New level of ridiculousness

I think it's the mainstream belief that power conditioners don't make a difference that makes it a very niche product and why it continues to be so expensive.

The Sound Application devices are hand built and outside of recording studios, no one really knows about it. I only came to know about it through a friend, and I went in to listen to his system quite skeptical but his system sounded good. At first I assumed it was his gear. They were CJ GAT/ART with ASI Diamond Tango speakers with a 2 box EMM Labs as source. But removing just one of the conditioners changed the soundstage completely, it was startling. If bias is going to affect your judgement, I should not have heard any differences.

I can see why studios continue to invest in these conditioners.

This is not a power conditioner , just a power strip

That really puts things in perspective, esp. when I thought spending 3K on my "conditioner" was overboard.

I watched the product video and they make no wild claims. In fact, they make almost no appeal to audiophiles. This strip is being marketed as audio jewelry of exceptional build quality; that’s all.

According to Forbe’s, there are over 1100 billionaires. Some of those guys might lack imagination. So, the way I look at it, these guys with the power strip are just helping them out.

there are many "conspicuous consumption" purchases that one can question, such as jewelry cars and wine.

the business model that assumes ex[ensieve components are inelastic may be true. or an entrepreneeur's model is to sell a few high priced item.

are you getting your money's worth ??? let the consumer decide. caveat emptor !

Two oil businessman discussed new cars drinking beer at the local bar. They decided to go and buy newest Cadillacs. When it came to paying for cars, one reached for the wallet while the other stopped him and said:
"Put it back John, you paid for the beer"

"Creates a new standard in magic sound staging"

Veridian, That’s just puffing. I don’t think anybody takes that type of general claim seriously. What I had in mind was when a company advances a product’s specific claims using a bunch a meaningless technical data and jargon.

Viridian,
You hit the old proverbial nail on the old proverbial head. It's like all the talk about "blacker than black" backgrounds -- the subject of a recent thread of mine. It's all ad copy.

"You learn something every day.”

I’m glad to have helped.

Well, they do look pretty cool!

Viridian,
I stand corrected. It's puffing copy.

"Puffery," as I recall is loose sales lingo that no objective person could or should take seriously.

Hi Whart, that’s it exactly. Examples might be: a used car dealer claiming "best deals in the universe"; a diner claiming "apple pie better than mom’s” or a power strip manufacturer using the word “magical” anywhere.

You mean I DIDN'T get "the best deal in the universe"?
I'm disappointed!
And who knows? This power strip could BE "magical" to someone!

"You mean I DIDN'T get "the best deal in the universe”?”

You might have; it’s just hard to verify. :-)

the problem with "ridiculous", "overpriced" and other connotations, is that one person's example of extravagence or a poor value is another person's example of a fair price or an acceptable price.

i think each of us has different priorities, which influence our estimation as to what constitutes "value".

So, Mrtennis,
You do see value in this product, or you know somebody who does?
Interesting

I see value in this product. Now, given my disposable income and current hierarchy of needs, I place significantly less value on the strip than the offered price. But that’s true for just about every thing I buy. I wait for sales, I buy things used. I rarely value a product at the price being offered.

I don’t know if anyone has actually bought one of these things yet but when somebody does, the value of the strip will be precisely the price paid for it, to that person paying.

Actually, I could imagine it being a (gag)gift to a very wealthy man from his wife.

its not that i find value in the product, but rather, i have presented a rationale for finding value in any product regardless of its cost.

it's based upon the adage "the value in use equals the value in exchange". it is an explanation of the way commerce takes place. another way of saying this is the price of a product is based upon what the "market" for the product will pay for it.

for example, if a manufacturer prices an amplifier at $25,000, maybe no consumer will consider it worth the asking price, hence none will be sold. if instead, the amp was priced at $15,000, perhaps it would sell.

i am talking about an equlibrium between the value an individual places on a product vs the cost of the product.

whoever sees value in a $9000 (approx) power strip will buy it. those who don't , won't.

so i don't think the issue is ridiculousness, but rather economics, or performance vs price. there is nothing intrinsically ridiculous about the price of a product, only wheteher it is priced to high to sell in quantity or it is believed to be fairly priced, in which case more will be sold.

think economics, not ridiculousness.

the "rules", or concepts embodied in the discipline of economics can explain the behavior of audiophiles.

'Kgturner: For $4K, I'll make ya one out of Corian and call it the PowerMaster Corian. Who wants a PowerSlave when you can have the PowerMaster?!'

- that's some funneh chit raight thurr!

No different than when I walked through the Brookstone store at the mall. Just a bunch of ridiculous nonsense for people who don't know what to do with all their money, IMHO.

Is a $150k Mercedes any more sensible when a $20k Honda will do the job just fine? The people I see who are super rich just blow it away on fancy stuff.

What would YOU spend your money on that is WORTHWHILE if you were a multimillionaire? If you have kids, a Harvard education? If your parent are poor or old, a nice home or a nice convalescent home? Aaron Spelling bought himself a 90 million dollar home. From what I understand, the neighbors with their 15 million dollar homes thought it was over the top. Extravagance is relative.

