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Old 20th Dec 2019, 11:41 pm   #1045
Argus25
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.
Posts: 2,679
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

It is interesting that way back in the 1920's, grid leak resistors looked a lot like fuses and they were set up in radios on spring fuse clips, so that the radio owner could substitute in different brands to get a different sound.

There was very colorful marketing about the sound performance of different grid leaks that came in exotic and colorful boxes with claims of superior performance.

In this case though, most of the time constants in the grid leak detector stage were way too long muffling the audio. On the one hand they wanted to keep the gain high, on the other the trebles got muffled. So there was a large difference in the sound quality and audio volume of a 500k or 1M grid leak to a 4M one. 500k being much better for trebles but with a lower level.

Maybe this is what started out the idea that changing those little glass cylinders with the metal caps on the end affected the sound and it spread to the idea that fuses might do it too.

Of course all the outrageous claims made about electronic equipment, the audio field is by no means unique.

There have been items of bogus medical equipment capable of astounding feats of diagnosis & cures with instrument panels that make a well decorated Christmas tree look boring. Also in the field of various car ignition systems, when scientifically investigated, the claims don't hold up. But it feels good "thinking" your miles per gallon have increased. Probably a similar feeling to flying around in a Lear Jet and feeling you are not polluting the atmosphere if you buy carbon credits.

So perhaps the old saying about the media: "don't let the truth stand in the way of a good story" should be modified for electronic engineering & marketing to read: "don't let the truth stand in the way of a sale"
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