I take issue with specific things said here using convoluted statements that are clearly nonsense (clearly…just carefully read some of this stuff), and have no beef with tweaks people find useful…I might have a comment or 2 about those tweaks though…heh...Regarding TBGs comments, I did NOT claim the spike didn't work as designed, I merely was having some fun with it (I know I'm supposed to practice mirth control but pretentious gasbags are simply such low hanging bullshit fruit it's impossible to not "skewer" this stuff) and still think it would make a great barbecue device. Roxy is apparently unable to detect sarcasm and parody, but I've found that many around here lack the humor gene, and she (he? both?) can rest assured that Star Sound is extremely unlikely to send me any samples as their offer included the word "may," and I'm not interested in disassembling my rack anyway. Since Agear is obsessed with my background, I will note that I did have long hair in the 60s and 70s, but I was a full time musician then and learned about sound by necessity and exposure to live and studio experiences…I eventually fell into small venue concert sound design and operation about 20 years ago which is a fun thing to do and has taught me a lot about what works, and I seem to be good at live sound mixing which is surprising in that extremely handsome elderly semi professional longboard surfers rarely do that sort of thing. I have never claimed to have "golden ears" (they're more "fleshy" toned) and recommend that people claiming they do should never be trusted. I have real issues with using this forum for unpaid advertising and shilling products, and feel Star Sound has crossed the line repeatedly both by their own ridiculous self promotion and tacit approval of what I think is an utterly over the top and bizarro rant by the OP…I'll go after that sort of thing every damn time, or whenever I feel like it. |
Bloating and slurring indeed! I have insisted that musicians I work with (who perform standing up) wear golf shoes (old school steel spiked ones) or step into clown shoes I've nailed to the floor…the golf shoes tear up the stage…and the clown shoes sound better. Lesson learned. |
Regarding the Pro Audio Crowd, I'm not sure they actually exist relative to opinions that matter about anything beyond food and drinking…I don't know many modern engineers who dismiss good cable and gear, or make aesthetic assumptions regarding things that happen where they are not (other people's things). I've had major dudes from both the recording industry and Audiophilia as neighbors, friends, fellow car, motorcycle, and watch fans, trophy wife collectors, and lawn mower borrowers…and the only opinion I really trust regarding tiny differences in sound, either mixing a live show or listening to playback on anything, are mine. I do enjoy the fact that my comment including clown shoes engendered further comment (!), and although I seem to not care about fancy gear racks (speaker stands are another matter), it's mostly because I don't. My rack has a drawer full of tubes and stuff on the bottom, and I think that's very important…I discovered entirely by accident that my specific speakers in my rig on a wood floor in my house sound much more coherant on vibrapods and butcher blocks that raise the tweeters to the proper height…who knew? |
NUTS…for "the group" (!) excepting Ralph who gets things, I offer this simple possible clarification: I use MY OWN EARS for my ultimate opinions on sound (yeah I know..astonishing), and admit I've never met a Charlotte based engineer…but I've met Charlotte…adorable…and she said, "Agear keeps dragging people to his house to shout LOOK AT MY RACK!" at them, and then drops their names like a used surgical glove. If anybody measures "the fruits of pointy interventions" (the title of my next epic and slightly tawdry poem) please don't ruin my nap with the results. I'm sensitive... |
I have an Audio Museum in my basement with lots of brass cones, spikes, feet (taxidermy is creepy but hey), old cables, maps of Cuba, etc…and I don't recall any of these admittedly basic tweaks actually affecting the TEMPO of music. "Tempo was faster, due to better-defined, leading edges." OK then…I need this comment alone to cry foul, and can only assume this entire OP rant is a shill for Star Sound. Obviously when somebody who has never posted here previously devotes a solid foot page to a product, and includes a hefty pile of "Audio Science Facts" with classic WAF (read: sexist bullshit) notes and hysterical enthusiasm for five thousand dollars of perforated "magic shelving" and brass spikes, It's not a stretch to be suspicious. I've seen this sort of thing before, and although Star Sound has fans, some may smell the pathetic odor of the Hard Sell…or not, if you have others able to drop by your condo to reinforce your Lust for PRAT by telling you your 5 large is well spent. I do, however, plan to band saw some plastic into appealing shapes, buy 37 bucks worth of brass points and screw 'em in, look up some white papers regarding pointy things, make a marketing website with sincere looking bespectacled geeks, and warn my bank to make room for the windfall…Welcome Seekers of Tempo. |