Are charitable gifts the best thing you could do with it or is it better to just spend it all on yourself with Rolex, summer house on the beach, exotic vacations, a pet Bengal tiger? Four African men came to the US a couple years back. They said any stranger could just walk up to any hut in their village and would be welcomed in. What would happen here? I know, people call the police, shut their door, or don't answer it.

I took a tour through Coconut Grove Florida. The guide said it is the second most rich town after Bel-Air. He continued, "See there are no sidewalks here. If you ARE walking either 1) your car broke down or 2) You are a burglar breaking into a house. This is the epitome of what we are trying to achieve? Money isolates IMHO.

its all about the marketing approach of the manufacturer.

regardless of what the consumer thinks, the business owner is trying to maximize his profit. if he thinks a high price will do it, he will charge a high price. if he prefers the volume approach, he will try to sell as many products as he can and set an appropriate price.

there is nothing ridiculous about a high price.

There is no question that the Acrylic and Marble PowerSlaves greatly improve the sound. This would suggest that the outlets and the wiring in other powerstrips are inadequate. It would also suggest that RFI and EMI might not be as much of a factor as contacts. I once went to the trouble of hot wiring my preamp to the wall plug. It was a pain in the ass, but it was glorious. At another time I hot-wired my source to my preamp to my amps to my speakers. That was glorious also.

Presently, I am using the new TriPoint Troy Signature grounding unit. It is expensive and wondrous! I have tried other methods of grounding each component to every other one as well as lifting the grounds of all and also grounding only the preamp. This made a positive improvement but nothing of the magnitude of the TriPoint Signature.

If you want the highest level of realism, isolation, grounding, contacts, and electromagnetic interference need to be considered. If you can forego realism of great performances, you need not bother.

Will be jumping on 2 now.Ho Ho Ho!!

I want one. It's heavy, it must be good.

I have read several very positive reviews of this power strip. Does that change any opinions? 8^)

Anyone who can afford and rationalize such outlay for a powerstrip needs to seriously consider reviewing the salaries they pay their employees and spreading the wealth. Anyhow, I suppose at the extreme top end it must make a difference but it can never beat running 10 gauge straight from breaker box to a hardwired distribution box. I use one run per channel and it made a difference for sure.

The fancy powerstrip is probably more functional than the diamonds our wives might covet. Still, they will choose the diamonds. Go figure!

READ BELOW FOR PORTIONS OF A REVIEW BY JACK ROBERTS OF DAGOGO.

I’ll start this review with two confessions. First, when I first saw the HB Cable Design PowerSlave distributors, I thought these have to be the most expensive, best looking power bars I had ever seen. To be honest, they seemed a little ridiculous; I mean there is no traditional kind of power conditioning going on here. There is nothing to help keep the voltage stable; they are simply “power strips on super steroids.” The only reason I was interested in reviewing them was because they were being imported to the U.S. by Brian Ackerman of Aaudio Imports and my experience had taught me that he has quite an ear for finding great sounding gear.

So I agreed to review HB Cable Design’s three passive power distributors, starting with the their entry level PowerStar Horizon ($3,995) which I reviewed in January of this year. I ended that review by saying, “I’ve tried so many power conditioners that I won’t try to list all of them. In the end, I am a firm believer in the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle when it comes to audio design. Just look at my system, it only has three power cords, and one pair of interconnects plus the tonearm cable. The HB Designs PowerStar Horizon fits right into that principle. I can’t wait to get the Acrylic and the Marble in for a listen.”

Then, in April I reviewed the PowerSlave Acrylic ($6,995) which remained in my system until August when I finally got to hear the PowerSlave Marble, the subject of this review. I ended the review of the Acrylic by saying, “I know this review is short, but it’s simple: this thing works! Brian will be sending the PowerSlave Marble to me; I can’t wait!”

Let me be honest: After all the great and some not-so-great power conditioning products I have owned and/or reviewed, I simply was stunned by the improvement the HB Marble made in the sound of my system. After the time I had just spent with the Audience aR6-T, the Synergistic Research Tesla PowerCell with active power cords, the HB Acrylic, and the new Audience aR-6TSS (by the way, all incredibly good units) I just wasn’t prepared for how much better my system sounded with the HB Marble in the system.

With the HB Marble the bass was full and fast at the same time. It also had outstanding attack and equally good decay. The bass had more weight, and depth to it; it actually seemed to occupy a more realistic space. The best thing of all was how the bass seemed to undergird the entire sound.

During my time with the HB Acrylic, transparency was one of the first words that came to mind when describing how my system sounded. With the Marble, my system sounded just as transparent, but that was not the first thing that came to mind. It seemed to sound more balanced from top to bottom. It’s a kind of transparency that allowed my system to let voices come to life right there in my room and at the same time to have really nice body and power. I was able to hear more inner detail than I have with other power devices. This detail comes through by allowing instruments to sound more like the real things with an actual decrease in edginess or brightness.

