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Snake Oil Department, Top This

The makers of the heralded Shakti Stone spent over 10 years developing a breakthrough advance in room treatment. The Hallographs will amaze you upon hearing all the previously obscured ambient detail from all of your recordings. These beautiful, hardwood alternatives to bulky panels are mounted behind each speaker, near the corners of the back wall. Fully adjustable for different sized rooms and speakers, they include both floor stands and wall brackets. They produce a stunning increase in realism.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/a...ograph-2015-01-10-accessories-78750-austin-tx
 
You can't beat Audiogon for snake oil. Anyone remember the magic mats "signal enhancer"?

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Makes me wonder how these companies are able to sleep at night, knowing that they're ripping people off.
 
acbarn said:
Such a scam. I bet most of these are sold as an add-on purchase as part of an uber-expensive system. What’s another $3,500 when you’re price anchored at $250,000? You’re certainly not going to use a $5.99 power cord for a system in that price bracket. It’s no different than $1,000 floor mats casually dropped in while purchasing a luxury car, or random $1,000+ fees when purchasing an expensive home.

As for the reviewer, he’s either delusional or unscrupulous (I suspect the latter).
Click to expand...
The reviewer is a retired molecular biologist: https://www.theabsolutesound.com/author/stephen-scharf
To give more weight to his reviews in The Absolute Sound, he refers to himself as scientist. "Putting my scientist hat on, I went into full research mode...", he writes in https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/how-to-optimize-digital-streaming-with-optical-fiber review.
 
Wow.... In the same review (https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/how-to-optimize-digital-streaming-with-optical-fiber):

"As we started connecting our computers directly to USB-capable DACs, however, we discovered that USB as a communications protocol and a digital interface had ”issues.” While USB was really convenient, it often didn’t sound quite as good as other types of digital connections, e.g., a SPDIF interface via coax. Gordon Rankin’s development of the Streamlength code showed the benefits of asynchronous (rather than isochronous) USB with respect to improved timing and the concomitant increase in audio quality. It was also discovered that the USB receivers in computers were “dirty,” and that USB cables, which folks had mistakenly thought were only transmitting 0s and 1s, had a significant impact on audio quality. It turned out digital streaming wasn’t, as many had initially thought, a bit-perfect stream immune to noise, but a system where everything mattered."
 
acbarn said:
Such a scam. I bet most of these are sold as an add-on purchase as part of an uber-expensive system. What’s another $3,500 when you’re price anchored at $250,000?
Click to expand...

Of course you will hear the difference only using this $250,000 system.
But you will never experience this difference using a cheap Topping or Jds Labs Atom.
So do not buy this power cord if you have these.
 
roz said:
Makes me wonder how these companies are able to sleep at night, knowing that they're ripping people off.
Click to expand...

Or the guy reselling the Shakti Hallograph (presumably because he knows it doesn't work)?
 
I've seen the Shakti Stone and also little round stickers called Mpingo Disks. The way I look at this woo is that the eardrum will vibrate the same way with or without the woo. The woo works in the brain's interpretation of what the eardrums do, and that is modulated by beliefs. If you think an Mpingo disk stuck on the wall 10 feet from the speaker improves the sound, then for all intents and purposes, for you, it does. Religion infuses audio just as easily as it does other topics. Too bad.
 
Man, I feel so sorry for all of you because you just don't have the ability to hear the difference.






;)
But in all seriousness: It puts the lotion on and then it gives me more money!!! http://www.pwbelectronics.co.uk/product/cream/cream.html
"When applied to specific areas of audio and video equipment, this non toxic polarised cream has a profoundly beneficial effect on the perceived sound. "
 
egellings said:
I've seen the Shakti Stone and also little round stickers called Mpingo Disks. The way I look at this woo is that the eardrum will vibrate the same way with or without the woo. The woo works in the brain's interpretation of what the eardrums do, and that is modulated by beliefs. If you think an Mpingo disk stuck on the wall 10 feet from the speaker improves the sound, then for all intents and purposes, for you, it does. Religion infuses audio just as easily as it does other topics. Too bad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, too bad indeed.

There's always the option that one can educate oneself so that one doesn't have to fall victim to the BS of "woo" and can then avoid giving hucksters and charlatans their thousands of dollars.
 
AlexHempel said:
How about some "Mystery Feet"? Truly this company is not even trying anymore, no attempt to explain how or why these work better than generic isolation feet, just slap a $2400 price tag on and you're good to go. And for $2400, they can't even include four??? Nope, just three, don't push to hard on the corners.

http://marigoaudio.com/isolation-feet/mystery-feet/
Click to expand...
3?? Are u kidding? Don't you have those triangle base speakers anymore?
 
egellings said:
It seems like there is more woo in audio accessories than there is in audio components themselves.
Click to expand...

Well the woo in audio components also helps drive the woo in accessories....and accessories are more affordable ;)
 
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