Any truth in these electrical devices?

[jhbrandt]

Thanks Rick!

~rubbing hands together like Homer Simpson's boss~

More crazy stuff for my VooDoo page.

I can't believe that one is on Parts Express. I almost posted a comment on the page.

Cheers,
John

[Rod Gervais]

LMFAO _ the outlets are not isolated ground.........

The cords are probably the biggest joke of all - I can't wait for Ethan to see this as well......

[johndykstra]

I love this crap.

Why can I never meets these "I have more dollars than brain cells" customers?

[gullfo]

what you have to love is the site name: affordable audio and then seeing that 5 power cords cost $55000... thankfully i have my discount code so it was only $43000

[pitchfork]

reminds me of the wooden mixer knob from the same people a few years back...garuuuuunteed to make your audio listenable...$410

never ceases to freaking amaze me

rich audiophile=terminally stupid

[Ethan Winer]

LOL at the $14,000 RCA wires sold by a company called "Affordable Audio."

--Ethan

[gullfo]

Originally Posted by pitchfork

reminds me of the wooden mixer knob from the same people a few years back...garuuuuunteed to make your audio listenable...$410

never ceases to freaking amaze me

rich audiophile=terminally stupid

now i feel foolish for upgrading my Behringer 16 channel mixer knobs for $350000...

[nosebleedaudio]

What's the big deal?
I just bought some solid gold sheetrock screws $18,500.00 for a box of 8, NO oxidation behind the paint...
The room sounds REALLY nice now.

[Rod Gervais]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

LOL at the $14,000 RCA wires sold by a company called "Affordable Audio."

--Ethan

+1 - to think that there are actually people foolish enough to buy this stuff...... some people really do have more money than brains.

Rod

[ritelec]

I'm glad to see you're enjoying this.

It's ALL very nutty........but this part blew me away.

This was after the super duper high grade cover ($275) and back plate ($325) where installed.

"After a bit I came back to my system, and sat down with a cup of coffee for a little listening session. I cued up some music and—Holy Smokes!—I had another Acoustic Revive headline on my hands! I listened to what was going on with the music and the sound, and I just had to shake my head in astonishment: Transparency had opened up; the sense of space had increased, there was more recorded detail in evidence, the bass lines became deeper and more articulate, musical notes trailed off with more realistic decay, the timbral signature of the body of the instruments becoming more evident (e.g. wood, brass), and the music came across as more naturally ‘live' with more ‘snap' to the notes and greater musical flow. There was one down side though; there was a increase in sibilance that necessitated I toe out my Harbeth 40.1s a bit to eliminate it. Once having done that, though, it was all good – more music, more sonics razzmatazz, more fun.

Then I went back and read about the CFRP-1F outlet plate cover and CB-1DB receptacle base plate and went "Ah, now I get it!" The net effect is similar to putting your equipment on an isolation device: everything just opens up sonically and musically. The caveat is that the change is significant enough that you may have to refine your system setup to take full advantage of the improvement".




I'm sold...

[Barish]

Let's face it. We are all in the wrong business.

B.

[jhbrandt]

Originally Posted by Rod Gervais

... some people really do have more money than brains.

You have a predisposition to hit nails right smack on the head...

Originally Posted by Barish

Let's face it. We are all in the wrong business.

B.

No kidding!!

Hey, if anyone else has come across bull like this please send me the links! -

Cheers,
John

[jitterybit]

no additional benefits from gold plating the ac ground....


\

[Speedskater]

The articles are much more fun the the manufactures web-page:

The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 4
acoustic revive
The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 5
acoustic revive
The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 6
acoustic revive

There are 6 other chapters, but these may be the best.

[Barish]

Originally Posted by Speedskater

The articles are much more fun the the manufactures web-page:

The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 4
acoustic revive
The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 5
acoustic revive
The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 6
acoustic revive

There are 6 other chapters, but these may be the best.

Wow! It's been quite a while since I've read such bullcrap.

I can't believe I've wasted all that time to read it.

Do people really read and believe this stuff?

Sending a 7.83Hz up in the air to increase the system's signal to noise level? What the feck is he talking about?

This is a royal con of the highest order. Are people really allowed to trade like that?

B.

[Rod Gervais]

Barish,

This is absolutely a beautiful con - and I believe it's absolutely legal, regardless of the fact that it's pretty unethical......

Now, I would not buy into any of that crap - nor would anyone else with more brains than money - however this is a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder...

They make no measurable claims..... it's all esoteric crap that cannot be quantified.....

For example - when speaking of the RR-77 the writer stated:

The sonic artifacts of the recording process (such as soundspace, soundstaging, imaging, detail recovery, and so forth) all had a dollop of naturalness applied to them so that they enhanced the musical content of recordings (like timbre, beat, meter, tempo, tonality, and harmony) so that the Hi-Fi musical experience was more like a live musical experience.

