[Brad V]

They do look kinda nifty, but that seems like a helluva lotta work for a DIY project.  I would look into Decware's diffusor kits before I drilled all those holes and all of that routing.  What if you took six 2x2s and stood them up in your room to see if it did something?

Mike B.: Nope, these 3 swank planks aren't gonna be absorbing any low end energy like a tube trap would.  Tube traps - yet another DIY project that would most likely reap more rewards for less.  Heck, you'd have some money left over for a few Shakti Pet Rocks.

Hi Nathan,

There's not much drilling involved. Most of the work would be with a jigsaw and router.

I thought about just getting 3 long dowel rods, however someone told me it wouldn't be the same. I figure I'll take the time and make them, once I can go over to my friends house and make them.

Have a great day,

Brad

[john curl]

I hope that you mean well, Brad.  I can't tell you whether the new Shakti device works in any way that you would like, but I have contacted Shakti in the past, and they make real designs.  If you DON'T know what the devices are actually composed of, then you can only make a 'knock-off' that won't do much, if anything. At this point, then you would tend to complain.  Well, it is just better to ignore what you don't have a clue about, rather than invest time and gripe later.

[randytsuch]

I hope that you mean well, Brad.  I can't tell you whether the new Shakti device works in any way that you would like, but I have contacted Shakti in the past, and they make real designs.  If you DON'T know what the devices are actually composed of, then you can only make a 'knock-off' that won't do much, if anything. At this point, then you would tend to complain.  Well, it is just better to ignore what you don't have a clue about, rather than invest time and gripe later.

Hi John,
No offense, but how do you know a knockoff won't do much?
I agree it probably won't be as good as the Shakti, but if you can make a copy and get 80% of the performance for 10% (at most) of the cost, why not?  OK, 80% may be optimistic, but who knows how much of the perfomance is because of the shape, and how much is the material.

BTW, someone over at AA did make a knockoff, and got positive results.

Randy

[Brad V]

Hi John,
No offense, but how do you know a knockoff won't do much?
I agree it probably won't be as good as the Shakti, but if you can make a copy and get 80% of the performance for 10% (at most) of the cost, why not?  OK, 80% may be optimistic, but who knows how much of the perfomance is because of the shape, and how much is the material.

BTW, someone over at AA did make a knockoff, and got positive results.

Randy

Hi Randy,

I believe that someone spoke with the Shakti people recently and actually said that it would do 80%. That's good enough for me, for $5.00 or less in woodl.

Have a great day,

Brad

[nathanm]

If you are interested in knowing how these things work don't count on the Shakti website to tell you much - about all I can glean from it is that they are resonators of some sort.  Other than that you get lots of ad copy and testimonials.  Wait, don't tell me; it's proprietary information and that they cannot divulge trade secrets.  *yawn*

Sure, DIY one for a mere 80% of the performance, but keep in mind the other 20% will cost you 895 bucks!  "Remember folks, Shakti alone is the keeper of this arcane knowledge and your clueless attempts to reverse engineer our godly designs will only bring you sadness and grief.  Yes indeed, we alone know how to open this pandora's box of audio enlightenment.  So really now, isn't it better to cough up the thousand bucks? Ahh, that's a good boy!  Now there, don't you feel better?  We take Visa, Master Card, American Express..."

[witchdoctor]

So I guess my answer is that no one has tried it. It looks like I'll have to pony up a G and take one for the team. If anyone in NYC wants to make a set we can compare to see if it's 80% or 8% let me know.
Doc

BB is king!

[satfrat]

So I guess my answer is that no one has tried it. It looks like I'll have to pony up a G and take one for the team. If anyone in NYC wants to make a set we can compare to see if it's 80% or 8% let me know.
Doc

BB is king!

                Christ Doc, you got Bybee`s, what the hell are 3 wavey sticks gonna do for that little apartment that hasn`t already been done? Just kidding here, one`s curiosity always finds it`s way to the wallet! I know this ALL too well,,, Regards, Robin

[audiojerry]

I was procrastinating on trying a set, but after reading Nathan's pep talk, he has convinced me to fork over the grand give it a go!    

