Let's say that I'm in the audiophile accessories business and that I'm selling 4" diameter blue plastic discs that one sticks on the walls of listening room and I claim that these magic blue discs, when placed in the proper place, will improvement the sound of one's audio system to a very noticeable degree. The recommended number of discs is 6, the discs are only sold in pairs and each pair costs $500 plus $25 shipping and handling.
Now you've just won a lottery and have money to burn so you pick up 3 pairs of discs and place them on the walls of your listening room. But instead of a vast improvement in the sound of your audio system you feel the sound has not changed a all. You contact me in an effort to return the worthless discs and get your $1,500 refunded (the $75 shipping fee is nonrefundable). After several phone calls and emails I finally respond to your request for a refund with a flat NO. My reasons are 1) the discs were not placed EXACTLY where it was recommended for them to be placed and 2) the sound of your system did in fact improve but your tin ears are not capable of hearing the improvement so NO REFUND. We have seen variations of the above nonsense many times in the wild and wacky world of high end audio and these ripoff artists are rightly called out as the con men that they really are. Why? Basically because they are selling a product that cannot possibly have an effect on the sound of an audio system since there is absolutely NO valid scientific reason why their product can have an effect on the sound of an audio system and because they are selling $1 discs for $250. Now please explain to me how the above rip off differs in any significant way from cable manufacturers selling $20 worth of USB cable for $500 other than that their high priced cable has the blessing of some arse clown from one of the high end audio magazines in the form of a glowing review? To me all the main elements are very similar: 1) A claim that cannot possibly be proven using known science. 2) Super high markup (usually many orders of magnitude). 3) The fall back position that when the promised improvement does not materialize that the fault lies with the consumer and not with the product. Living Rm: Transporter-SimAudio pre/power amps-Vandersteen 3A Sign. & sub Home Theater: Touch-Marantz HTR-Energy Veritas 2.1 & Linn sub Computer Rm: Touch-Headroom Desktop w/DAC-Aragon amp-Energy Veritas 2.1 & Energy sub Bedroom: Touch-HR Desktop w/DAC-Audio Refinement amp-Energy Veritas 2.0 Guest Rm: Duet-Sony soundbar Garage: SB3-JVC compact system Controls: iPeng; SB Controller; Moose & Muso Server: SBS on dedicated windows 7 computer w/2 Drobos 'Last.fm' (http://www.last.fm/user/jazzfann/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ralphpnj's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10827 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=100783 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
