The Audiophoolery Thread.

[fetteler]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

Buyer beware seems to sum it up nicely. Probably stems from an ancient Roman scam.

Forgive me but a string of emojis can say a thousand words in this case.

Steve

[Radio Wrangler]

There are plenty of consumers out to take a vendor for a ta-ta if they can. Excuses like 'They're insured for it' and 'It's nothing seen in their turnover' and 'they're fleecing us anyway' abound. While plenty of vendors think 'There's one born every minute' and "He won't be back, but there's plenty more where he came from'

It's all rather messy.

Caveat emptor!
Caveat vendor!

It's beginning to feel good when you come across something which isn't a scam. This forum (those damned Romans!) is a calm, protected backwater on the internet. Whenever I look elsewhere all my scam-sensors start tingling if not screaming.

But amidst all the nastiness, let's treasure the good guys. The nastier the rest gets, the more special they become.

David

[turretslug]

On the subject of general consumer awareness and caution, I believe that sincere (sine cera) originates from a similar time, place and circumstance as caveat emptor. Being a shyster is as old as the hills.

[barretter]

Originally Posted by mark_in_manc

I play a little sax still, but the tight clarinet embouchure and the tricky middle register now completely throw me And even though I worked in acoustics for 25 years, I still don't have a solid handle on why a clarinet overblows to an octave and a fifth (behaving like a 1/4 wave tube) and a sax to an octave, when the termination conditions are so similar. There we go!

That's because a clarinet in cross-section is basically a cylinder until you get to the bell whereas the saxophone is based on the gradually flaring profile of the oboe.

[barretter]

Originally Posted by mark_in_manc

(I once played a brass clarinet in a shop, which was apparently a thing for marching bands before plastic became available and dealt with the 'playing in the rain' problem with wooden instruments. I was amazed that it sounded entirely like a clarinet (woody!), and nothing like a soprano sax which it resembled. But yes, the mouthpiece makes a huge difference; much more than the rest of the instrument which generally works if not full of backlash and leaky pads. Charlie Parker played a plastic sax for a bit).

Charlie Parker's plastic sax was British! made by Grafton in London.
It sold at Christie's in 1994 for £93,500 presumably because it still contained some of Parker's spit.

[Craig Sawyers]

New, most expensive AudioQuest speaker cable, the Dragon Zero. £5900 for a 1 metre pair. If you need a more typical 2.5 metres it is £13,400.

Typical BS. They have (mysteriously) eliminated characteristic impedance. "By eliminating the Mythical Creatures speaker cable’s characteristic impedance, current compression and distortion of the signal (current) transient is significantly reduced" they say. Oh yes - everyone needs to banish characteristic impedance. Think of the benefit to 5G comms!

It also features a "Dielectric-Bias System with Carbon-Level Radio-Frequency Trap (DBS)
All insulation is also a dielectric whose electrical properties affect the integrity of the signal. When the insulation is unbiased, dielectric-involvement (absorption and non-linear release of energy back into the signal flow) causes different amounts of time delay (phase shift) for different frequencies and energy levels, which is a significant problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio. AudioQuest’s multi-patented DBS creates a strong, stable electrostatic field which saturates and polarizes (organizes) the molecules of the insulation. This minimizes the nonlinear time delays, resulting in clearer sound emerging from a “blacker” background."

No measurements to support those claims of course. Just words.

And other nonsense. https://www.audioquest.com/cables/speaker-cables/mythical-creature-series/dragon-zero

In fairness they do a range of speaker cables at the £20 level too, that are real honest copper.

Craig

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by barretter

Charlie Parker's plastic sax was British! made by Grafton in London.
It sold at Christie's in 1994 for £93,500 presumably because it still contained some of Parker's spit.

The first time I saw a Grafton (in white plastic) was the sax player in Supercharge, Albie Donnelly was using one. And what a sound he was getting! That was in around 1977 and I've always been fascinated with Grafton saxes ever since. I mean, I don't own one, I'm not a sax player but I love hearing and reading about them.

[Craig Sawyers]

They even patented the Dielectric Bias System (attached). Basically a battery connected between two additional conducting features in the cable. I'm going to refrain from comment - but I really look forward to yours!

Craig

[barretter]

Originally Posted by turretslug

On the subject of general consumer awareness and caution, I believe that sincere (sine cera) originates from a similar time, place and circumstance as caveat emptor. Being a shyster is as old as the hills.

"Sincere" derives from the Latin "sincerus" which means clean, not from "sine cera".

[barretter]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

The first time I saw a Grafton (in white plastic) was the sax player in Supercharge, Albie Donnelly was using one. And what a sound he was getting! That was in around 1977 and I've always been fascinated with Grafton saxes ever since. I mean, I don't own one, I'm not a sax player but I love hearing and reading about them.

