improve the sound of your hifi with pebbles!!!!

[admin_exported]

Being a bit bored waiting for the paint to dry on my bathroom door I have been browsing pictures on the web relating to ridiculous Hifi and mad accesories , I stumbled upon a product called "Brilliant Pebbles" evidently they are a bag of small pebbles that you tape on to the back of your interconnects to improve the sound of your Hifi.[:O]

Also came across a guy that manufactures a turntable that uses a Violin bow as a tone arm

Anyone else come across "alternative" improvements!!!!

 

[drummerman]

How do you know it doesn't work?

 

[kusum65]

How about Black Ravioli, little sacks that you place on your components that look like ,err

black ravioli.

 

[Anonymous]

jotaboy:

Being a bit bored waiting for the paint to dry on my bathroom door I have been browsing pictures on the web relating to ridiculous Hifi and mad accesories , I stumbled upon a product called "Brilliant Pebbles" evidently they are a bag of small pebbles that you tape on to the back of your interconnects to improve the sound of your Hifi.

Also came across a guy that manufactures a turntable that uses a Violin bow as a tone arm

Anyone else come across "alternative" improvements!!!!

How about interconnecting cables that cost more than alot of peoples' hifi's....? Pure madness

 

[the record spot]

drummerman:
How do you know it doesn't work?

 

[AudioPlaya]

jotaboy:
Anyone else come across "alternative" improvements!!!!

A bag of pebbles taped to the interconnect? thats a good one.

Once stumbled on a giant text file list doing the rounds since the old-school internet (anyone remember that?), this included such tips as painting the inside of your amp / cd case with luminous green paint!

 

[wireman]

Take a look here at brilliant pebbles, the white poppy resonator, the frog in water, the teleportation tweak, the clever little clock... the list of supposedly "mad" hi-fi improving ideas goes on: http://www.machinadynamica.com/index.html

It's easy to laugh, but their customer testimonials suggest that many believe there is some merit in these tweaks.

 

[drummerman]

the record spot:drummerman:

How do you know it doesn't work?

Maybe but do you really know? Have you tried it/them?

Haven't read the blurb on why these should work but could it be something as simple as reducing any vibrations present transmitting through the cables to the equipment? After all, even Naim use compliantly mounted pcb's and certain connectors because of exactly that.

In similar vein, could a 'black ravioli bag' (or most other things that don't 'dance' to vibration), placed on equipment simply dampen down certain resoncances caused by air or ground borne vibrations? If they do, it surely also depends on both the material and form of the piece of equipment, the room and any other variables which also perhaps explains that there is a lack of concensus on effectiveness and not many experience the same results, or any at all.

I really don't know, neither does my equipment warrant expensive outlay on such doting-of-i's tweakery. That's the point though, unless you've tried, you can't judge and even if you did, the results may be different to someone elses system ....

I'm getting that bag of spinach and ricotta tortelloni out of the fridge ...

 

[hammill]

drummerman:the record spot:drummerman:

How do you know it doesn't work?

Maybe but do you really know? Have you tried it/them?

Haven't read the blurb on why these should work but could it be something as simple as reducing any vibrations present transmitting through the cables to the equipment? After all, even Naim use compliantly mounted pcb's and certain connectors because of exactly that.

In similar vein, could a 'black ravioli bag' (or most other things that don't 'dance' to vibration), placed on equipment simply dampen down certain resoncances caused by air or ground borne vibrations? If they do, it surely also depends on both the material and form of the piece of equipment, the room and any other variables which also perhaps explains that there is a lack of concensus on effectiveness and not many experience the same results, or any at all.

I really don't know, neither does my equipment warrant expensive outlay on such doting-of-i's tweakery. That's the point though, unless you've tried, you can't judge and even if you did, the results may be different to someone elses system ....

I'm getting that bag of spinach and ricotta tortelloni out of the fridge ..
So to paraphrase your argument, if someone tells you they have fairies living at the bottom of their garden, unless you have personally investigated the fairy situation, you cannot have an opinion on whether the suggestion is reasonable. Futhermore, even if you do not find fairies, that does not prove their non existance, as other people may be able to see or hear them

I am minded to be a bit more sceptical that that.

 

[scene]

Maybe the pebbles stop the fairies dancing on the cables, which is a known cause of audio interference

 

[Singslinger]

The Canadian speaker maker Totem sells "beaks'' which are bullet-shaped metal objects that are to be placed on speakers to improve the sound. Have a look at "Totem beaks'' under a Google search. There are reviews which say they work.

 

[chebby]

hammill:So to paraphrase your argument, if someone tells you they have fairies living at the bottom of their garden, unless you have personally investigated the fairy situation, you cannot have an opinion on whether the suggestion is reasonable. Futhermore, even if you do not find fairies, that does not prove their non existance, as other people may be able to see or hear them

I am minded to be a bit more sceptical that that.

So what faculty do you engage to hear all those imaginary, three-dimensional, musicians in your living room? They really are not there you know? I engage... 'suspension of disbelief', but you are 'minded to be a bit more sceptical'.

