Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] Advertising bad physics!

Here's another good one for gullible musicians:

http://www.vansevers.com/pocket_rocket.html

This is a "pocket resonator," basically a piece of wood with copper tubes in it that is alleged to change the resonance of an instrument/voice in a desired range. Even better: want to improve your high and low registers? Don't buy two - the instrument will "remember" the effects of the resonator in one register after you "tune" the resonator to another register.

When I was in music school, the head of the voice dept. actually brought this guy in to peddle his bogus wares (hundreds of dollars each, of course). There are some other nice products here, like some boards to set the cello endpin on that look like they're from outer space.

jg

John Clement wrote:
Advertising has always been around and it is designed to fan desire while
keeping hard information minimal. I always remember my grandfather saying
that in radio he had to read commercials advertising a "genuione 24 carat
simulated gold ring" at a low price. So when I got a catalog from MD music
direct I should not have been surprised at the hype. However I was dismayed
by the outrageous use of physics/engineering terms in a meaningless or even
outright wrong fashion.

Ok, it advertises outrageously priced gear with PRESTIGE value. So can one
truly say that a $5000 tube amplifier is better than an equivalent
transistor one? It certainly has power! It wastes energy like crazy and
provides a warm glow sort of like a fireplace, and has prestige. They do
have some sensible things, at what I think are inflated prices. But a
number of items just caught my eye.

1. A $39 to 119 mat can be placed on top of a CD before loaded. It will
"reduce read errors" and "eliminate transport resonances" so you hear
"better dynamics, a lower noise floor and smoother high-frequencies" Hmmm

2. Disc Demagnetizer $399 - "removes residual magnetism from and disc
(spinning a disc creates and increased static charge). You'll hear better
tonality, a wider, taller and deeper soundstage..."

3. Audioquest cable $1500/m. has a metal upgrade in addition to Perfect
Surface Silver conductors "offers outstanding resolution, with far greater
clarity and speed than copper conductors" I wonder what type of cables they
use for making the recordings?

4. Audio Points $35-45 + $10 coupling disks - These are listed among the
flexible devices used to dampen vibrations. They are made of brass and are
shown with the point down. "Best sounding cones on the market. A unique
geometry maximizes energy transfer through specially tuned solid brass.
They displace the focal point of the resonant energy to a virtual point
below the tip of the Audio Point."

5. Myrtlewood golden cuboid blocks - also listed in the audio dampeners.
"is denser than Oak and has a very complex grain structure, making it an
excellent resonance damper. The blocks employ dimensions corresponding to
the Golden ratio, which Cardas uses in its cable designs. They can be used
under any component, including speakers" The picture shows a straight
grain.

6. Wandia iTransport - This device uses a digital signal from the iPod for
an external DAC to make it a high end source. Let us remember that iPods
generally use lossy compressed digital audio.

7. AC outlets and cords of pure copper, gold plated $99 claim to make a
better contact so the sound is better.

8. Creative cable concepts pigtails $125/pair - These "pigtails are
designed to eliminate Back-EMF, a nasty audible distortion crated by
backward movement of cone and dome drivers." They "attach to the positive
binding post on your speakers. Instantly, the image comes into focus..."
These are passive devices.

9. ENACOM Speaker Noise Eliminator $99/pair - "attach across he terminals
of speakers reducing noise caused by load resistance distortion and RFI
picked up by unshielded speaker cables". Do speakers respond to RFI?

Please forgive my touch typing while reading the ads.

Some of these may have a germ of truth, and may merely be ignoring the fact
that they are third or perhaps 33rd order effects which are negligible
compared to much bigger problems. There are many more claims which I find
to be equally dubious, but I do not have time to read every ad.

Perhaps students could research some of these claims and see if they make
sense. Nowhere has anyone mentioned double blind listening tests which are
possible to do with audio equipment. Also a number of ideas seem to be
coming from the analog world are ignoring the reality of controlled power
supplies and digital technology with built in error correction.

In these ads one sees the echoes of many common student misconceptions.
These ads also resemble conventional textbook ads with all kinds of claims
and testimonials, but no hard evidence.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l