Yes, bad selection of term by me ... I should have used ridicule ... or, deride, pour scorn on, snigger, mock, make sport of, scoff, etc ...
Choices, choices ...
Choices, choices ...
What's to understand about a Bybee product? It's already been tested to death.
I'm not interested in trying a snake oil product frankly because I know it won't make a difference plus it's waste of both my time and money.
I get so tired of those that say "Why don't you try it and see?" makes me want to reply "Why don't you get an education so you know what is and what is not possible?"
I always like to see what the manufacturer has to say and what proof is any they can show, after all they are the ones making big claims. Subjective say so isn't going to make me want to depart with my hard earned money.If that is showing my "professional side" then I'll take that as a compliment. 🙂
It's not to understand a particular, probably expensive, product ... it's to appreciate that altering some aspect of the system in an apparently subtle way can make a big subjective difference. I've been hearing these effects for decades, and have been 'fighting' to get them under control, to give me on/off mastery over them -- and, hopefully, some understanding of the underlying mechanism at work.
There will always be straightforward, cheap ways of getting the same effect as the expensive bit of 'weirdo' kit, and that's exactly the sort of approach I've used. Once the the control and/or understanding is there one can move forward, discarding the seemingly wacky ways ...
There will always be straightforward, cheap ways of getting the same effect as the expensive bit of 'weirdo' kit, and that's exactly the sort of approach I've used. Once the the control and/or understanding is there one can move forward, discarding the seemingly wacky ways ...
I won't disagree with you, fas42. If I never saw or heard a Bybee, I could have lived about the same life. '-)
In that case, it was definitely an illusion.
Try it yourself:
Take a large ball. Put a small object on top. Lay a ruler from the top of the object to the surface of the ball (tangent). Note that wherever you do the measurement, the distance is the same. Therefore, the horizon is level in all directions from the top of the headland. For you to see a real "falling away of the horizon", the distance to the horizon would need to vary. For example, use a can or egg laying on its side instead of a ball. I'll grant that the Earth isn't perfectly spherical, but it's not far enough oblate to be noticeable to the naked eye, even when viewed from space.
Yes, as you've said, it solved a SQ issue at the time, so you went and used it, because it got the job done - improving the sound! Convenience is the name of the game, why bust a gut if using something off the shelf makes it happen.
Some people would have hysterics if they saw some of the 'crazy' things I do ... well, that's because I'm bypassing weaknesses in the gear using something cheap and convenient - so what if it looks "stupid", I know why I'm doing it ... 🙂
The alternative is to dive in and completely re-engineer what's there, to improve the core quality of the circuit - hard yakka, and for something relatively cheap as is, what's the point ...
Sometimes, duct tape is your friend ... 😀
Some people would have hysterics if they saw some of the 'crazy' things I do ... well, that's because I'm bypassing weaknesses in the gear using something cheap and convenient - so what if it looks "stupid", I know why I'm doing it ... 🙂
The alternative is to dive in and completely re-engineer what's there, to improve the core quality of the circuit - hard yakka, and for something relatively cheap as is, what's the point ...
Sometimes, duct tape is your friend ... 😀
Give us some examples? Unless you are referring to speakers and or room acoustics, I feel that the majority of subjective differences can be attributed to this Why We Believe
Have done this a number of times: 3 "baddies" along the way are poor quality electrical path connections at some point, power supply failings and interference effects from a variety of sources. These inject particularly nasty HF noise into systems it appears, which intermodulate with the audio signal in various areas. The giveaway is poor treble, a grey, dead quality to the sound - a lack of genuine, realistic sparkle, which matches what the particular instrument or whatever should sound like.
So, some things I do for the UULE, cheap TV sound: two components, Blu-ray player and TV. The TV is crucial, so I reserve a circuit in the house for it, nothing else on that circuit is switched on, or even plugged in; the player is, via extension cord, plugged into another circuit, not so fussy here.
