Get knotted!

[idc]

So there's this guy at my old office at work who I have found to be an audiophile and he has made his own speakers and he has bought stuff off that Peter Belt guy, you know the one who wants you to pin back curtains, buy bits of foil and put paper under stuff to make it sound better. So anyway, we had a very entertaining chat and then he showed me what he had done to the rubbishy little Aiwa mini system that passes for hifi in the office. He had only gone and tied a reef knot in its power cable, so vastly reducing the hiss that previously came through the speakers. So, what did I go and do as soon as I got home? I went and tied a reef knot in my headphone cable, the USB cable from laptop to amp and the laptop power cable..........

..........well blow me! I knot (pun) only hear a difference, I can feel it. It is as if the speakers in the headphones have had a boost in power and I can feel more air being shifted. I can't say that the sound quality is better or worse, just different. So I will try it for a while and then switch back and see what is what.

 

[Anonymous]

How?!?

 

[Andrew Everard]

idc:...well blow me! I knot (pun) only hear a difference, I can feel it.

Another one lost to the dark side...

 

[Alec]

Are you sure it was a pun? I mean, you really really wanted to point that out, so I'm not convinced it wasn't just a typo.

 

[True Blue]

Brisk:How?!?

.

 

[idc]

Brisk:How?!?

 

[Anonymous]

Oh right. Wonder whether this will have an effect on digital cables.

 

[Anonymous]

which sounds better reef clove hitch or alpine butterfly

 

[mushroomgod]

but but...the electricity is still electricity right?

 

[True Blue]

mushroomgod:but but...the electricity is still electricity right?

That depends if its Nuclear electricity or Coal Electricity

 

[Anonymous]

I suppose, at the very least, its a way of tidying up your cables.

If it works, it works. I'm looking forward to hearing the results. (Having DIY cables, I have no slack to try this. My conductors are twisted and might work in a similar way as the knot.)

 

[idc]

Mock away, I dont mind. All I know is that it has made a difference and in a way I was not expecting or listening for, so that kind of blows away the placebo argument. Anyway, what harm does it do to tie a little knot in your cable. Though for Gusboll that may take a few days..... http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/307321.aspx

 

[Anonymous]

wow weird topic...
at work a put a lot of 12v kit in, and on the 12v cable side i always put a tube type magnet, a ferrel , on them, like loop it through and back out, wonder if this would have any offect on a 240v cable? mmm...

 

[JoelSim]

I'd like to see someone tie a reef knot in a Clearer Audio Silverline. It ain't gonna happen!

 

[RodhasGibson]

nice one Joel

 

[Anonymous]

When I was at University (Brunel, 84-88, Mechanical Engineering), one of my buddies got a work placement at Rolls Royce Aero Engines.

He convinced them to try case hardening some gears or other by boiling them in soap and onions, as his tutor had told him (in best Count Dracula accent) "dat is vot ve used to do on the steamers on de Danube".

Sure enough they bought it, only to find out later he had actually case hardened the sample gears the old fashioned way on the QT at home somehow.

 

[Anonymous]

So, what did I go and do as soon as I got home? I went and tied a reef
knot in my headphone cable, the USB cable from laptop to amp and the
laptop power cable..........

You disconnected and reconnected three cables, thus cleaning the contacts. This can sometimes make a significant difference - enough to account for what you have heard. It would therefore be interesting to know if you still hear a difference after disconnecting and reconnecting the interconnects a few times.

 

[idc]

Hi Tetrist. The connectors were cleaned not so long ago and they have been connected/disconnected recently as I changed kit about, so I dont think that has affected the sound. The proof in the pudding will be in a few days when I reverse the changes and see (hear) whether or knot there is any difference.

I don't want to leave it any longer in case the Dark Side takes over completely and I become lost to the wilderness, condemned to roam with audiophiles for eternity, no longer listening to music for music's sake, but only to extract the most minute of detail from my system that may, or may not be, just in my mind as a form of placebo and self hallucination.........................

 

[PJPro]

Are you going to try lining up the screw slots, etc?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sure I have one of those knots round the back of my rack somewhere, maybe that's why it sounds so good!

 

[idc]

PJPro:Are you going to try lining up the screw slots, etc?

Now you have taken that too far PJ. (Do you do it with the stuff you make?)

 

[Andrew Everard]

Darren Heal:When I was at University (Brunel, 84-88, Mechanical Engineering), one of my buddies got a work placement at Rolls Royce Aero Engines.

He convinced them to try case hardening some gears or other by boiling them in soap and onions, as his tutor had told him (in best Count Dracula accent) "dat is vot ve used to do on the steamers on de Danube".

Sure enough they bought it, only to find out later he had actually case hardened the sample gears the old fashioned way on the QT at home somehow.

Tssk, the things they don't tell you on Air Crash Investigation...

 

[jase fox]

idc:
PJPro:Are you going to try lining up the screw slots, etc?

Now you have taken that too far PJ. (Do you do it with the stuff you make?)
I found that when i lined up the screws all was improved!! The sound was wonderfully transparent & bass depth that could go as deep as an abyss / Vocals were so clear i could of sworn the artist was in the room with me & all this for one simple solution as to just turn the screw heads a couple o mills.... "you dont think i suffer from serious placebo do you idc?? hehehe

 

[idc]

But Jase, its not placebo, its real, I can feel it, there is more air moving inside the headphones, it was not there before, I'm not making this up, it was a totally unexpected effect, how can that be a placebo?

 

[jase fox]

idc:But Jase, its not placebo, its real, I can feel it, there is more air moving inside the headphones, it was not there before, I'm not making this up, it was a totally unexpected effect, how can that be a placebo?Sorry idc, you misread what i was saying mate, i was mearly just mocking the "screws lining up effect" & not your cable twisting results, ha

Ive every faith in you buddy, i know you dont suffer from placebo as everything youve told me in the past as been proven right.

Sorry for the misinterpretation....