Are these early April fools jokes?

[invaderzim]

The latest post on Stereophile has their recommended components list for 2019 out and it includes:

 

[svart-hvitt]

Better ask @Kal Rubinson .

 

[Soniclife]

Part of me loves the Peter Belt stuff, truly bonkers ideas, so much that nothing you could make up to troll the high end could ever surpass his stuff. I'm sure sensible, comparatively, prices are a large part of what makes him look an amusing fool, and not a money grubbing conman, plus he seemed to be conning himself more than others.

 

[amirm]

I checked out the first one and it is real! Apparently been selling from back in 1980s!

 

[PierreV]

FWIW...

https://www.ayre.com/products/accessories/ibe-disc/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00OY8UXME/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Better ask @Kal Rubinson .

Don't ask me. I generally ignore such stuff.

 

[jsrtheta]

These things exist. They shouldn't.

 

[maxxevv]

Its April 1st already indeed ....

And its exactly what's wrong with the less than ethical side of the audio industry too ....

 

[Juhazi]

These are not listed, but really do work! Perhaps too cheap as audiophile products...
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Health-Personal-Care-Earwax-Removal-Products/zgbs/hpc/3779891

 

[Hypnotoad]

I wonder about this too:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/feature/shmcd_allabout

 

[andreasmaaan]

Could this be a portent of what to expect under the new editorship? Or was Stereophile doing this already under JA anyway?

 

[svart-hvitt]

Could this be a portent of what to expect under the new editorship? Or was Stereophile doing this already under JA anyway?

It was always this way.

Better ask Kal.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Could this be a portent of what to expect under the new editorship? Or was Stereophile doing this already under JA anyway?

AFAIK, everything that has appeared in print or online so far has preceded the new editor's assumption of management. The only exceptions are his own personal contributions.

Overnight regime changes usually occur only in unstable societies.

 

[captain paranoia]

http://www.machinadynamica.com/index.html

 

[Frank Dernie]

Decades ago one of the Hi-Fi magazines gave a way some Peter Belt accessories. They were to stick onto mains plugs iirc, I still have some mains leads with them on somewhere.
There was a lot of support for him in the 70s or 80s, I am amazed any of his stuff is still for sale, I think he he died years ago.

 

[sergeauckland]

Decades ago one of the Hi-Fi magazines gave a way some Peter Belt accessories. They were to stick onto mains plugs iirc, I still have some mains leads with them on somewhere.
There was a lot of support for him in the 70s or 80s, I am amazed any of his stuff is still for sale, I think he he died years ago.

Yes, PWB is now run by May Belt, his widow. I still have the PB brush with which one wiped away the bad stuff from one's tweeters. Good little dusting brush.

He also advocated turning up the bottom corner of one's curtains, or putting a little piece of paper under one (and only one!) of the feet on one's amplifier.

The power of suggestion!
S

 

[Soniclife]

Decades ago one of the Hi-Fi magazines gave a way some Peter Belt accessories. They were to stick onto mains plugs iirc, I still have some mains leads with them on somewhere.
There was a lot of support for him in the 70s or 80s, I am amazed any of his stuff is still for sale, I think he he died years ago.

More recent than that...
https://www.stereophile.com/content/peter-belt-1930-2017

Over the years, reactions to the discoveries and developments of Peter Belt have ranged from hopeful acceptance to calm dismissal to hostile ridicule, the latter always borne with quiet graciousness by the Belts, whose consistent response was to urge skeptics to simply give their ideas a try

My bold.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/peter-belt-1930-2017

Over the years, reactions to the discoveries and developments of Peter Belt have ranged from hopeful acceptance to calm dismissal to hostile ridicule, the latter always borne with quiet graciousness by the Belts, whose consistent response was to urge skeptics to simply give their ideas a try
My bold.

Also in that obituary (my bold), Art Dudley says that they "steadfastly maintained that the products .......................................have less to do with mysticism than with shifting the emphasis from altering the performance of playback gear to altering the perception of the listener" and that "It has always been perception." I've always regarded them as silly and less pernicious than many.

 

[Eurasian]

Was it Belt who suggested putting an aluminum foil wrapped picture of the listener (or listening room) in the freezer before a serious session?

 

[mansr]

I always put some Belt stickers on my copy of Stereophile before reading it. The articles make much more sense then.