The Quackery Thread

[Scottmoose]

I'm afraid I'm in an increasingly foul temper these days. Many reasons. Idiocy of bankers & government. The obsession with political correctness that's not far from Orwell's flaming Thought Police. The fact that I'm broke, my PhD is on the rocks, and most of my favourite TV shows have reached the end of their series does not help.

So, I thought as a slight pressure release, and if Nick is willing to let it remain, it's time for a Quackery thread. A kind of Room 101. Here, we shall pour scorn and contempt upon ludicrous audio products, especially those that cost gullible mugs a fortune, either for doing marginally less than bugger all, or for costing the aforementioned fortune when a couple of quid will buy something that does the same job (or better).

My close friend (attached) will naturally be the arbiter of all such items.

[Scottmoose]

I present, for your attention, Exibit A.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/crystal5/bridge.html

Apologies for a review page, but Crystal Cable's own site has a dearth of information on their own products. Possibly it's somewhere, but I honestly can't be bothered to go searching. Life is too short.

Naturally, in a thread of this kind, a cable had to be the first thing. But this is a cable with a difference. It doesn't actually carry a signal. Oh no. No, what we have here is an 'upgrade' to your existing interconnects. What you do is you plug this prettified piece of £400 - £1300 wire into x & y components, then plug your original interconnects (which still carry the signal) into this thing.

Right. Ah, but it has ultra high speed 20GHz filters at each end (whatever that means), and extremely pure conductors. Oh I am thrilled. Very useful, given that it doesn't carry a signal. It's a glorified ground at a ludicrous price.

Quack.

[Mike H]

Damn why didn't I think of that


Nah rubbish, super conductors, that's what you want. Make a fortune selling liquid helium top-ups

[Scottmoose]

You really, really would think this is a joke, wouldn't you? Or hope. The Belt style madness is still with us. Yes indeed.

You see these small cubes of wood with little holes in? Thread them & have many beads to hang round your neck while listening to the latest albums from Peter Gabriel's Real World label? Nope. You are supposed to glue them to strategic parts of your room. For they are not small bits of wood with holes drilled in them. They are the 'Sugercube Noise Filters.' I would go on, but I'd probably hang myself.

[Nick]

Right. Ah, but it has ultra high speed 20GHz filters at each end (whatever that means)

More to the point, I would love to know what a slow speed 20GHz filter was.

I guess, the description would be true though, I would imagine a phono plug and socket would make a good enough filter at 20GHz.

[Andrew]

What ever happened to the expensive knob with the special C37 varnish.

The URL doesn't work anymore but it used to say....

Silver Rock Signature Knob: Reference Audio Mods

Good vibrations, Bad vibrations it’s all about vibrations!! RAM would like to introduce a new signature level knob developed for the mighty Silver Rock potentiometer. The standard bakelite knob is certainly the best sounding compromise... but now Audio Consulting has taken this aspect of the Silver Rock much further. The new knobs are custom made with beech wood and bronze where the bronze is used as the insert to mount to the stem of the volume pot. The beech wood is coated several times with C37 lacquer for best sound as pointed out by Dieter Ennemoser. How can this make a difference??? Well, hearing is believing as we always say. The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved.

[Ali Tait]

There is of course the old chestnut-The Linn Alarm Clock!

[Nick]

There is of course the old chestnut-The Linn Alarm Clock!

But doesn't it need to be in a different room, with only the one clock in there with it?

[Scottmoose]

Quack. A perfect candidate for the thread.

[Ali Tait]

Yes I think that was right Nick.But it couldn't be any old alarm clock,it had to be the Linn one.

[Nick]

Yes, but I still think that old Linn "no other speakers in the room" thing was inspired.

What better way of preventing anyone from actually doing a comparison between speakers. Either they are in the room together in which case the Linn one won't be working at its best, or they are not together, in which case the time it takes to swap them over makes comparison impossible.

[Deco-Doctor]

removed

[Mike H]

I like the "burn-in period of 50-100 hours"

Carefully calculated so's you can't remember what they like to start with

[Scottmoose]

And while we're on the subject...

The Audioharma (an apt name, I fancy) Cable Cooker. http://www.audioexcellenceaz.com/audiod ... cooker.htm Not an oven in which to insert your high end wire, or in my case, my head, with the gas on & pilot light out, but a box that sends a signal through the wire. Which is supposed to do something. Quite what, they don't say. Possibly because they couldn't think of anything that could be said about something so utterly banal.

Quack.

[Nick]

Problem is (IMHO) that once you admit to thinking such things are tosh, you get marked down in some places as believing all good amps should sound the same, and the best amp is a high feedback SS one.

Its the same as if you express any belief in restricting censorship on the net you are immediatly into child pornography.

Shame the world isn't so black and white.