TBG…your response to my post noting it deserves no response is in fact a response, although maybe the word "responce" means something else, although more likely you can't spell the word. I will take this to mean it stands as the perfect post and all others are "post post perfection" from all but previous posters. |
"Star Sound’s adaptation is to transfer resonance at high-speed via conductive pathways away from the source of vibration keeping everything related to and the signal in constant motion." Hmmm…a line certainly worthy of any Faith Based Audio mythology discussion as it makes exactly ZERO sense…what also mystifies me is that there is any connection between claims of lowering the temperature of amps and providing profound tempo improvement using pointy things stuck to racks (!), and damping unwanted vibration in lathes and microscopes (necessary), except as it applies to the History of Damping. I do think the cello spike could make a great barbecue skewer though…and has the added benefit of making burnt food sound better. Underwater Earthquake Flight Research notwithstanding, I anxiously await the results of "further research" into the science of how vibration control (read my paper, "Microscopes and Subwoofers, a Paradox in Waiting"…Merkel Press $2.95) yields a "common single understanding" boiling down to "personal opinions on likes and dislikes when listening to or making music." Seriously, statements like can provide me with what surfing genius George Greenough described as "the innermost limits of pure fun." |
Agear…if you didn't have your cranium so far up your wazoo you could respond to the gist of my comments rationally instead of lamely picking at me personally, although attempts at bullying are to be expected among the insecure. I have plenty of non "Kansas" older friends (60s and older) who are absolutely at the top of their games in sound engineering despite years of this stuff, working musicians included…mastering pros like Bob Ludwig (Mainer!) and Grammy winners like my former CT neighbor Elliot Shiner are hardly "probably" disabled, although the squealing of "whining strangers" might be too high pitched for them to enjoy, even if it's squeals of joy over the astonishing musical panacea of pointy bits . If I have tin ears like people in Kansas (!), it certainly hasn't stopped me from an ongoing successful musician and sound technician career, as well as my ability to really enjoy my hifi rig. There is an important difference between mudslinging and questioning the efficacy of silly statements about pointy things, and if my humor or sarcasm is missed by anyone…well…tough shit. |
Agear, what "cliches" are you referring to? I try to make my snappy retorts utterly original! I guess some have a low threshold of assault and are seemingly sensitive when it comes to being called out for inanity, but Robert's "offer" that he "may" loan me some of his pointy items is hardly sincere, and the hastle of taking my currently great sounding rig apart (other than to dust it from time to time) doesn't interest me
unless he plans to ship me the stuff as a gift and not a loan, for which I will gladly review it (this could force me to dust my gear more thoroughly). My system consists of well vetted items that provide exactly the sound I desire (as pretty much everybody else's stuff likely does), in a great sounding room (luck), and as a live sound technician I deal with LIVE sound
another point you missed. Although my live "desk" feeds to recording media have been used on albums here and there I tend to share those only with people I like. So Agear, look elsewhere for somebody to push around, and enjoy your continued fellating of Robert as it does seem like a mutually enjoyable arrangement. |
"There's a seeker born every minute"…Firesign Theater. |
Sorbothane feet (Vibrapods and other things) under everything including my main speakers (not the sub) obviate the need for a fancy rack in my humble (!) opinion. The amp, DAC, everything gets soft rubber feet…my TT came with large hollow rubber feet that do their job…Stillpoints? Don't tell 'em you can use pods of some sort instead and save some bucks…they'll be crushed. |
Sorbothane doesn't soften anything sonically, although I can see the weird connection some make to that…it's in the same category as "vegetables that help you because they're shaped like your organs" like cauliflower looks like your brain…illogical results imagined by others (prat…really?) mean nothing to me, damping/draining unwanted vibration from components does…none of this has any effect on the treble content and in fact may sharpen it since there is less unwanted resonance or phase anomalies introduced by sympathetic vibration. My system puts out what goes in…if it's got brightness I hear it fine, if it doesn't it's certainly not due to the tiny rubber feet under my DAC. Certainly others hear things differently and bolting your gear to maple blocks on some "nirvana specific shelving" while driving spikes into the floor may make you think it's gonna drive your toes somehow, but I've seen too much audio superstition to be fooled into adopting much audio silliness. Some maybe, just not much…. |
