Clever Little Clock - high-end audio insanity?

Tbg, the two who took the sighted test heard no difference with the clock in or out of the house. In the NJAS test, I as the tester was the only one who knew when the clock was in or out of the system, and asked people to tell me if there was a change, not whether there was an improvement or not, though several members did put down their subjective impressions of any change they heard.

In both of these tests, there was a definite negative bias against the clock making a difference, though people were asked to keep an open mind. A far better test would be where a single subject is alone in a room listening to music and asked to tell if there were any difference in the sound of the system from time to time without knowing what was being tested or changed, if anything, in the system.

Rcprince, is there a lingering presence of the CLC? How did you deal with this? As I understand it, this was why there was no demonstration at CES. I had hoped there would be.

>the two who took the sighted test heard no difference with the clock in or out of the house<

What a surprise! Anybody else as stunned as me regarding this outcome?
:-)

Tbg - There is no "lingering presence" of the CLC. The clock can, however, affect the sound in the listening room when it is placed in another room of the house. This could be (mis)interpreted as a lingering effect if someone were to remove the clock from the listening room and place it in another room, thinking that the clock is out of the picture.

Strictly on the Hush Hush: The clock was not demonstrated (by me) at CES for a number of reasons, devising a proper test for the clock, esp. one to satisfy the controlled DBTers, is not as simple as it appears and there is risk of "false failure" (if I can be allowed the expression). This risk of failure increaseth (IMO) when systems with brand new speakers and/or electronics are involved... the CLC can do a lot of things but it cannot correct for such ill-advised set-ups. Of course, new speakers/electronics are the rule at the show, sad to say.

Be that as it may, there were at least two CLCs at CES, brought there by a customer. As I hear thru the grapevine, the clocks went over bigtime in the room where they were located - in fact, the exhibitor (who shall remain nameless) requested they remain in the room for the duration. Of course, this is all on the Hush Hush.

GK

Charlie, then what's your take on the one member in our club who correctly knew when the clock was in or out of the system? Knowing the guy, he was not guessing (he has some of the better ears in the club, especially for tweaks), and in fact told me how he could tell the difference. As I mentioned in the report, he thought the clock adversely affected the sound.

I'm not really defending this product, as I've certainly not felt it makes any difference in my system and I do not subscribe to any of Peter Belt's theories (which have been around for years, by the way)--however, I've seen a lot worse and more expensive items I consider rip-offs and pseudo-science in this hobby (Mpingo discs, anyone? Whose ox have I gored here?). I am surprised that this product is the whipping boy and not some of the others.