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Author Topic: Of Audiophools and Aromatherapy  (Read 17454 times)
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W3SLK
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« on: January 31, 2005, 08:40:28 PM »

This was just posted on the AMPS reflector BB. I was glad to see that us 'Yanks' aren't alone in this though. Read the articl at the URL and you will see what I mean

http://www.g8wrb.org/useful-stuff/audiophools.pdf
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Mike(y)/W3SLK
Invisible airwaves crackle with life, bright antenna bristle with the energy. Emotional feedback, on timeless wavelength, bearing a gift beyond lights, almost free.... Spirit of Radio/Rush
wavebourn
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« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2005, 08:52:58 PM »

Mike, author of article does not count suggestions that are more significant than technical details. People buy good feelings, the same way they pay to shrinks for exactly the same results, but with less harm.
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W3SLK
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« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2005, 10:00:19 PM »

Yeah Tolly, but you can't deny the outrageous suggestions by the 'Audiophool' crowd. P.T. Barnum once said, "Nobody ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American public"
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Mike(y)/W3SLK
Invisible airwaves crackle with life, bright antenna bristle with the energy. Emotional feedback, on timeless wavelength, bearing a gift beyond lights, almost free.... Spirit of Radio/Rush
Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2005, 08:13:16 PM »

Mike(y),
            I think I should save all of the original waxy .1 caps I replace out of receivers and offer them for sale on epay as "original equiptment".

I have a 500' roll of ORIGINAL Western Electric cloth covered "bell wire" that would probably go for big bucks too. I've using it for hookup wire.

Some people will buy anything...........

There's an old saying: "A fool and his money will soon part"!
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
wavebourn
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« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2005, 08:52:34 PM »

The humor is Joe, that selling cable and buying nice boatanchor rigs you'll look in their eyes like a fool that buys an iron that has no value selling highly valuable cable! :lol:
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John Holotko
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« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2005, 01:51:57 AM »

Quote from: Vortex Joe - N3IBX
Mike(y),
            I think I should save all of the original waxy .1 caps I replace out of receivers and offer them for sale on epay as "original equiptment".

I have a 500' roll of ORIGINAL Western Electric cloth covered "bell wire" that would probably go for big bucks too. I've using it for hookup wire.

Some people will buy anything...........

There's an old saying: "A fool and his money will soon part"!


Joe, the audiophools know that cloth covered wire is softer on the sound. You see the plastic covered wire is more rigid and the sound slams into it and becomes chipped and distorted. But the clothy covered wire cushions the sound without changing it's shape charachtertistics or it's internal vibes. Rubber covered wire makes the sound too bouncy and bare wire, the sounds just leaks out all over the place.

I love the idea of mercury wire, qwire that is just a channel of conductive mercury but only if it has a circulating cooler and rejuvenation unit. You don;t want the mercury in the conductors to become stale.
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W1RKW
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« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2005, 09:30:22 AM »

Quote from: John Holotko


I love the idea of mercury wire, qwire that is just a channel of conductive mercury but only if it has a circulating cooler and rejuvenation unit. You don;t want the mercury in the conductors to become stale.


Does anyone change the air in the car tires every 10,000miles? I swear the ride is improved everytime I do that. :lol:
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Bob
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Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
Gary - WA4IAM
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« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2005, 09:38:32 AM »

The one that really got me howling with laughter a couple of years back were the "high end" audio cables with the loose, almost draping cloth covering, designed so as to "not restrict the free flow of electrons"! I swear I'm not making this rubbish up, these yabbos actually had a web site touting this snake oil!
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2005, 06:05:01 PM »

[quote="John Holotko) Joe, the audiophools know that cloth covered wire is softer on the sound. You see the plastic covered wire is more rigid and the sound slams into it and becomes chipped and distorted. But the clothy covered wire cushions the sound without changing it's shape charachtertistics or it's internal vibes. Rubber covered wire makes the sound too bouncy and bare wire, the sounds just leaks out all over the place.

[/quote]

The only rubber sheath worth it's salt is one that was vulcanized by one's own hand!

John,
       Everyone knows that a soft wire covering increases the "tessitura" of the sound! Rubber is waaayyy too hard and causes reverberation in an analog media. Just the thought of electrical impulses bouncing to and fro, from the soft copper extrusions to the unvulcanized sheath, makes me want to vomit!

The only thing worse would be NOT to have a pair of "dual getter" Telefunken 12AX7 drivers (produced, preferably between March 1959 and January, 1960). They're expensive, but really worth the extra money you pay for them. Can you believe that people actually use RCA, GE, etc tubes in their preamplifiers? Blasphemy I say.............
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
wavebourn
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« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2005, 06:32:23 PM »

But do you agree that Telephunken tubes sound better than Telefunken tubes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43375&item=3780763687&rd=1

By the way, the word "baran" in his nikname BigBaran translates from Russian like Ram Wink
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k3zrf
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« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2005, 07:06:26 PM »

Quote from: W1RKW
Does anyone change the air in the car tires every 10,000miles? I swear the ride is improved everytime I do that. :lol:


So Bob, where did you get wind of this idea, those three guys in your avatar?
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dave/zrf
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W1RKW
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« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2005, 07:44:46 AM »

Dave,
Yes and they tried to convince me to to use coconuts but I couldn't be duped by that.
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Bob
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His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
WB3JOK
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« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2005, 11:10:26 AM »

Quote from: W1RKW
Dave,
Yes and they tried to convince me to to use coconuts but I couldn't be duped by that.

