John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier

[scott wurcer]

The spirit of Sharper Image is alive and well.

http://richardsolo.com

I love it, slot machines, the ultimate solo sport. I saw a real Pachinko machine in a junk store Saturday but they didn't have enough balls to go with it.

 

[scott wurcer]

Scott, do you know what a Shakti Stone or a 'Brilliant Pebble' device actually is? Have you even tried to find out?
These devices DO something. It can be shown that they do, by lab measurement

Please produce "lab measurement".

I know I'm being a little bit of a devil's advocate, but why defend the worst of the snake oil folks. You have to be kidding....

 

[1audio]

I thought a brilliant pebble was a bomb and a Shakti Stone was a meditation device. Did I miss something in my pop culture 101???

I have seen lab tests on one of these types of devices, but its wasn't too convincing to me. And it still didn't give the rfi/emi cloaking I wanted. My understanding of em radiation is far from complete but short of a neutron star or a black hole the waves won't bend much near an object. They need to hit the object to change paths.

 

[lumanauw]

Hi, Scott Wurcer,

What is that on the pic you posted, post#8262?

 

[MikeBettinger]

As long as the layout does not produce effects in the audio band the layout is irrelevant. By this I mean two different layouts of the same circuit won't necessarily sound different.

With this I would have to goodheartedly disagee and no amount of discussion will definitively prove or disprove either assertion.

Mike.

 

[MikeBettinger]

Specific pieces..and possibly..humidity, etc.

My original curiosity was whether or not there was any surface charge placed into a piece of Delrin as part of the machining process; friction, heat, high speeds. My thought was that these would be locked into place as the plastic cooled (the electret concept). The recently machined edges of the Delrin stock that I tested showed no hint of any charge, unless I placed one on it by rubbing it.

Mike.

(There was a preamp involved in the start of the original discussion )

 

[scott wurcer]

Hi, Scott Wurcer,

What is that on the pic you posted, post#8262?

Bags of 'brilliant pebbles' taped to interconnects absorbing unwanted RF energy.

 

[myhrrhleine]

Would this be by using speakers, ears and rooms with typical background noise floor of 40dB or higher ? And using typical home listening levels of 80-90dB ?
I've seen some rather fancy methods of extracting the signal well below the noise floor (radio astronomy is current state of the art in this field (*)), but 70-80dB below is totally unheard of. I'd dearly like to understand the mechanisms involved.

(*) there could be some more advanced stuff that is still classified for all I know

is that noise narrow band? my ears are.

 

[john curl]

I have make 4 separate, but related, audio designs that show that layout is important. 2 of these designs were made by an unknown layout person and worked, the other 2 were almost identical in topology and measured distortion, yet they got A ratings in 'Stereophile' and one got a 'product of the year award' in 'The Absolute Sound'. The first two got no ratings at all in 'Stereophile' or 'The Absolute Sound'. What was the difference?
Unfortunately, most of what I try to explain here is based on this difference, and people accuse me of supporting Voo Doo.

 

[PMA]

It is a useless effort, some people here make very simple reasoning, according to their real audio experience. But the others may appreciate interesting information

 

[syn08]

The first two got no ratings at all in 'Stereophile' or 'The Absolute Sound'. What was the difference?

Most likely none. What you described shows only that the Stereophile and The Absolute Sound subjective tests are not worth the paper they are printed on or the electrons used to post on the websites.

What was JA reporting about in the Measurements sections?

 

[john curl]

Perhaps no difference to you. However, a big difference to me. It was MY experiment, and it worked!

 

[LHMAudio]

If the Brilliant Pebbles work then the Teleportation Tweak http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina60.htm must also work. I wonder what the mechanism is for improving audio and video by sounds over the phone line?

Lindsay

 

[Badge]

Julian Hirsch syndrome. All amps that measure the same sound alike. RIP Julian.

 

[john curl]

I don't know if or how the telephone tweak might work. Still, I don't condemn without examination.

 

[fredex]

Some people laugh at pebbles taped to expensive inter connects and conclude that persons who do this are insane. Others who actually know what is going on don't laugh as they realise that these people are normal. This insight is enough to make one cry, but laughing is better for your health.

 

[Bratislav]

is that noise narrow band? my ears are.

You could be on something. Either a good postdoc material or something much more mundane.

 

[john curl]

Plastic bags apparently work better. Accidental discovery.

 

[Bratislav]

Some people laugh at pebbles taped to expensive inter connects and conclude that persons who do this are insane. Others who actually know what is going on don't laugh as they realise that these people are normal. This insight is enough to make one cry, but laughing is better for your health.

There are some who actually do know what's going on, but are laughing nevertheless.

 

[fredex]

With Joy I hope.