The ten biggest lies in audio

[Taylor]

I guess it's a bit like the way I feel about subwoofers in cars; if the person inside the car cannot physically hear the long wavelengths of deep bass why have the speakers?

Correct me if I'm misrepresenting you here, Mark, but it sounds like you're referring to the idea that, in order to hear a frequency, you must be at least one wavelength away from it. This is not at all true, and it's one of those weird myths that doesn't seem to go away.

As a guitarist, you may not have heard these arguments as much, but as a bass player this comes up quite regularly when discussing amplification, and gets pretty bitter at times.   Many people say they can't hear themselves on stage but 30 feet out the bass is huge. They assume this means they can't hear the lowest frequencies when they are closer than a wavelength to their cab. Instead, what's going on here is room cancellation.

An easy test is to measure the distance between your headphones and your ears, and compare to the wavelength of the lowest frequency you can hear.  

Now, don't take this as a defense of ridiculous bass in cars. Living as I do in the inner city* of New Orleans, I can assure you that unending bass throbbing is a fact of life, and something I don't want to encourage.  

*I think that's the PC term right now.

[earthtonesaudio]

Still, IMHO some people take power conditioning too far.

Or not far enough... what good is a hifi power cable gonna do you when the utility company uses lowest-bidder low-fi power cables for MILES before it gets to your house.  If you don't replace all these millions of meters of power lines with teflon-coated, oxygen free copper etc, you obviously hate music.

[Taylor]

Still, IMHO some people take power conditioning too far.

Psh, you think a $200 power cable is too far? Try $13,000:

http://www.virtualdynamics.ca/content.php?id=201&secondary_id=43

[Cliff Schecht]

Seen those before. They better be made with wire so low in resistance that it breaks the laws of physics. Otherwise, I can't justify $13,000 on an audio accessory. Also, reading their "design goals" tells me that these guys probably don't understand the basics of skin effect in a solid conductor..

Signal linearity is the main area of concern we see with multi conductor cables.

•    Multi stranded conductors decrease signal linearity. In a single core conductor there is only one
      pathway for the audio signal to travel. 

•    In a multi stranded conductor each strand carries a version of the audio signal.  When these mesh
      at the termination there is intermodulation distortion.

•    By using a solid strand conductor with one pathway there is no meshing of multiple signals.  This
      design limits any intermodulation within the signal. 

For music reproduced on audio equipment as exacting and sensitive as ours this an issue worth listening for. 

LiniPur
•   Large gauge single conductor cable that provides only one conductor for the music to travel
     through to your speakers.

•   Linearity and bandwidth to preserve music signal integrity. 

[Taylor]

Maybe they automagically operate at absolute zero...

[JKowalski]

Still, IMHO some people take power conditioning too far.

Psh, you think a $200 power cable is too far? Try $13,000:

http://www.virtualdynamics.ca/content.php?id=201&secondary_id=43

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahahhhahahahahaaaa...... ah...





Now I think I might cry. Can people be that stupid?





...Yes. Yes they can.

[MoltenVoltage]

Here's the video for the power cable:
http://www.virtualdynamics.ca/Genesis

Grey fluid is leaking out my ears as I am listening.  I dare you to watch the whole thing.

I need to start making $13,000 guitar effects and advertise in the Robb Report and Cigar Aficianado - oh and airplane magazines - right next to America's Top Ten Steakhouses -- "Ten Best Stompboxes over Ten Grand!"

[petemoore]

  Not knowing when it's wrong leads to not knowing when it's right.
 ..and that doesn't even take into account "what is left?".
  Boualsch ! [pronounced boolsh].
 Get both of them together and have them flip coins for a while to see which one seems lucky.

[Somicide]

if the person inside the car cannot physically hear the long wavelengths of deep bass why have the speakers?

Because the driver is a douchebag? 

typically, this is the case.  I will, however, make an argument about feeling the bass, as well as listening to the system while parked and outside the vehicle (ie, at a park or something).

[ParlorCitySound]

Monster cable   

Haha, I'm not a huge fan of monster cable. In fact, their guitar cables suck (big bulky, wind-like-crap cables), but the monster rep gave me my power conditioner.

Still, IMHO some people take power conditioning too far.

Oh without a doubt, people take it too far because they can. If someone is willing to buy a $12,000 IEC cable, someone will make it. It's all from really high end home audio where a $10,000 record player doesn't come with the $5,000 dollar needle.

[BlackbirdFX]

You can argue with me until you're blue in the face but when in comes down to it, in guitar applications, you can't beat a nice tube amp. Sold state, in so many guitar applications (certain pedals, natural overdrive, just the basic clean sound etc.) turns brittle and thin. You just cannot get the thick tube sound with anything but the sweet sound of tubes. Sorry.. And you can argue about price comparisons all day long, but there is just no comparison.

