there was a Hi Fi separate a few years ago when I was in the market for such, in which the marketing blurb spoke solemnly about the fact they'd tilted the circuit board at 2 degrees to enhance sound quality. The HiFi press then repeated this with no sense of irony or comment.

The whole industry is built on smoke and mirrors, but calling the emperors new clothes would be business suicide for any trade magazine.

spoke solemnly about the fact they'd tilted the circuit board at 2 degrees to enhance sound quality.

IMO it would have to be an irrational fraction to avoid standing waves, say pi/29 radians = 1.975716535…

The whole industry is built on smoke and mirrors

Not in my experience, which is actually of working in the industry.

The answer to the original question is alcohol, by the way.

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vinyl does sound way better than cd.

Get shot of the wife for the evening have a few beers and relax with your favorite music

Or in my case Pink Floyd with brandy and coke

btw vinyl does sound better but do not mix with beer cos you bugger up your lp's (voice of experiance)

Get shot of the hifi and have a good shag instead :o)

simonfbarnes – Member
Get shot of the hifi and have a good shag instead :o)

or even a bad one hell who cares

Don't work in a fekkin noisey factory for 20 years 😥

I think the James Randi thing is confusing people. Speaker cable does make a difference to the sound, a fat cable has less impedence than a little thin one. Randi is challenging 'audiophiles' not electronics engineers…

I always found a big lump of hash made my hi-fi sound a million bucks 8)

a fat cable has less impedence than a little thin one

…which electronics says would have a slight effect on the volume 🙂

Speaking to a hifi dealer yesterday in a record shop and he suggested using an anti static gun on cds before playing them.

Not heard of either of these before but both are supposed to improve the sound significantly.

Utter nonsense.

Speaker stands is not nonsense at all though and you will almost certainly hear a difference.

but both are supposed to improve the sound significantly

only if you have the necessary credulity

How much is this credulity and what does it cost? Can I get it on eBay?

Richpenny, so defend or explain the claims of tilting a circuit board at 2 degrees in order to improve sound quality, and a Hi Fi magazine shamelessly regurgitating it as gospel.

I am sure there is some sound engineering and people within the industry with pride and passion. Unfortunately the press and marketing claims are smoke, mirrors and snake oil. Makes the marketing in the cycling industry look scientifically credible, modest and ethical.

Emporers New Clothes "oh, you can't here the difference? (sneers)"

Naim used to have a thing about using XLR mains connectors and the connecting cables (or snakes!) and were not cheap.
I fixed a friends NAP 250 and Hi-Cap psu. Inside they used cheap single screened cable for the inputs and for the hi-cap a 35p rotary mains switch from all available from Maplin.

Same friend had 6 individual 15amp sockets wired up in a radial fashion straight back to the fusebox.

I came across a review for supports for supporting equipment to avoid vibration coupling to things like amplifiers. They used two magnets in a like-pole arrangement to provide the separation.
The reviwer when using them on his amplifier swore "that they provided an extra something to the sound"

Teetosugars – Member

Half a squash ball in between the seperates reduces the vibration between them…

Tick 😳

I also stick lengths of that grey pipe laggin tube stuff into the bass tube thingys. I have no idea what it does or improves (if anything), but I was told to do it by the same hifi nerd who told me to do the half squash ball thingy.

Not sure how reducing vibration between the separates is likely to improve the sound quality, but putting stuff in the ports on speakers will reduce the bass and could potentially help with common problems with standing waves etc – it even says to stuff socks in the ports in the instructions for my studio monitors if you have to put them too near a wall or a corner.

Personally I've pretty much dispensed with hifi gadgetry and pretty much just listen to my Walkman mpwhatever.

I hear things I wouldn't at a personal volume and usually fall asleep to it most nights. Its also dead handy in the car. And I can play it through the microcube and strum along too…

Naim Audio. That's an amusing hifi tale in itself 😉

Getting the hifi properly serviced, especially amplifiers. Makes a huge difference!

No idea about your example MC. The physical positions of the components in a unit can have an effect on sound quality, due to things like transformer fields inducing currents where you don't want them.

Things that I'd considered to be BS have been identifed in blind tests by people I've worked with. Equally, marketing (and the odd nutter) has a lot ot answer for! I'm firmly with Bill Hicks on that one.