The quantum physics going on inside any amplifier or CD player relies upon some pretty strange phenomena (philosphical as well as mathematical and physical) being true for them to work. Anyone trying to explain them to a layman would be assumed to be a fantasist or a crazy person.

We all accept an enormous amount without question, without scepticism, and without a clue every single day. We simply could not function if we had to have an understanding of everything before we accepted it.

Common sense (or more accurately 'mob sense') is redundant nowadays, and can't explain anything in the modern world. (It never could really.) But it prevails as an attitude especially among people who pride themselves on 'straight talking', 'speak as I find', empiricism and a 'no-nonsense' approach. The sort of people who will never give us breakthroughs in scientific understanding, but will always assume it's mantle to defend closed-mindedness.

Common-sense is a fraud and it is often dangerous, but it is a very comfortable place to go.

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:

hammill:So to paraphrase your argument, if someone tells you they have fairies living at the bottom of their garden, unless you have personally investigated the fairy situation, you cannot have an opinion on whether the suggestion is reasonable. Futhermore, even if you do not find fairies, that does not prove their non existance, as other people may be able to see or hear them

I am minded to be a bit more sceptical that that.

So what faculty do you engage to hear all those imaginary, three-dimensional, musicians in your living room? They really are not there you know? I engage... 'suspension of disbelief', but you are 'minded to be a bit more sceptical'.

The quantum physics going on inside any amplifier or CD player relies upon some pretty strange phenomena (philosphical as well as mathematical and physical) being true for them to work. Anyone trying to explain them to a layman would be assumed to be a fantasist or a crazy person.

We all accept an enormous amount without question, without scepticism, and without a clue every single day. We simply could not function if we had to have an understanding of everything before we accepted it.

Common sense (or more accurately 'mob sense') is redundant nowadays, and can't explain anything in the modern world. (It never could really.) But it prevails as an attitude especially among people who pride themselves on 'straight talking', 'speak as I find', empiricism and a 'no-nonsense' approach. The sort of people who will never give us breakthroughs in scientific understanding, but will always assume it's mantle to defend closed-mindedness.

Common-sense is a fraud and it is often dangerous, but it is a very comfortable place to go.

Morning Chebby, intersting point but have to disagree with your mid-sectiopn statement that 'quantum physics' and 'some pretty strange phenomena' play a part 'in what's going on inside any amp or CD player...since when ??

Amps and CD players are simply a boxed collection of passive and electrical components that are coected together to produce an impulse current for your loud speakers to be able to produce sound...nothing more I'm afraid. No matter how you try to disguise it, and no matter how expensive, or inexpensive those boxes are, they are just better or lesser quality components packaged in more superior and technically efficient materials.

There is no mystery or 'phenomena' going on, the chosen components and materials produce a variety of outcomes; influence the current and signal supplied therefor providing a so called 'signature' sound...simples !!!

 

[chebby]

ricardo65:Morning Chebby, intersting point but have to disagree with your mid-sectiopn statement that 'quantum physics' and 'some pretty strange phenomena' play a part 'in what's going on inside any amp or CD player...since when ??

Since the very first time a transistor (or vacuum tube) was employed in the reproduction of sound.

Same goes for televisions and computers.

In the developed world it would be hard to find a house (or room) or vehicle or handbag that does not contain a range of devices that simply would not exist without quantum mechanics.

Once you can accept that, then you also have to accept the concomitant mathematical, scientific and philosophical 'strangeness' of what occurs in such quantum devices as semi-conductiors for them to function as they do..

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:

ricardo65:Morning Chebby, intersting point but have to disagree with your mid-sectiopn statement that 'quantum physics' and 'some pretty strange phenomena' play a part 'in what's going on inside any amp or CD player...since when ??

Since the very first time a transistor (or vacuum tube) was employed in the reproduction of sound.

Same goes for televisions and computers.

Really....?? Maybe you would care to explain what this remarkably consistant and reliable phenomena is and what elements of quantum physics are being incorporated when producing sound from an amplifier ? I would love to know...

 

[matthewpiano]

I have to say I'm with Ricardo on this one. The signature sound of a component is entirely based on the particular combination of materials and components used therein. There is no black magic at play! It is plausible that it may seem that way to us at times because most of us on here (myself included) do not have a deep enough understanding or knowledge of different electronic components and the ways in which changing individual pieces of a circuit might affect the sound.

The thing that bridges the gap between the sound the equipment produces and the illusion that we often perceive (for example, of a jazz quartet playing in the front room) is in our own being and completely reliant on willing suspension of disbelief. This is the reason why hi-fi often sounds so much more life-like in the dark. When you switch the lights off the hi-fi is behaving in the same way as before, but the visual cues that tell our brains we are listening to a pair of loudspeakers are hidden and it is easier to fool ourselves that the musicians are in the room.

 

[eternaloptimist]

matthewpiano:I have to say I'm with Ricardo on this one. The signature sound of a component is entirely based on the particular combination of materials and components used therein. There is no black magic at play! It is plausible that it may seem that way to us at times because most of us on here (myself included) do not have a deep enough understanding or knowledge of different electronic components and the ways in which changing individual pieces of a circuit might affect the sound.