Are you saying "Ni" to that old woman??
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #13 on: February 05, 2005, 11:49:36 AM »

Quote from: wavebourn
But do you agree that Telephunken tubes sound better than Telefunken tubes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43375&item=3780763687&rd=1



Tolly,
       I just don't get it. Are those "dual getter" Telefunkens really that superior? Obvoiusly, having dual getters to expel "occluded gases" produced inside of a glass envelope can't have an effect on the "tessitura" of the sound a preamp produces. I'm no metalurgist, but it just doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, I can hear the difference between "hollow" and "solid" state devices. The solid state devices are pure and deliver no distortion. The "warm sound" created by tubes is partially, if not all distortion created by them due to their media.

I can understand how one brand may sound better than another due to their emission, inter-electrode capacitances, ets, but why is the Telefunken 12AX7 (specifically the pre-1959 version) considered so superior? People actually spend LARGE sums of money buying them. Is it the proverbial "snake oil" of vacuum tubes?

Let's face it, I LOVE the warm ambiance created by a pair of good 6L6's in PP. I've done comparisons with many American tubes, Russian (Sovetk, Ulanov?, etc) 5881's, Russian 6L6G's, etc and can't tell one from the other.

I think 6CPI may be the number of the 5881's I've tried (don't quote me on the number, but the ones I used are supposed to be the Sovtek equivalent to the US 5881, with a plate voltage rating of 550VDC), against US "Tung-Sol" 5881's and couldn't tell any difference.
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
wavebourn
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« Reply #14 on: February 05, 2005, 01:19:56 PM »

Quote from: Vortex Joe - N3IBX
Quote from: wavebourn
But do you agree that Telephunken tubes sound better than Telefunken tubes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43375&item=3780763687&rd=1



Tolly,
       I just don't get it.


Joe, the guy already corrected titles and descriptions of items, now he sells ordinary Telefunken tubes. It is too late for those who wanted Telephunken tubes... Sad
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #15 on: February 15, 2005, 07:35:27 AM »

Quote from: wavebourn
Quote from: Vortex Joe - N3IBX
Quote from: wavebourn
But do you agree that Telephunken tubes sound better than Telefunken tubes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43375&item=3780763687&rd=1



Tolly,
       I just don't get it.


Joe, the guy already corrected titles and descriptions of items, now he sells ordinary Telefunken tubes. It is too late for those who wanted Telephunken tubes... Sad


Tolly,
       Does "Telephunken" = Farphignugen?HuhHuhHuh?
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
wavebourn
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« Reply #16 on: February 15, 2005, 01:33:38 PM »

Quote from: Vortex Joe - N3IBX
Quote from: wavebourn
Quote from: Vortex Joe - N3IBX
Quote from: wavebourn
But do you agree that Telephunken tubes sound better than Telefunken tubes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43375&item=3780763687&rd=1



Tolly,
       I just don't get it.


Joe, the guy already corrected titles and descriptions of items, now he sells ordinary Telefunken tubes. It is too late for those who wanted Telephunken tubes... Sad


Tolly,
       Does "Telephunken" = Farphignugen?HuhHuhHuh?


He did not answer, just corrected titles and item descriptions... Wink
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W2JBL
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« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2005, 12:22:11 AM »

hey Joe ya got it wrong- it's spelled FARTFIGNEWTON. and please don't sell that nice Western Electric twisted pair you have. it makes excellent low resistance BLASTING WIRE...recently a freind of mine who (despite my cautions about being ripped off) is a budding tube audiophool was asking me about the care and feeding of a nice old Fisher tube stereo he bought on Epay. now this guy is in his early 50's and after hearing a few too many questions obviously brought up by his reading "tube guru" crap i was forced to remind him that these were simply common consumer electronics when they were new. no variacs to bring them up slow, funky speaker cable, cryogenically treated tubes, or any of this other new age crap. we just brought them home and used them, spilled beer on them, etc. they were simple appliances back then, well engineered and bullet proof.  they remain nothing more than that today. my piss beat Lafayette 12AX7's sound just fine thank you. i'll pass on the telephuken's or fukens.
but maybe i'm crazy- i beat on my classic cars and shoot +P loads in my  vintage guns...
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Vortex Joe - N3IBX
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« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2005, 09:02:45 AM »

