Advanced Snake Oil

[soundbrigade]

Of course you have to forget what an eel eats - he's, when it comes to his gastronomy, related to vultures and hyenas. It's an oily kind of fish that can be prepared in 100 different ways, but I prefer it smoked and eaten with vodka as the fat and the alkohol sort of balance eachother.
I also presume that all the grease is VERY good for our health as it contains loads of Omega-X stuff.

But most of all it is really advanced eel oil, no prissy snake oil

[EWBrown]

I've had and enjoyed both smoked and pickled eel. Can't cook it like a "regular" fish, it will stink out the house, and probably attract every alley cat within a 3 mile radius ;-)

I've "cleaned" plenty of eels, it's fairly easy to do, but also quite messy and smelly - having sufficient "adult beverages" available makes the task a lot more bearable...

/ed B

[nyazzip]

my only experience with eels is turning over rocks in coastal streams in Nova Scotia as a boy, looking for little babies. i guess they can handle fresh/brackish water. we saw them a good mile upstream from the ocean. the locals there wouldn't dream of touching them, as food goes
what that has to do with tube hifi, i have no idea

[EWBrown]

Some eels go pretty far upriver, and most live a dual salt / fresh water existence, much as salmon. IIRC these eels breed, and hatch in fresh water, and mature in the sea.

Hard to find anything "eel" in WNC, but then there are lots of tasty pig pork products :80

/ed B

[soundbrigade]

I know people kept eels in their wells to keep the water fresh (from whatever feel down there).
Eels are catched in lake Venern, but I cannot see how they can swim out into the ocean and return. There are three powerplants and 13 locks between the lake and the sea.

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I also presume that all the grease is VERY good for our health as it contains loads of Omega-X stuff.

Actually, Omega 3 fatty acids like docohexaenoic acid n-3 F.A. (DHA) is most abundantly found in cold water oily fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies and sardines. Most grease contains tryglycerides that lead to heart diseases.

DHA is great for those who are high risk for heart diseases. This is one of the reasons why heart diseases are rare among the Eskimos. Apparently it's good for brain development and cancer prevention. I presume the latter is due to the fact that DHA is polyunsaturated (many double bonds) and acts as an antioxidant.

IMO, the best way to eat fish is raw. Fish stink when cooked. I like eels raw too.

[/quote]

[soundbrigade]

Don't get that; I eat lots of fat fish and still have a troubled heart. <MAD>

[EWBrown]

Back to the original topic: Audiophoolery and snake oil salesmen:

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/10-01-06#feature

It's too long to reasonably cut and paste the whole thing here, though I'll post the section on "wire fraud" and "fancy" cables.

The Cable Guy

The earliest audio scam I can recall is fancy wire for connecting loudspeakers, and it’s still going strong. These days vendors claim their wire yields better sound quality when compared to normal wire, and, of course, it’s much more expensive than normal wire. In truth, the most important property of speaker wire is resistance, which is a function of its thickness. The resistance must be low to pass the high-current signals a power amplifier delivers. For short distances— say, up to five feet—16-gauge wire of any type is adequate, though thicker wire is needed for longer runs.

The three other wire parameters are inductance, capacitance, and skin effect. But those are not a factor with usual cable lengths at audio frequencies, especially when connecting speakers to a power amplifier. Low capacitance wire can be important in special cases, such as between a phonograph cartridge and its preamp. But high quality, low capacitance wire can be had for pennies per foot. Wire scams are very popular because wire is a low-tech device that’s simple to manufacture and the profit margin is extremely high. I could devote this entire article to wire scams, but instead I’ll just summarize that any audio (or video) cable costing more than a few dollars per foot is a rip-off.

Even sillier than expensive speaker wire is replacement AC power cords and most other power “conditioner” products. The sales claims sound logical: Noise and static can get into your gear through the power line and damage the sound. In severe cases it’s possible for powerrelated clicks and buzzes to get into your system, but those are easily noticed. The suggestion that subtle changes in “clarity and presence” can occur is plain fraud. Indeed, every competent circuit designer knows how to filter out power line noise, and such protection is routinely added to all commercial audio products. Spending hundreds of dollars on a six-foot replacement power cord ignores the other hundred-odd feet of regular wire between the wall outlet and power pole.

Some audio scams are so blatant you wonder how anyone could fall for them, like a replacement volume control knob that sells for $485. The ad copy proclaims, “The new knobs are custom made with beech wood and bronze … How can this make a difference??? Well, hearing is believing as we always say. The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved.” Yes, I bet that’s just what they always say. Wood is a common theme among audiophile scams, falsely implying a relation to a fine old violin where the wood’s vibration really is a part of the sound. But a volume control knob?

/ed B

[soundbrigade]

Laffing!!!

Great writing there!

[soundbrigade]

Here's something that's absolutely ne-obkhodimoe (un-avoidable in Russki):

Soundfield Optimizer

[WA4SWJ]

I've seen those things and wonder why in heaven's name someone would think they help the sound of anything. Maybe you just use them to hit yourself over the head until at some point you stop and it feels better. They have other crazy-looking semi-spherical ones too.

Amazing waste of money. I think it all relates to "mine is bigger than yours"

Happy New Year diytubers!!

[soundbrigade]

I get this kind of vibes, but maybe Orpheus or whever the Greek god is called is out spearing water snake (oil).

[EWBrown]

That looks more like Neptune or Poseidon (depends if one was Roman or Greek)

He is upset about those "soundfield opttimizers")

Shakti The Hallograph - Soundfield Optimizer NEW IMPROVED

Hmmm, SHATKI, just remove the letters A and K, and then swap the last two letters, that's more like it ;-)

Looking at his "other items",,,

Those $39.95 goldplated slo-blo fuses are certainly the secret to longeivity, great sexual powers and eternal wisdom, too 0_o

How does one say "bullpoop" in Russian ?



/ed B

[soundbrigade]

I was thinking something like Sh*tty The Hellograph

What they say in Russia ... ЕРУНДА (Yerunda) (thats normal BS). There should be some fiercer way of saying it but we have to sleep on it.

[EWBrown]

Those hellograph thingies look like they could be some torture implements left over from the Spanish Inquisition,,,,


ЕРУНДА, that's a good sounding one, if that is "standard" BS.

It sounds almost like when a policeman from Massachusetts says "You're Under (arrest)".

I remember around a decade ago when I was working with a Russian Engineer, about how to say Oh, Sh... in Russian. he said there were many ways, it all depended on the situation. I like that, creative and situational " colorful metaphors".

/ed B