About users with hidden agendas

Pretty simple....when I recognize one of the non-contributors who just spew bile or are just trolling for a fight, I ignore it. Don't need an ignore button, just read or reply.

If someone is passionate and emphatic, but knowledgeable, like an MC, I might take his post with a grain of salt. For the passionate morons, there is not enough salt in the ocean.... 

Meant to say don't read or especially reply to fuel their venom.

As far as Townshend podiums go, for me their seismic platform was a remarkable improvement for my turntable. I was lucky to be able to talk to Max Townshend (RIP) who took the time to understand my application and send me the right tension pods in the platform. Because of the extremely light nature of my turntable, a Rega P8 at only 10 pounds, that platform was by far the best and easiest solution for me. Also, the fact that it was sitting on a credenza on top of a suspended wood floor about a crawl space makes for quite a lot of vibration. His platform actually caused foot falls because of the frequency and he was honest and said I can live with the foot falls and tread lightly, go back to inferior sound, or have nirvana by putting his platform on top of a wall shelf. I did that and it sounds like a turntable several levels above mine. Will Miller Carbon provide the same level of service? I think so, but he may set higher expectations than the modest Max Townshend and is prone to exaggerations, which by the way, I think he beleives. He always says everything matters, but he doesn't say some things matter very little and for some people, the SQ improvement is not noticeable. I know he mentioned he was retiring, but did @millercarbon retire form Audiogon? If so, how will he promote Townshend? Maybe he will try to sign up dealers?

When it came to my speakers, because of their tall, thin nature, I did not feel comfortable putting them on pods, or Townshend's other speaker solution because of a perceived instability in my mind, plus they are pretty expensive. I found a less expensive solid multicomponent platform solution that works well with wood flooring and kept the height of my tweeter exactly the same as the spikes the manufacturer provided. Once again the owner of that company, Symposium Acoustics, Peter, took the time to understand my application and was very low key about how he thought his Segue Platform would help. He also cut them to the exact size to provide equal or even more stability than what came with the speakers. They definitely sounded better, really cleaner and clearer after using the Segues, although the improvement was nowhere near that from Townshend's with my turntable. BTW, Peter said his solution would not work for my turntable without putting counterweights on my table, which would not work for me.

If found out about both companies from posters on Audiogon, and most dealers don't talk about this stuff because the profit pales in comparison to selling you a new box, and it takes more time to understand a system. 

Also, you hear a lot about acoustic treatments, and was once again treated honestly by GIK acoustics, who told me not to bother with "half measures" (nod to Breaking Bad fans) as the things I was considering would not do much if anything to absorb the sound from bouncing off the walls, celing, and floor. My wife would never allow her den to become a stereo demo room.

MC stated in a previous post before he was asked to take a break from the 'Gon that he works for Townshend. He is also working on a couple other things since he retired from his "normal" work and when he returns he will provide more details in addition to some articles he intends to post on the hobby.

When he comes back, I expect him to be less confrontational/ignore his haters. I am not a fan nor a hater - I appreciate some very good information he passed along that improved my system for far less than the cost of upgrading components, and of course I passed on a number of things that he recommends because they didn't make sense for me to buy (fuses, Schuman resonators, subwoofers, HFTs, etc.) but many people do use and keep them or else they would have taken advantage of a money back guarantee) or the people that sell them (the Ted Denny's of the world) would not be in business.

MC is very enthusiastic about the hobby, and I think he exaggerates the benefits of many tweaks, but I do think he cares so much that they are significant in his mind. I look forward to his future contributions and hope his confrontations with his haters don't return (at least in both directions).

@jjss49  - +1 right on the money. I am not going to engage with his haters, a relatively small group that are very vocal. If you don't like him. just don't read his posts. No need to complain about him - of course disagree if you have a problem with what he is saying about a component, tweak or whatever.

I think with his new role as a paid endorser he will have to play nicer in the sandbox when he returns. It seems that the people that like him being a contributing participant in the community are not as vocal as the haters, but I would bet they signifcantly outnumber them.

Not everything is black and white....

Can't we just have any political posts automatically deleted?

This is an audiophile community discussion site. I am sure there are plenty of political ones where people can be as outspoken as they want about that stuff, which gets more than enough of its share of attention in the media, and I for one, am tired of it.

Other quasi related interest topics/tangents that evolve naturally are fine, especially when they delve into cars.

Can't we just end the back and forth pettiness and agree with the OP that posters who own a company selling audio products or are promoting one should make it clear either in their name or their signature? 

Except cars.....there is a nice correlation between auto and audio enthusiasts. It seems to emerge when the subject of car audio (blech) comes up.

It is not objective or subjective....objective can give you a guideline for what you subjectively should be hearing/appreciating. Only listening without understanding the specs is ridiculous, as is not listening and only going by specs.

This is a ridiculous argument. It reminds me of Monty Python to tell you the truth.

Enjoy one of the funniest sketches of all time. everyone needs to lighten up.

@pesky_wabbit reposted @ted_denney posts that I guess were deleted on 2/3@7:03PM. 

Please just give up the arguing about deleting postings. It makes Python’s “The Arguement” tame by comparison. Really, how about this whole discussion? Clearly you need to be clued in on the specs AND how something sounds which is impacted by the specs typically, although not always.