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Wow. These $39 fuses sure make a difference.
- Thread starter uaudio
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Perhaps we need to convince the utility companies to furnish audiophile grade electricity from theirgenerating sites, then supply it over audiophile grade lines. Of course, the generating plants must use audiophile water in hydroelectric plants, and audiophile grade coal in coal fired plants
I used to be an audiophile.
I used to be a sucker!
I used to buy every stupid tweaky widget to "improve" my system . Not having much education or understanding of the fundamentals of the science of audio electronics made me ripe pickin's at the audio botique.Some of these things worked, some were sucker bait.All were overpriced.
Nowdays I listen to music not my equipment.
I used to be a sucker!
I used to buy every stupid tweaky widget to "improve" my system . Not having much education or understanding of the fundamentals of the science of audio electronics made me ripe pickin's at the audio botique.Some of these things worked, some were sucker bait.All were overpriced.
Nowdays I listen to music not my equipment.
Silver Rock Beech Wood Knobs
Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved. Here is a test for all you Silver Rock owners. Try removing the bakelite knobs and listen. You will be shocked by this! The signature knobs will have an even greater effect…really amazing! The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear…way better
Can you imagine how great they will make my SX sound?
- Mar 30, 2007
- 4,017
- 321
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Genzler Amplification/Spector Basses/Mojo Hand FX
CK1, I'd be careful before you accuse us of arrogance. Peter Belt seems better versed in psychology than physics, ironically. I would caution you not to confuse the two, and certainly not to mistake one for the other.
I wouldn't have to accuse anyone of arrogance, if you were careful in the first place, not to disrespect the reputation of people you obviously don't know. Why don't you explain exactly what is the extent of your experience with Peter Belt and his products, that makes you such an expert on him. Then I'll tell you mine. I'm pretty sure it trumps yours. I'm not the one confused and making mistakes here, you are. The first one, is to say he seems better versed in psychology. The man is a classicaly trained audio engineer, with over 50 years of experience in audio, and has produced state of the art designs in orthodynamics and electrostats. I think that proves he's very well versed in physics. Can we say the same for your experience in audio? Didn't think so. The second mistaken assumption you made, and this one's a doozy I'm afraid, is you don't even understand the basis for which his products work. That means you didn't even read the info on PWB's website, to inform yourself before condemning the man. For they do not even pretend to work on "physics". Nor are they placebos, as you would like to claim.
Much of what he's addressing is not measurable because it's purely psychological. It changes how we listen, and what we listen for. His methods do not literally and objectively improve sound quality.
Again, that tells me you don't know what you're talking about. "Changes how we listen" doesn't mean it's "psychological"; if by that you mean illusionary. It's neurological. It changes our ability to listen. It does not change "what we listen for". Critical listening already does that, with any device. His methods most certainly do literally and objectively improve sound quality. I have yet to hear your experience on Peter Belt's products or methods that backs up your confident statements of what they do. I have run double blind tests on those products, both on myself and others, with positive results. A Czech Hifi mag did a blind study of Peter Belt devices a few years ago on 1,000 subjects. 75% identified differences. A blind study was commissioned once at a medical facility on Peter Belt treated hearing aids; the majority identified improvements. Many professional reviewers have identified improvements with his products. As for it not being measurable, are you actually saying that everything that isn't "measurable" in the world, does not exist?
If you close your eyes while watching a movie and focus on the audio, details that were not originally noticed will reveal themselves. If your leg is injured, your mind will compensate by shifting your balance and changing how you walk. If you are in a room full of people who claim a red object is blue, you might begin to believe that you're color blind.
I spent a large portion of my undergraduate years exploring human psychology, including the experiments of Milgram and Zimbardo (among others). A vast array of goods in the audiophile market are successful for purely psychological reasons. If you're convinced these goods work for you, then the sellers have done a fantastic job with persuasion. Those same talents could be put to use in counseling sessions, the courtroom, politics...
Red herring. Your studies, examples and prejudices have nothing to do with how PWBs products work. They say more about your prejudices than they do about the products. What is this "vast array of goods in the audiophile market" that are successful "purely for psychological reasons"? And who determined that, you?