Quote from: KD2XA
hey Joe ya got it wrong- it's spelled FARTFIGNEWTON. and please don't sell that nice Western Electric twisted pair you have. it makes excellent low resistance BLASTING WIRE...recently a freind of mine who (despite my cautions about being ripped off) is a budding tube audiophool was asking me about the care and feeding of a nice old Fisher tube stereo he bought on Epay. now this guy is in his early 50's and after hearing a few too many questions obviously brought up by his reading "tube guru" crap i was forced to remind him that these were simply common consumer electronics when they were new. no variacs to bring them up slow, funky speaker cable, cryogenically treated tubes, or any of this other new age crap. we just brought them home and used them, spilled beer on them, etc. they were simple appliances back then, well engineered and bullet proof.  they remain nothing more than that today. my piss beat Lafayette 12AX7's sound just fine thank you. i'll pass on the telephuken's or fukens.
but maybe i'm crazy- i beat on my classic cars and shoot +P loads in my  vintage guns...


Chris - Amen! People forget that Dynaco's, Telefunken toobs, etc were just common consumer items back in the sixties, albeit the Dynaco stuff was geared to the ass-piring audiphool who liked to build his own stuff at times, and appreciated good design. Amps with quads of 6BQ5's, 7189's etc were a dime a dozen. Lafayette made many of them, and I still have one or two kicking around here from my audiophool-pre-Ham days, when air was clean and sex was dirty, especially if you were a good Catholic Italian boy, like yourstruly - hi! No different in the Bronx, than in Philly. You know what I mean.

Religion, Ethnicity, and environment aside, you're right on the money with your description of the stuff. It was durable, built like a brick S___ house, and could withstand many parties with beer being spilled on them, black lights, strobe lights, posters of Mickey and Minnie Mouse doing nasty deeds to each other, while listening to  "J.Geils", "Fogcat", or the "New York Dolls", full-bore into four fifteen inch coaxial speakers of which you built the cabinets. You'd take a bong and do a "shotgun" into the amp to get it off too - hi! Consumer grade stuff was built better then, though we had our share of junque, like stuff you bought at F.W. Woolworth; "Happy Home" branded, single ended 50C5 record players and hi-fi radios, etc etc, the list goes on.

Regarding the Western Electric "bellwire" I have;It's not going anywhere. I've been using it for hookup wire. Unfortunately, it's not like the modern cyrogenically processed mega-monster speaker wire like you can get today, though the soft spiral designed cotton covering will increase the "tessitura" of any sound put through it - hi!
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Joe Cro N3IBX

Anything that is Breadboarded,Black Crackle, or that squeals when you tune it gives me MAJOR WOOD!
W2JBL
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« Reply #19 on: February 18, 2005, 12:39:49 AM »

right on Joe! but jeeze- Woolworths? they had quality stuff, including     RADIO parts way back when. dad often told me his dad would take him to Woolie's to get crystal set parts and small radio kits. this would have been in the mid 20's to very early 30's. i have Cardwell reciever caps- nice 440 pf variables that he said granpa Jackson bought him at the Woolworth store in Oneida NY. my local Woolworths in Mamaroneck had little hobby radio kits (kiddie level) up into the late 60's in the toy department.
         by the way- i recently told my brother (a non radio guy) that folks in the audiophool set keep variacs on their vintage stereo amps and bring them up slow to a low low 110 volts. now he's not a hammy, but a very smart and tech oriented guy. his response (laughing) was " i just fire up the old HH Scott and dime the volume when the Roy Orbison hits the platter!"  same as he's been doing to that old tuner amp since the days of good acid....i think he had to put a 12AX7 in it about 20 years ago.
        a while back i traded a guy a performance tune up on a 66 Mustang he had paid somebody else to restore for a rifle of his i wanted. when i got done i took him for a test drive, and went out on US-1 smokin' the tires, shifting the automatic manually just as the valves started to float, tail sliding and drifting the front end. he was LIVID! white as a ghost and quite upset. i had to remind him that this is what the car was meant to do, and it was a tough little critter, not likey to break under such use. being only 30 or so, he didn't quite get it....
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W1RKW
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« Reply #20 on: February 18, 2005, 10:48:44 AM »

Chris,
I see your call mentioned in QST on page 93 of the March issue.  Is that you? They have either your call wrong or name wrong.
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Bob
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His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
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« Reply #21 on: February 21, 2005, 08:18:03 PM »

Tom WA3KLR mentioned that to me last night on 75. i have to check the magazine, i recall seeing it, and i think it was actually KD4XA. besides, i have all my hair, and i'm good lookin' so either it's a serious boot, or a misprint.
"nuthin' outrun my V8 Ford".....
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W1RKW
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« Reply #22 on: February 21, 2005, 08:41:05 PM »

I sort of figured something was amiss since the name associated with the callsign didn't make sense.
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Bob
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Home of GORT. A buddy of mine named the 813 rig GORT.
His fear was when I turned it on for the first time life on earth would come to a stand still.
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