UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 3rd Jun 2020, 4:18 pm   #1601
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,919
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Or for an explanation and assembly at Breuget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cijH0p0o83k

At this point you are in for at least £60k per watch and upwards. And given the choice between some Crystal Cables products or a Breuget or Hublot watch, I know which way I'd go.
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 3rd Jun 2020, 8:00 pm   #1602
Ted Kendall
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 3,654
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
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.
No, I was referring to David's comment about today's wonder stuff being tomorrow's demon. Electronics would be lost without plastics, of course, but we are now aware of the downsides.
Ted Kendall is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21st Jun 2020, 5:48 pm   #1603
DonaldStott
Octode
 
DonaldStott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Glasgow, UK.
Posts: 1,837
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

And our next contestant is the Stylus Cleaner Lifter from this site: -

https://www.solid-sounds.co.uk/store

While some of us have confessed to using a Vinyl Passion Dust Buster I won't be rushing out to spend £9.99 on what looks like an off-cut from a broom handle, even with free UK shipping!

I can do them for around 50p but you'll have to make do with the wood I choose!
__________________
BVWS Member
DonaldStott is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21st Jun 2020, 6:22 pm   #1604
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,761
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
At this point you are in for at least £60k per watch and upwards. And given the choice between some Crystal Cables products or a Breuget or Hublot watch, I know which way I'd go.
He was wearing a Jacob & co Astronomia Clarity

https://www.jacobandco.com/timepiece...onomia-clarity

Far, far above £60k

Amazing intricacy and flashiness and expense, but easily outdone by a quartz oscillator in terms of accuracy. Trying to engineer purely mechanical watches to compete with what electronics can do is inevitably futile, but if they are seen as works of art then that's a different matter. Big enough to make you look like an escapee from Thunderbirds!

Sixty grands' ( I nearly said grands' worth!) of crystal cables aren't going to appreciate in price, are they?

This is a world where people pay huge prices for things which do tasks less well and far more expensively than quite mundane items. Showmanship? Conspicuous consumption? Art? All of the above?

I've no objection to people making wildly 'artistic' speaker cables with incredible prices, but I reserve the right to laugh and poke fun at some of the claims. With things like this, the last thing you should do is try to justify them.

So how do I package an oscillatory mode hydrogen MASER in a wrist-mounted timepiece? Let's go right to the best. I got to meet Norman Ramsey back in 2005, close to his 90th birthday at an ISEF event, a very nice chap. It would produce an electronic wrist watch with an adjective the mechanical ones dare not use; definitive!

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21st Jun 2020, 8:30 pm   #1605
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

For a laugh I just got a one handed 24 hour watch (wanted one for a while, until Hong Kong made it affordable I didn't bother) More than accurate enough for me!
https://svalbard.watch/pages/Svalbard_Aurora_AA42.html
Edit: To get on topic the tick is so quiet, up to the ear in a quiet room level, it won't interfere with my listening.

Last edited by Guest; 21st Jun 2020 at 8:33 pm. Reason: Made post on topic.
  Reply With Quote
Old 21st Jun 2020, 8:49 pm   #1606
Uncle Bulgaria
Nonode
 
Uncle Bulgaria's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,305
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I do some light watchmaking, and 24hr watches are good fun. More than accurate enough for any day-to-day requirements. A sharp hand means better than 5 minute resolution. The Russian/Soviet "Raketa" works made some jolly 24hr movements with rotating bezels for different Russian timezones.

Thankfully, they're very cheap and also reliable, so playing with good looking watches is possible without laying out more than £50 for a good one.

RLT watches made a nice 24hr watch in Yorkshire. Some might still be knocking around.
Uncle Bulgaria is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 12:04 am   #1607
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,636
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Didn't seem possible, going off a topic that's as wide as several barn doors, but seemingly it is. Chronofoolery.
AC/HL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 12:54 am   #1608
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,761
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

There's only one phoolery, Bill. Simple human pride. We just see it manifesting in many directions. I'm afraid I started this latest offshoot. I was trying to make the point that there is a stratum of consumerism far far above the financial reach of we mere mortals where million dollar watches exist (I didn't mention cars). These people don't even go in for ordinary cats, some have been seen with leopards on leads. Stupidly expensive speaker cables and amplifiers are a drop in the ocean for them.

It's just showing off.

I dissolve into gigglefits when pseudoscience gets wheeled out to justify their choices. Choices in luxury goods never really had any justification that wasn't embarrassing, if attempted, and in hifi it's no different.

I reckoned woolies bell wire was OK.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 9:14 am   #1609
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,919
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Ah but Woolies is long defunct ;-)

Seriously though, bell wire is single strand, 0.5mm diameter. Which is a loop resistance of 0.17 ohms per meter. A 5 meter run would therefore be 0.87 ohms and at a peak current of 10A say from a decent amp would dissipate a peak power of 87W. Which is a trifle high.

