[John Casler]

That was simply my best guess of the Bedini.

I doubt it has to do with "de-magnetizing", as claimed, since I am under the impression that aluminum needs current to "magnetize" (Alnico) but then this is not my area, and maybe static current can perform that function.

The point it, it is a definate difference, and the difference seems to be (as far as my ears are concerned) is a "clearer" sound.

That sound, is in the form of more detail, richer tone, and palpable bass. 

That remains consistant with removing low level noise, so the logical areas seem to be in that arena.

Obviously the effect will be more noticable on more highly resolving systems since it is quite noticable but not dramatic.

Its other quality leading one to beleive it is rooted in some kind or current drain or static discharge, is that it will only work one time, and is not an incremental improvement each time used.

That is, you must play the CD, and listen, then treat it, and listen.  It cannot be treated again for an additional improvement.

If you try an A/B be sure and have at least 3 exact copies of the same CD, so you can always have an "untreated" copy to compare a treated copy to, or else you won't know if it made a difference or not, since you cannot go back.

I consider myself pretty much a skeptic with much of what is out there, I do find on occasion that some things "seem" to work.

While I was skeptical of it, the best path is to try it, and see if you hear it.

I can assure you it is not worth the hassle of "spinning" each CD before you listen except for "VERY" serious listening sessions of for the lark of letting someone hear the difference.

However, I did spin each CD before importing it to my OLIVE Media Server.

Strangely enough with the Magic Clock, I was around for the first "go round" of these devices, back in the 70's.

Back then it was the "Radio Shack" LED clock, which I promptly went out and purchased two.  Made no difference at all, but they were nice clocks for $13.99 and I still have one of them.  The difference was they were supposed to be "plugged into" the wall on the same circuit as your system.

Eventually a company called TICE, claimed to have developed a far improved version, which I never heard no had the desire to.

I think PS Audio has the latest "off shoot" of this in some kind of doodad you plug into your wall (again on the same circuit as your system) which is supposed to perform some magical function. 

I have my doubts about that one too, but haven't heard it so cannot say for sure if it seems to have any merit.

[lonewolfny42]

Strangely enough with the Magic Clock, I was around for the first "go round" of these devices, back in the 70's.

Back then it was the "Radio Shack" LED clock, which I promptly went out and purchased two.  Made no difference at all, but they were nice clocks for $13.99 and I still have one of them.  The difference was they were supposed to be "plugged into" the wall on the same circuit as your system.

Eventually a company called TICE, claimed to have developed a far improved version, which I never heard no had the desire to.

..... ....I remember that....kept reading about it in Stereophile back then....but I never bought that clock....but I did plug in my AM-FM alarm clock next to my amp....didn't work any magic...

[John Casler]

..... ....I remember that....kept reading about it in Stereophile back then....but I never bought that clock....but I did plug in my AM-FM alarm clock next to my amp....didn't work any magic...

That's because you didn't "reverse" the polarity by plugging it in backwards.

That's why they invented red nail polish (to mark your plug and outlet correctly)

[lonewolfny42]

That's because you didn't "reverse" the polarity by plugging it in backwards.

.... ....Nuts....and it even had a 9volt battery backup....oh well....

That's why they invented red nail polish (to mark your plug and outlet correctly)

  Hmmm....I just had black...didn't show up well in the dark..

[John Casler]

The Hawk speaks with "stiff lips", and the Lone Wolf pads silently on "black (painted) claws".

I should have known

[Danny Richie]

Cleaver little clocks definitely fall into psycho acoustic group. I can't imagine anyone paying $200. for a cheap clock with a Red dot on it.

I'll give you one for free that works for me every time. It allows me to be more immersed in the music, more relaxed, more in touch with the emotional connection, and much less distracted. I more easily sense sound stage placement of instruments and have a better sense of subtle nuances in the music that might have gone unnoticed before. It's real easy. You can try it too. All you have to do is... Turn out the lights.

There was one tweak that I recently observed that was a real surprise though. Captain Humble shared it with me when I was at his house. It was a CD treatment that involved treating the CD with pulses of light.

