Being totally pedantic, the emissivity of polished aluminum is quite a bit different from rough aluminum. That could make for some minor differences in cooking :-)
What is the Silliest Accessory You Have Ever Seen.
I was flipping through the accessory pages at the Cable Company and came up with this https://www.thecableco.com/hallograph.html You have to be kidding me. Of all the dumb, idiotic, profoundly stupid things I have ever seen. The marketing is even better! Have you seen anything worse! It is up to us to uncover these things for what they are, SCAMS.
Mike
Mike
Showing 24 responses by audio2design
What's worse, cheap stuff from Machina Dynamica or expensive stuff from SR. Usually the only thing more ridiculous than the product is the marketing claim. But audiophile pet pebbles takes the cake. So many of these products are just the result of someone with a questionable understanding of electricity and physics convincing people with even less understanding that they developed a perpetual motion machine. |
@mijostyn, obviously you can fool some of the people all of the time. On the Shaktis, if you think the claims are silly, check out the review, https://6moons.com/audioreviews/shakti/hallograph.html where the reviewer repeatedly quotes respected physicist Feynman, while not even realizing what Feynman was generally talking about (he was talking about people like the reviewer). Of course, someone without a basic understanding of how sound waves behave could believe many things, once the seed is planted. However, if you understand how sound waves behave you know that many of the claims are over the top, though I expect with my measurement equipment, there is a slight chance I could detect their presence, though I highly doubt I could hear them in a blind test though perhaps, in the one instance in that review where put directly behind the listening chair, I would expect you could pick up reflections given how very close they air. But then again, look at that listening space in the 6moons review. That's not the listening space of a professional reviewer. I would object to calling that listening space to be that of an audiophile, no matter the equipment. It would be hard to tell the difference between anything in that room. |
It all sounds very good, @theaudiotweak , but why use proper acoustic design and things we know work well, and somewhat universally and will substantially reduce or diffuse reflections when we can use an acoustic toy that looks cool with a far out story? Again, I have no doubt it does "something" but if someone understands acoustics and how sound interacts with objects, even fancy ones, you can quickly get a feel for what it can do and over what frequencies. That makes the claims rather ludicrous. For the price, you could implement actual acoustics that will do something necessarily substantial. |
I know an informed opinion is really offensive to some people who are unable to make one. I apologize for having a fairly strong background in acoustics. I guess I should be apologizing for my audio privilege and work harder to provide a safe space for disadvantaged audiophiles. I will go back and play with my 200mpg carburettor, who cares if it violates the laws of thermodynamics, and when I am bored of it, I will go back to playing with the $200 black box that will reduce my electricity usage 30%, again, who cares if it violates the laws of thermodynamics. If you will note above, I did suggest that I could possible measure its presence (with/without), something I suspect the people who "designed" it have not done. However, for $1500, you could actually buy some real acoustics that make a significant measurable and audible change that truly could make a dramatic improvement. |
When you have better than a cursory wikipedia understanding of sound waves and acoustics, then this conversation will make sense. You have latched onto only one property and are ignoring absolutely everything else. When you figure out longitudinal velocity, mean integrated velocity, extensional velocity, and oh, acoustic impedance, let's pick this up again and add another 4 or 5 terms to add to the repertoire. theaudiotweak2,118 posts01-11-2021 3:28pmLets keep it simple, has any one placed 2 or more plants in the corners of their audio room and encountered a change in sound? The pots could be clay or ceramic or brass or metal or plastic. |
Lewm, based on what you posted I would say your knowledge of electronics is sketchy too. It's all relative. Caps don't fail truly hard short, typically partial short and the transformer ends out blowing out the short (and the cap). The yoghurt machine had a fuse. The metal control would also have been chassis grounded if assembled properly so you are saying it had a faulty ground connection AND an internal wiring failure. More likely conductive liquid buildup but that's a guess. |
The Argent Rooms Lens have a damped control apperture thru the bottom vent for bass control and pressure relief. So basically a resonator. My suggested placement after 20 years of use is 6 feet outside the edge of either speaker Diffusion at this spot would aid in controlling first reflections.