How would one go about quantifying something like "a dollop"?

What measurement would you take into a court of law to prove that the dollop did not exist?

This (especially) since the seller could come up with every customer who was either too stupid to know the difference - or too embarrassed to admit they were stupid enough to purchase this crap - to say that they did get that "dollop" of difference in their rooms.

In fact - adding things in the chain can change measurable artifacts of the sound - but measurable changes can not be defined as to being "more pleasing" or "less pleasing" - simply different - which means it is a matter of perception - not anything concrete.

Personally - I believe that anyone stupid enough to make these purchases (and there must be people spending the cash or this place would be out of business) truly deserves to be parted from their money......

I don't feel sorry for these people much the same as I don't feel sorry for people who get conned out of their hard earned cash by buying into scams where they send a pile of money off to someone who says they won a lottery they never played - or the scams where they get an email saying someone died and we want to send their millions of dollars to you with the understanding that we'll split the cash - and any other scam that should be quite apparent to be a scam.

Even though in those latter cases I mentioned it is illegal - I still don't feel sorry for them.

Stupid people do not deserve my sympathy....... my pity perhaps - my wild laughter for sure - but never my sympathy.

That might sound cold and hard - but IMHO people deserve what they get when they willingly part with their money by being stupid - which is not the same as someone breaking into their home and stealing their belongings - or knocking them over the head and taking their wallets.

Rod

[nosebleedaudio]

What I find amazing about some of this TYPE of gear is that it some how has MORE affect on the Recording than everything in the signal path of the actual recording..if that makes sense..

I would say a well built power supply can have far more affect/impact on the quality of the sound than a $100.00 AC plug...But that's just me..

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Rod Gervais

This is absolutely a beautiful con - and I believe it's absolutely legal, regardless of the fact that it's pretty unethical.

I imagine some of this type of selling is illegal, but the FTC is not interested because not enough people are cheated. This is from my upcoming book:

Originally Posted by Ethan's Book

One key to identifying many audio myths is the high prices charged. Another is the lack of any supporting data. It’s one thing for a vendor to claim improved sound, but quite another to prove it. If one brand of speaker wire really is better than all the others, it can be easily proven using the standard four parameters. When a vendor offers flowery wording instead of test data or says only “Just listen,” that’s a pretty good sign that the claims are probably not truthful. I imagine some vendors actually believe their own claims! But that’s irrelevant. What really matters is that you know how to separate truth from fiction.

--Ethan

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by ritelec

Nordost Odin [Odin] - $11,000.00 : Affordable Audio Venice California in West Los Angeles, | AA TECH DESIGN |


[/url]

a breathtaking range of tonal colours.

So it is like holding your breath and seeing colors before passing out?

[Rod Gervais]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

I imagine some of this type of selling is illegal, but the FTC is not interested because not enough people are cheated. This is from my upcoming book:

Ethan, the problem (from the point of view of litigation) is that when a a seller making a claim like this (using flowery prose instead of measurable results) it is virtually impossible to prove that is does not do what is claimed...... and all it has to do is exactly that - what is claimed.....

Do (in the case above) it has to make a "dollop" of change to the sound - at which time "pleasant" is a subjective matter - you would be quite heard pressed (in a court of law) to prove that the product did not work as described - and the burden of proof is on the plaintiff - not the defendant.

If I were sitting on the jury - even knowing what I know - I would be hard pressed to find in the plaintiff's favor - and this has nothing to do with the fact that the plaintiff has to be an idiot - it has to do with the letter of the law in civil cases.....

I can see virtually no way that a criminal proceeding could arise out of this - again because the burden of proof would be on the state to prove that there was not that little "dollop" they refer to in their advertisement.

There would certainly be a better chance in the civil case (unless I was sitting on the jury) due to the weight being a preponderance of the evidence - however "beyond a reasonable doubt" is the burden in the criminal matter - and I just cannot see a criminal case rising to that level when it comes down to proving that the dollop doesn't exist - again understanding that the burden of proof rests solely with the prosecution - the defendant just has to sit back and smile as they fail to prove their case....

I just don't see it happening. They have been in business for a lot of years now and still sell the crap they always have, although I did not see the 400 dollar knobs they once claimed improved the quality (assuming what was stated above was true) - perhaps they were sued for that and therefor stopped either selling them or making the claim...... that would be easy to physically prove made no physical difference in the signal coming from the gear to the speaker, but any measurable difference in signal (an oscilloscope would show a small difference between the cheapest speaker wires at Walmart and the best speakers money can buy - hell you could just measure the difference in resistance to prove a difference - and now you're back to the subjective term "better".

Like I said - I just don't see it happening..... especially when they could cite blind listening tests where "experts" in their field claim they can hear the differences.......

