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Detroit Q. Spider posted:A screechy horn speaker?!?!?! To be fair, the JBL horn flare they used wasn't the one it was designed for, you can just about see a wider panel inserted into the original cutout. But still, I doubt it would make that much difference. We don't have any proper Danley users in the UK, Isophase distribute it but their prices are far from cheap and well, I've not heard great things about larger arrays of it which you also don't often see in their blurb. All the Synergy Horn DIY boxes I've heard have been brilliant in singles though, so I'm keen to give it a proper listen. The Jericho is just mental, so huge it's almost unfeasible to actually use one to shift about. This is my current favourite thing to listen to at gigs, it even looks like some of these audiophile horns: 
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Aug 2, 2013 23:26
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Oh, I know there are good horns out there but when they're bad...whoa nelly.
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Aug 3, 2013 00:05
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Crossposting from the new headphone thread, I give you Can Openers: http://www.madscientist-audio.com/canopeners/ Magical stickers for your headphones! Seriously, stickers. We can't quite figure out if it's a piss take or a "serious" product yet.
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Aug 7, 2013 07:38
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Over half of that site is written like a terrible parody i'd badly make up on the spot (for fucks sake, their "How do they work?" section  ), right down to the "mad scientists" name, so i really want to believe it's a clumsy punchline being driven into the ground.Except for the part where they apparently sell their joke for real loving money ($399, you save $170!) and have some "only one refund per customer" (is that even legal?) policy... RoadCrewWorker fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Aug 7, 2013 |
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Aug 7, 2013 07:48
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RoadCrewWorker posted:Over half of that site is written like a terrible parody i'd badly make up on the spot (for fucks sake, their "How do they work?" section They sent Midorka a sample to review...
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Aug 7, 2013 08:08
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Neurophonic posted:I heard this. It was average at best, god awful screechy on vocals and wallowy as hell on bass. Have heard plenty of systems in the same sized space sound a lot better for a fraction of the price. In one of the interviews I thought the amps alone cost over a million quid??
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Aug 7, 2013 11:41
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RoadCrewWorker posted:Over half of that site is written like a terrible parody i'd badly make up on the spot (for fucks sake, their "How do they work?" section One of their explanations references Doctor Who. It's a joke.
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Aug 7, 2013 13:36
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KillHour posted:One of their explanations references Doctor Who. It's a joke.
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Aug 7, 2013 14:13
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88h88 posted:In one of the interviews I thought the amps alone cost over a million quid?? £880,000 on amps, the rest on the boxes and drivers, plus transport.
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Aug 7, 2013 21:02
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So I'm 42 and had a hearing test. I've lost 3-5% of my hearing from the age of 10. Doctor told me this is pretty normal and it is at the higher ranges mostly. So how can these audiophiles be able to hear this distinction in the higher registers if they've lived lives in a normal industrialized society? So are their really individuals who have this tremendously enhanced hearing over the norm with little or no hearing loss with age? I see the frequency ranges and clarity they talk about and it just boggles me, they look like ranges only a dog or cat would be able to actually hear.
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Aug 8, 2013 00:42
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To be fair most of the critical stuff is below 10k and that doesn't go away until much later in life for most people. Critical listening has less to do with your physiology and more with learning how to listen. Whether or not it's applied correctly is another matter entirely  Did the doctor say what ranges you'd had the most loss at? Like 15k+ or whatever?
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Aug 8, 2013 00:48
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Opensourcepirate posted:This will be my last post on the subject so I don't run it into the ground. These are the things I have to say. Terminated 6ft cable on monoprice: $0.88 Terminated 6ft cable on blue jean cable: $30.55 3,471% increase in price. I don't know why you get your pants in a twist over american manufacturing because BJC does exactly what everyone else does, takes really cheap stuff made outside the US, perform negligible work on it aka "customize it," and sell it for extraordinary prices. They take cable made in asia or mexico and terminate it. You would never, ever be able to tell which cable theirs was in a double blind listening test. Opensourcepirate posted:Oh yeah, that was dumb of me. So 1 buck a foot for Blue Jeans and 70 cents a foot for a 1000 foot spool. There are no actual differences in quality. Spending all your money on something does not mean its quality.
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Aug 8, 2013 15:13
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There IS a difference in quality between the cheapest cables you can find and the good cables from various name brands, but it's not a matter of signal quality once you get away from the absolute lowest-grade poo poo. It's a matter of physical quality, how good the connectors are, how well they grip, how long they last and how durable the cable is to being handled and possibly abused, like being driven over by office chairs. Really cheap RCA cables have connectors that are loose and of extremely questionable quality. I gladly buy the slightly more expensive cables with metal connectors because they work better and last longer.
