[persisting1]

Audiophile wooden knobs come to mind in regards to ripoffs. I know a guy who says his bass is tighter due to his knobs 

[medium jim]

Looks like a job for Google Translate...

D.D.

DD

Insert the word hear in the appropriate place

The joke was that if they couldn't see it, maybe they couldn't "hear" it.   I have modified it for all to see!!!

Jim

[medium jim]

Audiophile wooden knobs come to mind in regards to ripoffs. I know a guy who says his bass is tighter due to his knobs 

Geez, so all we need to do is get Wooden Knobs and Tuning Fuses....

Jim

[SteveFord]

For me it would have to be special (audiophile grade?) hardwood blocks to keep your speaker wires off of the floor. 

[AJinFLA]

After the whole upside-down DAC thing, I had to give him kudos for such a great pramk  .

Let us hope in hindsight that the upside down thing was also a prank.

Maybe you could get Michael Fremer to loan you his $150,000 turntable for the occasion.

After Romy the Cat is done with it?...

Ok, my favorite high end prank http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina60.htm

cheers,

AJ

[medium jim]

For me it would have to be special (audiophile grade?) hardwood blocks to keep your speaker wires off of the floor.

Those damn unwanted dielectrics...

Jim

[Letitroll98]

For me it would have to be special (audiophile grade?) hardwood blocks to keep your speaker wires off of the floor.

I have special audiophile grade wood blocks to keep my speaker wires off of the floor.  Made a bunch of them out of the special audiophile grade wood they sell at Home Depot.  It was 2"x4"x8' and marked "grade lumber".  I added "Audiophile" in magic marker when I got home. 

[doug s.]

i must strongly disagree w/this statement - cost is definitely a limiting factor for folks that buy $20k cables - they want to spend ridiculous money on cables, yust because they can.  the high price is the single most important consideration in their buying decision - sound quality has absolutely nothing to do w/it.  if there were $30k cables, they would buy those instead.   

now, don't get me wrong - if i were born w/a silver spoon in my gullet, i, too, might be spending a bit more on audio than i do now.  but, it would be to try different speakers.  and maybe different preamp.  unlike the original poster, to me the preamp is the single most important piece of electronics in a proper audio rig.  and, the speakers are the most wariable; there's simply a lot of speakers i would love to hear, and a few are in the $20k-$40k range.

all other electronic gear reaches a certain threshold at a relatively less expensive price point, imo.  especially digital audio.  there is one expensive dac i am interested in hearing - the nova physics memory player 64.  other than that, i have no interest i replacing my art di/o dac...  and as far as cabling, no way i'd spend more than a couple hundred on a pair of ic's or a power cord, even if i were made of gold...  mebbe i'd spend $500 on a pair of speaker cables...

ymmv,

doug s.
ps - the single most important thing in a good stereo system? the room.  make mine about 28x40 w/a nice high ceiling, 9'-12' high...

Just curious, how many people like this do you actually know?

i am not 100% sure exactly what it is you are questioning re: how many folks i know who are like this that i actually know, since i said quite a bit, but, assuming it is regarding the comments i made regarding those who purchase ridiculously priced cables, i will answer:

fortunately none!  most folks i know are into actual sound quality, not into spending money solely for the sake of spending money.      there is no reason for anyone to spend $20k for cables to get better sound, imo.  if anyone is buying $20k cables, it is only because they want to be spending insane amounts of cash simply because they can.  and i don't feel bad that i don't know them...

ymmv,

doug s.

ps - i agree that machina dynamica takes the cake for blatant high end audio rip-off...

[Rclark]

^

this

[medium jim]

I have special audiophile grade wood blocks to keep my speaker wires off of the floor.  Made a bunch of them out of the special audiophile grade wood they sell at Home Depot.  It was 2"x4"x8' and marked "grade lumber".  I added "Audiophile" in magic marker when I got home.