But then, Witchdoctor volunteered to try it first, so I will wait for his findings. Actually, a small listening room, like Witchd's?, would probably benefit more from the Shakti's than a large room, since they are supposed to create a larger ambient soundspace.

A bunch of us could get together and pool our money, buy a set, and then cut it into pieces to see what's inside..  We could always glue it back together and return for a refund...

Seriously, Shakti offers 60 days to try it. If if makes a $1000 difference in your enjoyment of music, it shouldn't matter if costs only $5 to manufacture.

Maybe Nathan chooses to be sacarstic and skeptical because he'd be too afraid to find out that the Shakti really works. He has already admitted to blowing more than $1k on previous audio purchase gaffs, right Nathan?      

[eico1]

I suppose these things are just like big tuning forks. Why not just add an ambience channel or two? Didn't the ancient audiophiles of past connect their l-r signal up to some rear speakers, or even pre-amps with l-r enhancement controls? I hear the kids these days are doing it with dsp:).

Does anyone have dsp to re-create pre-delay as heards with lps? That will help enhance ambience etc from cds.

steve

[nathanm]

It's when marketing overrules engineering Jerry, that's what I have a problem with.  Sneaky marketing that doesn't really tell you anything, just tries to lull you into a catatonic state. They're little more than a bunch of sniveling, overpaid professional liars and magicians.

I was thinking of buying a pet rock based on the 30-day return policy ( a definite good thing) because, you know I am getting these 1-3MHz noise bursts in my music, and boy is it annoying.  Not to mention the bats which keep flying at my CD player, confused by the ultrasonic noise emanation.  Also, I live right under a microwave tower you see, so these rocks might be beneficial.

As for the Hallographs, any object placed in a room will affect the sound to one degree or another, but I highly doubt six wavy strips of wood is worth 900 bucks based soley on the assertation that Shakti knows something we don't.  Geez, even some of RPG acoustics' stuff isn't that pricey, and they aren't jerking the marketing chain nearly as much.

A better explanation of what the thing does is all I ask.  A hundred people saying how great they are is fine and dandy, but just a bit of an explanation might help justify the hefty asking price. Is it using a wood with a certain type of resonant characteristic?  What's the thing doing? Shrouding it in mystery seems to be counterproductive to me.

How about this; I'll buy a pair and write a review.  Then all the subjectivist,  anti-measurement, your-ears-are-all-that-counts folks will come out of the woodwork and start busting my balls about how I didn't cross this T and dot that I and gee, now your review is moot.  Too bad, doesn't count, he was touching Goul when he played that track.  Out come the lab coats all of a sudden.  Sound like a deal?  But really, I'd rather make my car and computer faster first.

[audiojerry]

I've tried to add ambience with a pair of extra speakers in various places of the room, including behind and to the sides. Using the extra pair, I tried wiring out of phase,  running with a second amp with a reverb delay at lower volume; I also tried multi channel with a Phillips SACD 1000. So far, all my experiments have been unsatisfactory resulting in an artificial sound that just sounded like extra speakers, not a larger ambient soundspace. The Phillips SACD came closest to the real thing, but the player gave me too much trouble, and I returned it before I could experiment further.

[audiojerry]

Nathan wrote:

It's when marketing overrules engineering Jerry, that's what I have a problem with. Sneaky marketing that doesn't really tell you anything, just tries to lull you into a catatonic state. They're little more than a bunch of sniveling, overpaid professional liars and magicians.

So it is your objections to hyped up marketing that would cause you to reject the product out of hand? That's reasonable, but all products are marketed to varying degrees. Where does one draw the line? The Shanling has had some pretty slick marketing. Isn't it ever fair for a manufacturer to make proprietary claims? A 'patent pending' claim can at least be confirmed. It would be pretty difficult to sell your product if you publicly disclosed all the materials and how to build it, if the build process could be easily replicated.