Is there a "burn in" service for racks? Maybe put them under your refrigerator for a week…leave them in the trunk of your car…you simply cannot expect unseasoned brass to perform its magic without having time to "settle in." Little story: I was in the late Lars Friedell's (yes THAT Lars…part of friends in CT) listening room right after the Sun Mook dudes had installed Mpingo disks everywhere (even on their proprietary leetle stands…so cute)…we had a good laugh about them until a good long listening session ensued…then we had another laugh at the fact that anybody would buy the damn things…P.T. Barnum indeed. |
Star Sound products aren't my issue here, again, a point thoroughly missed, and my criticism isn't a "personal" thing against "wisper" (who might be a wonderful human) but specifically the content of his post. Please forgive my statement of the obvious. The "airing in public" by anyone of a florid pile of free advertising is an insulting and inappropriate use of this space, and the inability to handle criticism of this fact (also having no sense of humor apparently) is simply too bad for you. I understand that Star Sound could be delighted by the poster's unabashed fawning, but the audio babble nonsense inherent in the poster's screed should be embarrassing to Star Sound (unless Star is somehow responsible for the text). My silly posts COULD insult that paranoid manufacturer who might actually feel much of this worshipful hyperbole ISN'T crazy, but to take me to task for exercising my right to call foul on this stuff is also too bad for you. If I were ever to try a Star Sound product, it would likely involve a pointy stand large enough to stick under the foundation of my entire house, thus causing magical changes in tempo to enhance all aspects of my being…besides, the only ACTUAL criticism of Star Sound's possibly life altering product line relative to what I currently use, is that there is no drawer on the bottom for my stuff. |
Roxy, if my criticism of what I perceive as an utterly over the top example of fawning over, exaggerating of, and mythologizing the benefits of pointy bits seems to you to have a tone of desperation (!), you miss my beautifully (and, dare I say, poetic?) thoughtful and scientifically, or not, hopefully Belicosity Draining points. Vibrapods and other small squishy things work for me (they also keep things from sliding around…an added plus), the 5 thousand dollars of pointy shelves Star Sound is about to give me (thanks guys…you're the BEST bespectacled geeks EVER) might sound better (emphasis on "might"), and I don't keep my weed in my rack drawer as it is RUINED by all that damn vibration. Also, I am at a loss as to how to get the vibration away from the electronic bits mounted inside my guitar amps (with the speaker in the same space, which I think is supposed to vibrate), as well as those inside my sub…all of which currently sound fabulous…makes no sense…and now with the increasing popularity of active speakers there is likely to be a complete meltdown among the Seekers of Theoretical Draining (STD), as all could be lost. I think I'm just going to squirt gallons of silicone into my gear and call it a day. |
Anybody read Art Dudley's "Tweak" article in the current Stereophile?
Lets' see…since somebody asked, here's a few of my musical background highlights: I played ukulele on a "Techno Pop" recording of a Rosemary Clooney inspired cover of "Come On-A My House" (Ross Bogdassarian & William Saroyan) in 1980 but it was only released in Japan and was sung in Japanese on one side, English on the other. I only have that on a 45 so it's hard to share it…I fixed Jimi Hendrix's cassette player for him when hanging out at his rented pad in Honolulu in 1969…I once played 3 on 3 basketball with Bruce Hornsby (on his team luckily 'cause he's a really good ball player) and we won all 3 games…I provided sound for a Neil Abercrombie (eventually governor of Hawaii) political rally in 1972 or something by hooking up my KLH Model 20 to my Altec A7s. My musical "work" in recent years has been as a live sound mixer for a wide range of artists including Richie Havens, Bill Charlap, Fred Hersch, etc., hundreds of shows. Live…not studio recordings…and my 5 decades as an audio geek has made me utterly over-qualified to opine about spiky things (sorry Robert, I don't borrow anything requiring me to disassemble my audio pile). My current system is a well vetted bunch of electron manipulation gizmos on a wood and steel rack from someplace (with lots of rubbery bits)…it sounds GREAT and contains at least one real good cable. |
What about the Hornsby basketball session? To quote Art Dudley, "Remove all spiked feet from your playback system and sell them for scrap." And that quote is from somebody who likely didn't shoot hoops with Hornsby, so is he qualified to opine? Also Agear, don't forget my very expensive cable…it's all silver supposedly…just that alone should allow me to poke fun at strangely insecure (and utterly humorless) Fundamentalist Spike Theorists. |