Static effects play a significant part, e.g., plastic allowed to rub freely against other materials is generally not a good thing, so I work to minimise this happening.
HF noise is definitely a problem coming in via the main cord, I've used a variety of filtration techniques over the years to mitigate here.
Many of the 'funny' things will alter, to some degree, the spectrum of the HF noise that's in the system's environment. So, add those, and the system sound changes. Obviously, best technique is to make every part of the audio circuitry 100% resistant to this noise, and then the 'kludges' are not needed ...
So, some things I do for the UULE, cheap TV sound: two components, Blu-ray player and TV. The TV is crucial, so I reserve a circuit in the house for it, nothing else on that circuit is switched on, or even plugged in; the player is, via extension cord, plugged into another circuit, not so fussy here.
Static effects play a significant part, e.g., plastic allowed to rub freely against other materials is generally not a good thing, so I work to minimise this happening.
HF noise is definitely a problem coming in via the main cord, I've used a variety of filtration techniques over the years to mitigate here.
Many of the 'funny' things will alter, to some degree, the spectrum of the HF noise that's in the system's environment. So, add those, and the system sound changes. Obviously, best technique is to make every part of the audio circuitry 100% resistant to this noise, and then the 'kludges' are not needed ...
Last edited:
@CopperTop
I would phrase it differently. I would say that you don't waste time contemplating something because the evidence shows otherwise; you know you can't hear the difference between amps that have minute distortion, you understand that having a crossover that optimises your speakers is worthwhile, and you prefer to use your efforts on making changes where the differences are real and measurable.
OK, I misunderstood you.
The "test stress" seems to be very selective- for some reason, it doesn't affect perception of exquisitely small changes in level, frequency response, polar pattern, phase, interchannel timing, noise... "test stress" is a remarkable psychological phenomenon!
Most psychological phenomena are.
Frank e.g. continues to repeat and repeat that he knows what he's doing, how many decades he knows it, how many years he's been working on his problems.
Roy Miller in 'Knight and Day' :
-There are a few common DIP keywords to listen for. Reassuring words. Words like Stabilize, Secure, Safe.
-If they say these words, particularly with repetition, it means they are going to kill you.
(they'll tell you I'm mentally unstable, and violent, and dangerous, and it will all sound very convincing)
I think part of the answer here is that when one is listening for these sort of characteristics a different part of one's brain is being activated, the analytical mode is switched on, the emotional/intuitive is switched off.
To use a simple visual analogy, ask someone to look at two sets of photos of people: the first time ask them to assess the colour difference between the skin types; the second time, to judge how happy or sad the person appears to be ...
To use a simple visual analogy, ask someone to look at two sets of photos of people: the first time ask them to assess the colour difference between the skin types; the second time, to judge how happy or sad the person appears to be ...
Unfortunately, one thing I don't have a pat answer for, is how to deal with annoying insects ... 😉
I do 270lb at the moment, Frank, that's a lot of spattering bug juice.
Best to wear a protective suit.
Best to wear a protective suit.
I see that reading further down ,the main culprit is noise coming into the AC power line. Fixing that problem would solve all the rest.I read "power supply failings" as meaning the power supply in the components but now see that you meant the power supplied by the power company.
.
You must have a horrible AC service supplied to your house or a really terrible amount of RF from a nearby transmitter or again poorly designed components Running an old fridge or Air Conditioner unit on the same line could cause noise injected into the line.
I have no idea what that might be referring to 😕
So what you are really doing is eliminating RF and noise already present in the AC mains. The problem is your electrical supplier is giving you crappy power, not that your audio components are defective.
I highly doubt a Bybee product would help what so ever though. Using proven products to stop the noise like filters and making sure your house is wired correctly and grounded properly is the way to go short of throttling the stupid power company for supplying you with noisy power. One other thing to check is the power transformer on the pole outside your home. Sometimes they go defective making them into RF transmitters, heard as a buzzing on FM radio.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.