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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 1:25 am   #1581
Radio Wrangler
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

THis dielectric bias system uses extra conductors in the cable, charged by small batteries.... So how do they know when the batteries need replacement? Is there a low battery alarm light, or do they leave it until they notice an audible difference?

Must be good, it's patented!

David
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 2:36 am   #1582
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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THis dielectric bias system uses extra conductors in the cable, charged by small batteries.... So how do they know when the batteries need replacement? Is there a low battery alarm light, or do they leave it until they notice an audible difference?

Must be good, it's patented!

David
The visible indicator is surely the electrolyte leakage from the battery.
The manufacturer then gets to sell them a new cable.
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 2:39 am   #1583
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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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
Surely was it not the pollution from plating and stripping of cadmium that lead to its use being stopped.
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 8:14 am   #1584
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Cadmium mining tailings also got in on the act. Cadmium just has a terrible history of pollution from beginning to end.

Chromium doesn't get off easily, a proportion always turns into the valency-6 form which is also banned. As there is a small amount of residual chromium in cement, they add an agent to oppose this. The agent has a limited life and so bags of cement now have use-by dates printed on them.

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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 9:45 am   #1585
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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Cadmium mining tailings also got in on the act. Cadmium just has a terrible history of pollution from beginning to end.

Chromium doesn't get off easily, a proportion always turns into the valency-6 form which is also banned. As there is a small amount of residual chromium in cement, they add an agent to oppose this. The agent has a limited life and so bags of cement now have use-by dates printed on them.

David
David, are you the main data base for Wikipedia?
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 10:00 am   #1586
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Far from it.

It was just when I bought a few bags of cement a couple of years ago, I got cautioned to watch out for the use-by date, as there wasn't long to run.

Use-by date?

What the hell goes off in a sack of cement, other than water getting in?

Curious, I looked into it and asked around and found out about the Chromium 6 issue. Bizarre.

David
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 6:04 pm   #1587
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Concrete's occasionally had thread relevance in horn speakers, too!
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 7:45 pm   #1588
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I built a pair of concrete lined, asymmetric speakers when I was 16. I was not my parent's favorite at that point...

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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 11:21 pm   #1589
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Post No.1584- Yes indeedy, the product remains usable but the conversion to hexavalent chromium can start. After this point one avoids breathing the dust and getting it on your skin. Another one of those things that is worth knowing. It's off-topic i suppose, but safety is never off-topic...in my opinion.

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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 11:57 pm   #1590
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

From memory, the 4th edition if the STC/ITT Reference Data for Radio Engineers mentions that Cadmium plate on screws provides good anti-sieze properties.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 9:11 am   #1591
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

It's quite remarkable how today's demon materials were once yesterday's wonder materials. No doubt there are films made by producers of the wonder that is asbestos and how there are so many uses around the home. Probably consigned to the same place as those on the health-giving properties of smoking tobacco.

Audiophoolery is an innocent pastime, if somewhat wasteful of money, but these materials can result in ill-health and death, which is far more serious.

But is audiophoolery quite that wasteful? Certainly we see high prices paid for PX4s and ECC83s with just the right shape of anode and getter, but if I'm being honest, then I have a silly car that is a far worse sink of money.

Yes, we can have a good laugh at £20,000 for 1 metre of speaker cable. Yes, there are people trying it on by offering/advertising such things, but have they ever found anyone daft enough to buy them? Sure, samples turn up for review at esoteric publications and honeyed prose gets poured all over them, but did any money change hands? That is the crucial step, getting someone to pay that much.

But there are people with lifestyles utterly alien to the vast majority of us. There are videos on youtube about a chap going by the moniker of 'Producer Michael' who lives and works in Hollywood. He comes over as a really nice chap and he can laugh at himself. He's into very expensive watches and very expensive cars. One video shows him going to buy a brand new car, I think it was a Rolls-Royce of a newer model than the one he already had. On his wrist was a watch with a higher valuation than the car. He's obviously having great fun, and not suffering any hardship. He could easily spend a fortune on a hifi setup with ludicrously expensive cables, just for the hell of it, if it took his fancy... but as a professional record producer he's probably quite used to what things sound like in the studio before things get distributed. Besides, I expect that when he throws a party, he gets a band to come round and play live

We aren't the target market for £20,000 cables, new Rolls-Royces or wrist-mounted ororaries.

