A visit to CoolTech

With the current temperatures – the article was first published in summer –, it is really tempting to visit a company whose full name is "CoolTech -180°C GmbH". Owner Wolfgang Lausecker offers cryogenic treatments for tools, musical instruments, hi-fi equipment and even people. This article will help you learn what you can do for yourself and your equipment.

Probably every hi-fi and high-end enthusiast has heard of cryo treatments. But the term is not always clearly defined. The simplest method is to simply bring the object to be treated into contact with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196° Celsius. This can have amazing effects- for example, if you immerse a rose in nitrogen then a light touch will let it shatter like glass - but this is less desirable for tubes, for example. And even with the vinyl LPs I had in my luggage this is obviously not the desired result. The process developed and applied by Wolfgang Lausecker is much more sophisticated and gentle on the material.

The industrial engineer from Tyrol worked across the German-Austrian border at Plansee, a company that refined metal components using powder metallurgy. In the course of his work, Wolfgang Lausecker spent a longer period of time in the USA, where he came into contact with the idea of cryogenic treatments. After his return, however, his suggestions to stabilize the structure of metal parts by low-temperature treatment instead of very long storage were met with rejection. Probably the most prestigious components manufactured at Plansee were valves, pistons and bolts for a Formula One racing team. Subsequently, the company also manufactured aluminum and titanium parts and springs on site for teams in the American Nascar series. During this visit, Wolfgang Lausecker saw a cryogenic system in action for the first time and learned how many components, up to and including entire engine blocks, were optimized with extremely low temperatures in racing.

Back home, he then pursued the idea further, went into business for himself and founded CoolTech in 2009. Initially, he teamed with a company in Spain, which treated components for him there. However, as the volume of items increased, transport became too expensive, so Wolfgang Lausecker installed his own cryogenic treatment facility in the idyllic Stanzach in the Lech Valley. In addition to cutting tools for metalworking whose service life is extended by around 60 percent thanks to the cryogenic process the engineer - who plays baritone saxophone in a big band in his spare time - also exposes music instruments to extreme cold. By the way, Wolfgang Lausecker has already performed with multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Matthias Schriefl, whom the Süddeutsche Zeitung counts among the best jazz trumpeters in the world and of whose virtuosity, joy of playing and esprit you can convince yourself with a few clicks thanks to our free download  But back to the sub-zero temperatures: Their effect on brass instruments did not just convinced Wolfgang Lausecker. The sound changes caused by the cold, which were consistently perceived as positive, also led to successful experiments with electric guitars, cables and (tube) amplifiers. Even wind instruments made of wood are said to benefit from the treatment.

On the one hand, CoolTech works with renowned German automotive and tool manufacturers as well as the Fraunhofer Institute and technical universities, on the other hand with musicians. On the one hand, whilst there are scientifically verifiable advantages of cryo-treatment, there is also the issue of sonic-aesthetic taste. And the audio scene is also moving in this direction. After the positive experience with the instrument cables, it was obvious to cool down loudspeaker, NF and signal cables as well. The changes in tubes, pickups and SSD hard disks caused by the cold were also rated positively all around by the clients. The treatment is intended to perfect the crystal lattice structure in cables as far as possible and thus improve conductivity - an effect that cannot be detected with a home multimeter, which requires more sophisticated measuring equipment.

In my opinion, the fact that the sound changes in pickups or musical instruments cannot be explained explicitly in physical terms does not speak against the cryogenic process. In the now more than 25 years of professional involvement with hi-fi and high-end, I have become accustomed to trying out products whose mode of operation cannot be conclusively explained. If it sounds better, the reasoning behind it is secondary. That's why I would also like to find out - not for the first time - how cryo-treatment affects records, because during the pressing process - the rather warm vinyl is shaped between the pressing plungers, whereupon they are then cooled - a lot of material stresses are likely to occur. And cryogenic treatment is all about optimizing material structures and reducing stresses. More on this later.

The cryogenic system consists of a large stainless steel chamber resembling an oversized freezer. Nitrogen is fed into it, which is stored in liquid form in a 3,000-liter tank outside the building. With the slightest heating, one litre of liquid becomes 600 litres of gas. This gas flows around the objects in the chamber and cools them. The process is controlled so that the objects do not come into contact with liquid nitrogen and the temperature is reduced very slowly - or more precisely by one to three Kelvin per minute - by the gas, depending on the contents within the chamber. This goes down to -180 degrees Celsius. This temperature is maintained for a certain time, then the gas in the chest is heated and then cooled down again to -180 degrees. Wolfgang Lausecker does not reveal what happens next. At the end of the process, which takes about 15 hours, the contents of the chamber are heated to 35 degrees Celsius so that no condensation forms inside the chamber when opened. Incidentally, the nitrogen from the chamber is simply discharged into the open air, since the air surrounding us consists of almost 80 percent nitrogen.

People do not get into this chamber. For cold therapy, Wolfgang Lausecker has a so-called "CryoSauna" with temperatures between -100 and -150 degrees Celsius. In addition to joint diseases, chronic pain, especially long-covid symptoms are successfully treated. For this purpose, a stay of two minutes, in this special type of sauna, twice a day on five consecutive days should be enough.

But back to our actual topic: I travelled to Stanzach with NF cables from Audioquest and Göbel High End. I will describe how the treatment at CoolTech affected the sound in the second part of this article. Also included were three LPs each from two different albums. I had taken them together with the comparison copy from one and the same carton, so they should have been pressed in direct sequence and therefore show no differences in sound due to wear of the pressing tool, for example. Years ago, I had already had some records cryogenically treated in Grenoble. However, the simple process - cooling, maintaining temperature, and returning to ambient temperature - had produced such minimal improvements that my spouse and I were not sure we would recognize the treated discs in a blind test. In addition, there was a rather high price, which prevented our sommelier du son albums to be sold reasonably affordable as "Frozen Edition".

Speaking of price, CoolTech works with hi-fi retailers, and there the treatment of an LF, power or speaker cable two meters long with a diameter between 15 and 50 millimeters costs 90 euros, that of a cartridge 70 euros, that of a tube from 100 to 200 millimeters high 49 euros and that of an SSD for installation 88 euros. If you take into account the transport, the manual loading of the chamber and the duration of the process, one is tempted to speak of quite reasonable rates.

Once back in the listening room, we booted up the system, waited about two hours, and then "soft played" the rubbers on the pickup, which had not been used for weeks, with one side of a record. With "You Gotta Move" from Hans Theessink's album Live at Jazzland, my spouse and I were sure from the first listen that we had not heard voice and vocals so detailed, intense and rhythmically gripping within our four walls before. However, we could not be sure if this is due to the treatment of the disc or Audio Exclusive's R7 preamp and the Børresen 05, which have never been involved in the playback of the song before. After enjoying "You Gotta Move" a second time, we placed the non-cryogenically treated disc on the LaGrange's platter. What the Lyra Etna in the Thiele TT01 now pulled out of the groove seemed a bit dull. Not only was a bit of shine missing, but also tiny bits of information like fingering noise or the slight resonance of a string that had previously made the playback so lively. Hans Theessink also seemed to have shifted down a gear in terms of groove. At least over a very high resolution chain, the difference between the cryogenically treated and the freshly pressed LP is clear. I certainly haven't been to CoolTech for the last time and the next time I visit I'm guaranteed to have more than six LPs in my luggage!