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I Just Don't Hear It - I wish I did

I am frustrated because I am an audiophile who cannot discern details from so many of the methods praised by other audiophiles. I joke about not having golden ears. That said, I can easily discern and appreciate good soundstage, image, balance, tone, timbre, transparency and even the synergy of a system. I am however unable to hear the improvements that result from, say a piece of Teflon tape or a $5.00 item from the plumbing aisle at Home Depot. Furthermore, I think it is grossly unfair that I must pay in multiples of one hundred, or even one thousand just to gain relatively slight improvements in transparency, detail, timbre soundstage, etc., when other audiophiles can gain the same level of details from a ten dollar tweak. In an effort to sooth my frustration, I tell myself that my fellow audiophiles are experiencing a placebo effect of some sort. Does anyone else struggle to hear….no wait; does anyone else struggle to comprehend how someone else can hear the perceived benefits gained by the inclusion of any number of highly touted tweaks/gimmicks (brass screws, copper couplers, Teflon tape, maple hardwood, racquet balls, etc.) I mean, the claims are that these methods actually result in improved soundstage, image, detail (“blacker backgrounds”), clarity, bass definition, etc.
Am I alone in my frustration here?
2chnlben
jimjoyce25
215 posts
 
Let's put the point somewhat differently:

Let's suppose the audio issues tweak manufacturers are trying to solve are indeed material ones, so that their solution would produce a material improvement in sound.

Let's also suppose that the problems are very difficult to solve.

Wouldn't we expect the majority of tweak manufacturers to fall far short of the goal? And therefore that most tweaks would have only a marginal positive effect, if any? But that perhaps a small group would actually solve these problems, producing great results?

If that were in fact true, that would explain the fact that most of the posters on this thread don't report great results with the tweaks they have purchased, but some have.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
2chnlben, the NJ company was The Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing not Power. See below.

From Wikipedia. The Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing was a company formed by Nikola Tesla in 1886. Located in Rahway, New Jersey, the company was formed after Tesla left Thomas Edison's employment, after a contractual disagreement. Tesla planned to sell and license his patent and innovations. Tesla invented an arc lamp of high efficiency; the carbon electrodes were controlled by electromagnets or solenoids and a clutch mechanism and had an automatic fail switch. The company earned money, but most of the capital gained went to the investors. Ultimately, financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company.

You are right that Tesla was one of several involved. What is strange is the remoteness of Telluride.

From Wikipedia. In 1891, Telluride's L.L. Nunn joined forces with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse and built the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant, the world's first commercial-grade alternating-current power plant, near Telluride. (Nunn's home can be found at the corner of Aspen and Columbia Streets, next door is the home he purchased for the "pinheads"[citation needed] to study hydro-electric engineering.) The hydro-powered electrical generation plant supplied power to the Gold King Mine 3.5 miles away. This was the first successful demonstration of long distance transmission of industrial grade alternating current power.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Jimjoyce, were Edison and Telsa tweakers or engineers?
2chnlben OP
595 posts
 
RE: Tesla & Edison

I bet those guys would be audiophiles if they were alive today. You can bet they'd be serious tweakers...hell; they'd be innovators (they were!)

Cheers to everyone who participated in this politically incorrect thread!
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
I just had an experience with an expensive ($775) tweak that I wouldn't even have considered except for facing a milestone birthday and (with my wife's blessing) wanting to do something to take my mind off it. Sealing the deal was the 30-day, no-questions-asked moneyback.

I've had Gallo Reference 3 speakers for almost 4 years and love them. For a while now, the Mapleshade catalog has been featuring stands made specifically for these speakers that replace the original speaker bases with new ones constructed of 4" maple platforms with well-named brass "Megafeet" under them and brass decouplers that put about 1/16" of space between the bottom of the speakers and the top of the bases. Sounds counterintuitive, right? The speakers are held onto the bases with 6" brass screw/bolts.

After putting all this together and discovering a little too late in the process that it was really a two-man job, I started listening. Okay it's nice, even very nice, but $775-nice?

Fortunately I have a friend who has the same speakers. He offered to bring one of them over and compare against one of mine with the new bases, which he did. My Aesthetix Calypso linestage enabled us to listen to them balanced, right only, left only, and any combination, via the remote control.

When the two speakers were balanced (same volume from each speaker) you could hardly tell the stock speaker was playing! We were both amazed. The Mapleshade bases provided far more full-bodied richness, dynamics, better bass, and all the other good stuff. There were no downsides, and there still aren't, unless you count the $775.

My friend ordered a pair of the bases the next day. They're due to arrive this week. The least I can do is help him install them. No kidding. Dave
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