Another famous user of the Grafton plastic sax was Ornette Coleman. He can be seen holding one on the sleeve of his LP Something else!!!!

[Craig Sawyers]

They took out an updated version - a "continuance" of the earlier one, attached.

Of course you could measure (or rather not) the effect of all this flummery using a null tester https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyWt3kANA3Q

But which manufacturer would want to be confused with reality?

Craig

[Radio Wrangler]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

In fairness they do a range of speaker cables at the £20 level too, that are real honest copper.

Might be a typo and they entered their pricing table in reverse order.

David

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

Might be a typo and they entered their pricing table in reverse order.

David

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-flx-slip-14-4-speaker-cable
https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-rocket-11-speaker-cable-custom-length
https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-g2-speaker-cable

Craig

[Radio Wrangler]

Something I've always expected of the high-end business remains unfulfilled.

I have never seen an advert offering high-end equipment decontamination services - the restoration of high-end equipment which has been used with other equipment not appropriate to its stature.

Passing wrong signals through it will surely undo many days of careful and skilled breaking-in, if it doesn't do irreversible damage.

If cheap interconnects or cables have been used, there will be tiny amounts of inadequate material left behind on the connectors and binding posts. Obviously the connectors will have to be replaced by either factory originals or pundit approved tweaky ones.

David

[Radio Wrangler]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-flx-slip-14-4-speaker-cable
https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-rocket-11-speaker-cable-custom-length
https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-g2-speaker-cable

Clearly they made an error and got the pricing structure reversed, those are the expensive ones. Straight forward copper and 100% free of crap that might hamper the sound.

David

[knobtwiddler]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

New, most expensive AudioQuest speaker cable, the Dragon Zero. £5900 for a 1 metre pair. If you need a more typical 2.5 metres it is £13,400.

Typical BS. They have (mysteriously) eliminated characteristic impedance. "By eliminating the Mythical Creatures speaker cable’s characteristic impedance, current compression and distortion of the signal (current) transient is significantly reduced" they say. Oh yes - everyone needs to banish characteristic impedance. Think of the benefit to 5G comms!

It also features a "Dielectric-Bias System with Carbon-Level Radio-Frequency Trap (DBS)
All insulation is also a dielectric whose electrical properties affect the integrity of the signal. When the insulation is unbiased, dielectric-involvement (absorption and non-linear release of energy back into the signal flow) causes different amounts of time delay (phase shift) for different frequencies and energy levels, which is a significant problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio. AudioQuest’s multi-patented DBS creates a strong, stable electrostatic field which saturates and polarizes (organizes) the molecules of the insulation. This minimizes the nonlinear time delays, resulting in clearer sound emerging from a “blacker” background."

No measurements to support those claims of course. Just words.

And other nonsense. https://www.audioquest.com/cables/speaker-cables/mythical-creature-series/dragon-zero

In fairness they do a range of speaker cables at the £20 level too, that are real honest copper.

Craig

If you look at the seller's other items you will see he has an audio analyser to sell. Either he is a dealer, or a very confused audiophool.

Edit - maybe he thinks there is a fault with the analyser as it isn't telling him the audiophool cables are any better than cooker wire.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by knobtwiddler

If you look at the seller's other items you will see he has an audio analyser to sell. Either he is a dealer, or a very confused audiophool.

Edit - maybe he thinks there is a fault with the analyser as it isn't telling him the audiophool cables are any better than cooker wire.

Love it.

[turretslug]

A mischievous thought occurs to me that maybe a sceptical miscreant in their copywriting department came up with "Dielectric-Bias System with Carbon-Level Radio-Frequency Trap" - or Double BS for short....

Originally Posted by barretter

"Sincere" derives from the Latin "sincerus" which means clean, not from "sine cera".

Well, there's a thing- a brief search shows that that's the generally accepted scholarly explanation nowadays, and I certainly wouldn't seek to differ with those who've obviously applied themselves vastly more thoroughly to that avenue of knowledge than me. I was thinking of our Latin teacher's explanation that it derived from dodgy market-stall honey sellers who would supposedly apply a thin top layer of honey to a jar-full of beeswax. He probably heard it from his Latin teacher et cetera.... At least nowadays the internet allows quick access to informed verification on so many things (with some severe provisos, of course!).

[AC/HL]

Several posts referring to an eBay sale deleted. Some posts referring to the same products but via different routes remain.

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

I have never seen an advert offering high-end equipment decontamination services
David

Oddly one of the problems with the good old Garrard 301 and 401 decks is that the linkages are all cadmium passivated steel. It was of course perfectly acceptable at the time these decks were made. Indeed the standard mil spec plating of chassis and connector bodies was cadmium based (certainly in the early/mid 80's when I was designing mil stuff).

Of course now known for its toxicity.

One of the things that people who restore Garrard decks (and charge good money to do so) is to strip off the cadmium and either zinc or chrome plate.

Craig