Silliest audiophile equipment of all time?

Reference Audio used to distribute replacement wooden knobs for your favorite audiophile components. They were imported from a company in Switzerland, I think called "Silver Rock". One volume control knob was $500. I guess they didn't find enough gullible folks willing to buy one since their no longer being imported or made. I noticed that the same company is making some wooden isoloation feet, which are basically three small turned pieces of hardwood called woodlens (look under "DIY". They charge 320 CHF for the set of three (about $300) so I guess the price of turned wood has gone down a bit. The $500 knob was hard to beat, even by Geoff Kait's standards. The Teleportation Tweak does take the cake though, I must say. I'm surprised Kait has taken up my suggestion of the Machina Dynamica Magic Brick Tweak: for the price of airfare, room and board + $3900, Kait himself would come to your listening room and cut a brick right there in the middle of the room. The improvements? Well, they make the Teleportation Tweak seem as primitive as a wooden knob! He's probably worried about being sued by VPI for infringement on their own "Magic Brick" tweak. Perhaps he could go with "Magic Cable". Wouldn't you drop a few grand to have some genuine, bonified ex-NASA engineer come and lay some cable in your sound room?

I just ordered the "Machina dynamica Brilliant Pebbles large size" (one only) and i would like some suggestions on what speakers I should get in order to best hear the pebble. Budget is about 10K. Any help from those who have heard the pebble? Thanks.

It depends which color you ordered.

Rocket man - if you're serious about writing this article you describe you should try to find some audiophiles, with various levels of investment and obsession, who are local to you and actually experience what it is that is so important to them in how a system can present music. As far as determining a threshold for diminishing returns, I strongly feel you will find that it varies from individual to individual, and is not necessarily dependent upon results that YOU might actually appreciate or even hear, or not hear. For that matter, if put to the test, I'd venture to guess that many of us might fail a coat-hanger-like, blind test as applied to the choices we've made with gear. Ultimately what makes each of us happy is in our own minds and how we individually interpret the things that are around us and that act upon us, interact with us, etc. Whether real or imagined, if you think a phone call from Geoff Kait pounding some of his pots and pans with a spoon (the way someone on another thread described his Teleportation experience) actually made your system sound any different, well, though most of us might feel sorry for you to be that gullible, all the power to you for finding something that makes you happy. If spending $500 on a Swiss turned hardwood knob floats your boat, go for it. Personally, like most, I find those things utterly ridiculous, needless to say. It's easy to make fun of this stuff, and I'm all for laughing at ourselves. I don't have any sense if you'd be laughing at me or with me, Jonny. I don't really know that I care one way or the other. As far as your advisers for your project; I don't believe physical science has as much to do with it as it does with psychology. It's somewhere in the realms of psychology and psycho-acoustics and behavioral science. Then again I don't believe that our strongest connection with music has much to do with science either. It is emotional and primal. As far as why this smaller subset of music lovers seek out some kind of closer connection with the music that moves them at what others may consider great expense...well, I don't think it's much different from those who obsess to bring themselves some happiness through various other obsessions in life...it's a component of being a human being raised in Western culture (materialist culture), this seemingly insatiable desire for more, and better 'experiences' of life, and with it more 'stuff'. Some folks control it, or direct it better than others, while others seem to let it go entirely. We all end up as dust in the end...be happy. If you really want to learn more about the subject you might be interested in reading this book.There are, of course many good books on psycho-acoustics and the psychology of music, as well as those on the psychology of obsession. You may also enjoy this film on a few of our ilk. If you are going to write an article on this stuff you may want to do some research in this direction. Also, since you are seeking the input of those in a public forum, you may want to continue to elaborate on where you're coming from if you want to gain the trust of others in your endeavors.

Marco