I wouldn't have to accuse anyone of arrogance, if you were careful in the first place, not to disrespect the reputation of people you obviously don't know. Why don't you explain exactly what is the extent of your experience with Peter Belt and his products, that makes you such an expert on him. Then I'll tell you mine. I'm pretty sure it trumps yours. I'm not the one confused and making mistakes here, you are. The first one, is to say he seems better versed in psychology. The man is a classicaly trained audio engineer, with over 50 years of experience in audio, and has produced state of the art designs in orthodynamics and electrostats. I think that proves he's very well versed in physics. Can we say the same for your experience in audio? Didn't think so. The second mistaken assumption you made, and this one's a doozy I'm afraid, is you don't even understand the basis for which his products work. That means you didn't even read the info on PWB's website, to inform yourself before condemning the man. For they do not even pretend to work on "physics". Nor are they placebos, as you would like to claim.
Much of what he's addressing is not measurable because it's purely psychological. It changes how we listen, and what we listen for. His methods do not literally and objectively improve sound quality.
Again, that tells me you don't know what you're talking about. "Changes how we listen" doesn't mean it's "psychological"; if by that you mean illusionary. It's neurological. It changes our ability to listen. It does not change "what we listen for". Critical listening already does that, with any device. His methods most certainly do literally and objectively improve sound quality. I have yet to hear your experience on Peter Belt's products or methods that backs up your confident statements of what they do. I have run double blind tests on those products, both on myself and others, with positive results. A Czech Hifi mag did a blind study of Peter Belt devices a few years ago on 1,000 subjects. 75% identified differences. A blind study was commissioned once at a medical facility on Peter Belt treated hearing aids; the majority identified improvements. Many professional reviewers have identified improvements with his products. As for it not being measurable, are you actually saying that everything that isn't "measurable" in the world, does not exist?
If you close your eyes while watching a movie and focus on the audio, details that were not originally noticed will reveal themselves. If your leg is injured, your mind will compensate by shifting your balance and changing how you walk. If you are in a room full of people who claim a red object is blue, you might begin to believe that you're color blind.
I spent a large portion of my undergraduate years exploring human psychology, including the experiments of Milgram and Zimbardo (among others). A vast array of goods in the audiophile market are successful for purely psychological reasons. If you're convinced these goods work for you, then the sellers have done a fantastic job with persuasion. Those same talents could be put to use in counseling sessions, the courtroom, politics...
Red herring. Your studies, examples and prejudices have nothing to do with how PWBs products work. They say more about your prejudices than they do about the products. What is this "vast array of goods in the audiophile market" that are successful "purely for psychological reasons"? And who determined that, you?
I'm actually quite familiar with these. My former boss swore they made a difference and included them with our CD-player and amplifier. Apparently the direction you mount them in makes a difference as well. I did thorough listening tests and I was never able to discern a difference. One day he had a bunch of local audiophiles in to audition them. That morning, we had a bit of a falling out, so when he went out to lunch, I put the amp and CDP on the bench and hardwire bypassed all of the fuseholders out of spite. When the guys came in, they spent several hours auditioning various combinations of fuses and going on at length about the huge differences between them and regular fuses; between the various current values and in the direction they were installed. I never did tell them that they were listening to the same thing every time.
BWAAHAAHAAAAAAAA!!! That's too funny...Did you ever tell your boss? )-(
CK1, with all the kindness and respect in the world - you're defending a guy who advocates putting a picture of a CD, or a performance venue, in the FREEZER and drawing something on it as a tip for better sound. How can you possibly believe that?
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue1/beltpen.htm
I don't know much about the fuse's but when i was younger i did use a paperclip to replace a fuse and it did sound much better for about 3 second's then it began to smoke and make all kinda interesting sound's i had never heard before,sadly it did'nt last to long and i had to buy another amp ,moral to the story it's either on or it's off.
If only everyone would have listen to Thomas Edison - we'd all have DC, and local generators in every neighborhood. Topsy the Elephant gave her life for the cause.
Not good tests, so I can already predict you're going to say it did nothing for you. The paper test is a terrible one, because you're not even talking about repeating the same sound a second time, to see what had changed. Have you ever conducted an audio test on a tweak? One piece of paper is not going to change the sound so dramatically, you and everyone listening are going to go wild with the improvement in sound. This is what we call in the biz "insanely heightened expectations". I don't have any more hope for your reef knot in power cable experiment on your musical equipment. For one thing, the reef knot is done with two wires. It could just be a piece of thread you cut in two. (Nine separate reef-knotted threads are better than one). But again, for a beginner like yourself, and a highly skeptical one at that, these experiments should be done on reproduced music (ie. CD), in order to properly track changes between condition A and B. Not repeating funky licks. That means you listen to a CD before doing anything, then you initiate the tweak, then you listen again. The more of these tweaks or techniques you install, the greater your chances of hearing a change.
