More audio hocus-pocus...........

[k4kyv]

there are a group of guys that I regularly see here in the MD. / DC. area hamfests and antique radio swapmeets that scarf up every cheap piece of old gear that they can find. They pull out the 12AX7s and any other audio tubes, clip out the audio transfomas and toss the rest of the rigs in the dumpsters. I have seen them many times. It is getting to be a bit sickening. They scarf up the parts to sell them on ebay.

Of course, they wouldn't pay $1000 for a 3'  long power cord.  They KNOW it's a ripoff.

[The Slab Bacon]

Yea, but they still remind me of vultures circling around a dead animal carcass!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

which were shown in QST in an equipment review article. (Yes, Pete, I used to read QST!)

I think you are still read the QST, Phil. One day you will come out of the closet and be proud of the fact.

[WBear2GCR]

Department of Yin/Yang

Submitted for your approval... per Rod Serling's instructions.

IF the audio community was not interested in "transmitting tubes", thus robbing "us" of coveted US made WWII era stock, then there would not be new production from China or the former Eastern Bloc in the present day! No demand = no viable business.

Besides, it's still available, just more expensive than dirt cheap like it once was...

There is no point in whining about not having enough NOS glass in ur basement/shack.

It's ur own fault if you didn't scoff up a truckload of the stuff when it was still cheap and plentiful. It's not like the building demand/interest coming from the North American and Euro audio people was kept a secret.

Most people who have been around for a while have known that the Japanese have been buying our "old tube junk" for the last 30-40 years or more.

I didn't buy up old tube stocks only because I didn't have the cash to do it!
Otherwise, I certainly would have done it.

What's your excuse? 

        _-_-WBear2GCR

PS. on a related front, plenty of people have spent ~$100,000 on their kitchens... what's a grand or so for a slick power cord

[W1ATR]

Phil, there's a company called Maxx-Comm that still pedals those dummy load tuners. Check it out.

http://www.maxx-com.com/OurModels.html

[k4kyv]

Phil, there's a company called Maxx-Comm that still pedals those dummy load tuners. Check it out.

http://www.maxx-com.com/OurModels.html

Wonder if Sonny Irons is still in charge.

I recall one of their ads back in the 80's that said it all:  "For all SSB radios.  Just plug it in, and TALK, TALK, TALK!"

[W1ATR]

Don.

It's funny how the internet can shrink the world down to the size of ones' keyboard. I did a little snoopin' and there's a Fred Irons (ham) in Ft Lauderdale with almost the same zip. So, I went back to the website and looked around a little more. Under testimonials, (4th down), there's a guy who bought one of those matcher loads(<for lack of a better description on my part), that mentions a conversation with Sonny when he bought it, so I guess he's still pushing 'em.

The site says they have 15000 units sold since 1983. (Not exactly a booming enterprize i see, but boaters are like the audiophools, they'll buy any damn thing)

[wa2zdy]

EEEH-GAD!!!! What other useless piece of puppy-poo will the sell next?

Whatever the money-laden idiots will buy.

[W2VW]

The thing that sells this crap is mental midgets who hear things which aren't there. Radiophool mental midgets work plenty of different countries using epoxy sealed dummy loads paralled with a randumb length dipole or verticals without radials. Sure it happens. What's the big deal in working some DX when all you have to do is repeat your exchange 12 times and the exchange is your "5 and 9".
Even more funny are the guys who see money being made and jump on the bandwagon  selling this stuff. The internet is full of junk science web pages from technical Ralph Cramdons hoping to hit it big. Such fun!

[k4kyv]

The site says they have 15000 units sold since 1983. (Not exactly a booming enterprize i see, but boaters are like the audiophools, they'll buy any damn thing)

Looks like the  prices for those things averages out roughly $400 each.
http://www.maxx-com.com/InternetSpecialPricing.html

Assume the price has tracked with the pace of inflation, that means, in today's dollars they have taken in $6 million gross.  At 75% profit each, a conservative esitmate, considering you are paying $400 for a metal box, some kind of toroidal coil, some ceramic feedthroughs, a SO-239, a handful of (noninductive?) power resistors, and a batch of epoxy (and perhaps a piece of an old scrapped motherboard to boot), that would net a cool $4.5 million over 23 years. That averages out to almost $200 grand a year for less than 3 units per day, assuming a 5-day work week. Not bad.