Also usually a very good spot for diffusion. May provide limited bass control. Tom, this is not meant to put down the product, but to suggest how it is likely working in your system. I expect their benefit is more from diffusion than bass control. Room measurement would show that in a few minutes, however, not placing them at max room nodes limits what they can do in the bass. I would not put these on the silly scale. I doubt they meet all their claims, but could certainly see them being useful. |
@mijoystyn, @mahghister appears to read into posts what he wishes, either to stoke his outrage and/or stroke his bias, a kind of multicellular Helmholtz resonators....This product was just bashed by another fellow of the same species tonight who never try one....😁 This comment was directed at me. I initially said they were essentially diffusers, then updated my comments to recognize the Helmholz resonator aspect. The diffuser aspect is exactly true (as indicated by the company who makes them). I also stated that their effectiveness as Helmholz resonators would be severely compromised by their suggested placement (basically beside the speaker, and between it and the wall) as this is not a high pressure point. People who understand bass control will recognize this to be true. Some people are highly offended by people who are knowledgeable and speak confidently on topics they cannot. They can't fathom that others don't have to do "experiments" to know how something will or will not work. This obviously is not exclusive to high end audio, but it does appear to have an unusually high concentration. |
cleeds3,547 posts01-18-2021 10:51am audio2design Real scientists conduct experiments to test new science. They don't run experiments to test fundamental macro properties that were established 50-100 years ago. That is called yr. 1/2 lab course work. That is why we have acoustics simulation programs that are highly accurate. Similar to circuit simulators. Sure we build stuff and test to verify, and small parameters variations over many devices can have unexpected consequences, but the basics don't change. |
tweak11,910 posts01-09-2021 9:00amThe problem here is the title with the word SEEN, instead of HEARD https://www.machinadynamica.com/machina41.htm Thank you for clearly illustrating placebo effect. |
bdp247,150 posts01-08-2021 6:43pmThe Peter Belt (PWB Electronics) "products" are laughably ridiculous. He does give audio dynamica a run for their money! |
Skeptic in North America, sceptic in the rest of the world and off planet. Am I allowed to put 1V across 1 ohm and say confidently I will get 1A of current or do I need to do an experiment? When one who possesses relevant experience and "dismisses" these silly accessories, that does not mean they are claiming they will do absolutely nothing. I stated the item that started this will do "something". But doing something and meeting the outlandish claims are completely different. Of course I am quite certain the clever little clock does nothing except cleverly extract money from people. Are you not in the list bit curious why so few of these tweakish things are never demonstrated by suppliers that they unequivocally make a sonic difference? It would be so easy to show and could do nothing but increase sales. Can you imagine having a product that makes a demonstrable and obvious difference in the sound and never making a demonstration that proves the difference is obvious? Surely you must be at least a little curious why that does not occur? |
aj523215 posts01-24-2021 10:55amI fell for the Walker Audio Talisman mainly because I read stellar review from what I thought were reputable sites like 6moons, Positive Feedback, Dagogo, etc At least for me, it does absolutely nothing. It doesn’t even eliminate static. Oh well live and learn. At least I could return it. My wife is reading a book right now that explores this concept of how humans tend to default to assuming "true", i.e. default to assuming what they are being told is true. Absent the knowledge to know otherwise, it is not surprising to see how people react to things. |
Yes, I can be out dated but even that and even your information you don’t answer yet where is the electrical source of the human been, not neuro-transmitters or nervous terminations and the like but the electrical source: from where is developed. Not sure what you are getting at (the electrical source). The power source is chemical. Signalling is electrical, electro-chemical and chemical. The brain is not very good at multi-tasking, not even your wife's no matter what she tells you. Reducing sensory input in one area allows focus in another area. It is why people to tell you to shut up when golfing, even though swinging a club is not an auditory action. |
mijostyn OP3,670 posts02-10-2021 7:25am@mahgister, I am not disagreeing with your statements. Based on the current political situation I would estimate that at least 50% of the population is highly suggestible. About 60% on one side of the spectrum, 40% on the other, I will leave it up to individuals to decide which side is which. |
There is a popular internet meme, with people going in two directions. They comes across a cross-roads, and they have two choices of answers, "Simple but wrong", and "Complex but right". Most "tweaks" are the equivalent of "simple but wrong". Raise youe cables, buy a $5.00 Schuman generator, pay $20K for a cable, puts caps on your RCA jacks, even many equipment swaps. These are all simple, but wrong answers in audio recreation. Taking the time to learn about acoustics, how to measure acoustics in a room, actually treating a room, doing double blind tests to avoid bias, assuming you are wrong when you hear something .... these are all complex things, and hard, but they are right. Look at the picture of people's systems here. 90% have no acoustics. 95% have inadequate acoustics. Most of those won't have any DSP correction to fix the gross frequency response issues. They have the audio equivalent of a "hot mess". Sure it looks good, and it sure is purdy ... but don't take that home with you. |