The Absurdity of it All

In the grand scheme of audio systems...less is more. The more tweaks you put in the system, the more hurdles that need to be jumped. My favorite music system for years is CD/DVD/computer player through passive volume control straight to power amp through 12 gauge copper to speakers. 

The quality of the recording dictates the quality of the playback. Buy better software.

A fine whiskey before serious, critical listening makes it all sound better.
Just ask Ted.

https://vimeo.com/537031075?fbclid=IwAR0RHuGf70Lnb5eyXMoWk_oElATYrvDea7krnslYYn3QQER149nRX07vPwo

@jpeters568

You are obviously a realist that doesn't fall for "subjectivity" of spending large amounts of cash wishing the tweak will actually deliver the audio nirvana that's advertised. The atmospheric conditions of the room will have more impact on the sound quality than a good quality 12 ga copper speaker cable. Ohms Law plays by a different set of rules than waves through a gas of variable density.

@steakster 

 It's become whack-a-mole.  They just keep on popping up.

Worser yet..Unproven "Technology" that doesn't exist through objective means...but keeps magically appearing. Only marketing fluff with no way to prove efficacy by any type of real science or engineering.

@perkri

What?

Tweaks are not something that have to be overcome!

Lets see... The components need to sit on top of something. Hmmm, do they sit atop a rickety old chair, or a solid platform?

Tweak one...

Now, to better control vibration, both inside and outside of the gear, some kind of isolation would be useful.

Tweak two...

These things all run on electricity. Not sure how clean the power is in my place, so some kind of protection/filter is likely a good idea.

Tweak three...

Now, I have to connect these components to the power. I’m going to get a well made cord that uses good materials and is properly assembled as opposed to some wire that was thrown together with plastic encasing it which was done by a giant machine designed to produce the most cost effective product possible.

Tweak four...

Now, I have to run the signal from the source to my amplifier. Now I know that small electrical signals are subject to interference from electrical noise, so I’m going to get some good interconnects that are shielded to preserve the integrity of that tiny signal. Don’t want it getting muddied or distorted by this noise.

Tweak five...

My speakers are stand mounts. Going to need to put them on something. That sideboard is not such a great idea, its a big open box, and I’m sure the sound isn’t going to benefit from that big open "bass bas" underneath. Stands are probably a good idea.

Tweak six...

Those speakers are going to be shaking a lot. Think I’m going to put something between them and the stand so as they vibrate, they move in such a way as to not fight with themselves. Want as much clarity as possible from them.

Tweak seven...

Going to have to connect them to my amp. They are really efficient, so its probably a good idea to buy some decent speaker cable. They are going to enhance any distortions because of their sensitivity, so no lamp cord here.

Tweak eight...

So edgewound, explain to me where the hurdle is here that needs to be jumped, or overcome?

What you describe here is a basis for a solid system.

"Tweaks" are outrageously priced, unsubstantiated marketing claims that have little to no benefit on the objective performance of a sound system.

@perkri

Why so defensive? Did I touch a raw nerve? I have heard enough BS presentations at CES over the last 30+ years, plus I restore loudspeaker systems/components for that same amount of time, while also being a working musician for 45+ years to know what's good stuff vs. Bullstuff. There are excellent quality interconnect cables from a few bucks a foot, to making one's own for literally pennies a foot. When someone claims some breakthrough in physics for $30K for an 8 foot pair, and offers no engineering data to justify it, PT Barnum is applauding loudly. Hey...spend your money however you like, but the law in advertising such claims should be to prove objectively, first, why such a product(s) are intrinsically worth such outrageous sums.

@mahgister

You get it. My points exactly.

Fair!


My best to you....

Likewise!

@dletch

One day, a few will clue in to the fact that if all they chase are marketing claims and not real substantiated audible claims, then things will never get better and that they are part of the problem. Maybe some cables make an audible difference, but it will be an actual scientist or engineer that proves it, characterizes it, communicates how to replicate it, why it works, and how to take advantage of it, not the present lot of cable jockies and their wannabee hanger ons.

Most excellent summation. Vaporware is rampant in consumer audio. Not as much in pro audio, but the cable snakes are weaseling in to make rich, wannabe weekend warrior guitar players think that "tone is in the cables". It isn’t. It starts in the fingers. In HiFi it starts in the recording, and no magic cable is going to make a bad record sound more "liquidity, holographically 4 dimensional, effortless, with a blacker noise floor"...ever.

When each doubling of output equals 3dB, 20 or so strings in an orchestra equals real acoustic power.

At the worst, I’m trying to convince someone of the importance of something they have zero need for.

Marketing claims, and the hype that goes along with them, are like water off a ducks back to me.

Bingo. Truth really doesn't matter to a marketer that gets paid to convince people to buy stuff that gives no objective benefit. 

Thanks for being honest.

Since you don't understand context with regards to this forum, here's a nice defintition for you...
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context

bartholomew48 posts04-24-2021 7:36pm@edgewound
I don't understand the context of what I wrote? Do you even know the appropriate application of the word "context"? "In this here forum and thread" as you put it- like a hillbilly.

bartholomew49 posts04-25-2021 6:27am@edgewound
If you were trying to say that my comments were irrelevant to the topic of this thread, then you’ve taken my comments out of context. This thread is about hearing loss, and my point is that there are other forms of handicapped hearing, as in those who can’t hear the qualitative improvements of tweaks.
On the subject of irrelevance, do you think anyone cares about your long-winded diatribe about a woman who turned down an item twenty-five years ago? You’re suffering from diarrhea of the keyboard.

It wasn't a woman. Your reading comprehension isn't very good, either. 

bartholomew47 posts04-24-2021 5:47pmWho said anything about price? A crappy system can cost a little or a lot. Learn to read before you spout. If you can’t hear improvements between one interconnect and another, or between tubes, or power cables, I suspect that you lack the capacity to comment credibly. And dletch2, the word is "write". Illiteracy may also play a part.

It’s obvious that you don’t understand the context of what you wrote...in this here forum and thread. So yeah....literacy matters.

It doesn't get much more pretentious than this. Insinuating the people that choose to buy less expensive, higher value gear can't hear the differences is ridiculous. I had some some high end speakers displayed in my showroom back in the 1990s...that had a patent on the cabinet design...which placed the most lifelike image of live musicians into the room that I have ever experienced, and have not experienced since. I demoed them to a prospective customer that absolutely loved them. I asked the gentleman that referred him to me what the prospects thoughts were. Answer: Not expensive enough. Most people buy equipment based on what they can hear. Some people buy equipment because the price is higher, regardless if it actually sounds better. 

A $500 interconnect will not make a $500 amplifier present a better image in the room...and spending that kind of money expecting that result because someone simply said it would...makes no sense to me. 

bartholomew46 posts04-24-2021 4:28pm@rkronk

   Kris Kristofferson was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's. He actually had Lyme disease. He recovered from Lyme disease and continued performing.
   The most irritating aspect of posting meaningful tweaks on this forum is the knuckleheads here automatically accuse you of shilling for the manufacturer. What it reveals is that they don't have acute hearing by claiming that sonic improvements are imaginary and audio products are snake oil. It also reveals that the systems they listen to don't allow discernment of improvement because they're listening to crappy gear.