In the early 80's I was virtually the one-man service dep't of a commercial two-way radio outlet that advertised nationwide.  We did a lot of business with pilots and boaters from south Florida.  Some of those people came up with  some pretty exotic and downright bizarre communications proposals, and cost seemed to be no obstacle.  I suspect more than a few of these people  were running drugs from and weapons to Central America (this was about the time of the Iran-Contra affair was begining to heat up).  And it was right about the same time Maxcom ads became very visible in CQ and 73.

[nq5t]

While your burning in your Radio Shack RCA connectors, don't forget that they vibrate.

Putting these things on tubes is bad enough.  How about on the connectors, too     When you're finished laughing at the top of the page, scroll down to the bottom for a real belly laugh :-)  A "cleaner, more articulate sound with less smear and blur" ....

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue7/halo.htm

Believe it or not, they come in sizes spec'd to fit an 805, 330B and the tube most favored by audiophiles, the 833

http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/

[KB2WIG]

                                                     " including 0A2 "                 


works for me .............     klc

[WBear2GCR]

Now, before you choke while laughing too hard...

If you've been around toobes long enough you probably have heard them "sing".
There is also the converse, where the toobes are microphonic.

The 300B is notorious for filament/cathode microphony... some toobes in high gain applications like phono stages are very suceptable...other types have more or less microphony.

Years ago they made sockets with rubber grommets in the mounting ears for vibration isolation.

Bottom line is simply that if ur toobes are in a relatively high SPL environment exciting the resonant behavior in said toobes can have a negative and audible effect that is best to avoid or prevent.

These thingies may or may not have the desired/advertised effect.
But it's pretty easy to tell if they do or not when someone tries them.

There are a number of other devices being sold that aim at the same thing.

The RCA bit? Nah. No way.

The "Eichmann Bullets" that they referred to in the article have plastic barrels on the connector, with a thin gold plated pin embedded (with springyness) in the barrel where the RCA meets the RCA jack... fwiw.
Since I'm not a fan of point contact, I've never wanted to use them...

             _-_-WBear2GCR

[KB2WIG]

When I test for microphonics my favorite tool is..
"
Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 pencil 
In 2002, I wrote about the cult status of the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 pencil, which hasn't been made since 1998. Old boxes of them are still available on eBay, commanding prices of up to $250 a box. Here's an article about the pencil, and why it isn't being made any longer.
 The Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 has been a favorite among artists, designers and writers for many years. I have received many, many emails from users looking for them and wanting to know if they are still available. The Blackwing has been discussed in forums, and has been the subject of newspaper articles, most notably a Boston Globe article in December 2002. Buyers and sellers have been using eBay and The Pencil Pages classifieds to transact Blackwing deals, with prices exceeding $20.00 per pencil. What is so special about this pencil that its devotees will accept no substitute and make them willing to spend $250.00 for a box of them? It has a sleek and unique design, and if you've ever used one, you know it is a very smooth-writing and easy to use pencil. Its famous slogan "Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed" is no exaggeration. It is also the last of a line of pencils featuring a distinctive rectangular ferrule with a unique, replaceable eraser. I am no artist, but I kno w that professionals rely on quality and consistency in the tools they use, and the Blackwing was one that could be relied upon.           

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/11/eberhard_faber_black.html "

These are a must for testing the toobs... The design allows for a longer "creep"  further enhancing safety and the rubber (eraser) applies the correct damping factor to the devise under test.  The next best tester is the famous " Utica No.2 " which can be found ion the North East.   KLC

[k4kyv]

If you've been around toobes long enough you probably have heard them "sing".
There is also the converse, where the toobes are microphonic.

The 300B is notorious for filament/cathode microphony... some toobes in high gain applications like phono stages are very suceptable...other types have more or less microphony.

Years ago they made sockets with rubber grommets in the mounting ears for vibration isolation.

I have seen thick metal caps, made of something like pewter, manufactured in the late 20's to early '30's, to place on top of globe shaped 01-A's, 26's, 27's and similar receiving tubes.  They had little round green felt pads glued to the inside.  You just placed them on top of the tube.  Their purpose was to arrest the accoustical feedbark that was very common with triode grid leak detectors, which would sometimes become microphonic enough to actually go into audio oscillation and howl when a loudspeaker was used with the set.

[Ed W1XAW]

Shifting away from tube microphonics for a moment, most of the arguments posed by the phools seems to center around imperceptable differences.  Violinists have very developed ear training no doubt, but apparently the widely held belief that an instrument needs to be broken in may not be true.  Check out this site:

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/powerhousetwins.html

By way of disclosure, my fiddle is getting older and so far it still seems to annoy the cat as much as it did when I bought it several years ago.

Ed

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Same controversy rages in the guitar world too.