Fancy Mains Cables

In article , Peter Duncanson
scribeth thus
On Sat, 9 May 2009 19:38:11 +0100, tony sayer wrote:

In article , Peter Duncanson
scribeth thus
On Sat, 9 May 2009 16:21:12 +0100, Ian Jackson
wrote:

In message , Alan
writes
In message , R. Mark Clayton
wrote


On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they cost a
few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely gullible* to fall
for this kind of guff!


It takes some bollox written about power cables to make most people
realise that ALL the reviews in these magazines are of the same
standard. Reviews with the words "Hi-Fi" are based on the snake oil
claims made by manufactures or sellers or are written by journalists
with no technical knowledge and who far from the flush of youth with
impaired hearing of some sort. (compared to the hearing of a teenager).

What I cannot understand is how those who make absolutely outrageous
claims for their products are not done by Trading Standards. And I'm
sure that some action could also be taken against those who give
'glowing' reviews to these devices.

Will Trading Standards act in the absence of complaints from
dissatisfied customers?

Russ Andrews is yer man for this kind of crap, the advertising standards
authority had a go at him somewhile ago..

Ever heard of speaker cable pylons?..

No. And if they are what they sound like I don't want anything to do
with them. Can they be used for curing warts, bad eyesite and loss of
libido?


Can't find the advert now but it was to keep your speaker cables of the
floor . When you used them you had to flush the old electrons out with a
battery;!..
--
Tony Sayer

On Sat, 9 May 2009 21:44:39 +0100, tony sayer wrote:

In article , Peter Duncanson
scribeth thus
On Sat, 9 May 2009 19:38:11 +0100, tony sayer wrote:

In article , Peter Duncanson
scribeth thus
On Sat, 9 May 2009 16:21:12 +0100, Ian Jackson
wrote:

In message , Alan
writes
In message , R. Mark Clayton
wrote


On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they cost a
few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely gullible* to fall
for this kind of guff!


It takes some bollox written about power cables to make most people
realise that ALL the reviews in these magazines are of the same
standard. Reviews with the words "Hi-Fi" are based on the snake oil
claims made by manufactures or sellers or are written by journalists
with no technical knowledge and who far from the flush of youth with
impaired hearing of some sort. (compared to the hearing of a teenager).

What I cannot understand is how those who make absolutely outrageous
claims for their products are not done by Trading Standards. And I'm
sure that some action could also be taken against those who give
'glowing' reviews to these devices.

Will Trading Standards act in the absence of complaints from
dissatisfied customers?

Russ Andrews is yer man for this kind of crap, the advertising standards
authority had a go at him somewhile ago..

Ever heard of speaker cable pylons?..

No. And if they are what they sound like I don't want anything to do
with them. Can they be used for curing warts, bad eyesite and loss of
libido?


Can't find the advert now but it was to keep your speaker cables of the
floor .

I suppose if you've spent thousands of your hard-earned pounds on a few
lengths of wire it makes sense not to let them dangle in the dust. Much
better to have them tastefully displayed.

When you used them you had to flush the old electrons out with a
battery;!..

Omigod!

What do you then do with the old electrons - sell them on eBay?

In message , tony sayer
writes
In article , Peter Duncanson
scribeth thus
On Sat, 9 May 2009 16:21:12 +0100, Ian Jackson
wrote:

In message , Alan
writes
In message , R. Mark Clayton
wrote


On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they cost a
few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely gullible* to fall
for this kind of guff!


It takes some bollox written about power cables to make most people
realise that ALL the reviews in these magazines are of the same
standard. Reviews with the words "Hi-Fi" are based on the snake oil
claims made by manufactures or sellers or are written by journalists
with no technical knowledge and who far from the flush of youth with
impaired hearing of some sort. (compared to the hearing of a teenager).

What I cannot understand is how those who make absolutely outrageous
claims for their products are not done by Trading Standards. And I'm
sure that some action could also be taken against those who give
'glowing' reviews to these devices.

Will Trading Standards act in the absence of complaints from
dissatisfied customers?

Russ Andrews is yer man for this kind of crap, the advertising standards
authority had a go at him somewhile ago..

Ever heard of speaker cable pylons?..

I have a friend who is an "audiophile".

He has high end stuff, and always insists that analogue and vinyl can't
be beaten.

Listening to his system tends to make me agree.

For years, he refused to buy a CD player, but eventually he gave in.

Of course he had to buy one that cost £700.

I had to laugh.

He also says that his sound system sounds better at certain times of the
day, because the electricity is purer. LOL

Now please, don't tell me it's possible.
--
Ian

In message , Adrian
writes
R. Mark Clayton wrote:
I was thinking of getting some new gear, as the current cycle of TV
improvements has just about stabilised, so in April I bought a copy
of What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision magazine.

It might have been April the first as it contained an article about
mains leads costing scores if not hundreds of pounds: -


http://www.whathifi.com/Reviews/Acce...-products-Revi
ews/Price/

for example "Levels of detail, dynamics and clarity of sound are
improved upon tenfold." [by one particular lead at £232].

On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they
cost a few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely
gullible* to fall for this kind of guff!

Russ Andrews makes a very good living out of extremely gullible people.

I suspect that most of it goes into multi-million pound flats in the
city.
--
Ian

Ian wrote:


He also says that his sound system sounds better at certain times of the
day, because the electricity is purer. LOL

Well there is an element of truth there - the amount of noise (i.e.
distortion of the supply waveform) will vary through the day based on
what other people are doing with it. Whether that should be making its
way through your system to something you can hear is a different matter.

Now please, don't tell me it's possible.