Yea, I was pretty skeptical of this one to say the least, but kept an open mind.

The dealer for this device treated one of his Usher sample discs that he had just picked up at the show. He had a treated disc and an untreated disc (same CD).

I had no idea which disc was which. He played them back to back. I keyed in on a short passage that was clearly different between the two disc. My buddy and a friend of Captain Humble also picked up on it. They were different enough to pick up the differences right away and it was 100% repeatable. And obviously the one that clearly sounded the "best" was the treated disc. The treated disc sounded clearly better with every track.

Hey Captain Humble, what was that thing called again?

[lonewolfny42]

Danny....That was the Nespa. One plain cd....one cleaning treatment cd....one Nespa'd....used Usher demo cd's.
We listened first in the Usher Room at RMAF....five were listening....five heard a difference.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=34214.0  ....further reading

[Dan Banquer]

Well folks; the original post/point of this thread was for folks to comment on the actual "Design Award" itself, as opposed to other assorted tweaks. As usual we get a bit off track, but I'm hoping we can get back on track.
I have found many of the responses rather interesting.
             d.b.

[nathanm]

I would think that most awards are sort of this ficticious back-patting that really only the awardee and awarder care about.  Really, does any end user care that much about what products received awards?  You can invent an award for anything.  We could make the AudioCircle Award if we wanted.  Make a little logo and bob's yer uncle.  A trophy could be fashioned from an assortment of audio accessories and coated in gold.

I say if you are 'clever' enough to con gullible guses into buying your stash of chintzy plastic clocks isn't that its own reward?  I have to admire the con artist in some perverse way, they are able to cross that line between comedy and actual profit.  But perhaps the price of that is actually believing one's own B.S. and thus not actually being a con artist.

There are a billion audio tweaks out there with the same effect as the Clever Clock and its brethren.  All you have to do is go to eBay.com and just assume in your mind that this is an audio site, not a general marketplace site and now every object that could possibly fit inside a house can be an audio tweak.  If a clock improves audio then everything can.  Why not a glass statue?  A collection of baseball cards?  A car muffler?  A macrame house plant sling?  An old beta vcr?  Every possible object you can think of is now an audio tweak and it improves sound and removes distortion.  (because you know, those commerical CDs are just loaded with distortion...apparently the vast majority of audio engineers are completely incompetent in their jobs) These are magical times we're living in; all added objects improve sound, as long as you add one element to what you had before you're rockin'.

Maybe even the award itself can improve sound?  Certainly a trophy placed on your amp would eliminate tons of grit and grain, right?

[Ethan Winer]

John,

> Have you tried the Furutech unit? <

No. I don't have any LPs anymore. Well, I do have a few LPs, but I don't have a turntable anymore. But I don't need to try it to know it's total BS. You can't demagnetize plastic!

Just because someone hears a difference doesn't mean there really is a difference. This is at the heart of all BS audio snake oil. I'm sure the real reason people sometimes hear a difference is due to comb filtering in their room as described here:

www.ethanwiner.com/believe.html

I probably posted this link before, but it's always worth posting again.

> I believe it is simply a reduction of "static charge" that may be read or affecting the laser optical pick up. <

If that were true the difference between before and after could be easily measured. That these companies never show hard data is very telling IMO.

> I have tested it on over 30 people, and each one heard a distinct and clear difference. <

Sure, because they knew which was which. Do it again double blind, and enough times to get statistical significance, and suddenly all the guesses will be random.

--Ethan

[Danny Richie]

Dan,

What do you expect people to say about this? There really isn't much to talk about. You know, I know, and all the sensible people know that it does nothing to the music. It is sad to see this stuff being sold, but you just have to shake your head and laugh.

Ethan,

Clearly there is plenty of snake oil and massively overpriced tweaks and tuning devices out there, but you can't throw one blanket over all of it. Keep in mind that just because you can't measure a difference doesn't mean that a difference can't be measured. There are plenty of tweaks out there that really do work and work well. It is up to the buyer to decide if it is worth it to them or not.