They would have sounded like carp if you hadn't added "Audiophile" to them

Jim

[srb]

I have special audiophile grade wood blocks to keep my speaker wires off of the floor.  Made a bunch of them out of the special audiophile grade wood they sell at Home Depot.  It was 2"x4"x8' and marked "grade lumber".

While I like alternative and less expensive DIY solutions as much as the next guy, it's also important to choose the proper materials.  Cable Elevators should preferably be made out of Maple or Myrtle, not out of Pine or Fir.

If Maple or Myrtle are not available, then the next best choice would logically be any of the other woods that begin with an M, such as Macawood, Mahogany, Makore, Mansonia, Marblewood, Marri, Massaranduba, Meranti, Merbau, Mesquite, Monkeypod, Morado or Mpingo.

I suspect the ultimate may very well be Maple laminated with alternating stringers of Monkeypod and Mpingo.

Steve

[TONEPUB]

i am not 100% sure exactly what it is you are questioning re: how many folks i know who are like this that i actually know, since i said quite a bit, but, assuming it is regarding the comments i made regarding those who purchase ridiculously priced cables, i will answer:

fortunately none!  most folks i know are into actual sound quality, not into spending money solely for the sake of spending money.      there is no reason for anyone to spend $20k for cables to get better sound, imo.  if anyone is buying $20k cables, it is only because they want to be spending insane amounts of cash simply because they can.  and i don't feel bad that i don't know them...

ymmv,

doug s.

ps - i agree that machina dynamica takes the cake for blatant high end audio rip-off...

So if you haven't heard any $20k cables and you don't know anyone who has, how can you be so sure that A: these cables provide no performance benefit whatsoever? and B: these people just spend "insane" amounts of cash "just because they can?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big proponent of super expensive cables, but I have heard some of this stuff and some of it does in fact work.  Whether it makes sense for you or me is another question entirely.

[PMAT]

Jim, catfish sound like carp as well. Very splashy in the mids. Not tight like trout.

[Diamond Dog]

I dunno...Y'all have your fun but I just can't get all fired up about somebody spending 20K on cables if they feel like doing it and they're not ransacking my retirement fund to do it...why should I?  Why should you ? 

Call me self-centered but I just don't feel the need to try and save people from themselves as though I were The Central Scrutinizer or some such. Nor do I feel any need to uphold the integrity of the audio industry by wagging fingers at others for spending their money on whatever they may see value in. It's not my business. If I don't share their point of view, I don't take the elastic band off my wallet and make the purchase. Simple as that.

People can click on my system link and say that nobody needs a front-end like that or a pre like that or NOS tubes in that pre or those cables yada yada yada  - it's just one outrageous rip-off after another, huh ? But at the end of the day, I make the money so I make the call. As to whether or not others think I got ripped off, think what you want...Because once again, I...don't...care.
 
Why should you?

D.D.

[andy_c]

People get worked up about this stuff because it is not just about you (however difficult that may be for you to comprehend).  It is about the larger issue of what the hobby has become, and where it is going.  Some of us owe their interest in their profession to their interest in good sound, and have spent many, many hours trying to figure out the best ways to get good sound from a technical perspective.

Now, when this gets undermined by ripoff artists and scammers, as high-end audio has, then the pool becomes poisoned.  So you, by having encouraged such ripoff artists by buying their products, are not just some independent entity, you are part of the problem.

[Rclark]

I dunno...Y'all have your fun but I just can't get all fired up about somebody spending 20K on cables if they feel like doing it and they're not ransacking my retirement fund to do it...why should I?  Why should you ? 

Call me self-centered but I just don't feel the need to try and save people from themselves as though I were The Central Scrutinizer or some such. Nor do I feel any need to uphold the integrity of the audio industry by wagging fingers at others for spending their money on whatever they may see value in. It's not my business. If I don't share their point of view, I don't take the elastic band off my wallet and make the purchase. Simple as that.

People can click on my system link and say that nobody needs a front-end like that or a pre like that or NOS tubes in that pre or those cables yada yada yada  - it's just one outrageous rip-off after another, huh ? But at the end of the day, I make the money so I make the call. As to whether or not others think I got ripped off, think what you want...Because once again, I...don't...care.
 