I am sure there is some sound engineering and people within the industry with pride and passion.

So why did you say that the whole industry was built on smoke and mirors? It isn't.

Getting the hifi properly serviced

serviced ?? I have a degree in Electronic Engineering and I've have no idea how to achieve this, beyond replacing the electrolytics after 15 years or so (perhaps). Oh and I suppose eventually the volume control pot might need replacing if it was noisy…

I have a Naim amp and CD and it's great so bu99er off! Perhaps the hicap is a bit OTT but I got it 2nd hand like the rest of the kit.

Amplifiers are VERY sensitive to the setup, including the voltages that the internal circuits run at. Most amplifiers do benefit from a service every 10 or so years, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are.

The differences are measurable with an oscilloscope.

Amplifiers are VERY sensitive to the setup, including the voltages that the internal circuits run at. Most amplifiers do benefit from a service every 10 or so years,

tosh – the idea is to design out the effects of component tolerance and drift!

solamanda – Member
Amplifiers are VERY sensitive to the setup, including the voltages that the internal circuits run at. Most amplifiers do benefit from a service every 10 or so years, depending on how much of a perfectionist you are.

The differences are measurable with an oscilloscope

sorry what are you on about service please explaine a amplifier has no moving parts bar the pot used for the volume control if is a solid state amp. As for the voltages for the circuits does that not depend on the input voltages that the instalation recieves from the grid which can swing by as much as about 25v ac.

As for the results being measurable by a ocilloscope yes maybe can I hear the differance well?

Ok I replace my valves once every 5 years but valve amps are a bit differant

As for the voltages for the circuits does that not depend on the input voltages that the instalation recieves from the grid which can swing by as much as about 25v ac.

Bollocks. For a start amplifiers need the correct quiescent current adjusted, tested accurately and the full frequency range checked for any peculiarities. I am NOT an amplifier tuning expert, I ask an expert to sort my equipment. I am not preaching about a service I have paid for and need to defend, as I get it for free. This expert has serviced equipment for the BBC sound studios for a start, and knows alot more than some forum geeks!

1)Tie a reef knot in your speaker wire for noise cancellation.

2)Make sure any books in the room have only an odd number of pages, to absorb standing wave harmonics.

3)With all your hi-fi sorted you can post about "What tyres….." 🙄

serviced ?? I have a degree in Electronic Engineering

Good for you 😉

You are correct, electrolytics tend to dry out over time. Tants can also start to become a bit leaky. Obviously the effect on sound quality depends on circuit location.

tosh – the idea is to design out the effects of component tolerance and drift!

No, the idea is to design the best sounding amplifier. If you are introducing additional circuitry, or selecting components for minimal drift, then you can compromise performance.

Saladdodger, as sfb points out, parts do not have to be moving to require service/replacement, just like your valves. Of course incoming mains varies, that's why you have local regulation for anything sensitive.

are you talking about the quiecent current at the star point of a diletham based crystal connected to a rearward facing foofoo flange via a bridge rectifier with an inductive load attached

please confirm

the idea is to design the best sounding amplifier.

if the amplifier has a 'sound' it is broken

rich

what local regulation for anything sensative

lodious – Member
Naim Audio. That's an amusing hifi tale in itself
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Do you want to elaborate?

What gets me is when I used to go to the bristol hifi show all the expensive kit sounded er poor except for the odd system / company room.

With the ammount of wonga some companys wanted for there kit it should of sounded fantastic anywhere without petty excuses about the shape of the rooms etc

SD, local voltage regulation. I.e incoming AC mains – transformer – psu gives you unregulated low voltage dc. This would then be locally regulated for separate circuit areas, thus isolating your sensitive bits from nasty mains variances. Some areas could also be double regulated.

line hi fi up perfectly north to south(it's all about the polarity man!!!) 😀

rich

a transformer gives a ac output unless it is rectified if I am not mistaken.

what local voltage regulation are you talking about, the regulated circuits within the amps?

if the amplifier has a 'sound' it is broken

Don't agree. Different topologies, different layouts do not sound the same. If we had electrically perfect components with no compromises required you might have a point.