Interesting to watch from a distance, but not things I'd exert myself to get.

The things about audiophools which get me laughing is when the claims and pseudoscience get rolled out. Why not just stick with the unassailable statement "I have one because I just happen to like it". Producer Michael pulls this off perfectly.

Why have pseudoscience when you can have the real thing?

David
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 10:25 am   #1592
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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The things about audiophools which get me laughing is when the claims and pseudoscience get rolled out. Why not just stick with the unassailable statement "I have one because I just happen to like it". Producer Michael pulls this off perfectly.

Why have pseudoscience when you can have the real thing?

David
Exactly. If the audiophools were to say, "I just want it, it makes me happy" that would, to some extent suffice - I'd still be angry with the charlatans selling the stuff. If I ask myself the question, "Do I need quantity XX vintage hifi receivers and tuners?". In all honesty, the practical answer is "no". However, like all collectors, I simply like buying, restoring and owning them, it makes me happy.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 10:27 am   #1593
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I'm put in mind of the trade test colour film "Prospect for Plastics" - the tone more than the content, which was of the "The Millenium is here" variety.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 12:16 pm   #1594
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

The new radium-enhanced breakfast cereal looks so futuristic and sparkly in our new asbestos bowls! Bet the Jetsons wished they had these.

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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 1:41 pm   #1595
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The new radium-enhanced breakfast cereal
If you like that you'll just love this:
Radon therapy
or here is the Google translation:
English translation
Scientifically proven to be good for you.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 2:49 pm   #1596
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

That was certainly a thing of its time. Back in the day I was a trade test junkie, and I well remember Prospect for Plastics. An advert for Shell of course.

Nowt to do with Audiophoolery of course.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 2:56 pm   #1597
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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The new radium-enhanced breakfast cereal
If you like that you'll just love this:
Radon therapy
or here is the Google translation:
English translation
Scientifically proven to be good for you.
Good grief. "In short, radon stimulates cell division . The noble gas radon is inhaled or absorbed through the skin."

They then spend most of the site saying why the radiation of ingested Radon isn't a problem - it is a benefit.

Craig
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 3:09 pm   #1598
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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We aren't the target market for £20,000 cables, new Rolls-Royces or wrist-mounted ororaries.
If I had the money (and I can assure you I do not) then a 'wrist mounted orrery' which I would assume is a wristwatch with all sorts of 'complications' is something that I could certainly appreciate. I could appreciate the craftsmanship and skill that went into making it. And it does attempt to model a physical system, based on the law of physics. It may be useless but I would certainly find it beautiful.

On a cheaper level I find beauty in some of the old electronic devices I have here. And in expensive tools. I do not _need_ to spend £20 each on watchmakers screwdrivers, but they feel nice to use and will last. Yes some such tools use exotic alloys, but for good technical reasons (hardness, non-magnetic, etc).

But however much money I had I don't think I would ever buy some of these audiophile products. Like many of us here we can't see what the benefit could possibly be.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 3:28 pm   #1599
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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We aren't the target market for £20,000 cables, new Rolls-Royces or wrist-mounted ororaries.
I wondered whether that was a reference to orreries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrery
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 4:02 pm   #1600
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[
If I had the money (and I can assure you I do not) then a 'wrist mounted orrery' which I would assume is a wristwatch with all sorts of 'complications' is something that I could certainly appreciate. I could appreciate the craftsmanship and skill that went into making it. And it does attempt to model a physical system, based on the law of physics. It may be useless but I would certainly find it beautiful.
The first watch that invented multiple complications was the Marie Antoinette. There are lots of pictures and descriptions about this magnificent creation that took 40 years to design and manufacture. In fact it both outlived Marie Antoinette by 35 years, and the company founder Breuget (the watchmaker), so it was finished by his son.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette_(watch)

And on Breuget's website (so yes - still in business!) https://www.breguet.com/en/timepiece...te-n%C2%B01160

And for anyone liking this sort of thing, at least in principle, the tourbillon is a thing to behold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jr-3pgeRfc yet another Breuguet invention

Craig

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