Why should you?

D.D.

... because it's hilarious?

[Diamond Dog]

People get worked up about this stuff because it is not just about you (however difficult that may be for you to comprehend).  It is about the larger issue of what the hobby has become, and where it is going.  Some of us owe their interest in their profession to their interest in good sound, and have spent many, many hours trying to figure out the best ways to get good sound from a technical perspective.

Now, when this gets undermined by ripoff artists and scammers, as high-end audio has, then the pool becomes poisoned.  So you, by having encouraged such ripoff artists by buying their products, are not just some independent entity, you are part of the problem.

Au contraire, mon ami...People get "worked up" about this stuff because it gives them an opportunity to get all self-righteous and snarky with people they've never met about situations they've never experienced in order to shore themselves up at the expense of others without having to deal with the probable repercussions that would arise from behaving that way in person ( however difficult that may be for you to comprehend ). No more, no less.

How do you know how much time and effort others have put into building their systems ?

What Lady of what lake handed you a sword and sent you off on a quest to protect us all from the encroaching powers of darkness that threaten The Holy Hobby ?

 And at what point have I encouraged anyone to do anything in this thread other than not be disrespectful to others and to not involve themselves in matters which ultimately do not concern them - two suggestions which are obviously lost on you. So be it. There's some men you just can't reach...

 Tell you what, Andrew, since you've already decided to hoist yourself up on Shadowfax and ride off to save us all, why don't you direct your efforts towards something more consequential than whether or not some rube spends his money on some magic beans to put on his hi-fi speakers so he can hear the cymbals decay more clearly on his copy of Kind Of Blue ?
 
God give me strength...

D.D.

[Diamond Dog]

... because it's hilarious?

Ultimately, that's as good an answer as I think we're gonna see...

D.D.

[JerryM]

The question always arises as to where your hard earned money can be best spent on your system. Care to share what components (not brands) you believe to have the most marketing hype and the biggest impact on your wallet?

The WAF.

With each piece I add that I know she will NOT understand or hear, an equal diversionary spend is necessary. No matter what I do to make the system sound better, she still sounds the same.



Have fun,

Jerry

[andy_c]

Tell you what, Andrew, since you've already decided to hoist yourself up on Shadowfax and ride off to save us all, why don't you direct your efforts towards something more consequential than whether or not some rube spends his money on some magic beans to put on his hi-fi speakers so he can hear the cymbals decay more clearly on his copy of Kind Of Blue ?
 
God give me strength...

For free markets to work efficiently to the benefit of both buyers and sellers in transactions, both the buyer and seller must have all available, pertinent information about the product or service being sold.  When one party has more information than the other, this can be exploited by one party to the detriment of the other.  Economists refer to this situation as asymmetry.  An example of this was in the news recently, in which the seller of a home, as well as the real estate agent, failed to tell the buyer that two murders had taken place in the home on two separate occasions.  With this knowledge, the buyer might have backed out of the deal or gotten a much lower price.

The solution of the asymmetry problem is to provide those lacking important information with the information they need to make the best decision.  This restores the market to an efficient one.  From time to time, I'll answer questions people ask on forums about about audio-related stuff if I think the person asking the question is reasonable and I wouldn't be wasting my time.  The whole "Shadowfax" thing is a fabrication of yours.

A lot of what goes on in high-end audio involves sellers exploiting asymmetry.  They provide bogus information and do their best to prevent potential buyers from finding the correct information.

The audiophile cable ripoff has spread to other businesses as well.  People buying big-screen TVs are regularly coached that they need to spend $200 for an HDMI cable when you can get one for less than 5 bucks that is more than adequate.  It happened to a relative of mine.

I think any well-reasoned argument that tries to establish that the situation does no harm involves citing the efficient market hypothesis.  But as I explained above, this situation is not a true efficient market because of the asymmetry issue.