It is nice to know that the high school hall monitors are still alive and well.
What’s your vote for the most ridiculous, overpriced, and useless tweak?
My vote: Furutech Outlet Cover 105 NCF $220, with “special crystalline material that has two “active” properties.” https://www.thecableco.com/outlet-cover-105-ncf.html
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I vote for salt Himalayan lamp for the most ridiculed of tweaks... The only problem I bought some used for peanuts and the light is gorgeous and they add sparkling aura to the sound if the light switch is "on" ... Gosh! I was surprized when i forget to open the switch to "on" sometimes and discover that something was missing in the air...I discover an audio forum in china where some say the samething than me about this salt lamp ...Then this is the most ridiculed tweaks for sure not the more ridiculous at all...My best to all... |
What about my vote for the Maxiimus P16? ridiculous - a glowing crystal pyramid powered by two "tachyon accumulators" housed in a tin box. overpriced - 1800 Euros useless - it generally makes the sound worse, smears focus and destroys the soundstage. What’s more, they promise a "flow of electrons" from nature and electrons don’t even flow. http://www.kempelektroniks.nl/en/918/kemp-elektroniks/products/shunt-conditioners/fostac-maxiimus-p1... |
I propose to separate the 2 matters : the more ridiculous tweak and the more overpriced... The more useless and the more ridiculous tough may overlapped sometimes, but the more ridiculous(like salt lamp) is not always the more useless … And for me with my low priced vintage audio system almost all tweaks are overpriced, then it is necessary to replicate without buying when I can... |
As much as I distain disagreement the salt lamp doesn't do anything to the sound IMO. I had someone measure the number of negative ions produced by the salt lamp and the number is zero. Now, I'm not saying salt isn't a pyroelectric material, but the bulb in the salt lamp doesn't generate sufficient heat to produce negative ions. even tripling the wattage of the bulb still does not produce any ions. But the lamps are pretty, I'll grant you that. |
@whostolethebatmobile What about my vote for the Maxiimus P16?Curious - how do you know what it does to the sound? Do you own one? How do you guys even hear about some of this stuff? Surprising to see the folks at Mono&Stereo were "Gobsmacked" over this item. I am thrilled to remain blissfully ignorant of most of this stuff. 🕶 However, I did have a seemingly sane person explain how the "blue fuses for $150 each" transformed the sound of his amp/system. 💥🚀💨 |
Yes I own one. I would not have the gall to criticise something without having heard it in my own system for a long period. I know exactly what it does to the sound (but not how it does it). It’s main effect is to artificially exaggerate front-to-back dimensionality (not the same as depth, because sounds appear to come forward from the speakers), at the expense of soundstage accuracy. Try to imagine a processed, blurry 3D photo compared to a normal crisp 2D photo of the same scene. That’s what it does to the sound. |
Important note on the €2000 Maxiimus P16... be sure to buy the right one: “ Note: if your home has 3 phase electricity, only one of these will be harmonised by the P16. In case you would like full harmonisation, the MAXiiMUS P40 is the right choice” Luckily the P40 actually costs less than the P16 (go figure). And let’s face it, the last thing you need is to leave 2 phases of your electricity unharmonized, so why take a chance? |
If one guy must already know that some facts are unexplained yet by engineering science and tough these facts are linked to audible experience results it is Geoffkait :) I dont pretend to explain anything, tough in my system there is a difference...But I am ok with you to put that tweak in the category ridiculous but not overpriced nor useless (orange light increase placebo effect perhaps)...My best to you Geoff... |
Thanks for the explanation. Makes me wonder if that is one reason some equipment manufacturers don't subscribe to tweaking (beyond providing good power, solid support, and room treatments) since in many cases the tweaked result may be different but not necessarily better or, at best, subjectively better - i.e., some like it some don't. I guess it boils down to how much time, energy, and money someone is willing to spend to change the sound of their system by 5% +/-. Since I have the power, support, and room thing covered, I continue to find component/speaker changes move the ball way more than whether I use Herbies feet or cones under my gear, what fuses I use, whether the EVS ground enhancers are plugged in, whether my high end zobel networks are attached, etc. |
Uh, you guys must be slipping by not mentioning Peter Belt very much, if at all. Peter Belt’s products have, over the years, epitomized what many audiophiles perceive to be the high water mark 🔝for preposterous, ridiculous, bizarre, far out and inexplicable audio tweaks. One need look no further than Silver Rainbow 🌈 Foil, those teeny, tiny little holographic foils that are stuck onto barcodes on CDs, barcodes on books, COMPACT DISC logos on CDs, etc. to get an inkling of just how off the charts the Belt stuff really is. Not that I think his stuff doesn’t work. Surely the Belt stuff must put a bee 🐝 in somebody’s bonnet. |
I tried some of the PWB Electronics free tweaks. You shamed me into it. I found that I was able to perceive a difference. However, it was more in line with what May Belt herself claims for the PWB tweaks. She asks you to "see if you can listen to the same music with the same pleasure" without the tweak in place. She does not claim that it improves the sound, only the pleasure. She specifically states that the PWB tweaks do not change the sound, which is already in the room. I found that the presence of the tweaks did increase my listening pleasure. However, afterwards, I was able to train myself to experience the same pleasure without the tweak in place, through relaxation and concentration. And when my niece poured scorn on the PWB tweak (in the nicest possible way), it killed all the listening pleasure of the tweak and I shuffled off to bed crestfallen. Maybe I should try a more potent and expensive PWB cream tweak, but how would I ever choose between Green Cream and Cream Electret? Both sound so delicious. |
