Is Zig Ziglar related to Ziggy Stardust or Zelig or ZipLock bags?
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
503 responses Add your response
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Oh Liz, those are “manufactured” by you-know-who and as “Flying Saucers” they are part of the “2001: A Space Oddity” line-up that is not without its fan-base (you can typically identify them by the tin foil hats). I suspect the head Space Cowboy and CEO himself will be beaming down here to weigh in anytime now. BTW, they are on sale at 3 for only $25. |
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Before moving on to the best, let me add my two cents about the worst. Without a doubt, for me nothing comes close to the original Tice power conditioner (don't recall very well anymore, but it was some sort of frozen clock radio -- possibly). I put it into my system and the result was if someone had dulled, squashed, and bleached the music. I returned to the dealer seeking a refund. She refused, say it was a special order. Nothing else I have ever bought comes close to that fraud. |
China’s a lot smarter than a lot of folks realize. For example China has the current distance record for quantum teleportation, 870 mi. I remember when it was few feet. Heck, they’ll be catching up to your humble narrator pretty soon if I’m not careful. Hey, mahgister, quick question - does the Schumann device work on the system or you? |
By the way I improve it with some shungite and herkimer diamond and with an improved power supply with tourmaline...I must say that the improvement is not small nor doubtful, I am surprized....I ask for myself now this question: why paying many hundred of bucks for one? Acoustic revive sell some at too high price for me. I realize I have replicated many of their priceful products or ideasor replace it tough at no cost or very low... Nevermind! The shumann resonator is not useless, overpriced, ridiculous tweak, if you buy a china made cheap one... But before buying one, beware! You must treat your room, clean the electrical grid, and eliminate or control vibrations,after that and only after a schumann resonator will make a great audible impact... |
The frequencies produced by the resonator affect and transform the electro-magnetic grid of my system because all the parts of the audio system are linked and simultaneously affect and transform my hearing body linked to the acoustical grid of the room... It is like the frequencies of the resonator improve the sound resulting from the linked acoustical and electrical grid...But it is you the physicist, this is only my reflexion and I am not a scientist...I only know that the resonator modify the 2: the material embedding of the sound and my hearing body modified himself by these frequencies living in this embedding... |
Worst tweak? A polythene platter supplied by Max Townshend for my Elite Rock. It threw so much energy back at the stylus it wouldn't track (as in stay in the groove) without the damping trough and even then it destroyed the timing. I tried an HRS record weight to try and calm it but my arm hit the edge of the weight at the end of the side. When I reverted to the original plaster filled platter I discovered that the polythene one had been bored oversize and some clear sticky tape had been wound around the outside of the inverted bearing to take up the slop. That's the last time I dealt with Max. I've since tried the HRS weight on my Artemis SA-1 (with Schröder Reference) which replaced the Rock but it dulled the sound, the small weight supplied with the deck is preferable to that or no weight/clamp so the HRS weight is the second most useless tweak. |
How about 25 ft of audio cable for $15,000? https://www.morrowaudio.com/collections/interconnect-pair/products/anniversary-interconnect-pair-288... I’m using wire from a chain link fence lately. Sounds great! |
Geoffkait is not dead. No need for alarm. When I’m not here, gentle readers, I spend much of my time in the future. Not necessarily your future, but my future. The reason I come back here to post is because they don’t have audio forums in the future. They also don’t have good thrift stores in the future, by the way. |
By the way I improve the schumann resonator another times and put it to another level for the impact... I use stones on the center spot of the generator(Shungite +Herkimer) connected by a very ultra thin copper cable, like a hair, connected to the other stones of my stones grid...I must say that the schumann resonator (a Chinese one 20 bucks) are almost the most astounding tweak I ever made, very different impact than the Helmholtz resonators but not less impactful on the contrary, and perhaps better than a new amplifier or at least like a very costly new one... I had no words...Buy one and if you are not astounded, the reason is your system is not cleaned of vibrations or interference, nor your room adequately treated... |
@yeti42 , sorry to hear about your experiences. I guess far too many of us were taken for a ride at some point in this hobby. Our needs were great but our knowledge was narrow. Talking of the Townshend Rock, surely the proprietary trough wasn’t a useless tweak? It always seemed to make logical sense to give the head shell end of the arm some support regarding tracking performance. |
