What is the Silliest Accessory You Have Ever Seen.

Lewm, I fully agree, You have to know what the real deal sounds and feels like to have a prayer of getting that kind of performance at home....with live recordings. Many recordings were not meant for that. The artist had something else in mind.
There are two major characteristics I think in achieving a realistic live performance. Power projection, the ability to create the dynamics and volume of a live performance across the entire frequency band. And the right frequency response which is tricky because this includes the room.
Power projection is actually pretty easy. You just need the right speakers and enough power to do the job which depends on what you chose for the right speakers. The right frequency response is much harder. If you think you can trust your ears for this you are out of your mind. Human hearing accommodates to frequency very quickly. I have tested many systems that the owner was happy with and they were all way out. If you are use to listening to a bright system (most common) A system that is relatively flat will sound dull at first. People also have no idea what their room is doing. Making empirical changes in room acoustics is a crap shoot. First you have to get to flat. Flat is the only acceptable reference point. After that you can start tilting things to your preference and you will know exactly what you are doing. The easy way to achieve this is room control. But theoretically you can do this with a measurement microphone and some smarts, but for certain it will take you a lot longer to get there.
You will never have the best system you could have trying to balance it by ear, never. I have measured too many systems that people thought were just fine only to come up with a substantial mess. They had just gotten use to their sound. Measurement microphones and programs are not that expensive. IMHO Every audiophile should have one. This is immeasurably more important than any tweak you could buy.  It is like having a good protractor for your turntable. It is also a lot of fun and a great learning experience.   

"The right frequency response is much harder. If you think you can trust your ears for this you are out of your mind."

I do not agree there is a "right" frequency response suitable for all program sources.  And I am definitely out of my mind. You are chasing your tail with digital room correction, but have fun with that. It's yet another hobby.

It’s yet another hobby.

Rightly said....

NO acoustician use " equalisation" like a main tool to create a good room, some used instead "room correction" as a secondary tool to refine the link between some speakers and the room... No bad room can be transformed by the equalizer of our "gifted" friend to a good room, at best it can be made less worst...The reason is simple an equalizer does not do a good job to analyse the impulses from the room response timing , it truncate the time response, it is not a room corrector; and anyway i listen to music in TWO different positions in my room then very different responses exist at the 2 locations , how can you equalize optimally? And my 6 headphones are useless now they all sound unnatural compared to my room....

My actual room is very good in the 2 positions... 😊

I am not an acoustician but most people dont use E.Q. and i dont want to either but anyway i will try room correction myself this year to refine my results...My room is acoustically good for my ears now then refinement is in the order....Room correction not equalization....
😊



My new device acoutical control cost really 3 or 4 peanuts;

I called it an "Helmholtz silent organ".... And results are outstanding for room correction with EARS... Cost a brick with 6 copper plumber pipes same diameter but which lenght in the golden ratio proportion with one another...Perfect? not at all....Astounding? yessssssss.... Cost ridiculous....It is my refinement of the "room lens"....

My hobby is creativity...

Our "gifted" friend is more liberal with his money but more economical with his ideas it seems....I think his brain is too much preoccupied with "snake oil" all around him....Myself i perceive opportunities or "affordance" around me....


My new device created in the last 24 hours:

Seeing my " Helmholtz silent organ" device i dont doubt that his "gifted" seeing will perceive snake oil on the spot....Especially because the appearence is not refine and the cost is lower than a pair of good socks...And it work wonderfully teaching us a lesson about acoustic....
😁
But guess what? i always delude myself ALONE, not with friends in a equalization club smiling at all those who bought "tweaks"....

But those who will borrow my crazy ideas will do it at no cost or peanuts costs....And they will have fun...




Hi-FI experience is possible at very low cost, i dont give a damn about those who sell costly electronics or useless ideas for creating this experience, like buying a costly equalizer....

Is there is a better system than mine? yes.... But i never listen to one for now.... My experience is for sure limited , yes, but i know how a piano in a room sound like and the sound of a piano NEVER come from speakers, and exist by itself.... My system replicate that in more than a small measure, thanks to my embeddings controls....

Components are parts of the system that you absolutely need to get sound out of it.  In a conventional system, source component(s), amplification, speakers, ICs, SCs, and PCs.

Beyond that everything else, categorization-wise, is subjective.

Accessories are items that started off as tweaks but have become sufficiently mainstream to be thought of as pretty standard, e.g. footers.

Tweaks aren't mainstream, e.g. mpingo discs.

One man's tweak is another man's accessory.

Fashions change, and generally there is a trend for less out-there tweaks to come to be thought of as accessories.  It's an on-going process.  A good number of tweaks never make the grade and fall by the wayside, only to be recalled years later in nostalgic threads on Audiogon.

One man’s tweak is another man’s accessory.

Thanks for your wise post....

My best to you....