Is the entire audio industry a fraud?

[JRS]

Yea, and in the early twentieth century Beyer brought out a morphine sourced product for medical purposes they labeled Heroin. Todays synthetic medical opioids, and I could list 10 - 20 well known products, are essentially the same product as Beyer's Heroin, and operate on the same neural receptors which is to say huge corporations actively are distributing heroin; that is, essentially the same product with the same operational results as street heroin. Corporate structures are impervious to morality and ethics.

For those who haven't seen it the series Dopesick is quite the depiction of corporate greed meets addictive substances. 100k lives lost annually in part due to the twisted greed of the family blacksheep who could never pass muster.

Killer soundtrack to go with it.

 

[JRS]

You give it cache--association with well known pool players.

That pool cue actually has value in ways the snake oil will never. A its a thing of beauty, B its made from the finest hardwood available, which provides real performance benefits_ and c if you're down on your luck, can bet it or hawk it.

Expect to spend 150 for an inexpensive entry level stick that has the same kind of stiffness.

 

[JRS]

I do all my serious listening in the same position, why should I care about off axis response? I'm happy with the bass response of my budget speakers, and prefer listening at low volumes, well within its capabilities, so what is there to discomfort any speaker?

If "brightness" is the problem shouldn't fixing it be in the comfort zone? The Loki allows you to take off 6DB of treble. Shouldn't that be enough? And wouldn't the speaker remain comfortable?

My KEF LFXs only allow a treble trim maximum of 2DB in theor on-board equalisation - I did use this full amount and they sounded better... to the extent that I'm happy with them and use them for my main TV and music listening without getting an itch to alter anything or upgrade.

Has anyone "fixed" their budget speakers, using the Loki or equally simple equipment, to such an extent that the sound as good as their high end speakers? Or, at least, as good as KEF LSX? If you have tried and failed then why did you fail?

I'm just catching up on this interesting thread. What hooked me on DSP was when within a few hours of a steep learning curve, I was able to transform an inexpensive 2 way JBL bookshelf speaker (maybe $600/pr) into something that favorably compared to the Infinity Preludes I had on borrow from Best Buy. The similarity was astonishing at moderate volumes with material lacking much grunt. I didn't know this at the time, but the presence of a cheap looking plastic waveguide is what made them amenable to such a magical transformation. I ended up returning the Preludes--a 10k dollar Class A Stereophile stamp of approval speaker and keeping the JBLs.

 

[pderousse]

To be clear, you are asking the world whether the entire electronics industry defrauded you, based on your reaction to plugging in a new device into a system no one here has ever heard, in a room no one has seen or ever heard, into a system with numerous unknown variables like house wiring, speakers, PS, source material, mixing of source material (of which you have zero knowledge)? I fail to see your problem (You found your SUBjECTIVE preference - yay!) or why there are 50 pages worth of experts weighing in….

 

[pderousse]

To be clear, you are asking the world whether the entire electronics industry defrauded you, based on your reaction to plugging in a new device into a system no one here has ever heard, in a room no one has seen or ever heard, into a system with numerous unknown variables like house wiring, speakers, PS, source material, mixing of source material (of which you have zero knowledge)? I fail to see your problem (You found your SUBjECTIVE preference - yay!) or how anyone can offer a “science” based reply. And yet there are 50 pages worth of experts weighing in.

 

[Spkrdctr]

To be clear, you are asking the world whether the entire electronics industry defrauded you, based on your reaction to plugging in a new device into a system no one here has ever heard, in a room no one has seen or ever heard, into a system with numerous unknown variables like house wiring, speakers, PS, source material, mixing of source material (of which you have zero knowledge)? I fail to see your problem (You found your SUBjECTIVE preference - yay!) or why there are 50 pages worth of experts weighing in….

Hey! If someone posts they can't find their remote we will get 50 pages of discussion, analysis and assorted commentary. Plus in those 50 pages of replies there will probably be at least two topic changes. Never underestimate our ability on ASR to talk about meaningless things for a few weeks at a time. It is kind of our trademark! The mods have the job of corralling all of this into some form of a decent thread. All in all, hanging around here makes you smarter and more of an audio nerd. That is a win-win!

 

[pderousse]

I was with you all the way up to the penultimate sentence - very debatable whether lurking here makes us smarter. Let’s hash that out for a few more pages.

 

[egellings]

That pool cue actually has value in ways the snake oil will never. A its a thing of beauty, B its made from the finest hardwood available, which provides real performance benefits_ and c if you're down on your luck, can bet it or hawk it.

Expect to spend 150 for an inexpensive entry level stick that has the same kind of stiffness.

True, but snake oil audio cables, for example, do at least conduct audio signals. So do the little cheapie gray RCA cables that come packaged with the inexpensive CD player. Can't comment on Cue sticks, since I do not shoot pool.

 

[Newman]

I was with you all the way up to the penultimate sentence - very debatable whether lurking here makes us smarter. Let’s hash that out for a few more pages.

Lurking here only makes us smarter if we are smart enough to learn from people who know more than us. So you are right, it’s not automatically true.

 

[JRS]

True, but snake oil audio cables, for example, do at least conduct audio signals. So do the little cheapie gray RCA cables that come packaged with the inexpensive CD player. Can't comment on Cue sticks, since I do not shoot pool.

So try selling it. Betting 25 cents on the dollar is about all one gets for used cables.

I will say this: twice in my life i have been stumped trying to troubleshoot situations where it never occurred to me it might be the lousy RCA interconnect It was. After trying everything else I tried the cable as a last resort.

That's the problem with the cheapoes. They do break if mishandled. If you examine one there is very little copper. So little that they are not difficult to break and I'm not talking about pulling by the cord. Thankfully theres no shortage of choices in the 10 to 50 dollar range that are bulletproof.

 

[fpitas]

So try selling it. Betting 25 cents on the dollar is about all one gets for used cables.

Which, when you think about it, makes absolutely no sense. The cable has been broken in, so it sounds better than new!

 

[JSmith]

Speaking of scams...

JSmith

 

[antcollinet]

Speaking of scams...

View attachment 272998


JSmith

white van scam?

 

[audiofooled]

white van scam?

Well, it's professional, platinum series, designed in Denmark, it has digitally mastered sound, and 1500 W total power. What's not to like?

 

[antcollinet]

Well, it's professional, platinum series, designed in Denmark, it has digitally mastered sound, and 1500 W total power. What's not to like?

I have to admit, "digitally mastered sound" is very impressive for a speaker.

 

[audiofooled]

I have to admit, "digitally mastered sound" is very impressive for a speaker.

 

[Spkrdctr]

white van scam?

White van scam of the Bose system. If the price is low enough, say $300 for the whole thing it might be a good buy for quiet background music in a home gym room. Or, in the garage while working on rebuilding your tough as nails Briggs and Stratton lawnmower!

 

[egellings]

Which, when you think about it, makes absolutely no sense. The cable has been broken in, so it sounds better than new!

Hork! About hork: A shout of derision by a grandpa bullfrog.

 

[mhardy6647]

I associate hork with (no, not our erstwhile, and mostly-missed kittycats) the Swedish Chef.

well... close.

 

[egellings]

I associate hork with (no, not our erstwhile, and mostly-missed kittycats) the Swedish Chef.

well... close.

I 'spoze.