Then again, folks like Aspen amplifiers don't have any secrets and seem to disclose everything.

[nathanm]

Nathan wrote: So it is your objections to hyped up marketing that would cause you to reject the product out of hand?

I haven't rejected the product out of hand.  I'm saying it is overpriced and the marketing approach is not as forthcoming as it could be.   The website reminds me of the white van speaker website, whatever that was, but to be fair to Shakti, not nearly that Clevver!  There are different flavors of marketing a product, and sometimes you feel like you're being taken on a ride through the Funhouse.

[nathanm]

It would be pretty difficult to sell your product if you publicly disclosed all the materials and how to build it, if the build process could be easily replicated.

There are a number of companies that do just that.  That does not negate what they do at all.  What if Rockport published everything you need to do to make your own Antares speakers; how many people are going to give it a go?  Would it destroy their sales?  Doubt it.  The customer can decide wether or not they are capable of pulling off the design as well as the formal company.  They can decide if they want to take the time and effort to do it, or decide to have it done for them and not bother.  VMPS offers kits for their speakers.  If I wanted I could completely copy their design and build my own.  Where's the harm?  Most people don't have the time or energy to go through all that, so they just buy the completed thing.

Shakti could say, hey we are using rare ebony and bubinga in this thing and it's really hard to come by and we've got precision CNC machines that carve these suckers out, but hey if you wanna try it yourself no skin off our back...

[witchdoctor]

The way I got great ambience from my system was by using the side axis channels in my Sunfire TG3 pre/pro. Holographic processing does a great job too, but I prefer the side axis channels.
Robin,
I am VERY happy with my new bybee purchases. I am simply curious and
an investment of 1K seems OK as long as it's refundable. I got an AMAZING improvement with the 8th Nerve room treatment. I am not doing anymore component upgrades and thought the room would be a better " component" to upgrade. I really want to see how it compares to the other things I/ve tried.
Regarding the pet rock, they actually sell a rock/brick/slab something that supposedly reduces RFI. Go figure.

[byteme]

There are a number of companies that do just that.  That does not negate what they do at all.  What if Rockport published everything you need to do to make your own Antares speakers; how many people are going to give it a go?  Would it destroy their sales?  Doubt it.  The customer can decide wether or not they are capable of pulling off the design as well as the formal company.  They can decide if they want to take the time and effort to do it, or decide to have it done for them and not bother.  VMPS offers ...

I gotta agree here.  Let's say these things really do work.  Am I gonna drop $1000 on them?  Probably (99% chance) never unless I hit powerball and even then I'd find it hard to part with $1k for something like this.  However, they seem easy enough to give a "smell test" to if they'd ship them around for an in home trial or I could do a build it yourself.  I'm not going to construct a pre-amp or speakers but I'd be willing to try this for a few bucks, unless the cost to me in materials or time turn out to somehow justify the $1k retail price tag.

[satfrat]

The way I got great ambience from my system was by using the side axis channels in my Sunfire TG3 pre/pro. Holographic processing does a great job too, but I prefer the side axis channels.
Robin,
I am VERY happy with my new bybee purchases. I am simply curious and
an investment of 1K seems OK as long as it's refundable. I got an AMAZING improvement with the 8th Nerve room treatment. I am not doing anymore component upgrades and thought the room would be a better " component" to upgrade. I really want to  ...

         Hey Doc, it`s good to hear that I`m not the only one blown away by the Bybee inlines on the digital cable, I was beginning to wonder there. I`ll be curious as to your reactions to the "wavey sticks" as my room`s pretty small. 8th Nerve room treatment,,,, that`s an option down the road,,,, waaaay down. Gotta hole to fill first. Happy testing! Regards, Robin

[lonewolfny42]

These things look like wooden sculpture and were reviewed favorably by people who heard them at CES.

So what was the outcome on this product - anyone build'em or buy them ??????????