Where do I find free range cardboard?😀
Avoid any egg cartons with printing on them, since inks often contain metals and metal oxides, which are notorious for poor dielectric properties.
Avoid any egg cartons with printing on them, since inks often contain metals and metal oxides, which are notorious for poor dielectric properties.
That sounds like a good description of genuine hi-fi - you just hear what is there, nothing more, nothing less.fas42 said:
Lifting cables off the floor could, sometimes, increase RF pickup which would certainly make the sound more 'lively'. Another example of audiophile love of noise and interference?
When I was still tender & in air defence we would coil up the excess power cable lengths to the mobile radars in figure-of-eight heaps. Avoids inductive effects.
Edit: Vacuphile is right of course - bifilar wound.
jan
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(Pinging diyAudio ...)
Had a funny with Firefox, refused to load this page - doing this in Chrome ...
If anyone is putting up with 'dull' sound, thinking that is the genuine article, my sympathies are with you ... 🙂
The 'right' behaviour to use with audio is not "compulsive", it's being focused on achieving a goal. As talked about in another thread at the moment, the concept is like building a bridge, and being certain that it doesn't fall down when the wrong sort of load goes across it - most systems buckle in the middle when a heavy lorry goes across, the better ones just sag fairly badly, or vibrate or snake from side to side from the stress of dealing with the weight - a proper bridge just sits there and bears the weight with no indication that it's 'working' to get the job done - allowing transport to get cleanly from one side to the other without any drama.
If one has never experienced an audio system just doing its job this way then the concept may seem bizarre. However, once you have a taste for it nothing less is good enough - so then the "job" of doing audio is in one sense pretty easy - just keep engineering and/or refining the end product until it becomes like that sturdy bridge. Being "compulsive" is nothing more then testing the bridge with a particularly unwieldy, unorthodoxly weighted vehicle and seeing that the bridge is starting to shake - you know that the structure is still insufficiently sorted out, needs further improving.
Of course, once the bridge is doing the primary job properly then you can tart it up to the skies, add all sorts of cute bits and pieces to make it visually appealing, make it 100 times stronger than it needs to be, etc. But the first, most important job is for it to work, always work, as a bridge ...
Had a funny with Firefox, refused to load this page - doing this in Chrome ...
If anyone is putting up with 'dull' sound, thinking that is the genuine article, my sympathies are with you ... 🙂
The 'right' behaviour to use with audio is not "compulsive", it's being focused on achieving a goal. As talked about in another thread at the moment, the concept is like building a bridge, and being certain that it doesn't fall down when the wrong sort of load goes across it - most systems buckle in the middle when a heavy lorry goes across, the better ones just sag fairly badly, or vibrate or snake from side to side from the stress of dealing with the weight - a proper bridge just sits there and bears the weight with no indication that it's 'working' to get the job done - allowing transport to get cleanly from one side to the other without any drama.
If one has never experienced an audio system just doing its job this way then the concept may seem bizarre. However, once you have a taste for it nothing less is good enough - so then the "job" of doing audio is in one sense pretty easy - just keep engineering and/or refining the end product until it becomes like that sturdy bridge. Being "compulsive" is nothing more then testing the bridge with a particularly unwieldy, unorthodoxly weighted vehicle and seeing that the bridge is starting to shake - you know that the structure is still insufficiently sorted out, needs further improving.
Of course, once the bridge is doing the primary job properly then you can tart it up to the skies, add all sorts of cute bits and pieces to make it visually appealing, make it 100 times stronger than it needs to be, etc. But the first, most important job is for it to work, always work, as a bridge ...
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Back on topic, please. OT posts removed. Discuss the topic, not each other.
The reason for the signature flatness of digital source material is well known and bears scrutiny using known scientific principles - you know, the ones used to build hadron colliders, get Voyager 1 outside the solar system, and develop precision medical imaging equipment, all without the use of cable risers, wooden or otherwise, in the audio frequency pass bands.
And bridges. Science, in the form of physics and mechanics, has a lot to do with bridges and why they stand or fall.
A bridge's ability to stand or fall is generally not improved by auteurs standing to one side of the bridge and observing its operation, then "improving" its performance by adding lumps of wood, painting it a different colour, or replacing one of the bolts with a 99.99999% silver component.
So, yeah. Cable risers. Snake oil.
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Refresh my memory: that is, what ...?
Agreed. There are always, always, sensible, rational answers to why "things 'appen". But if the engineering crew refuse to concede that doing subtle things alters the resultant sound quality, and refuse to seriously investigate why these interactions occur, then the 'amateurs' will continue to do "silly things" - there's a stand-off that's been going for decades now, both sides refuse to budge ...
Some of us are curious as to what is "really going on" - and our investigations are yielding good results -- we are not obsessed with the need to have a rational explanation up front: first, see if there is something "in it" ... and then try to achieve a working handle on the behaviour ... and finally, develop a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanism.
Hadron colliders use ACTIVE vibration control devices to isolate their final focus magnets, and their effectiveness extends well into the audio spectrum. Maybe this could become the latest fad for cable riser manufacturers: mix the terms active, quantum, hadron and precision sub atomic collision control and you have a marketer's dream. The trajectory of electrons in your speaker cable could be reliably linearised in a manner not dreamed of using primitive passive devices.
And it would really impress the neighbours.
But not egg producers.
ps: I know of several bridges in Australia which have had their bearing capacity increased by attaching large lumps of wood. In some some small country municipalities it is standard practice. 😱
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"Refresh my memory: that is, what ...?"
Compression, largely. Google it.
"Agreed. There are always, always, sensible, rational answers to why "things 'appen". ...both sides refuse to budge ..."
