Have you heard or own the Shakti Hallograph

Yikes! Not terribly surprised to see knee jerk reactions to the Shakti Hallographs and the Tice Clock. You can't judge a book by looking at the cover. Mpingo discs, VPI Bricks, Bybee filters, tiny little metal bowls, Lessloss Blackbody, Ultra Tweeters, SteinMusic Harmonizer, Schumann Frequency Generator, the list goes on and on. The Hallographs are no more just two pieces of wood than the Mpingo disc is just a piece of wood or than the Bybee filter is just a capacitor. Hell, they even bellyached about the original Intelligent Chip - and it only cost 16 bucks! Hmmmm, one wonders if there's ever been a tweak, expensive or not, that did not elicit outrage, angst and suspicion?

Eli's wrote,

"I own three VPI bricks. Got one for free, and two for the single price of $25."

So, if you get them at a low enough price you'll buy just about anything.

"One VPI brick is usefully on top of a BIG old square transformer for the (separate) power supply of my VAC Standard.
The other two are in case of intruders... wacking them on the head with one of the VPI bricks WILL cave in their skull, easy."

I play a recording if a Rotweiler barking, put it on repeat.

"Now Geoff You KNOW i can accept most tweaks..."

Right, if they're cheap enough.

Just the Stupidity of the PRICE of the Shakti Hallograph is what irks me."

Of course, because they're not cheap.

"They are charging for the idea. Not to great an idea IMO."

Actually they are charging for the clever way they are constructed/machined and the somewhat expensive materials. What do you think the idea is? Do you think you could knock them off?

"So, as i said, if the gizmo had been a hundred bucks Hell, even $200 i would not be carping, But forget $1,700 it is for morons with way more money than brains."

If you engaged a woodworker to make a pair, how much do you think they would charge?

"I could MAKE the thing for $5 retail wood."

I'm sure you couldn't.

But i never will... it is stupid.

Why stupid? Do you know how it works? The Hallographs are one of the most reviewed devices extant, as far as I can tell all glowing reviews.

" How did they think a small gizmo with parts cost of $35 was worth $4,200 except to born a minute RICH suckers. No poor fool would waste his/her money on it."

I'm pretty sure Bybee doesn't market to po' folks. Does Bryston?

"So was the Tice clock, as i mentioned. Another PT barnum device."

You don't like the idea or the price. Mostly the price I suspect.

"Your chips?... you seem to have stopped selling them."

The original chips weren't mine. Surprising, huh?

"I can go for crystals, and various nearly free crazy stuff, where I pay materials cost to fiddle around. It's fun. No problem. I just hate folks taking these simple ideas, adding a HUGE dose of BS theory and metaphysical crap, then selling it to wealthy fools."

I'm not sure I understand your position with respect to wealthy fools, as I recall your system wasn't exactly a drop in the bucket. And I don't think Shakti or Bybee employ metaphysical explanations, unless you believe quantum physics is metaphysical. Lol. Neither do I unless absolutely necessary. Lol

"(the big word is Quantum, lately..)
Why i should care? I don't know. If the idiot rich want to throw away money on garbage, who am I to complain?"

Well, if truth be known there have been quantum mechanical devices in high end audio for a long time, at least 15 years. The CD Laser itself is quantum mechanical, fer crying' out loud. Quantum mechanics was born almost a century ago. It appears to basically all come down to cheapness. Lol

Quotes are Shakti's.

""Our stand, which is 4 feet in length, is also asymmetrical and does produce some audible improvement in bass clarity. Again, the goal is to push the room's enormously distorting effects further into the background with a far more neutral ambient soundfield. The reflector material in the Hallograph consists of several types of wood that all have different resonant signatures. All the wood lengths are staggered on the three reflectors. Each reflector has a flat surface that gently curves into a round-over section. These interlaced but geometrically different surfaces have a striking effect. The Hallograph's own direct return energy (from the flat portion of the reflector) and its ambient signals (from the curved reflector area) impact the sonic envelope one hears. This ratio of direct to ambient surface tuning, just as is the case in a concert hall, restores a more natural hall acoustic. So, the inherent differences from recording to recording are no longer stamped with the listener's room signature. Instead, the various original venues are heard far more realistically. Behind each reflector is a chamber that modifies the frequency response, amplitude and most importantly, the time signature of the reflector. This creates a complimentary interface between the speaker and the room."

What do you mean when you talk about the time coefficient?
"This is also known as the time signature; how long a given material goes on ringing once it is activated by sound waves striking it. In the chambers behind each reflector, we 'treat' the time signature so it has a much shorter ring than the material a room's walls are made of. This treatment also affects the frequency response, which has a direct correlation with the time signature character. Amplitude is manipulated by the choice of wood, diffusion geometry of the design and additional treatment that will be explained in the patent."

Additional treatment? Hmmmmmm......

See the entire 6 moons review of the Hallographs at:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/shakti/hallograph.html

Elizabeth, Shakti Hallographs are only $1395/pair all day long over on Amazon. Maybe you should reconsider. Lol

http://www.amazon.com/Shakti-Innovations-Hallograph-Soundfield-Optimizer/dp/B0030H2O6I

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
We make artificial atoms right

Eliz wrote,

"Clearly I am in a tiny minority here so i apologize to all the rich fools, OOPS! i mean wealth investors of these marvelous products.
Great to read glowing reviews of them.
Glad the economy is good for some folks.
For me, on my pittance i get as a handout for having worked for 30 years, i cannot dream of affording this shit."

Hey, Eliz, just curious, have you given any consideration to going back to work? Or maybe selling off the $5k Bryston preamp.

-:)

Raytheprinter, I'm giving serious consideration to promoting you from
Associate Troll to Senior Stalker.

GK

Is it true the Hallographs have a crystal inside somewhere (like the Mpingo disc) or is that an old wives tale?