Ultimate Tube Shields

Nice amp, darkblue. Might I suggest a quad of Glenlivet 12 year Single Malt lead shields?
The matching color complements both your amplifier and Scotch. Full bodied taste and sound with an exquisite finish.

My shields are fully intact pulled from their bottles using my own "switcheroo" technique.
"The Switcheroo" was developed to fool a mooch who never brought a bottle to the party. We refilled an empty bottle of Glenlivet with cheap scotch, resealed it and left it out in the open for the mooch to discover.
He was so happy!
"Ahh, that's the stuff" he said as he put his glass down next to ours, not realizing the color of the beveridges didn't match.

I've been collecting those lead tops ever since. It's been like 30 years and he still doesn't know.
 
I kinda wonder if those shields these days are actually lead. They might be a thick aluminum foil.
Superman hasn't been around to verify.

Point well taken. I had always assumed they were lead because of the way they tear and their malleability. They don't feel like aluminum, although they could be some alloy.
I suppose I could do an Archimedes test if time permits.
Lead or Aluminum....it fooled the mooch.
 
Superman hasn't been around to verify.

Point well taken. I had always assumed they were lead because of the way they tear and their malleability. They don't feel like aluminum, although they could be some alloy.
I suppose I could do an Archimedes test if time permits.
Lead or Aluminum....it fooled the mooch.
It is probably "pot metal". whatever that is. Ahhh, Google says it is mostly zinc. or a zinc alloy.
So, no radiation shielding for you, uranium breath!
 
I guess I'm showing my age. It looks like they used to contain lead (some may still ) but lead is being phased out.
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/analysis-run-amok
Aluminum is probably a better material to conduct heat away from the tube.

Not sure if lead blocks run-of-the-mill EMI, but I'll bet it's the material of choice for increased sunspot activity or if the planet takes a direct hit from a quasar.

An inexpensive way for audiophiles to recycle, keep lead out of landfills, Quasar proof and hide your tubes from Superman.

This is no more preposterous than those notched blocks of wood they sell to keep your speaker wires off of the floor. The price and testimonials make me shake my head. All that wood I threw away years ago...I coulda' been a millionaire.
 
I'm no expert but I would think any conductive metal, if bonded to the chassis, would block EMI to some extent. Whether different metals do it at vastly different rates, I don't know.

As for the content, I do know that there is a whole field of alloy engineering. A lead production plant I'm familiar with makes 27 different alloys with varying amounts of other metals and limits on undesirable contaminants, all specific to various customers who use them for batteries and who knows what else. I once toured an aluminum foil factory and it was explained that not all foil is the same. The stuff in gum wrappers is different from the roll of kitchen foil and the disposable pie pan. They manipulate everything from sodium to silicon in the alloy to get just the right properties. On a side note, the machinery that turns a 2000 lb block of solid aluminum into 8 miles of aluminum foil on a giant roll is pretty cool to watch.

Whatever those thick bottle cap shields are, the stuff was carefully engineered to do what it does.

BTW I have 60 lb of 1/8" thick flexible lead sheeting that was torn out of a the wall of an X-ray room at a clinic, whereupon I salvaged it out of the construction debris rolloff. I wonder if I could cast some nifty tube shields out of that stuff. The weight would make them good vibration/microphonics dampers too. "Make music, not bullets"? :p
 
I'll have to forego very much comment on the Cato Institute study linked above by heyraz. I know too much about that topic and it wouldn't be fair. :rflmao: I'll just take the article as confirmation that lead was out of those wine bottle foils awhile ago, which is something I did not find myself when searching briefly yesterday, so thanks for that.
 
Nice amp, darkblue. Might I suggest a quad of Glenlivet 12 year Single Malt lead shields?
The matching color complements both your amplifier and Scotch. Full bodied taste and sound with an exquisite finish.

My shields are fully intact pulled from their bottles using my own "switcheroo" technique.
"The Switcheroo" was developed to fool a mooch who never brought a bottle to the party. We refilled an empty bottle of Glenlivet with cheap scotch, resealed it and left it out in the open for the mooch to discover.
He was so happy!
"Ahh, that's the stuff" he said as he put his glass down next to ours, not realizing the color of the beveridges didn't match.

I've been collecting those lead tops ever since. It's been like 30 years and he still doesn't know.
Archie Bunker did the same thing with a bottle of Pinch. He refilled it with cheap scotch to fool a visitor.
 
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