When May says pleasure she is referring to the sound. “Sound,” “the perception of sound,” “our sense of sound” are all equivalent. You cannot separate them. One would experience more pleasure from a more musical sound, no? Your perception of sound changes. That’s really equivalent to saying the sound itself changes. Music soothes the savage breast. You could say the sound is on the CD but the sound changes when some tweaks are applied. It’s kind of the same argument inasmuch as the data on the CD cannot be altered. If you drink a couple of beers your perception of the sound probably changes, too, |
Could there be two broad categories of tweak? One which reveals something new in the sound/music which you have never noticed before, and one which increases pleasure but does not necessarily reveal anything new or previously un-noticed. I don't think the PWB free tweaks revealed anything new to me about the recording, even though I was enjoying the listening experience more than usual. A more traditional tweak usually jumps right out and hits you with something you never heard before. The resulting stimulus is not necessarily pleasure, it could be excitement, interest or anticipation. As for sound and pleasure being equivalent enough to use interchangeably, I think that may be a stretch. I could probably judge the sound (quality) of a system using source material which gave me no pleasure at all. Such as a dog vomiting, if it was really well recorded. |
whostolethebatmobile Could there be two broad categories of tweak? One which reveals something new in the sound/music which you have never noticed before, and one which increases pleasure but does not necessarily reveal anything new or previously un-noticed. I don’t think the PWB free tweaks revealed anything new to me about the recording, even though I was enjoying the listening experience more than usual. >>>>The short answer is yes, you could have tweaks that affect the audio signal directly and those that affect the sound indirectly or subconsciously. But there is no difference *subjectively* between a PWB tweak and a amplifier or a better speaker cable or room treatment. I’m not sure I agree tweaks are supposed to hit you over the head. Wouldn’t it be great if they always did? A lot is system and listener dependent. An experienced audiophile would be hard pressed to determine what produced changed in sound X. Was it a better cable, better fuse, room treatment, CD treatment or PWB tweak? We all have our own ideas of what SHOULD produce big results and those that won’t produce any results, or very subtle results. There isn’t any difference between “the sound” and “the perception of the sound.” There’re the same thing. It’s not that easy to define musicality. We all have our theories of what that means. If you did not hear a change in the sound why else would you experience the experience as better? Were you high? When May says the sound was in the room all the time and that you just couldn’t hear it completely or accurately until you trying PWB Tweak X it because your subconscious is involved with how you hear, I.e., your sensory perception of sound. Thus, hearing is not (rpt not) simply the result of acoustic waves in the air striking the ear and traveling up to the brain. It’s much more complex than that. That’s so mundane. Much of it involves the subconscious, which is how most PWB tweaks work. They do not affect the audio signal somewhere in the system or room like almost all tweaks. PWB tweaks affect the sound indirectly, you could say. It’s not “psychological” or random because PWB tweaks are repeatable and transferable. That’s a very quick summary of a concept that is very complicated, so please cut me some slack. 😛 |
bdp24 Listening to the same J.S. Bach or Mozart piece twice in a row increases my pleasure in hearing it, as I better understand it. And it’s free! >>>>One man’s pleasure is another man’s torture. 😩 |
I judged the experience "better" because I was more relaxed than usual and found my mind wandering away from sound quality considerations and towards the fun aspect of the music, the talent of the players, the songwriters and the spirit of the era (1965). After all, I had been instructed to listen for pleasure, not technical perfection. I took May's instructions literally. But that's because I'm a beginner. I better understand the "morphic resonance" concept (philosophy?) behind many PWB products after viewing this short youtube clip of Rupert Sheldrake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_RGEpJSr6s |
Glubson Back to Mpingo discs. Anyone mentioned them? geoffkait15,883 posts06-07-2019 7:02amHere are some examples of preposterous-sounding tweaks that are either free (hel-loo!) or don’t cost an arm and a leg. 💪 🦵 Silver Rainbow Foil, the Green Pen, Mpingo Disc (OK, so the price has gone up a lot in the last twenty years but the used price is not too bad), freezing things at home for two days, getting rid of all magazines, newspapers, extraneous trash, Black Pen on inner edge of CD, storing all CDs vertically, tying adjacent cables and cords into a square knot, removing all cell phones from the room. I met the Mook Bros. Bet you’re jealous. I’ve also reversed engineered a Mpingo Disc. Bet that makes you jealous, too. |
The bell telephone cie. just ship me a new router, more refine technology... guess what were my surprize when my reference computer musical files sound more refine with way more clarity, probably less noise from the new router amd I just add my old shungite stones from the old router to the new to another added improvement....A free tweak indeed and almost astounding one completely unexpected...One thing I know from experience now is any electrical field in my house affected my listening experience, router included....This is a tweak from the god of audiophile, a gift to me... |
The new Apple Corp. giant UFO HQ building is isolated on huge slip plates/bearings. This might not sound like a big deal but the Apple Corp. HQ building is one mile in circumference. The question is did Tim Cook decide to isolate the HQ building for earthquake protection OR so employees could enjoy the benefits of isolation whilst they listen to their desktop systems or headphones or whatever? |
Let’s see, have we forgotten anybody? Oh, geez, we forgot the Intelligent Chip! It knows when a CD has already been treated. Not to mention it works by remote control. Hel-loo! You place the Intelligent Chip on top of the CD player and let the music play for 2 seconds. Voila! The CD is permanently treated. The original Intelligent Chip was carried by Golden Sound but came from China. |