Snake Oil Department, Top This

[Kal Rubinson]

Well, that's timely. I happen to be going somewhat back and forth with the Stereophile folks, in the comment sections, on just such a subject:

We/I already dealt with the AQVOX in 2018.

 

[noiseangel]

Just out of curiosity which company do you think started this whole speaker cable snake oil worm hole?

 

[mhardy6647]

FYI & FWIW: You should be able to delete it yourself, @Kal Rubinson

 

[mhardy6647]

Just out of curiosity which company do you think started this whole speaker cable snake oil worm hole?

^^^ Audio Dec. 1977 (later, and better, known as CobraCables. Sourced from a Japanese company and notorious for their high capacitance)

^^^ Audio Sep. 1979 The Gold-ens interconnects date back to at least 1976

 

[mhardy6647]

... or this tidbit (these tidbits*) from Stereophile, Spring 1977

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Stereophile/70s/Stereophile-1977-Spring.pdf

________________
* I left the one about the "Sound Cells" loudspeakers in, too, because it seemed... fitting.

 

[mansr]

... or this tidbit (these tidbits*) from Stereophile, Spring 1977

View attachment 240375

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Stereophile/70s/Stereophile-1977-Spring.pdf

________________
* I left the one about the "Sound Cells" loudspeakers in, too, because it seemed... fitting.

Evidently, the people at Stereophile had their minds so brutally boggled that they never recovered.

 

[mhardy6647]

Oh, I dunno. Our colleague @Kal Rubinson seems to have his head fairly squarely attached to his shoulders.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

View attachment 240368
FYI & FWIW: You should be able to delete it yourself, @Kal Rubinson

View attachment 240369

Sorry. Don't know why I missed that. Done.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Oh, I dunno. Our colleague @Kal Rubinson seems to have his head fairly squarely attached to his shoulders.

Maybe now but I fell for a lot of that stuff when it came out in the '70s, despite my scientific background. Took quite a while for the scales to drop from my eyes.

 

[noiseangel]

View attachment 240370

^^^ Audio Dec. 1977 (later, and better, known as CobraCables. Sourced from a Japanese company and notorious for their high capacitance)

View attachment 240371
^^^ Audio Sep. 1979 The Gold-ens interconnects date back to at least 1976

Nice find. I didn't realise it went that far back. Seeing as though you are so good at this see if you can find the first review of a speaker cable. I want to know who is responsible for this.

 

[noiseangel]

Maybe now but I fell for a lot of that stuff when it came out in the '70s, despite my scientific background. Took quite a while for the scales to drop from my eyes.

You could say "Born Again"?

 

[fpitas]

OMG! Magico doesn't have Nordost wires??? I think I just lost all my respect for the "Magic" of Magico. LOL.

Sadly, some idiots probably did lose respect for them

 

[Kal Rubinson]

You could say "Born Again"?

Definitely not. Exactly the opposite.

 

[Ahmonge]

I want to know who is responsible for this.

Unfortunately, there are too many.

 

[noiseangel]

Unfortunately, there are too many.

Someone is always first.

 

[goryu]

Anything and everything that comes out of Ric "Mr. Tweak" Shultz's mouth...it's like a firehose of bs....

 

[mhardy6647]

I -- ahem -- in full disclosure, hadn't gone to the phenomenal archive that is worldradiohistory.com looking for wire ads I was collecting ads from Polk Audio in honor of their then approaching 50th anniversary. At least, that was my excuse!

The 70s were heady times (pun somewhat attended) for audio.

 

[mhardy6647]

oh -- on topic -- I did find this seminal (?) loudspeaker cable ad last night.

source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/70s/Audio-1978-03.pdf

 

[fpitas]

oh -- on topic -- I did find this seminal (?) loudspeaker cable ad last night.

View attachment 240440

source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/70s/Audio-1978-03.pdf

Ohhhhh. The snake oil drips off that sucker.

 

[mhardy6647]

Not that I am really as obsessive as it might seem but looky at this ad from Dec. 1978!

1) They spiffed up the cosmetics!
2) They offer some testable claims!

source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/70s/Audio-1978-12.pdf



PS I guess minimal signal loss vcoupled with up to a 2 dB gain might mean that we have to invoke imaginary numbers -- so maybe this is a phase-angle thing?!?

Ohhhhh. The snake oil drips off that sucker.

That's a big 10-4 (in the patois of the time), good buddy!
You can even see the fangs. Heck, you could milk the venom from them suckas!