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Aug 8, 2013 16:00
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monkeytek posted:So I'm 42 and had a hearing test. I've lost 3-5% of my hearing from the age of 10. Doctor told me this is pretty normal and it is at the higher ranges mostly. So how can these audiophiles be able to hear this distinction in the higher registers if they've lived lives in a normal industrialized society? So are their really individuals who have this tremendously enhanced hearing over the norm with little or no hearing loss with age? I see the frequency ranges and clarity they talk about and it just boggles me, they look like ranges only a dog or cat would be able to actually hear. I'm 32 and can hear into the 18-19K range. I used to have better hearing but lost a lot do to spending hours troubleshooting software in noisy server rooms where earplugs were not readily available. I'm known for picking up a friends whispering to another friend 20 feet away. Even with that, I say most of these audiophiles are completely nuts. In fact, I've met some who had $20K in audio equipment that sounded worse than what a grand would have got them. I guess more money means it should sound better (like beats headphones).
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Aug 8, 2013 16:34
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Well, on the subject of Beats: http://www.woodchuckcase.com/products/beats-by-dre-walnut  That's one confused product right there.
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Aug 8, 2013 21:14
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KozmoNaut posted:There IS a difference in quality between the cheapest cables you can find and the good cables from various name brands, but it's not a matter of signal quality once you get away from the absolute lowest-grade poo poo. It's a matter of physical quality, how good the connectors are, how well they grip, how long they last and how durable the cable is to being handled and possibly abused, like being driven over by office chairs. Double blind listening tests. I've never had an RCA cable fail on me, ever.
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Aug 8, 2013 22:34
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I have one of if not the most capable audio systems on something awful, and my interconnects are the ones that come packaged with dvd players and cable boxes. I do agree that more expensive cables such as monster cables have a higher build quality and shielding that resists cuts and wear. In a PA system that was being moved around and reconfigured often, I would use higher grade cables, but for home use or studio use where a configuration doesn't change much, as long as the cable isn't falling off the terminal, it's good enough.
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Aug 8, 2013 22:58
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I stand by my golden rule: don't buy the cheapest Chinese RCAs, buy the second cheapest Chinese RCAs. Never buy anything branded because it's going to be a rebrand of the second cheapest Chinese option. Beyond that, the premium you're paying for in Monster (or whatever) cables is not for engineering or build quality (quality control, actually), it's all for marketing. And "Made in America" is pure marketing* (for markets that still care). *) I'm not saying things don't get made in America, just that it doesn't make any difference except for image. 3D Megadoodoo fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Aug 8, 2013 |
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Aug 8, 2013 23:07
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Bought RCA 18 gauge speaker wire for my Pioneer SP-BS22s from the hardware store for practically nothing only a few days ago. No complaints.  Neurophonic posted:Well, on the subject of Beats: No lie, even though Beats get sub-par reviews, I love their look. That clean, minimalist headband is the poo poo. Make the cans wood too, use brown/black leather, and give it an appropriate license (Marley, The Heavy, maybe), and they'd be the bee's knees. 
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Aug 9, 2013 04:49
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I get my pants in a twist over American manufacturing not because I think it leads to higher quality, but because I like to keep money in my local economy. All of America isn't too local to me, but it's a lot better than China. One of the big points of this thread is using equipment together of a similar quality. The speaker system in my room is a $50 used Technics receiver, $120 Polk bookshelf speakers, and a $100 KLH 10 inch powered sub. None of that deserves a super fancy cable, and I'm using monoprice cables. If I was spending much higher amounts of money on the rest of my equipment, I would probably spend more on cables. As I've been saying, one of my main interests in Blue Jeans has been DVI/HDMI cables. My experience with cheaper HDMI cables has involved them failing to work properly at distances as short as 15 feet. Edit: As for cables failing. I've had RCA cables on video game systems get pretty screwed up. It's all a factor of the number of connects / disconnects. I know musicians that use Monster patch cables because they have a lifetime warranty. They break them a fair amount playing gigs, and they're easy to exchange. Opensourcepirate fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Aug 9, 2013 |
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Aug 9, 2013 05:16
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I like keeping money local too, so I just bought the cheapest speaker wire they had at the Radioshack down the street. I could have gotten it cheaper on monoprice, but I like keeping this place around, it's an old school Radioshack that sells all the electronic components and has the creepy guy in the basement that fixes stereos.
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Aug 9, 2013 06:46
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Not an Anthem posted:Double blind listening tests. I've never had an RCA cable fail on me, ever. I know it's fun to hate on audiophiles but there is a big difference between somebody who pays $30 for a cable because in his experience it's built more solidly and he doesn't have to worry about replacing it and because his money stays in his home country, and the guy who spends $1000 because it opens the soundstage. Is that cable overpriced? Probably. Is this guy is actually seeing higher durability, the benefit of which is worth the extra cost to him? Possibly.
