UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 30th May 2020, 5:47 pm   #1541
mark_in_manc
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by barretter View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
Totally Mucking Fad, 20+k for a bit (a whole metre) of electrical string. The powers that be are now checking on a £300 "5G USB protector" about time they looked into this sort of total rip off.
You're not obliged to buy them.
You're not obliged to buy lots of things but it's just ethically wrong that this type of thing should go on. To be truthful, no-one is ever going to get me to part with large sums of hard earned cash to buy a piece of audiophoolery, so I shouldn't be annoyed by it, but why should charlatans be allowed to get away with it? The problem is, where do you draw the line between a genuine high end, high but reasonably priced item and one that just goes too far into the smoke and mirrors abyss? You can't. And at the end of the day, if someone believes and says - never mind the scientific proof - that something just sounds 'better', then they're covered; it doesn't have to demonstrably be better. And that's what's so annoying; these guys are getting away with ripping people off in the highest order.
I suppose a lot of audiophoolery exploits vanity, whereas the 5G protector exploits fear. (Both exploit stupidity, but that's not a character flaw, unless it's deliberate). We protect people from charlatans pushing fake medical devices, quite rightly - I hope the 5G-thingy merchants get the book thrown at them.
mark_in_manc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 5:51 pm   #1542
duncanlowe
Nonode
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Stafford, Staffs. UK.
Posts: 2,529
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I'm thinking of buying one of the 5G thingies if they are so fab. Mind you the max I will pay is a fiver from one of the Chinese sellers. I can add my own sticky dot. If (when) it does nothing at least I will have a USB memory stick.
duncanlowe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 5:53 pm   #1543
audiomagpie
Heptode
 
audiomagpie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Rugby, Warwickshire, UK.
Posts: 816
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by AC/HL View Post
Speaking of visual, what's behind a wallnut overcoat for your cartridge?
There's a guy in Sweden de-canning aluminium electrolytic capacitors and re-homing the innards in wooden boxes. Says it greatly improves the sound. Do different woods have different 'sonic signatures'?

Their life expectancy due to water permeability might be questioned.

David
Various woods have been proved to have a different timbre...
__________________
Greg

BVWS committee chairman
audiomagpie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 5:54 pm   #1544
duncanlowe
Nonode
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Stafford, Staffs. UK.
Posts: 2,529
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by audiomagpie View Post

Various woods have been proved to have a different timbre...
No that's clearly a different timber.
duncanlowe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 7:08 pm   #1545
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,942
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Different woods used for musical instruments such as the oboe and clarinet definitely change the tone of the instrument. Musicians swear by their particular choice, and type of mouthpiece and ligature.
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 8:46 pm   #1546
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
You're not obliged to buy them.
No, indeed but you may be conned into doing so by their advert, that is rather naughty.
  Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 9:01 pm   #1547
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
Quote:
You're not obliged to buy them.
No, indeed but you may be conned into doing so by their advert, that is rather naughty.
Do they not have to pay in cash so that they can max out on the theriputic sound of the bank notes being counted?
Refugee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 10:23 pm   #1548
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,802
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

With vanity purchases, isn't the object to get all the people you want to impress to witness how much you paid for it?

So they could just see A) that you've got one and B) Check the price in the adverts.

It would save on having to have a cheque posting party, or having them help stuff banknotes in envelopes.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 10:56 pm   #1549
mark_in_manc
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
With vanity purchases, isn't the object to get all the people you want to impress to witness how much you paid for it?
There's also the internal vanity of awarding oneself the necessary discernment to appreciate the subtle (yet distinctive!) quality enhancements on offer - but yes, sooner or later someone else usually gets it laid on with a trowel, too.

(For me - there's also the internal ascetic vanity of knowing that all such enhancements are foolishness - even monks can be vain ).
mark_in_manc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 11:01 pm   #1550
mark_in_manc
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
Different woods used for musical instruments such as the oboe and clarinet definitely change the tone of the instrument. Musicians swear by their particular choice, and type of mouthpiece and ligature.
(I once played a brass clarinet in a shop, which was apparently a thing for marching bands before plastic became available and dealt with the 'playing in the rain' problem with wooden instruments. I was amazed that it sounded entirely like a clarinet (woody!), and nothing like a soprano sax which it resembled. But yes, the mouthpiece makes a huge difference; much more than the rest of the instrument which generally works if not full of backlash and leaky pads. Charlie Parker played a plastic sax for a bit).
mark_in_manc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30th May 2020, 11:34 pm   #1551
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,942
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Back when I was playing a whole lot more I used a Selmer Prologue, but I changed the regular plastic mouthpiece for a crystal one. That made a significant difference to the tone, range, and loudness of the instrument. I also went away from the regular metal ligature to a flexible plastic one, wiped over with Armourall.