My system simply sounded more fundamentally right with the HB Marble in the system. I’m sitting here as I write, listening to an old mono Chet Baker LP, and I have never heard his horn sound better, nor have I ever heard the piano have such natural decay. Likewise, the standup bass lays a beautiful and strong foundation for the music. It is neither too fast or too romantic. It is also relaxed sounding in that the horn hits certain notes with nice bite to it.

I know $9,000 for a glorified power bar sounds insane, but I can’t imagine listening to music without it — so it stays. I’m not saying you have to spend this much on powering conditioning, but at the cost of my entire system this doesn’t seem all that out of line to me. I don’t use one of these on my digital/video system upstairs, but I do use some power conditioning. By the way if you haven’t plugged your HD/TV into a good power conditioner you have no idea how good your picture really could be. I’m not saying that you can’t enjoy music without the HB Marble, but you do need some decent power conditioning. If you can afford the HB Marble and your system is at the place that this could be your next big step, then go for it. You won’t be disappointed!

Seems like it should be better for TV/video as well. Seeing would be believing. More so than hearing I think. IS hearing alone enough to believe? Not as easily I think. No need to go into all the shortcomings of using a/b listening tests alone to establish a products value.

Also a technical explanation of how why this power device works its magic would help in this case. Power conditioning isn't rocket science. There must be some basis for how it works beyond a suppliers magical ability to hear good things.

... "$8995 for a power strip?" ... My first thought was that carpetbagger in the white suit in "Outlaw of Josie Wales" who was trying to sell Clint Eastwood his special elixir and Clint taking that huge hocker all over his jacket lapel and asking him if it was good on stains.

For $8995, I like to see Clint do a repeat of that scene and instead of spitting on the carpetbaggers lapel, he'd spit on the carpetbaggers power strip and ask him if it works when it's wet.

Mapman, it does have a major impact on tv, but I don't know whether your supposition about vision being more sensitive than hearing is true.

Noromance, once I hardwired my entire system for ac. It was much better but scary as I had no fuses, etc. I, of course, doubt your statement that, of course, it would be better. I would suspect it would be but am not about to bother to try it. With fewer contacts everything should be better. So hard wire everything together and hope for the best.

"I don't know whether your supposition about vision being more sensitive than hearing is true"

Not necessarily more sensitive,just easier to assess differences with video versus audio I think.

Have you ever considered the 200 units sold for $200,000 may only break even the cost of research and development, plus the cost of doing business.  Maybe its the only way an audio business can stay on the cutting edge and trickle down the technology to the more affordable models?  I believe we all owe the uber wealthy a debt of gratitude.  If not for them, all our speakers would be rectangular particle board boxes with Pioneer or Yamaha on the grill cloth.  Open your own business, hire employees, pay the taxes, the rent, LNI, SS, Medicare, health insurance etc.  I do.  It's crushing the cost of doing business.  If I don't make money I still have to pay wages.  If I bid a job wrong, I have to complete it at a loss.  Its scary as heck.  Its expensive. 

Seemingly this is a dead post. Nevertheless the mark 2 version is currently available. MSRP $16,500. 

I'm eagerly awaiting the day when we see $1million power strips and $5Million power cords. Better still, $50 Million speaker cables and ic's. After all, at some point there still has to be at least one guy who thinks those prices are no big deal...or as we used to say...chump change!

Maybe I shouldn't be giving some of these folks ideas, LOL.

Hi all, I work at a Las Vegas casino, and a couple of years ago three young men came in to play Baccarat, they were from mainland China and were in their early twenties. They played off and on for three days and when they left they had lost a total of 17 million dollars! If these guys got into audio they would not balk at a $9000.00 dollar power strip!

TISH

@racamuti What does your story tells us?

It's sick. Gone up to $16,500 since thread started in 2012.

Has anyone checked the price of New York steaks lately? You need to take out a second mortgage in order to buy beef these days.

Hi Daveyf, I think it tells us that there are people in the world that have LOTS of $, and that there will be products that are marketed for them, which is what I think this power strip is! And the people that don't have much $ will scoff. How about womens purses? I've seen customers coming in with a purse that costs $60,000! A purse for gods sake! Not to mention watches for $300.000.

So why do we complain about this stuff? Its not meant for the masses, this is stuff for the wealthy. So if I had a billion $ and I read a review about a power strip that could possibly improve my stereo, I wouldn't even ask how much , I would just tell my personal shopper to get me one!Heres a scenario for ya, If you went to a garage sale and saw one of these marble power strips for $300.00 Would you buy it?


TISH

@racamuti  I told your story to a close find of mine...he immediately stated that there are innumerable numbers of poor folk in China who could have greatly benefited from even a very small fraction of the money that the boys in your example lost. 
Personally, i think your story tells us that the high end gear that is designed for these folks is WAY WAY too inexpensive. It should be priced in the multi millions of $$ for everything in the hobby.

They probably made that $ off the backs of the innumerable poor folk.I agree with what you think personally. If one of their friends see's their $9000.00 power strip they would look for one that cost $18000. This is just rich mans game.



TISH