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Aug 9, 2013 12:39
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Not an Anthem posted:Double blind listening tests. I've never had an RCA cable fail on me, ever. Oh shut it, you massive sperglord. I never claimed to be able to hear any sort difference, but there is a very clear difference in the basic physical quality of the connectors etc. and I've had ultra-cheap RCA connectors fail before due to loose connections. With the slightly more expensive metal connectors, I can resolder them myself if anything happens. Not so with the cheap molded plugs.
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Aug 9, 2013 14:39
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the littlest prince posted:I know it's fun to hate on audiophiles but there is a big difference between somebody who pays $30 for a cable because in his experience it's built more solidly and he doesn't have to worry about replacing it and because his money stays in his home country, and the guy who spends $1000 because it opens the soundstage. Is that cable overpriced? Probably. Is this guy is actually seeing higher durability, the benefit of which is worth the extra cost to him? Possibly. Its not that its fun to hate on audiophiles its just that the expense isn't worth it and you're buying into a lie. Its not made in america and your cheap cable isn't failing you, your common sense is. 1) In your experience do you ever do strength tests ripping cables off their interconnects and have come up with the solution that only ultrasonically welding a wire to the interconnect will stop this from happening? Not very likely. 2) Your money isn't staying in your home country. Lets put it this way. If you buy Ford because Ford is "Made In America," this is probably not going to go over well for you, but the vehicle isn't made in America. The parts of it are cast, machined, fit, assembled etc elsewhere and small parts of the assembly are done here. Same with Blue Jeans Cable, they literally buy cable not made in the US, then cut it to length and terminate it. Of the 30$ you spend, yes, 29.50$ is staying in the United States, but that .50 cents is going to wherever the cable came from. Same with me, if I bought that .50cent RCA cable. 50 cents is going to wherever the cable came from and I am not spending the other 29.50 because it is a waste, and I spend my money elsewhere locally, like at my corner sandwich shop or the lumber yard. Of course, where my sandwich shop sources its salami is certainly not local, not many people make their own local salami anymore, nor does my local lumber yard have its own forest it cuts down and processes (although I use a lumber yard that bids on downed urban trees, so the wood IS local). Its not more durable because cables don't tow cars. Its marketing and very successful at that, because people are bred in the US to grunt when we hear "bigger better stronger." An RCA cable is supposed to be conductive, not "tough." If you have an issue ripping the cable out of its interconnect all the time maybe you need gorillaproof 30$ cables, but I've never had a cheap RCA cable fail me, ever. KozmoNaut posted:Oh shut it, you massive sperglord. The whole idea of audiophile behavior is to invent reasons to spend more money. If it sounds the same, why spend over a thousand percent more on a product? Nobody ever passes double blind listening tests, or agrees to them, because in audiophile territory its all about made up terminology. Does having an interconnect that can be reused make a difference to me? No. I've never had to resolder a cable because a cable has never failed on me. I've cut a cheap RCA cable in half and soldered on a different interconnect and been happy with it because it hides behind my receiver and is never seen.
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Aug 9, 2013 20:50
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Not an Anthem posted:Does having an interconnect that can be reused make a difference to me? No. I've never had to resolder a cable because a cable has never failed on me. I've cut a cheap RCA cable in half and soldered on a different interconnect and been happy with it because it hides behind my receiver and is never seen. Lucky you, then. I have had cables fail before, therefore I buy the cheapest cable I can find that's less likely to do so, and can be repaired easily if it does fail. I don't buy BJC cables, but I do willingly buy cables that are more expensive than $0.89. It's the same reason I still use my early 90s stereo amp, because it's cheap and reliable, and can be repaired if it breaks. Playing amateur roadie for my dad's band has taught me that physical build quality is worth spending a little extra for. Not too much, but a little. Sounds the same, lasts longer. This thread was made to mock audiophoolery, especially cases of paying outrageous money for imaginary sound improvements, not to mock actual physical differences in a very slightly more expensive product. I gladly use the included RCA leads with my devices, but if I have to buy a separate cable, I buy the second-cheapest one, the one that has the better connectors and can withstand abuse better.
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Aug 9, 2013 21:33
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I had to use aluminium foil to fix an RCA lead in a pinch. I couldn't tell the difference.
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Aug 9, 2013 23:56
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Ron Burgundy posted:I had to use aluminium foil to fix an RCA lead in a pinch. I couldn't tell the difference. Aluminium is a perfectly cromulent electrical conductor, especially over the short distances that RCA leads are commonly used.