It's tough - but again I am quite happy to see idiots rip themselves off - and that's really what we're talking about here.....

Hell - I could retire if I was enough of a snake to sell tickets for the first ride on an alien spacecraft when one finally arrives on planet earth........

LMFAO

Rod

[jhbrandt]

Yeah, they've been at it for a very, very long time... because people want magic beans!

It's human nature that provides them (unscrupulous salesmen) the outlet.

A little less wish-thinking and a little more digging for facts and question everything is my prescription.

Cheers,
John

[Rod Gervais]

John,

Actually I think that the (vast majority of ) people who buy things like his are looking for bragging rights.....

They can spout off to their "friends" how the speaker wires for their systems cost more than some people make in a year.......

I find it hard to believe that (with the exception of a few wackos that are really far out there when it comes to the status of their mental states) they really don't believe they hear a difference - nor are they pissed off about the fact - they simply want to be able to brag about just how cool (and wealthy) they are.........

Rod

[ritelec]

Thank you Speedskater,

For those of us who are tired of driving ground rods, probably the most handy product is the RCC-24 Ground Conditioner. It's about the size of a thin ice hockey puck and serves as a "virtual ground".

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/a...ve/ground.html

photo:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/a...e/3_ground.jpg

[Brainchild]

Oh, wow, that is truly astounding. More ground than ground! And here I didn't know you could get closer to zero than zero.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Rod Gervais

Ethan, the problem (from the point of view of litigation) is that when a a seller making a claim like this (using flowery prose instead of measurable results) it is virtually impossible to prove that is does not do what is claimed.

I agree with all of that. But some companies do make claims that are easily refuted. For example, the claim that an AC power wire changes the sound of audio passing through the connect equipment can be easily proven false.

--Ethan

[Rod Gervais]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

I agree with all of that. But some companies do make claims that are easily refuted. For example, the claim that an AC power wire changes the sound of audio passing through the connect equipment can be easily proven false.

--Ethan

Ethan,

If his company actually claimed that it would apply here - but they don't.

I agree that some claims can be easily refuted - but I read through a bunch of theirs (certainly not all) and didn't find the crap they spew to meet that standard.

For example (seeing as we're talking about power cords for the moment), what they actually claim their cord do is enhance the musical experience:

all because the power on which your system depends is cleaner and arriving quicker

So the claim is simply that they have a lower resistance and better shielding than a normal power cord - proving that would be relatively easy - and we all know that clean power is one key to clean sound........ we advise a lot of people how cleaning up their power (in certain conditions) will improve sound at the end of the chain.......

The rest of what they say in that ad is flowery bulls**t that is so esoteric in nature that you could not prove or disprove it because if is not quantified........

Hey I know it's bull - and you know it's bull - and neither one of us would ever buy into this crap and allow a company like them to part us with our money - but the fact that it's crap doesn't make it illegal if they are very careful with how they word things.......

Take care,

Rod

[Ethan Winer]

^^^ Indeed Rod, fully agreed.

Speaking of careful wording, I see this in ads for "health" products all the time. They'll say such and such "supports" a healthy immune system, or this product "contains the same ingredients proven to..." without actually claiming that the formula or dosage in their product were proven to do anything. Heck, more than half the ads I hear on the radio are for products that can easily be shown to be useless placebos.

Sorry for the rant.

--Ethan

[Rod Gervais]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

^^^ Indeed Rod, fully agreed.

Speaking of careful wording, I see this in ads for "health" products all the time. They'll say such and such "supports" a healthy immune system, or this product "contains the same ingredients proven to..." without actually claiming that the formula or dosage in their product were proven to do anything. Heck, more than half the ads I hear on the radio are for products that can easily be shown to be useless placebos.

Sorry for the rant.

--Ethan

Ethan,

bud - nothing to apologize for - stuff like this used to rankle me as well - but I really have gotten to the point in my life where I don't feel sorry in the least for morons who allow themselves to be duped.......

If idiots want to but snake oil - then I say let someone sell snake oil.......

I may not sell it (perhaps because I have a conscience) - but I don't object to anyone else selling it...... if there were no market for "magical solutions" there would not be companies like this making money......

Rod

[BriHar]

Caveat Emptor !!!

Remember the laundry detergent adds with their claims of "Whiter than white" ?

Have you ever heard, in reference to health & hygeine products "4 out of 5 doctors approve ..." Maybe those 4 were doctors of philosphy or social studies or whatever - perhaps their titles were honorary (not to be confused with honourable).

Here in Switzerland (remember the 'placebo' was invented here) I'm ahgast at the number of homeopath(et)ic practitioners. I really had to laugh at one I saw with his little black bag with all these little bottles of tiny sugar balls - exactly like you see in the chldrens toy department - this guy was playing doctor - too stupid to be a real doctor, I just told him to grow up.