You know when you are so angry…
You just don’t know where to begin or end? I’ve got a post written. A long one. About a page and a half single spaced in Word sitting on my desktop (unsaved I might add). I’ve been working on it for a couple of hours (I know, hours?) but I just can’t make it work. The problem is that it is about 4 issues all rolled into one. I’m just generally bitter right now about a few things and I can’t seem to separate them all out into different topics. Plus, I’m trying to keep my post count down so that Clint feels like he has a chance to catch up 😉 . Seriously, it sounds whiny even for me and I just can’t seem to make it flow in a way that works. So what am I gonna do?
I don’t know.
It is too long to send to Dina or J (short attention span theater over there) they’ve made that clear. Clint’s too busy building a rocket ship out of matchsticks or whatever new project he’s got going on, Gene’s still hiding from me after the beat down I gave him on Halo the other night, so I guess I’m on my own.
So let me just post the links I sent Dina to the tweaks for the amusement of the masses. Enjoy:
CD fixes
- Did you try the CD Pen – $20
- Perhaps this will help? Chip – $16
- Nope? What about this CD magnet thingie? $400 or this flasher for $500
- Maybe this mat will help – $200
- Oh, you just need some tape for that tray, just $39
Cabling
- Maybe your speaker cables are too close to the ground? Use these $160 (8) or these 4 for $100
- Maybe your cables just need to be cooked – ~$700
- Is your speaker cable this good? $31k for 2, 10 foot cables
- Perhaps you need better interconnects? $14k for 3meters
- Or maybe it is your power cable? $13k for 5ft, +$2k per extra 2ft
Acoustics
- I don’t know what these are but apparently they are worth $80 for 4
- Does this look like the acoustic panel on your walls? It’s $240 a pop
- Do you think these would help the sound in your room? $1k a pair
- You just need some rocks and everything will be all better $39-$159
- Ohh… what you need is a clock… just $200
Speakers
- If you like super tweeters ($1k+), you’ll love ultra tweeters ($800pr)!
- Oh, wait, you need to let them break in. That’ll work.
Other fixes
- Maybe you need a new knob. Only $500
- Or a funny volume control – $3-5k
what do you mean, short attention span theater???
now what were you saying?
It’s not matchsticks you dolt, it’s boxtops – BOXTOPS!!! And I would have made it, too, if it weren’t for those pesky kids!
What exactly were you angry about?
What aren’t I angry about is a better question. That day, it was a bunch of stuff. Today, it is an entirely NEW batch of stuff. I’m sure I’ll podcast or blog about it all eventually.
from the CLEVER LITTLE CLOCK info…
“For A/B comparisons, i.e., to evaluate the sound without the Clock, place the Clock outside the house structure, for example on the front steps — but NOT in a drawer, closet, another room, basement or garage OR the family car. ”
(and what pray tell would happen if i put the clock in the famiy car, and what if i have a car that doesn’t belong to the family, is it okay then?)
“The Clever Little Clock uses specially prepared, super long-lifetime batteries (lifetime expected to exceed 6 years). NOTE: do NOT replace these batteries with off-the-shelf batteries. At some point in the future, Machina Dynamica will provide replacement batteries for Clever Little Clocks at a nominal cost.”
(how long is a super-long lifetime? and at what point in the future- i guess it would be a super long lifetime away- would those batteries be available at the nominal cost?)
“At some point in the future, Machina Dynamica will provide replacement batteries for Clever Little Clocks at a nominal cost.â€
i.e. “Super long-lifetime” = when Machina Dynamica has sold enough of these beauties and then dissolved the company thus becoming unavailable to provide replacement batteries for the Clever Little Clock that didn’t do jack in the first place. (That’s where the “clever” part comes in.)
I think it all boils down to, what do you do when you’ve spent $50k on speakers, $25k on your amp, $5k on cables…and so forth, and you have nothing left to upgrade, but still have money burning a hole in your pocket. That’s the market for this crap, people who have nothing left to buy.
You mentioned in the show that cheap tweaks are for folks who want to improve sound, but don’t have the money for somthing like a shakti stone. I wonder how many of these people are still running s-video instead of components, or don’t own a sound level meter, or any of the similarly priced products that will make a marked difference. Simply telling people what not to buy isn’t enough, you need to give them alternatives that are valuable and educate them on tweaks that do work, cause these folks need to spend money on something…
Marshall
The Real HT Info Podcast
http://realht.info
Woah, I just saw the cable cooker! That thing looks sweet! And I always thought I was supposed to cook them in my over at 250 degrees for 45 mins. I guess I have been cooking them wrong all these years! Of course, I freeze them afterwards, so I can make sure the copper crystals stay aligned just right. How long do you guys cook and freeze cables? Hours? Days? Weeks? Or do they need to be frozen for years? Perhaps aged like a fine wine? Heck yeah!