ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Audiophile grade outlet cover plates!

Well, the Rediculousness Pricing Factor (RPF) for these cables (1,000:1)is ten times worse than that of the duplex plates (100:1), but at least the audio signal passes thru the cables. Reminds me of the $25,000 turntables that weigh 600 pounds that I've seen in hi end home audio magazines.

Radar

There was a guitar shop in the mall that sold some guitar cables with a "cryogenic" sticker on it. The salesman was pushing for me to buy it. The label said that by cryogenically freezing the cables, they lower the resistance and produce a stronger sound. I took out a pen and a notebook and did some equations and drew a neat little graph that showed that the temperature must be "cryogenic" when it is used in order to reduce resistance, and not just once in the cable's lifetime. I then drew the schematic of the input stage of a tube amp and showed him a 68K resistor and told him that the resistance of the cable is negligible. i explained to him that the capacitance is more important, and the good way to test for a cheap cable is flick the cable in the middle of the run, and if you hear it in the speaker, it's only good for using between a footswitch and an amp.

I don't think any of it sank it, but the store dropped those cables a few months later because of poor sales. But then again, the good audio stuff isn't bought in a mall. I really just stopped in for a few picks.

For speaker wire, the best stuff I ever used is 12/2 romex. RG 58 or 59 works good between pre-amp and power amp, and in a pinch, I've used shielded cat3 (I wrapped some copper braid around unshielded cat3 and taped it up) and it sounded very good with my Gibson.

Also, in my band's practice room/home studio, I use regular recptacles with good old 12/3 (some select outlets have a switched bottom half for wall warts) on a dedicated circuit, downstream from a GFCI. Took the dimmer out of the room and installed a remote controlled smart dimmer because that was the only thing causing interference. My computer didn't even cause any interference!

But then again, you'll always have foolish audiophiles that are willing to be exploited.

Another of those exploitations is the "Monster Cable" phenomena...the hype states that finely stranded wires of a huge cross section relative to watts of signal equates to "better sound". It is a well documented technical fact called "skin Effect", where at high frequencies, most of the current flow is on the skin, rather than evenly distribuited through the cross section of the conductor. That's why the giant coax from radio transmitters up to antenna elements is hollow tube. But that is rf. Whether this skin effect even matters at audio frequencies is doubtful but the mfg's. produce this sexy wire with clear vinyl insulation and gold plated hardware at grossly inflated prices and they sell a lot of it...I know that 24 ga. speaker wire works and that bigger wire works better. It's called lower impedance...so I use #12 landscape lighting zip cord to drive my speakers, and scraps left over from jobs at that.

[This message has been edited by Almost Fried (edited 10-01-2006).]

Well I just looked at this thread, well 20 minutes ago really, fell off the chair and have been laughing ever since!
Those plates look just like the ceramic ones I see at the hardware store or the big Orange..
Amazing what people will believe or get tricked into believing.
Wow lets see guys, Recently,I have heard that putting a bigger fuse in your car stereo amp circuit makes it louder! As well as a chrome valve cover on your engine, thats good for another 40 horsepower and the chrome exhaust tip gives you +10 horse. Bet ya didn't know that!

Buddy of mine threw a stereo in his 79' Impala some years back, bought good components, but used regular every day THHN, as speaker wire, regular 250V fuseholders and fuses for protection ( none of that gold plated crap here!) and ran some 2/0 welding cable in sealtight from the front battery to the back trunk where a sealed battery sat. System was just as good as some of these " profe$$ional" installs, only WAY cheaper.
A.D

The bigger fuse thing reminds me of the guy at a German board who had a standard electric kettle and took measurements whether the water boiled faster if the cooker was on a 25 Amp circuit instead of the required 16 Amps. For that test he simply overfused one of the circuits in his apartment... and then he had some (unrelated) trouble with his fuse box. Somebody asked "What on earth is that 25A fuse doing in there???" and that guy sheepishly answered: "Well I was checking if the water boils faster on the bigger fuse..."
Believe me, that was the laugh of the day!

This reminds me of the Tice TPT clocks from a few years ago. These clocks "when installed as recommended by the manufacturer" were supposed to "lubricate" the electrons in the stereo system electronics. The result was to improve the stereo imaging and space, or air, around individual musical instruments.

What non-sense!!

That reminds me of the guy here who wanted to know if connecting a 3kW heater to the lighting circuit would make it cheaper to run. He figured that running from a 5A circuit would make it use less power than when plugged into a 30A ring.

I guess he was right in a way...... As soon as the 5A lighting fuse blew it would cost absolutely nothing!

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-HIGH-POWER-...Z015QQcategoryZ10171QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Or howabout these 150W guitar amplifiers for $22, plus $20 shipping, with a 5 1/4" speaker.

150W.... yeah right!

Or I always see things that say 20W RMS, 80W peak.

Well Peak W = Vrms * sqrt2 * Irms * sqrt 2
sqrt 2 * sqrt 2 = 2
Vrms * Irms = Prms
Therefore, Prms * 2 = Ppk
20 * 2 = 40
hmmmmm..... 80? Yeah, suuuuure!

Hey PE thanks for posting that link. I'm gonna' put a bid in, and get rid of that line 6 of mine. haha

I have a strange feeling that most of these audio amplifiers are rated in "PPILSI", or "Peak Power if Lightning Strikes Input".

Car stereo amplifiers and amplified computer speakers are probably the worst offenders.

The speakers on my computer were advertised as "200 Watts", but run off of a small wall wart power supply. The magic of marketing...