Funniest snake oil theories

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#12,281
john curl said:
Guys, accept it for what it appears to be: Grandmother's radio sounds better than a lot of modern stuff.
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Granny's radio probably has limited audio bandwidth - some people prefer that.
Granny's radio probably has significant low order distortion - some people prefer that.
Granny's radio probably has a fairly solid case - modern stuff often has a flimsy case with lots of resonances.
 
#12,283
Granny's radio probably has sentimental value.

I have a 40+ year old Amateur radio Transceiver that sounds quite pleasing to me.
Why does it sound so good? Because it brings back memories of my youth.
It's in a way comforting so I tend to overlook the hum, the drift of the VFO etc.
 
#12,284
Does it sound essentially the same, or do I still enjoy it as much?

I have a 40 year old Sony STR5600 and Klipsch Heresy speakers. I still enjoy them and listen to them daily.

I also have a 1950s All 5 am/fm radio that I still enjoy on rare occasions when I dig it out.

Do they sound the same as they did 40 / 60 years ago? I doubt it and wouldn't dare claim that they do, but honestly I can't tell since my hearing has deteriorated significantly since then.
 
#12,285
Most very old designs rely almost only to "voicing" to choose the speakers and etc, WHEN makers bother about it.

I see most people here have 40+ years, and bother about own hearing, or sentimentallity. But I can assure: I have "only" 34 and I also like the sound of some old radios, Single Ended amps and vinyl, starting from a lot of time ago. Including germanium devices. This time I'm with JC (the listening experience).
In fact, vinyl engages me more than plain digital (sometimes digital bore me and I switch "off" button), and I know AND hear defects from this pre-historic media, but is far more enjoyable... sometimes...

Like present kaputt signature; "I like "effects boxes". As long as the effect is the right one.", I also like to use all tools I know, including EQ and distortion. Most people have prejudices against the distortion and uses EQ. How disapointing...
(of course, I have low distortion amps for scaring the neighbours... 😀 )
 
#12,286
DF96 said:
Granny's radio probably has limited audio bandwidth - some people prefer that.
Granny's radio probably has significant low order distortion - some people prefer that.
Granny's radio probably has a fairly solid case - modern stuff often has a flimsy case with lots of resonances.
Click to expand...

In my case the source material, short wave radio, is bandwidth limited. The amplifier inside the radio itself measured linear from around 10Hz to 80kHz, which is not that big a deal to achive with a silicon transistor / opamp circuit.
The single speaker has a limited range and together with the plastic housing it is placed in distorts.
My number one question dealing with sound reproduction is IF there is a way to add that goosebump effect to an amplifier circuit and IF so how. I keep looking for all kinds of papers about "chill factor" but so far it's a black hole.
 
#12,287
kaputt said:
My number one question dealing with sound reproduction is IF there is a way to add that goosebump effect to an amplifier circuit and IF so how. I keep looking for all kinds of papers about "chill factor" but so far it's a black hole.
Click to expand...

The probable reason that there is no 'solution' is that this kind of thing is highly personal and the actual sound only plays a minor role. In these cases, which most of us are familiar with, it's not the amp but the music, the circumstances, the memories etc that give you the goose bumps.

For instance, for me personally, I have specific memories of Steve Millers' The Joker. Whenever I hear that piece, I get goosebumps. Whatever the equipment.

Jan
 
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#12,288
Equipment has never given me goosebumps or chills.

It is ALWAYS the music that does that and it simply does not matter if it comes out of my stereo, the car radio or a really cheap transistor radio.

The only way for an amp to produce goosebumps is by playing the right music through it.
 
#12,293
I'm happy to just think we have buried fond memories of some kind associated with lo-fi music. For one I had a period of insomnia and one night I tuned my Zenith to the BBC and heard Laurie Anderson's Oh Superman for the first time with a particularly good batch of ionospheric reverb and pitch shifting on top of the general lo-fi.
 
#12,299
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