What’s your vote for the most ridiculous, overpriced, and useless tweak?

Not useless but completely overpriced Shun Mook LP Clamp $3200.00 ! I'll sacrifice the improvement over my Purist clamp and use the monies for tubes etc.

Outlet covers!?! Never thought about that! Can’t wait to use this as example to explain that IM not THAT crazy, at least. 

Ridiculous: Stereophile's Jonathan Scull. Tie between the time he said the cleaning lady moved his carpet and it sounded better with the fibers going one way than another, and the time he said his CD player sounded worse after some work being done.... because they had put the screws on too tight.

Overpriced: CD Greenlight pen, an ordinary paint pen for $30.

Useless: Shakti Stone. Though to be fair, only for its intended purpose. Very useful as a door stop or paperweight.

This is at the centre of the Venn :

http://www.kempelektroniks.nl/en/918/kemp-elektroniks/products/shunt-conditioners/fostac-maxiimus-p1...

Ridiculous - check
Overpriced - check
Useless - check *

* smears imaging and de-focuses soundstage so it has a use, but not one that I would call useful.

I am hoping that this will be a thread we can have some fun with, but I'll clarify a bit. What got me thinking about this is that I was at one of the retailers I frequent, where I’ve spent quite a bit recently. He actually asked me to buy one of these (similar price, not these) and after I thought about it I was pretty insulted. Did he think I was a pigeon? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I didn’t make my money by being anyone’s fool.

So, no lalitk, I don’t have any empirical evidence, and frankly your very serious and utterly humorless comment does help make my point…that maybe some high end vendors do see us as pigeons, who will try anything. At my age I believe I do a pretty good job of identifying the ridiculous, and avoiding getting bilked by con men…that frankly I think prey on the somewhat neurotic behavior of some audiophiles. I submit that a Borneo fruit bat couldn’t detect a difference in the sound with or without a $220 outlet cover (well, maybe you could), and I’m not going to get swindled to find out.

Geoffkait, good point, maybe I should have used ‘or’ but I wanted leave it wide open for responses. That said, I believe that this product would be a great example of the Venn intersection, dead center. And there are a number other examples I’ve spotted over the years.

Millerc, good question. I rest on my comments above, simply con artist detection, not trial. Things that just don’t pass the smell test, and are too expensive and ridiculous to even try. (just read your Stereophile Scull example, hilarious!)

So, if any of you can think of a tweak that seems absurd, please share, because I vote that there are indeed MANY “ridiculous, overpriced, and useless tweaks.”

jl