Sipping my morning coffee and wasting time on the internet, I came across this 'gem'.
Another piece of Common Garbage with features that attract the gullible crowd.
And, it's only about $75!
Look Ma!........ it's got BLUE-tooth and BLUE lights in the TUBES!
I thought that silly rediculous trend of fake lighting in tubes was over.......
Another piece of Common Garbage with features that attract the gullible crowd.
And, it's only about $75!
Look Ma!........ it's got BLUE-tooth and BLUE lights in the TUBES!
I thought that silly rediculous trend of fake lighting in tubes was over.......
McIntosh, the proof that one can’t buy good taste.
wiseoldtech said:
What are you talking about?! Those tubes are special and use specially high temperatures to provide a copious amount of emitted electrons. Very hot electrons sound far better than colder ones.
[/joking]
Back around 2006 or so, I was out shopping at my local Sam's Club, a (membership) store geared to business shoppers and regular folks. (It's like a Costco store)
They have an area of home entertainment stuff - TV's, etc.
A featured item was a Surround Sound DVD system by...... Samsung.
The main component was a DVD/5.1amplifier, with two 12AX7 tubes poking out of the top - and illuminated in.... you guessed it.... BLUE!
I just shook my head and continued my grocery shopping.
Just waiting for someone to make little lava lamps in tube housings.. all powered by a 6.3v heater element..
The year this was introduced, I saw it at the Samsung booth at CES - asked the question that was sort of obvious to me: for an amplifier with 6 channels (5.1) - how were the 4 triodes contained in a pair of 12AX7 tubes allocated? I got the answer I expected - a bunch of tap dancing.
Maybe we should take a cue from the Open Source Monkey Box and pool our resources to design the Open Source Audiofool Trap. You know, combine all the best of the best. Huge, phallic looking tubes with crazy lighting poking out of hideous chrome boxes with a brutish looking logo...
Oh crap, we're back at McIntosh again.
I keep telling everyone..... "it's just a name".
A Name...
This goes for anything, not just audio...
I try to educate people that status symbols, brands, are nothing more than that.
Because behind the name isn't always something to brag about.
I lean more towards an honest reputation, durability, over-all quality.
AT....... a reasonable price.
Because price is used as a marketing tool, just like names are.
When McIntosh was making amps with a (lousy by today's standards) 0.25% distortion spec, and Technics at the same time was making stuff with a 0.008% level, people idolized and desired McIntosh and shunned Technics.
Because...... of the "Name".
It's the hype, the politics of marketing.
Just have a look at the vinyl subforum of reddit where people my age (mid 30s) post their systems.
A Marantz or Pioneer receiver, retrofitted with LEDs as bright and in-your-face as a neon sign in the night, combined with a brand new Hanpin deck, usually an Audio Technica LP 60, and some flimsy Micca two way speakers placed close together.
Reddit seems to be the place to post pictures of your HiFi when you're too old for instagram.
I once contemplated writing a post to inform my "peers" (at least they are age-wise) that they're doing it wrong - that you should buy a nice, well maintained, old deck and pair it with a new amp. And that mid range receivers from the 70s are crap just like turntables from today are crap. But I'd just feel like an old man screaming "get off my lawn you kids" without even enjoying it.
They would have looked like the current restored ones - "Now, with LED lighting!"
A friend of mine brought me his vintage Realistic receiver to check out and install LED lighting.
Blue LED's for the dial, and red LED's for the signal meters.
At least he'll never have burned-out bulbs again.
True. And burned out eyeballs are so much easier to replace.
I like to listen at night. These things would drive me crazy.
Not necessarily so.
The Harman Kardon 330(A) reciever that I own is known for being quite in demand these days, at only 20+ watts/channel.
And for good reason - it sounds lovely.
I fed the LED's from a regulated source, added diffusers, and under-voltaged them to a pleasing glow.
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The "green tubes" surely light up instantly while the big ones have an orange glow that comes up and stabilizes over several seconds, for quite the clash in operation at power-up.
Although I'd forgotten that Marantz used to fit scopes to their high end tuners. They were blue and pointless for a good 90% of owners. I'd hazard that anyone who actually knew how to use it had other tools at their disposal for the job and most of those were bought to show off.
I misunderstood, sorry. I thought your friend got the receiver done by someone else. Here in germany there are loads of shops that will give any old receiver the instagram ultrabright LED look for a lot of money. I was thinking of something like that.
Should have been more precise. I meant to describe how the reddit crowd goes purely by looks. Of course there are receivers that a) were mid price b) had that pompous look and c) sound good, but I doubt that there are many. The ones I see posted have the looks but don't impress with much else.