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Aug 10, 2013 04:36
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There's also the obvious point that you could buy 60 50 cent cables for the price of 1 BJC. You're an incredibly unlucky person if you kill 60 RCA cables in a lifetime.
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Aug 10, 2013 07:42
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Pudgygiant posted:You're an incredibly unlucky person if you kill 60 RCA cables in a lifetime. Yeah, this is actually a common occurrence in Canada. You see, the extremely cold surfaces of our igloo walls and floors make the copper strands in non-insulated cable incredibly brittle. So brittle in fact, that the wires are susceptible to Spontaneous Sub-Sonic Low Molecular Thermal Energy Potential Shattering- when the bass hits a sustained demodulated 7Hz for at least 2.3 seconds. It's like that scene in Terminator 2, but whereas the T1000 uses special effects to shatter, the copper wire throughout the entire cable basically shakes itself into a powder. This is why electronics always cost more in Canada; it factors in the added Thinsulate™ Sub-Sonic Low Temperature Thermal Insulation System, pioneered by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency's Canadarm™ technology.
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Aug 10, 2013 08:08
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Pudgygiant posted:There's also the obvious point that you could buy 60 50 cent cables for the price of 1 BJC. You're an incredibly unlucky person if you kill 60 RCA cables in a lifetime. More like $5 cables instead of $0.50 cables. And I hate our modern buy-use-throw-away approach to consumer goods, so I prefer the repairable alternative, even when it is more expensive. Same reason I repair my bicycle myself instead of just throwing it away and buying a new one every couple of years.
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Aug 10, 2013 10:32
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For me, durability of cables is perhaps my biggest concern when it comes to purchasing cables, but I'm actually referring to instrument lead cables. I used to buy the cheaper stuff and they go through a lot of punishment being constantly unplugged, coiled up, moved around, crushed, etc. They'd end up failing and I'd have to buy new ones and lose money in the long run compared to buying something thicker/more reinforced like dimarzio cables. You shouldn't have to worry about RCA cables though. I don't think I've had any break on me, but they're cheap as poo poo and I've got them lying all over the place. They're just things I grab when I need em, they don't go through the punishment a musician puts an instrument lead through. Don't sweat the little stuff.
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Aug 10, 2013 11:01
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KozmoNaut posted:More like $5 cables instead of $0.50 cables. And I hate our modern buy-use-throw-away approach to consumer goods, so I prefer the repairable alternative, even when it is more expensive. Same reason I repair my bicycle myself instead of just throwing it away and buying a new one every couple of years. Do you do a lot of off-road cycling or did you just buy a lovely bike?
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Aug 10, 2013 11:21
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Jerry Cotton posted:Do you do a lot of off-road cycling or did you just buy a lovely bike? $500 bike and I use it every day. It's about 7 years old now, stuff wears out over time.
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Aug 10, 2013 11:59
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Pfft, you guys are actually throwing down 89¢ for RCA cables? You know 90% of that cost is just marketing, right? Real audiophile-ridiculers use a couple of straightened coat hangers wrapped in electrical tape, there is absolutely no reason to pay more. 
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Aug 10, 2013 22:07
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Coat hangers? Luxury. I personally braided my own wire from leftover twist ties. Recycling at it's best. Bourgeois pig. 
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Aug 10, 2013 22:13
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Skeleton Ape posted:Pfft, you guys are actually throwing down 89¢ for RCA cables? You know 90% of that cost is just marketing, right? Real audiophile-ridiculers use a couple of straightened coat hangers wrapped in electrical tape, there is absolutely no reason to pay more.  It's hard to make coat hangers interface with RCA jacks correctly. (Also, I'm turning 35 next week and I don't think I've ever seen a wire coathanger in my entire life. They're all plastic or wood around here. It would probably cost me more than a € to find and buy one.)
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Aug 10, 2013 22:13
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Jerry Cotton posted:
Dry cleaners still return your clothes on wire hangers. They're dirt cheap and stack well so there really hasn't been a need for that industry to change.
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Aug 10, 2013 22:14
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AlexDeGruven posted:Dry cleaners still return your clothes on wire hangers. They're dirt cheap and stack well so there really hasn't been a need for that industry to change. I know that, I've seen how dry cleaners' establishments operate on foreign television programmes. Mainly Seinfeld, I guess. Every other Seinfeld episode is about dry cleaning.
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Aug 10, 2013 22:18
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Jerry Cotton posted:
Yeah, I know, dumb joke. My point is that whatever you buy, no matter how inexpensive it is, there will always be strangers on the Internet who get mad at you for paying too much.
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Aug 10, 2013 23:19
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Sorry, 35$ for a six foot cable that made false claims was a bit much.
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Aug 11, 2013 04:12
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