[Taylor]

Yeah, but the guy who wrote the article is talking about hifi stereos, not guitar. Totally different. Guitarists look to their amp to color their sound; stereo amps should be as uncolored as possible.

[sean k]

Okay. we're all pretty good when it comes to be able to use our ears as instruments in defining how good a certain piece of equipment sounds but I really thing that whats at either end of the signal chains matters more than anything and may be in 80% plus range.

The room! I really think that high end audio, or really expensive audio, on one hand discounting the "mines bigger than yours" mentality is to make up for deficiencies in the design of the space the music is made in and then played back in.

You got a great room, filled with happy people, then you can get away with any old stuff to make noise into sound.

If you need to spend 13k on a power cable then I think you'd be much better spending it on therapy so you can have your reality fit with the rest of ours.

[Taylor]

If you need to spend 13k on a power cable then I think you'd be much better spending it on therapy so you can have your reality fit with the rest of ours.

You're more right about this than you may know. There is some serious dementia that goes on with some audiophile extremists (like extremists of any sort). This is an interesting video to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0Lrs

[compuwade]

If you need to spend 13k on a power cable then I think you'd be much better spending it on therapy so you can have your reality fit with the rest of ours.

You're more right about this than you may know. There is some serious dementia that goes on with some audiophile extremists (like extremists of any sort). This is an interesting video to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0Lrs

No offense to anyone personally, but Audiophile's to me are people who've got nothing better to do with their lives and have lost touch with what the real reason for music is. And to me it's to enjoy the release music gives you that allows you to escape the everyday BS. Those who spend way too much time trying to find a better sound, are usually those who love the equipment more than the music. To me it's the same as movie critics bashing a movie that most people find wonderful. They don't know the differences in sounds any better than anyone else, they just think they do.

Again, no offense to anyone...

[iaresee]

If you need to spend 13k on a power cable then I think you'd be much better spending it on therapy so you can have your reality fit with the rest of ours.

You're more right about this than you may know. There is some serious dementia that goes on with some audiophile extremists (like extremists of any sort). This is an interesting video to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0Lrs

That was awesome. Hilarious. Sad. All in one.

[Taylor]

Yeah, and the scary thing is that I can see myself going that way if I let it happen (and could afford it). It's true that a lot of audiophiles seem to be more into tech than music, but that's not inherently bad. Some of them (as I think that film shows) really just love music, and they take the need for good sound (which I share) to a greater extent than most of us.

My girlfriend listens to her music on her .5" iBook speakers. I would rather never listen to music than have to listen to all my music that way. I have a pair of $100 headphones. To many people, that's cheap crap. To her, I probably seem like these crazy audiophiles.

[petemoore]

  Get what you like, use what you get, or get something else.
  Jackhammers or violins, tubes or solid stages, 3,000 watts per x or better yet say 25 per driver, then you set it up and try to decide who likes it !
  Where you're sitting and what you're thinking has a lot to do with it, just for one instance, there's a difference between examples
  1 stereoHQ8'' 2-way speakers with enough tubes to start them, sitting in the living room with the living room items, mild and sweet for the soft parts, bold and brassy for the loud passages, volume level allowing dynamics yet somehow never sounds ''too loud''.
  2 the kid who wants to entertain all the neighbors, confusing even those in the basements while driving by, tubes would be the really old food for thought.
 

[Brymus]

8. I'm am by no means an expert, but I can generally without a doubt notice a very clear difference when using "clean power" strips; however, it's simply a reduction in noise. My AC30 plugged into my house has a certain amount of noise. Plugged into a monster power conditioner it has a significant less noise. I've seen the "noise sniffer" plugged into a wall with and without "clean power" conditioners; maybe BS, but a world of difference. I'm not sure where hes going with just the line cord (not a conditioner), or with circuity involved (conditioner)? Either way, I will continue to use my monster power conditioner because it does make a difference

Still, IMHO some people take power conditioning too far.

Holy Snake Oil Fetman !!! 545.00$ For a 6 outlet strip 
How about 200$ for a device to enhance your speakers sound?
It reduces standing low frequencies,makes the high end much more precise and detailed,all while protecting your speakers from spills on the floor.
What is this amzing device?
A milk crate... Set your speaker on it and behold the magic,you have been missing

[liddokun]

If you need to spend 13k on a power cable then I think you'd be much better spending it on therapy so you can have your reality fit with the rest of ours.

You're more right about this than you may know. There is some serious dementia that goes on with some audiophile extremists (like extremists of any sort). This is an interesting video to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs1aUws0Lrs

Loved the look on the wives's faces when the husbands dropped the estimated total they spent on their systems.
That was awesome. Hilarious. Sad. All in one.