A Very Unique Setup With The Wharfedale Diamond 12.2

[MarkWinston]

I came across this vid on youtube and the concept is kind of unique. Its in cantonese so let me summarize the best I can.

1. Owner claims that its a cheap overall setup but sounds like way coslier setup.
2. Owner purposely places 3 uneven feet on each corner of the speaker and leaving one corner feetless. He claims it is to let the speaker move a little when needed. The other guys listened to firmly planted speakers vs the said setup and all came to the conclusion that it sounded better with those weird feet placement.
3. The left and right speakers are not on the plane as one is a wee bit nearer to the listener than the other.
4. All the guys in the end came to a conclusion that it was a weird way to set things up, defying all the usual rules, but agreed that it sounded phenomenal. They all agreed that there are more than one way to go around making music sound good and the usual rules have to be broken sometimes to get a better sound.
5. A sort of wooden plank is placed beneath every equipmemt for a purpose.
6. The guy at the end said not only imaging was fantastic but he could make out the shapes and sizes of each instrument, imaging and soundstaging was that good.

Take a look at the vid, tell me what you think!

 

[fieldcar]

If youtube's translate is accurate, the guy said that he uses plywood under the amps to change the sound, otherwise its too sharp and not balanced with the yin and the yang.

I took a crap yesterday that probably made more of an audible difference in my listening experience.

 

[MarkWinston]

If youtube's translate is accurate, the guy said that he uses plywood under the amps to change the sound, otherwise its too sharp and not balanced with the yin and the yang.

I took a crap yesterday that probably made more of an audible difference in my listening experience.

More likely a figure of speech, no black magic thrown in here. It is said in the vid that a certain type of wood was specifically chosem for its characteristics and happens to be cheap. But whatever he is doing, he must be doing it right.

 

[MaxRockbin]

crap

If you don't have anything nice to say ...

It used to be and maybe still is "high end" gospel that the speaker be tightly coupled to the stand. Studio monitors seem to go the other way - with expensive rubber/springy mounts that decouple. Genelec comes with rubbery bulbous feet attached to some of their monitors (3xxx series). So that would lend some credibility to decoupling (and obviously if you have a desk that's basically a vibrating sound board - it's a good idea to decouple).
Though those same speakers can be bolted onto walls or glorified mic stands.

If your speakers are on stands that are basically non-resonant like concrete blocks or sand filled, it probably doesn't matter much. If they're thin metal tubes, maybe a good idea? Some wood stands resonate like crazy. Making them bulky and asymmetric could conceivably do something. Basically if the sound is coming out of the speaker intentionally - great! If it's causing random shaking, Kill it any way that works.

Also, in some speaker review, Amir noted, after his listening subjective listening session, that the speakers had slid back an inch or so on the stand cause of their slippery underbits. He liked those speakers a lot. So probably being a little slippy and slidy isn't hurting things too much.

Anyway, this video is more along the lines of Food for Thought than objective reality.

 

[Katji]

Yes, different woods and differently cured wood affects the motion of the electrons in analog signal, and in such a way that it causes changes in audio output of the speaker transducer. Like cable holders made of wood.

 

[jae]

Imagine how ridiculous Western audiophiles can behave sometimes, now multiply that by any arbitrary number and now you enter the world of Asian audiophilia.

 

[fieldcar]

If you don't have anything nice to say ...

I thought OP was being facetious. I'll try to cool it a bit with the negative language. Just since you asked nicely.

Yes, different woods and differently cured wood affects the motion of the electrons in analog signal, and in such a way that it causes changes in audio output of the speaker transducer. Like cable holders made of wood.

I prefer my cable risers and speaker stands to be made of really shiny stainless steel to "brighten" the sound. It's like an EQ, but much more expensive.

 

[FrantzM]

The tilte made me look at the thread

...Not the video fortunately,

 

[MaxRockbin]

I thought OP was being facetious.

O Gee. You're probably right. Now I feel like an idiot. It would've passed for science in other audio forums...

 

[jae]

From one of my favourite films and was (is?) real shop in Kowloon I have been to many times. Even a lot of the engineers of 'high end' components today still believe in a lot of the mysticism.

EDIT: This shop and monoblocks sold in the scene! http://www.audio-space.com/product/power-amplifier/mp-1b/

 

[MarkWinston]

O Gee. You're probably right. Now I feel like an idiot. It would've passed for science in other audio forums...

I was to an extent, but there is something he is doin right that that could be explained scientifically since all of them there could hear a difference. Just like people back in the day eating some plant to cure a certain sickness without knowing what active ingredient was in the plant that did the trick but 1000s of years later was proven by science.

 

[MarkWinston]

From one of my favourite films and was (is?) real shop in Kowloon I have been to many times. Even a lot of the engineers of 'high end' components today still believe in a lot of the mysticism.

EDIT: This shop and monoblocks sold in the scene! http://www.audio-space.com/product/power-amplifier/mp-1b/

Been to Hong Kong a few times before and the audiophiles there are crazy extreme, the worst (or the best) on this planet. I was floored by their systems there, the Mcintosh showroom in New York looks low key in comparison.

 

[jae]

I was to an extent, but there is something he is doin right that that could be explained scientifically since all of them there could hear a difference. Just like people back in the day eating some plant to cure a certain sickness without knowing what active ingredient was in the plant that did the trick but 1000s of years later was proven by science.

There is some study on unilateral differences between right/left hearing balance as it relates to psychoacoustics and even things like environmental/occupational factors. Even in cases where people may have identically acute hearing in both ears as determined by something like an audiogram (which typically only goes to 8khz mind you), our brain is rather complex and may have a preference for a certain side when interpreting an auditory signal at certain frequency ranges. Genetics or right/left handedness could potentially determine that preference or difference.

I could say that it may be plausible that this asymmetrical layout could have inadvertently caused more pleasant effects by this phenomenon or perhaps from effects of asymmetrical interaction with the listening space. What is most likely the case is that one channel could have simply been mixed better in the particular track(s) they were listening to, or perhaps the speakers/amplifier channels were not matched well or out of spec which we would never know without measurements. Either way, I don't see this type of speaker configuration as a sensible option. What's sensible is to explore the signal/track(s) and determine if the effect can be explained or mimicked in post if the end goal creating a reproducible experience that sounds better.