I of course take your point. The good old QED 79 strand (£22 for a 5 meter pair) has a loop resistance of 0.016 ohms per meter. So the 5 meter run would have a loop resistance of 0.08 ohms and for 10A would disspate 8W. Which is still surprisingly high. Of course in the context of an 8 ohm loudspeaker producing 800W at that current the cable dissipation is only 1%.

To reduce it even further you just need to use more copper (or to get 6% less resistance, eek, silver). The QED silver signature, which actually uses copper, (£450 for a 5 meter pair) has 5.5 square mm and a loop resistance of 0.006 ohms per meter. So our 5 meter benchmark would be 0.03 ohms and dissipate 3W at 10A.

From bell wire to slightly insane we've gone from 0.87 ohms to 0.03 ohms. How significant the reduction is beyond cheap and cheerful QED 79 strand in most practical circumstances is certainly debatable.

Craig
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 4:56 pm   #1610
AnalogueMan
Hexode
 
AnalogueMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 253
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

My favourite has to be the unit I saw in a Laskys years ago with a sign extolling it's virtues that proudly proclaimed it had a "Three-Band Graphic Equaliser". Never forgotten that.
AnalogueMan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 4:59 pm   #1611
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,761
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Funnily enough, you can get grey figure-of-eight with a sharp edge extruded into the insulation as a polarity indicator. Apart from the fact that it isn't black, it looks just like QED 79 strand stuff. It was used in fair quantities by installers of PMR VHF transceivers in cars and vans. Useful lengths of it still crop up at Lothians radio society's junk sales and go for pennies.

I've never counted the strands.

I did once write a piece that speaker cables had to have a prime number of strands (1 was a popular number around that time) or else factorisation distortion could occur and muddy the sound.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 5:08 pm   #1612
TonyDuell
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,180
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post

I did once write a piece that speaker cables had to have a prime number of strands (1 was a popular number around that time) or else factorisation distortion could occur and muddy the sound.

David
Pedant alert :

1 is not generally considered to be a prime number by mathematicians.
TonyDuell is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 6:03 pm   #1613
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,761
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

It has no other factors than 1 and itself, so it passes for one as far as factorisation distortion counts

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 10:55 pm   #1614
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,919
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

An odd property of 79 is if you reverse the digits you get 97, which is also a prime. Called, apparently, and emirp (prime backwards). Seriously.

The largest one so far found is 10^10006 + 941992101×10^4999 + 1

I'll bet that sounds awesome. Think of all those strands...
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22nd Jun 2020, 11:01 pm   #1615
GrimJosef
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 4,309
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I'm not sure if this has been posted before. If it has then apologies. Otherwise I think we have a winner.

https://www.auralthrillsaudio.com/t2.htm

"Other cables are just wire in comparison."

I started to trace the circuit out, but then I lost the will to live. I'm pretty sure it would have been better with a valve rectifier though.

Cheers,

GJ
__________________
http://www.ampregen.com
GrimJosef is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23rd Jun 2020, 12:09 am   #1616
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,761
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Oh dear god. You couldn't make it up, could you?

And as for 10^10006 + 941992101×10^4999 + 1 strands, it's going to look reassuringly fat even with the finest strands.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23rd Jun 2020, 12:41 am   #1617
greg_simons
Octode
 
greg_simons's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Evesham, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 1,404
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GrimJosef View Post
I'm not sure if this has been posted before. If it has then apologies. Otherwise I think we have a winner.

https://www.auralthrillsaudio.com/t2.htm

"Other cables are just wire in comparison."

I started to trace the circuit out, but then I lost the will to live. I'm pretty sure it would have been better with a valve rectifier though.

Cheers,

GJ
Wow!, I'm gobsmacked, twenty bucks worth of bits thrown together by someone with little skill and sold for 800, I'm definitely in the wrong job, should've kissed the blarney stone and sold snake oil for a living, I'll look on cables in a whole different light!.
Greg.
__________________
Picture, sound?, DOOR.
greg_simons is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23rd Jun 2020, 7:45 am   #1618
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

My bodges look better than that.
  Reply With Quote
Old 23rd Jun 2020, 8:01 am   #1619
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Couldn't resist...
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	P1000478.jpg
Views:	139
Size:	40.5 KB
ID:	209286  
  Reply With Quote
Old 23rd Jun 2020, 10:56 am   #1620
Beobloke
Heptode
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 813
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GrimJosef View Post
I'm not sure if this has been posted before. If it has then apologies. Otherwise I think we have a winner.

https://www.auralthrillsaudio.com/t2.htm

"Other cables are just wire in comparison."

I started to trace the circuit out, but then I lost the will to live. I'm pretty sure it would have been better with a valve rectifier though.

Cheers,

GJ
Wow, a "Tube Powered Biased Cable System"!

Am I the only one here would would prefer their cables to be unbiased? What if their bias is against some of the music I like and they refuse to play it?
Beobloke is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 6:01 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.