The free tweaks are not as effective as the products (and the products vary in effectiveness). If you're serious about trying to find out what the phenom may be about, your best bet is to send for the free sample of Silver Rainbow foil, the link of which you'll find on the home page. Then you follow instructions that come with it. You can create about 30 or so foils from the sample given. That will give you a much better chance of hearing changes in sound. One of those pieces of foil could be at the end of a bass guitar, and it is possible to somewhat change the sound of the instrument a bit, doing that. Even so, the test should be with a CD. You have to take the tweaks out of the room, to hear the effect without it.
That is called the 5-pinhole device. Some newbs I recommended it to (skeptics like you) heard the effect, but not always. I used to put them all over the place, but then removed them all, because I found it didn't produce a good change to the sound. But then I tried it again just yesterday, and liked it again. The reason I found is, like all these devices, it matters what you attach it to. Some things are better than others, some locations produce a better sound. The 5-pinhole device produces better sound when taped to a narrow object. In my case, a pencil was best. A single audio or power cable might be okay. I strongly doubt a single one attached to your guitar cable will produce an effect strong enough for you to notice, especially while you're concentrating on playing notes (or especially if you're loaded at the time). I could be wrong about that. If multiple (ie. 7 or 9) are used, best results are one per object, not all on the same thing. You can download the picture from the bottom of this page, and print it out to use under the pinholed paper (to which you place aspirin in the centre):
Link Removed
Nope. A variac just puts out an approximate percentage of the input voltage. The output fluctuates with the input.
However ... I've just come up with a new 3/2 prong adapter that, for the meager sum of $89.95 ....
That's simple. Because I've heard his ideas work thousands of times, over the last two decades. And I happen to have one of those Red X Pens who's review you just linked to. It still never ceases to amaze me. You, you're just getting wrapped up in the theoretical aspects of all of it. Just like most people, you can't get past what it all looks like on the surface. All technologies far ahead of their time did not make sense to people, because they could not imagine that. If I went back a thousand years ago and told someone I flew up in the sky in a flying machine, they'd say "how can you possibly believe that"?
The guy who came up with these ideas, who contrary to popular opinion around here is a very -honest- guy, didn't just dream them in his sleep. There is a very complicated, lengthy evolution to these crazy sounding ideas, that stretches from the last 25 years when they were developed, to the beginning of our species as humans. So you can't just do any crazy sounding thing now and expect a result. Peter Belt's crazy sounding things are very specific ones, with specific reasons why those very specific ideas were born. I have done experiments freezing audio equipment, video equipment, and even non-audio stuff, like CD-R's and yes, photographs. In every case, my sound improved, significantly (to me). If the freeze process is done right (takes 2 days to do), and you do a lot of things at once, chances are you will hear the same differences I did. Especially if a recording is made of your sound before you initiate the experiments (not everyone can remember their sound from 2 days ago). I'd say it's probably one of the more interesting tweaks on that page of free tweaks on PWB's site.
I've never heard the experiment you described, but I did an experiment recently, similar to what you're describing, which a Belter had come up with. The idea was to take a snapshot of a live venue that you plan to attend (or it could be your home, where you'd like better sound), or get it off the internet and print out a small pic. Then taking the PWB Red X pen (or failing that, any fine red marker and maybe pen), drawing a lemniscate, starting from the centre of the picture, extending to just outside the borders of the picture. (All objects have an energy pattern, and some symbols like this one, have a more benign energy pattern that reduces stress in our senses). The picture I then applied to a "hot spot", which is what I call an object with a particularly strong morphic resonance pattern - in this case, on top of a compact disc, where the CD logo is situated (could be the end of an interconnect, etc.). And yes, in my case I heard an improvement from this. I've installed PWB treatments extensively into the stereo systems of my friends, audiophile and non-audiophile alike. They've all been able to hear improvements, when I did it.
I've been an audiophile for 30 years, and a long time tweak experimenter and consumer. I've NEVER been a "sucker". I've NEVER been "ripe pickins" for any audio dealer. Nor do I really care all that much how an audio product works or whether it is backed up by the AES. That's because I have a working pair of ears. I've used my ears to tell me whether something works or not. Never failed me yet. You simply needed to gain experience in your listening abilities and learn confidence, and you would never have fallen prey to whatever charlatans you think sold you "sucker bait". (In any case, I do not know of any audio companies in business for 25 years, selling "sucker bait" that doesn't do anything). I listen to plenty of music myself, but the better I can reproduce it, the more enjoyment I get out of that.
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