Poor analogy. The bridge engineers don't alter the bridge because one purportedly over-sensitive individual claims to note a shortcoming in its design that can be fixed by applying an implausible solution. Drive across it all I like claiming a subtle swaying motion that accelerates in time with my heartbeat, its unlikely that the engineers will then hang tinsel from the suspension wires to fix the problem as I suggest they should because it worked for me on the culvert over my entranceway.
"Some of us are curious as to what is "really going on" ...and finally, develop a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanism. "
No you are not curious as to what is going on. If you really were, you would first establish with certainty that something IS going on. The irrelevance of the rest of your post follows from this first level error.
Cable risers, magic pens, crystals, homeopathy and faith healing. All in the same basket. Snake oil.
Compression, largely. Google it.
"Agreed. There are always, always, sensible, rational answers to why "things 'appen". ...both sides refuse to budge ..."
Poor analogy. The bridge engineers don't alter the bridge because one purportedly over-sensitive individual claims to note a shortcoming in its design that can be fixed by applying an implausible solution. Drive across it all I like claiming a subtle swaying motion that accelerates in time with my heartbeat, its unlikely that the engineers will then hang tinsel from the suspension wires to fix the problem as I suggest they should because it worked for me on the culvert over my entranceway.
"Some of us are curious as to what is "really going on" ...and finally, develop a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanism. "
No you are not curious as to what is going on. If you really were, you would first establish with certainty that something IS going on. The irrelevance of the rest of your post follows from this first level error.
Cable risers, magic pens, crystals, homeopathy and faith healing. All in the same basket. Snake oil.
"there's a stand-off that's been going for decades now, both sides refuse to budge ..."
Most likely has more to do with "being right" vs. "being wrong"... not rocket science here 🙁
Most likely has more to do with "being right" vs. "being wrong"... not rocket science here 🙁
Boom , boom ... 😀
And, in fact that very thing should have been done in my small, country home town. When I was a youngie there was a mining site scraper, on trailer, taken across the bridge across the town river - trouble was, the bits of timber weren't big enough 🙂, and there was sag, very serious sag! The heavy machinery was jammed in the buckle in the middle - fun and games ensued for weeks, perhaps months afterwards trying to sort out the mess - people swore because you had to go on a long detour around a tiny backroad bridge to continue driving down the highway. Finally, a couple of heavy duty tow trucks and bulldozer pulled off the offender, to the delight of all the townspeople watching! Then, another huge delay while an army mobile bridge was set up, which stayed for years. At long last, the road over the river was straightened, and a 'proper' bridge put in place ...
So, it's worthwhile getting ya bridges right ... 😉
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"The reason for the signature flatness of digital source material is" ... 'compression' 😕? You're talking about recording techniques - master that on the highest quality analogue reel to reel setup, and it will still sound that 'bad' ....
The problems are far more obvious then that: get any "decent hifi", and turn up the volume on a testing recording - the bridge supports are quivering and shaking themselves until your teeth rattle most times - no special sensitivity needed ... 😉
If your eyes start showing their age do you need a technical readout to 'prove' that they are not perfect? When your eyes don't work as well, you know that's happening; when the sound reaching your ears is not as good some times as compared to others, you also know it. Hiding behind a very technical looking, testing beastie, or technique, is not good enough, when your senses tell you otherwise ...
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you make science sound difficult. Its not.
Many people do not know their eyes are poor. Same with hearing. When did you last have yours tested? Your senses are demonstrably fallible, inaccurate and liable to internal distortion. Even more so when attempting to make fine comparisons from "remembered" data.
In any case, for basic"does this sound different" testing, a simple ABX with a sample of ten or twelve people will get you close enough.
Since you haven't come in with even basic statistics I have to assume you are not doing anything like this. Which is great for cable elevator salesmen - you are the perfect susceptible client on which to push all manner of tweeks and mods with esoteric or even "secret" causations and influences.
Snake oil works best on a good self-deluder.
Eucalyptus blocks would probably be best I reckon. Keeps colds at bay too.
Many people do not know their eyes are poor. Same with hearing. When did you last have yours tested? Your senses are demonstrably fallible, inaccurate and liable to internal distortion. Even more so when attempting to make fine comparisons from "remembered" data.
In any case, for basic"does this sound different" testing, a simple ABX with a sample of ten or twelve people will get you close enough.
Since you haven't come in with even basic statistics I have to assume you are not doing anything like this. Which is great for cable elevator salesmen - you are the perfect susceptible client on which to push all manner of tweeks and mods with esoteric or even "secret" causations and influences.
Snake oil works best on a good self-deluder.
Eucalyptus blocks would probably be best I reckon. Keeps colds at bay too.
"Remembered data" ...? If you try an experiment with wood blocks, it's a remarkably simple process: listen with blocks in place, listen without blocks in place, listen with blocks in place ... that's the general technique.
If even this doesn't work, what's the point of comparing different speakers? You're implying that everyone has close to zero chance of detecting a genuine difference between speakers - so all should content themselves with whatever they have, their memories of something they heard 5 minutes ago are too suspect to be relied upon ... 😀
Ah-haa! I have it now: effectively, all source mechanisms sound the same, all amplifiers sound the same, all speakers sound the same ... thus, all systems sound the same. Therefore, buy the cheapest gear that has a reasonable warranty - and you'll be happy ...
I'm pleased that audio has thus been simplified - all one has to worry about now are the colours ...
I'm pleased that audio has thus been simplified - all one has to worry about now are the colours ...
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Nah, you can't beat free range egg cartons which continue to propagate the natural positive bio-energy field of the eggs they once contained into the cables long after their removal.
I thought a Kiwi would promote the use of grooved Moa vertebrae.😕
I remember you bought an Aldi-set recently and normally listen to PC-speakers. So, you appear to adhere to this theory. Which colour did you pick?
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