[smargo]

Maybe even the award itself can improve sound?  Certainly a trophy placed on your amp would eliminate tons of grit and grain, right?

Well done Nathanm - your right on in your remarks - we can alo have awards for the following - (not a completed list)

1. best component that the wife likes sometimes

2. best speaker under $500 that glows in the dark

3. best clever component in the $100 to $105 range

4. best amplifier that works only on east coast electricity

5. the worst sounding component that you should own over $10,000

6. best tweak that can be used as a seving dish as well

7. worst looking speaker that sounds terrific in the summer months - only in the evenings - when the temp is above 70 the humidity is below 65 - its cloudy out and the forecast is for thunderstorms - in the $20,000 -40,000 range

Stop the awards insanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

smargo

[Dan Banquer]

"Dan,

What do you expect people to say about this? There really isn't much to talk about. You know, I know, and all the sensible people know that it does nothing to the music. It is sad to see this stuff being sold, but you just have to shake your head and laugh. "

In all honesty I was just hoping to hear from users/consumers. I was not hoping for dealers to plug their latest tweaks or have a long thread about their latest tweaks. I guess that is just not going to happen as it appears that I have asked too much.

However, the posts from the users and consumers so far have been very interesting, especially the first post from smargo. I am wondering just how many more folks feel the same way as smargo but do NOT post. If you're out there and reading this please make yourself known.
              d.b.

[ctviggen]

You know, I don't mind if they give this clock a good review -- after all, I ignore most reviews.  However, to give it an award?  That's ludicrous. 

[macrojack]

The most important tweak of all is altitude, of course, because it effects air pressure and that influences the conveyance of melody. What the hell is music without melody?
I've lived all over the U.S. at altitudes ranging from 25 feet above sea level to 6900 feet above. Careful testing over this 30 year period has revealed that 4500 feet above sea level is optimum. That's where my listening room is today.
Who do I talk to at Positive Feedback to get my Best Altitude Award?

By the way, TAS is way to low and Stereophile is way too high. That may help to explain some of what they write.

[WEEZ]

I can't understand how the clever little clock could ever be any good...it doesn't use an expensive aftermarket power cord, or anything.

(just kidding fellas)

[Steve Eddy]

By the way, TAS is way to low and Stereophile is way too high. That may help to explain some of what they write.

Er, except that Stereophile's no longer headquartered in Santa Fe. 

se

[SET Man]

Do these "clever little clocks" ever come up for sale on the second hand market? 

Let's imagine that they actually manage to sell some of these clocks:  then if they don't come up for sale on the used market often, do we imagine that people are actually satisfied with the purchase?  Or are they just too embarrassed to admit that they made the purchase in the first place?....

Chad

   Chad I think the later is more likely. Think about if you paid $200 for this than a minute later realized that it doesn't work and you basically just bought a Timex for $200! How are you going to explain it to the potential buyers of why you are selling it?  

  Okay.... here is the deal. First off I've never use or seem the clock. But I think there is one award that this company deserved is "Award For The Best Audiophile Rip Off Scheme Ever!"

  You see... curiosity is normal in human nature. Yup, even I want to know it that shit work or not? With this I'm sure he have sold couple of hundreds if not thousand already. So, by the time every one who bought it realized that he/she just bought a Timex clock for $200 and to make it worst it needed to be set at the wrong time... so it can't even serve as a clock! The seller and maker have already made a lot to money out of it!

   Guys if I won lottery I will definitely get one just to dissect to show everyone what inside it

   Now I wonder what they will come up next? Hmmm.... what about an "Audiophiel Butt Plug". Their ad could be... "... stick it up your butt half an hour before listening to your system and you will exprierence a whole new dimension of sound from your system. With more extended high and extreamly tighter bottom that could could actually feel it!"

   Anyway, if and only if that clock really work than I have to just eat my words than.

Take care,
Buddy

[yo2tup]

What the hell is music without melody?

i believe it is known as "rap" 

[macrojack]

To understand _rap, you have to know that the C is silent.