Oops ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they
cost a
few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely gullible* to
fall
for this kind of guff!


It takes some bollox written about power cables to make most people
realise that ALL the reviews in these magazines are of the same
standard. Reviews with the words "Hi-Fi" are based on the snake oil
claims made by manufactures or sellers or are written by journalists
with no technical knowledge and who far from the flush of youth with
impaired hearing of some sort. (compared to the hearing of a teenager).

What I cannot understand is how those who make absolutely outrageous
claims for their products are not done by Trading Standards. And I'm
sure that some action could also be taken against those who give
'glowing' reviews to these devices.

Will Trading Standards act in the absence of complaints from
dissatisfied customers?

Russ Andrews is yer man for this kind of crap, the advertising standards
authority had a go at him somewhile ago..

Ever heard of speaker cable pylons?..

I have a friend who is an "audiophile".

He has high end stuff, and always insists that analogue and vinyl can't be
beaten.

Listening to his system tends to make me agree.

For years, he refused to buy a CD player, but eventually he gave in.

Of course he had to buy one that cost £700.

I had to laugh.

So would I, especally if he was using a separate DAC

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In message , John Rumm
wrote
Ian wrote:


He also says that his sound system sounds better at certain times of
the day, because the electricity is purer. LOL

Well there is an element of truth there - the amount of noise (i.e.
distortion of the supply waveform) will vary through the day based on
what other people are doing with it. Whether that should be making its
way through your system to something you can hear is a different matter.


But equally likely, less ambient noise from passing traffic etc. and
state of mind (more relaxed or stressed out)


--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Yes, very silly isn't it? I'd love to see all appliances have such a huge
capacitor across the pins that no internet through mains wiring could ever
work again.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"R. Mark Clayton" wrote in message
...
I was thinking of getting some new gear, as the current cycle of TV
improvements has just about stabilised, so in April I bought a copy of What
Hi-Fi Sound & Vision magazine.

It might have been April the first as it contained an article about mains
leads costing scores if not hundreds of pounds: -

http://www.whathifi.com/Reviews/Acce...Reviews/Price/

for example "Levels of detail, dynamics and clarity of sound are improved
upon tenfold." [by one particular lead at £232].

On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they cost
a few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely gullible* to
fall for this kind of guff!

--

R. Mark Clayton


remove nospa for email



* in most amps the mains power is delivered to a PSU in a metal enclosure
inside another metal enclosure, and other external analogue leads for low
[line] voltage will be screened. It hardly matters for digital
connections. By all means plug in via a surge arrestor (£5) and have a
ferrite bead (£1) if you live next door to a taxi base or a welding shop,
but otherwise unnecessary!

I mean it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that after the huge
runs of normal cable from wherever the mains comes from at your area, one
little tiny bit of lead is hardly going to make much difference. Its not as
if they are claiming better immunity to electronic noise or anything.
As for other interconnects, well, good quality has to start in the
equipment, and as long as crap phono plugs are built in, any good long
lasting connections are out. Indeed the best investment iis in time to pull
them apart every so often and clean the oxide and general crap off which can
do wonders.
With speaker leads, the problem here is one of current and thus thick ones
with a good connection area at each end seems to be the most obvious thing
to have.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
R. Mark Clayton wrote:
I was thinking of getting some new gear, as the current cycle of TV
improvements has just about stabilised, so in April I bought a copy of
What
Hi-Fi Sound & Vision magazine.

It might have been April the first as it contained an article about mains
leads costing scores if not hundreds of pounds: -

http://www.whathifi.com/Reviews/Acce...Reviews/Price/

for example "Levels of detail, dynamics and clarity of sound are improved
upon tenfold." [by one particular lead at £232].

On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they cost
a
few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely gullible* to fall
for this kind of guff!

I've just cancelled my subscription to BBC Music Magazine (after 17 yeas)
when it ssid you should spend at least 25% of your hi-fi budget on leads.

--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

Yes, consider my Denon receiver, not that new, but had a good review when it
was. Its main problem is that it uses relays to connect the speakers so you
do not get a plop when it comes on. Delayed connection.
I have had to have the contacts cleaned so many times on these relayas. You
can hear the thing begin to sound just a little fuzzy, like a radio with a
worn out battery. Cleaing the contacts puts things right. This indicates to
me that its the small high resistance points in a speaker lead that affect
the sound, as indeed you might find in any high current line dealing with
transients is not that easy.
I remember building some of Sinclair's amplifiers back in the day, and the
worst part was trying not to get the power supply modulated with audio and
feeding back into the chain. People used to slag off the quality, but that
was because the psus were such crap.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Norman Wells" wrote in message
...
charles wrote:
In article ,
R. Mark Clayton wrote:
I was thinking of getting some new gear, as the current cycle of TV
improvements has just about stabilised, so in April I bought a copy
of What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision magazine.

It might have been April the first as it contained an article about
mains leads costing scores if not hundreds of pounds: -

http://www.whathifi.com/Reviews/Acce...Reviews/Price/

for example "Levels of detail, dynamics and clarity of sound are
improved upon tenfold." [by one particular lead at £232].

On three of them you could actually identify the MK plugtop (OK they
cost a few pence more), but some Hi_fi buffs must be extremely
gullible* to fall for this kind of guff!

I've just cancelled my subscription to BBC Music Magazine (after 17
yeas) when it ssid you should spend at least 25% of your hi-fi budget
on leads.

The James Randi Educational Foundation two or three years ago offered a
million dollar prize to anyone who could prove that expensive speaker
leads improved the sound quality. As far as I'm aware, it was never won.