Last time I gave it a whirl I'd lost my embouchure and within five minutes was drooling from dead lip syndrome.
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 12:00 pm   #1552
mark_in_manc
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I play a little sax still, but the tight clarinet embouchure and the tricky middle register now completely throw me And even though I worked in acoustics for 25 years, I still don't have a solid handle on why a clarinet overblows to an octave and a fifth (behaving like a 1/4 wave tube) and a sax to an octave, when the termination conditions are so similar. There we go!
mark_in_manc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 7:20 pm   #1553
ColinTheAmpMan1
Octode
 
ColinTheAmpMan1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wimbledon, London, UK.
Posts: 1,465
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
Different woods used for musical instruments such as the oboe and clarinet definitely change the tone of the instrument. Musicians swear by their particular choice, and type of mouthpiece and ligature.
I thought a ligature was something for strangling people. The way one's mouth is shaped in order to play a reed woodwind instrument (and possibly brass wind instruments, too) is called "embouchure", isn't it? (Bouche is French for mouth).

Colin.
ColinTheAmpMan1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 7:42 pm   #1554
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Enough sensibility (grin) we need more foolery!!
  Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 8:13 pm   #1555
Malcolm G6ANZ
Octode
 
Malcolm G6ANZ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Bristol, UK.
Posts: 1,030
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

My flute teacher compares the embouchure needed to having just eaten a lemon. Probably totally different to that needed for a sax or clarinet.

Malcolm
Malcolm G6ANZ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 8:56 pm   #1556
barretter
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Todmorden, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 870
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by barretter View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
Totally Mucking Fad, 20+k for a bit (a whole metre) of electrical string. The powers that be are now checking on a £300 "5G USB protector" about time they looked into this sort of total rip off.
You're not obliged to buy them.
You're not obliged to buy lots of things but it's just ethically wrong that this type of thing should go on. To be truthful, no-one is ever going to get me to part with large sums of hard earned cash to buy a piece of audiophoolery, so I shouldn't be annoyed by it, but why should charlatans be allowed to get away with it? The problem is, where do you draw the line between a genuine high end, high but reasonably priced item and one that just goes too far into the smoke and mirrors abyss? You can't. And at the end of the day, if someone believes and says - never mind the scientific proof - that something just sounds 'better', then they're covered; it doesn't have to demonstrably be better. And that's what's so annoying; these guys are getting away with ripping people off in the highest order.
If you think they're charlatans you could report them to the fraud squad or the Advertising Standards Authority but basically it's just bling like Rolex watches, or Lamborghinis which have terrible ride and roadholding qualities. People who would spend that amount on a mains connector have more money than sense.
barretter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 11:13 pm   #1557
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,942
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColinTheAmpMan1 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers View Post
Different woods used for musical instruments such as the oboe and clarinet definitely change the tone of the instrument. Musicians swear by their particular choice, and type of mouthpiece and ligature.
I thought a ligature was something for strangling people. The way one's mouth is shaped in order to play a reed woodwind instrument (and possibly brass wind instruments, too) is called "embouchure", isn't it? (Bouche is French for mouth).

Colin.
Correct. But you need to tone the muscles around your mouth by regular practice. If you haven't played for a long time you lose the muscle tone. After starting again, after a really a short while your lips just go really wobbly and you start drooling.
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 11:16 pm   #1558
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,802
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Unfortunately, it is legally accepted that there is a degree of slack in the system, so an advertiser can trumpet "Threadgold's new oblimerators are the best in the world" and it's taken as meaningless marketing puff. They all say that sort of thing. It cannot be disproven, it cannot be proven, it cannot even be defined. It all comes under the 'Washes whiter!' sort of thing.

If they got numerical, or specified a reproducible test, then they could get done for it.

Our golden-eared friends just happen to be all about non-numerical properties, ones without any real definition. 'Ere, mate, this magic crystal you sold me is six inches short on soundstaging improvement"

But if some £20,000 'interconnects' aren't a full metre long when the advert says they are, then gotcha! an enforceable description.

I think it's just coincidence that the primary properties on which audiophoolia is sold just happen to be undefinable and therefore unenforceable.

Besides the remaining consumer protection/weights and measures people seem to be fully occupied chasing pirated DVDs.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 31st May 2020, 11:18 pm   #1559
Craig Sawyers
Dekatron
 
Craig Sawyers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,942
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malcolm G6ANZ View Post
My flute teacher compares the embouchure needed to having just eaten a lemon. Probably totally different to that needed for a sax or clarinet.

Malcolm
I cannot get a note out of a flute to save my life. But with a clarinet - and I guess other reeded woodwinds - the instrument produces a distinctly different pressure depending on which overblow you are on. It is a bit like chest voice and head voice when singing.
Craig Sawyers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 1st Jun 2020, 1:18 am   #1560
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Buyer beware seems to sum it up nicely. Probably stems from an ancient Roman scam.
AC/HL is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 1:23 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.