eliminator. Some tuning chips on the market have an adhesive backing which is made from a very thick rubber material that hides the bad points of the chip material. These materials actually stop the chip from doing the job, and their adhesive material works as a resonance eliminator. You can’t get a feeling of dynamics, intonation and a resonance control effect from rubber materials. Acoustic Revive uses a very thin Japanese paper based adhesive sheet on the QR-8, which does not deteriorate sound quality and resonance control. The Japanese paper based adhesive sheet brings out the full potential of the natural smoky quartz. Also, the QR-8 comes with a replacement adhesive sheet, so you can try the chip on different surfaces.

Where can you get the best effect?
Were to get the best effect from the QR-8 depends on your equipment, system and the room environment. Place the QR-8 lightly onto a surface which seems to be resonating and find the sweet spot. In most cases, you can get an excellent effect on a component's main power switch, inlet connector, DC cable connector and lighting switch in the room. We give you some examples below:

Examples of the QR-8 in use

On the main switch of the equipment (Power switch).		On the inlet connector of power supply cable.		On the lighting switch in the room or ventilation switch.
On the top of power supply box.		On the center of the door.		On the back of Short plug or terminal cover.
On the receptacle stabilizer or parallel type filter.		On the wall or ceiling of the room.		On the main body of the breaker or lever.
On the tray lid of CD, DVD and SACD player.		On top of the head shell of analogue player.		On the power transformer inside the equipment.
On the plug of line cable or digital cable.		All kinds of plugs (Photo is DC cable plug).

Caution when using QR-8
When placing the QR-8 in high voltage places like your breaker box and inside your equipment, use extreme caution, or better yet hire someone qualified to do the work. If you choose not to hire someone qualified to do the work, you do so at your own risk!