[R-390] Audiophools

Sat, 16 Feb 2002 11:12:07 -0800 (PST)

You could then sell them silver solder and retrofit kits to solve that problem!  $100 per
connector sounds about right.

I was, for a few years, in the largest audio company in the world and met some of the real nuts of
this type.  Most of them don't work for the company but must be dealt with in some way or other. 
Many of them write columns.  One of these so-called "golden ears" claimed he could hear the
difference between cables.  He also claimed that cable ends are "sexed" and he could hear it when
a cable was installed "backwards".  Pure bullshit.  But we had beer and I let him know what I
thought of that.  He challenged me to blind tests - using a curtain between the equipment and him.
 We connected one set of cables and then the other and had him A/B them.  He picked the nitrogen
filled hard line over the monster cable 22 times in a row.  We then sexed the cables and he told
which was the "right" way - blind listening still.  Then we scrambled them and he picked the
correct sexing without error 14 times.  At that point I decided I didn't know as much about the
world as I thought I did.  If this was a parlor trick, then neither I nor my companion who is one
of the most respected engineers in the audio field were unable to figure out how he did it.  And
we were the ones that set up the test - using our lab, our gear, and with us doing the work with
no one else in the facility that could have been tipping him off.  I don't get it and it made we
wonder.  But I'm still not a believer in that crud.

The "warm" sound of vacuum tube audio amps is a proven effect, however.  As is the difference
between one tube and another.  The tubes cause distortion and that distortion happens to result in
a pleasing sound - much like the distortion caused by a certain type of wood in certain string
instruments etc.  It turns the amp from a transparent device into something of a musical
instrument with its own characteristic sound.  This distortion of tube amps has been measured and
characterized.  A number of companies now make solid state DSP processor units that implement this
distortion and provide the "warm sound of a tube amp".

--- Ron  Kolarik <[email protected]> wrote:
> If you really want to tweak one of these audiopholls
> just point out the fact that the connectors are soldered
> on....with LEAD/TIN solder.  Then tell them it 
> introduces a phase delay between the different metals.
> 
> You should probably not do this to a close friend though
> and have a good line of retreat staked out beforehand :).
> 
> Ron..... 
> 
> > From: "Kenneth Crips" <[email protected]>
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: [R-390] TUBES
> > Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 02:18:18 -0700
> > 
> > RE: The suggested retail price is $400 each
> 
> >  250.00 bucks a foot which solid platinum connectors.
> > A sucker is born every day.
>  
> 
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