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Audiophile Fakery

I recently became aware of a trend in the auto world and I'm wondering if there is an audiophile analogy.

The sound of a revving engine says something primal to those who know and appreciate such sounds. The rumble of a V-8, the whine of an in-line four, that 12 cylinder growl and of course, the Harley heavy metal thunder. The newer, smaller and more efficient engines simply don't make these sounds and the auto makers have found a way around what they perceive as a problem. They simply fake the sound and run it through the car's audio system. Sometimes the engine sound is digitally synthesized and other times it's actual engine noise run through mechanical or DSP processors and then amplified. The list of manufacturers that engage in this sort of fakery includes BMW, Ford, Lexus, Volkswagen and Lotus.

I don't know if there are any high end audio equivalents of this practice, but could there be?

How about a preamp with half a dozen tubes prominently displayed, but when you examine the signal path the tubes are all bypassed. Or maybe a loudspeaker with a ribbon supertweeter that's not connected. A 160 lb. mono power amp with 120 lbs. of lead shot concealed under the circuit board. If these products existed would they be fakes or are the manufacturers just giving the people what they want, or at least what they think they want?
128x128onhwy61
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,939 posts
 
Car noise being pumped back into the cabin is one of the dumbest things I've heard of. BMW even has a dial to let you enhance the sound as you like.

If a properly designed car runs quietly, so be it. I think the trouble with this theme is that people who are not car people are and have been designing cars. Some jerk who used to design toasters, pens and furniture is now deciding what we need in a car. Bullocks I say. Let a car person design a car and leave it at that.

The same goes for all the digital trickery designed into the audio and climate controls. It's the stupidest idea I've ever seen. Give me dials (the analog version of controls) as the human eye and hand react faster to them as they immediately portray a setting that's relative to the whole and not some number. Having to take your eyes off the road, going through several sub menus just to turn the volume up or the heater down is asking for trouble.

It's only a matter of time (or is it here already?) before we're going to be told what we need to hear from someone who's never really appreciated this hobby and how to hear it. No thanks for me.

All the best,
Nonoise
azjake's avatar
azjake
285 posts
 
E.I.C. speakers from the 80's [Read Extreme Consumer Ignorance! ]

Red Rose with their products all outsourced and rebranded...The list goes on and on!
schipo
1,268 posts
 
Didn't sunfire use this gimmick on there amps and pre-amps?I believe they used a window with a tube glowing center fixed.
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Red Rose with their products all outsourced and rebranded...The list goes on and on!"

Just about every company does that now. Why single Red Rose out? Do they do something like the OP pointed out, such as installing tubes that aren't part of the circuit?
tom32
33 posts
 

At one company I worked at the marketing department did a study of consumer preferences to things like color, style, etc. One of the things they tested for was weight. They found by putting an iron slug at the bottom of the box, people judged it to be "higher quality".

We thought that was funny, but the company never acted on that marketing info. The thing to be careful of is that if you plan on having your company continue to exist for a long time, don't be caught doing cheap and sleazy things for short term gains.

I designed an Sony interface for one company, and after I did the higher end 8 channel product, they came out with two product versions from it. The lower end product was the same electronics, but the other four channels were not wired to the panel. It was half price. I don't think anybody got cheater by that. It was a marketing decision, and they decided they need to cover the high and low end, and it was cheaper to do it with only one production board.

I've designed a lot of stuff, and never have I been asked to do anything that I thought was shady in the electrical design. Shady stuff normally comes from the marketing department, it's their job, not mine.
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