@mahgister, from the VH Audio web site regarding the Acoustic Revive Schumann Frequency Generator, “What is the Schumann Resonance? The "Schumann Resonance" is a resonance frequency that exists in the Earth’s "electromagnetic" cavity; i.e. it exists between terrestrial surface and ionosphere. The German physicist W. O. Schumann first detected the resonant properties of this terrestrial cavity in 1954. It has been noted that the Schumann Resonance is a breathing phenomenon of the Earth that has lasted for ages. The lowest-frequency and highest-intensity mode of the Schumann Resonance is at a frequency of approximately 7.83Hz. Humans and all animals and plants have been guarded by this frequency of 7.83Hz and lived for long time. But recently, many unnatural radio waves and electromagnetic waves have disturbed this frequency of 7.83Hz, having a negative influence on our human bodies. Acoustic Revive asserts that there are many effects when the frequency of 7.83Hz is generated artificially. Some interesting information regarding Shumann Resonance and human psychobiology may be found here. ( hyperlink no longer active)” |
The trough was there from the origin of the deck and is a great leveller up, I used it with a Rega arm for decades, the platter upgrade wasn’t an upgrade musically but it did make for impressive dynamics, pity it lost the timing in the process. What really bugged me was the poor craftsmanship necessitating the use of sticky tape to bodge it up. |
I’ve been following with interest the Schumann Frequency device ever since Acoustic Revive introduced it all those years ago (12) and even tried a Schumann frequency CD, that produces an audio I.e., acoustic wave in the room of 7.8 Hz through speakers, even computer speakers, if you see what I mean. But as far as any explanations go, none, including those found on the Acoustic Revive web site and VH Audio web site and attempts by reviewers if they even attempted explanations - which they probably didn’t - do not really explain what’s going on. These “explanation” do not explain why the 7.8 Hz frequency improves the sound. The explanations obviously threw a lot of facts together and hoped it would suffice. Sorry, don’t buy it. That doesn’t make it an explanation. I’m not implying it doesn’t work. I’m saying no one has explained how the Schumann frequency improves the sound. At least not to my satisfaction. It’s OK that it’s a mystery, isn’t it? Doesn’t the whole world love a mystery? As Bob Dylan says at the end of all his songs, good luck to everyone. |
It is not (rpt not) true that NASA installed Schumann Frequency generators on the Shuttle for the well-being of the astronauts. I don’t know how that rumor got started but you can find it as a selling point for some wellness web sites. 👩🚀 Also, the argument that the real Schumann frequency is being drowned out by the proliferation of radio frequencies in our modern world doesn’t make sense because the Schumann 7.8 Hz electromagnetic wave cannot be “drowned out” by the radio frequencies that are very high up in the Megahertz and Gigahertz regions. It’s the same reason why a satellite 🛰 uplink frequency cannot interfere with the downlink frequency since those frequencies are deliberately separated. The real Schumann wave that exists in the channel around the Earth’s circumference is as strong as ever, perhaps even stronger now due to more extreme bad weather, I.e., lightning storms. |
You are right Geoff, but I am certain also that these frequencies affect the listening body, if they are re-inforced by a resonator; and more than that these frequencies affect my stones grid trough a single cable and trough that the audio grid...when I added these connected stones to the resonator the result was "wow"...Then I understand your point that a frequencies does not drown out another, but re-inforcing one that must make some difference I think...My best.. |
You still have not explained why or how the Schumann frequency improves the sound. It would be nice for either a physical, electronic or psychological explanation. It seems rather far-fetched that the human brain is influenced by or requires an external frequency, the Schumann frequency, to function properly. I’m not buying it. The 7.8 Hz frequency is nowhere near the audio frequency range of 20-20k Hz. The Schumann frequency wavelength is 25,000 miles for heaven sake and doesn’t even fit in the room! 😬 |
Ok Geoffkait, first, in case you have enquire or even inquire, I am not dead... Second, the listening human body is an antenna also, and the more sophisticated measure apparatus there is... Then these schumann frequencies of the earth participate from the origin till today in the structural genesis of life because they permeated the life field, like ground permeates the roots of tree...By the way 20 khz is 15 kilometer wavelength, how that fit in my room? Perhaps Fourier analysis completed by some wavelet analysis will help here...Perhaps the body is able more than we at wavelet analysis... You are the physicist, think about it and tell me... By the way I dont pretend that what I say is an explanation, only matter to think about at best... |
Just popping in Pop! 🍾 to say the 20 kHz frequency is acoustic so it’s wavelength is actually very short, 1.7 cm. On the other hand, the Schumann frequency 7.8 Hz is in the electromagnetic spectrum so it’s wavelength is extremely long, I.e. circumference of the earth 🌎 . 😳 With climate change and more extreme weather I suspect the amplitude of the Schumann frequency is at an all time high, given that the Schumann frequency is primarily a function of lightning storms. ⛈ Pop quiz 🤗 If the real Schumann frequency wavelength is 25,000 miles how does the Schumann frequency generator produce a frequency of 7.8 Hz in the room? Hint - the length of the antenna required is proportional to the wavelength. |
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the schumann generator emit an acoustic wave, then the generator transform the electro magnetic wave of 7 .8 hertz in acoustic wave correspondant signal ? is it correct? For the antenna: the speed of light divide by the frequency of the schumann wave will give the length of the correspondant antenna modulo some fraction to obtain a small antenna... Is this make sense? |
