This way to the egress

craigz

craigz

Joined
Jan 18, 2000
Messages
386
Ok, I know that we here in this forum are all a little weird when it comes to spending outrageous amounts of money on our hobbies, but I don't think any other type of gadget freak is able to go quite as far off the deep end as ..... the audiophile.

Case in point...

http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NOB_C37_C

Now I know there are going to be a few guys who will ring in here with well-reasoned arguments why stuff like this is important and worth the money, but for everybody else, check this out: $495 for a wooden volume knob for your audiophile preamp, or transformer, or attenuator, or whatever the heck it is. And, if you do a little digging, you find that the preamp this knob is designed for costs $4500 for the version with the MDF case, $8300 for oak, and $9500 for mahogany.

http://www.audio-consulting.ch/sr_pot.htm

Oh, and the unit is finished with a special audiophile laquer that costs $115 an ounce. This stuff just cracks me up!!!

Do you think it's shipped in a special $98 audiophile cardboard box?
 
We have sort of an ongoing thread at the James Randi forum about the outrageous claims from the manufacturers of high-end audio gear. Audiophiles are an odd lot in some cases, frequently claiming to be able to hear differences in this or that which are quite unapparent to anyone else. They also manage to feel muchly superior to anyone who can't discern these differences....

Often, independent testing of the supposedly-wondrous equipment finds no testable difference whatever with ordinary stuff that costs a fraction.

I used to be buddies with a guy who was the owner/manager of a Radio Shack. This was back in the early 70s when Radio Shack really was a sort of electronics-geek store instead of an outlet for cell phones and R/C toys.
Both this guy and his assistant had electrical engineering degrees.
He had several audiophile-type customers. One fellow brought in his high-end amplifier, swearing there was some minor sound glitch he could hear. Paul hooked it up to a pair of speakers and they listened intently. The guy said "there, there, hear it?" Paul nodded wisely. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it."
When the guy left, I told Paul I couldn't hear anything. Paul said he couldn't either, but if he left it in the back room for a week and called the guy he'd believe it was fixed....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top