Audio absurdities Options

[thesurfingalien]

Hi All,

I have been active in the (high end) audio world for about 25 years. My main interest has always been loudspeakers and design. As such, together with a friend of mine, we have created some pretty decent loudspeakers. We did this just for fun.

Contrary of what you might expect, I have not invested in expensive equipment myself, mainly because there is only so much money I am willing (or able for that matter) to spend on it , and I like to listen to the music and not to the equipment.

However, during this time I have run into what I would like to call "Audio Absurdities". By that I mean things that people do (usually this involves spending a lot of money) to make their setup sound better.

One thing you should know of me is that over the years I have become a very skeptical person with regards to audio. But that does not mean I have lost my sense of humor. Hence this tread...

I would like to invite you to post your experience with this type of things. Be it for either generate a good laugh, or warn other readers for costly "audio improvements" that can be categorized being scams.

Have fun or be warned :-)



My first contribution: The Magic Woodblocks

About four years ago I heard from a to remain unnamed person that he had obtained little pieces of wood, about 2" square, varying in thickness depending on application, that should be placed under the equipment's feet. According to the vendor, the wood was from a rare species of trees only to be found in the Amazon. The audible results were claimed to be like "upgrading your equipment to a model twice the price". And that for only US$250 to US$375 per set of three...

[thesurfingalien]

And another...

After I got my Naim setup, I decided to make a nice rack for it. Made it out of 5 triangle-shaped birch plywood shelfs, aluminum legs and square black marble under the equipment (same size). The marble rested on 3 very low spikes. The top-to-top distance between the birch shelfs was 15cm (5.9").

Just so you all understand... The whole "design" was based on aesthetics...

Some time after finishing the work on it (to me it looked pretty nice), I ran into a topic on a forum about audio-racks, so I posted a picture of my work. After everybody had a good laugh about my opening subject line "Photos of my rack" (I was completely unaware of the fact that a "rack" is slang for specific female body-features - plural), I got some nice remarks.

However, there was this guy that was of opinion that, because of the design and chosen materials, I should be able to experience a significant improvement in sound quality. He also mentioned that if I had used granite in stead of marble, the sonic improvement would be even greater. Any reasonable explanation for these alleged "improvements" I have yet to see...

I have not done any ABX-test on that one (too much trouble), but I can assure you I did not notice any change.