The thing that bridges the gap between the sound the equipment produces and the illusion that we often perceive (for example, of a jazz quartet playing in the front room) is in our own being and completely reliant on willing suspension of disbelief. This is the reason why hi-fi often sounds so much more life-like in the dark. When you switch the lights off the hi-fi is behaving in the same way as before, but the visual cues that tell our brains we are listening to a pair of loudspeakers are hidden and it is easier to fool ourselves that the musicians are in the room.

Is listening to hifi in the dark even legal in the UK...?

Surprised you don't get transported to the colonies....

 

[chebby]

matthewpiano:I have to say I'm with Ricardo on this one. The signature sound of a component is entirely based on the particular combination of materials and components used therein. There is no black magic at play!

So the transistor (or any semi-conductor) is not a quantum device?

I am not arguing for 'black magic' on this point. I am arguing that modern electronics are rooted in science that is extremely 'strange' to most people and also to many scientists who are still wrangling with many of the implications thrown up by quantum physics.

This thread is beginning to remind me of those fundamentalists who propogate their denial of science on the very devices that science gave them like cellphones and laptops!

 

[chebby]

ricardo65:chebby:ricardo65:Morning Chebby, intersting point but have to disagree with your mid-sectiopn statement that 'quantum physics' and 'some pretty strange phenomena' play a part 'in what's going on inside any amp or CD player...since when ??

Since the very first time a transistor (or vacuum tube) was employed in the reproduction of sound.

Same goes for televisions and computers.

Really....?? Maybe you would care to explain what this remarkably consistant and reliable phenomena is and what elements of quantum physics are being incorporated when producing sound from an amplifier ? I would love to know...

Ok I give up.
You explain how computers and hifi and television can work without quantum physics.

 

[Anonymous]

While one should always maintain a healthy degree of scepticism around the claims made around hi fi accessorises, I agree with Chebby that there are processes - electrical, mechanical, psycho - acoustic - which taken together produce something which could be regarded as something akin to 'magic' if one doesn't have a deep understanding of these processes.

I'm currently reading 'Perfecting Sound Forever' by Greg Milner which which reminded me that the reproduction of sound in the early days of Edison was shocking to the large audiences that turned out to listen to his machines, in the same way that the Lumiere Brothers' first film caused the audience to recoil in horror as the train 'came' toward them.

For me hifi is about science producing luminous experience: the hair on the back of the neck as Coltrane solos...

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:ricardo65:chebby:ricardo65:Morning Chebby, intersting point but have to disagree with your mid-sectiopn statement that 'quantum physics' and 'some pretty strange phenomena' play a part 'in what's going on inside any amp or CD player...since when ??

Since the very first time a transistor (or vacuum tube) was employed in the reproduction of sound.

Same goes for televisions and computers.

Really....?? Maybe you would care to explain what this remarkably consistant and reliable phenomena is and what elements of quantum physics are being incorporated when producing sound from an amplifier ? I would love to know...

Ok I give up.

You explain how computers and hifi and television can work without quantum physics.

First of all Chebby, and I don't claim to be a scientist or understand the inner workings of the components employed inside music producing devices, in this case Amps & CD players, but you have jumped from quantum physics to quantum mechanics in your posts, and these are two completely different and (sometimes) opposing fields of discussion.

Additionally, you refered to 'phenomena' which are inexplicable events that can't be relied on or thoroughly predicted, so you are saying that it's luck or fortune that certain components work together the way they do ? I hardly think that this is the method of R&D that the likes of Sony, Linn or any of the consistantly successful audio manufactureres employ as a business strategy...I would suggest they have a fairly good idea what will work and what won't before they wire up the required components and elements that make a productive device and rely on some inexplicable event to take place !!

I don't mean to be a pain, or burst your bubble, but let's face it, it aint rocket science really...you can easily build a basic domestic amplifier at home from equipment bought down at your local Maplin store, it may not sound great but it should work and this isn't due to some 'phenomenon' it's the correct alignment of circuitry and manipulation of electronic and digital signals through components that decipher and interpret the relevant information and forward that information onto speakers that further enhance the information into audable sound...I cannot start to explain the precise workings of individual components, but they are not some weird magic box of tricks that defy explanation by someone more qualified than me...answers on a postcard please !!!

 

[chebby]

ricardo65:I don't mean to be a pain, or burst your bubble, but let's face it, it aint rocket science really...

1) You succeeded though.

2) Not my 'bubble'. It's the last century of science and the technological applications (like the semi-conductor) that resulted.

3) Indeed. It was far more difficult than making a rocket. (Possibly why the Nobel prize was awarded to the inventors of the transistor.)

 

[Anonymous]

The transistor example is a good one. I've been reading about it on the Web but will fail desperately to explain it here without direct quoting. It seems that there are contradictions between classical physics laws and quantum mechanics laws, yet both apply. It seems to make the case that our models aren't complete.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Oh dear - where's JD's 'someone is wrong on the internet' cartoon when you need it...?

 

[idc]

When I saw fairies at the bottom of my garden common sense told me to stop drinking.