Topic: A "snake oil" Audio product that works

[blackdiamond]

Last Monday I stopped by the local high end audio store to compare speaker wires.  In the end I determined that the $2,000 speaker wires do indeed sound better than the $7 ones that I has purchased at the hardware store for comparison, but I still can't justify spending that much money on wire.  When I told the salesman the amount I would likely be willing to spend on that type of an upgrade he told me to save my money or spend the money on something else.

His recommendation was a set of Nordost Sort Kones placed under my CD player.  I had heard a demo previously with this product on a system worth far more than mine and wasn't blown away even though I could hear a small difference.  The salesman assured me that I could return them if I wasn't satisfied.  The supports are supposed to drain the internal electrical vibration from components keeping it from getting into the audio signal.  I don't claim to understand the theory or even believe that the description is correct, but they do seem to make a nice difference on my stereo for an investment about 100 times less than the speaker wire upgrade.

If you care about audiophile sound and have a single disk CD player, give them a try.

[mudmaster]

a single disk CD player, give them a try.

Why wouldn't it work with a multi disc?

[abnormaltoy]

$2,000 speaker wires

Surely you jest. That's an exaggeration...right!

[blackdiamond [OP]]

Surely you jest. That's an exaggeration...right!

Nope, I'm pretty sure the salesman/owner picked them thinking that I just might take a pair home to go with my existing system.  They were hooked to a $10k integrated amp and "cheap" $1,500 speakers.

Their top speaker room currently has a set of speakers that retail for $180k and I think the next set down, that just arrived, go for something like $130k.  They had $38k speaker cables in that room the last time I asked.

Needless to say, it fun to listen and always sound amazing.

[blackdiamond [OP]]

Mudmaster - It might work great on a multi-disk player, but all the additional moving parts and the fact that it's designed for convience rather than sound quality makes it a bit of a paradox.

I have a multi-disk player but only use it for backgroud music.  My single disk player has a mode that shuts down all digital circuitry to eliminate any interference in the audio signal.  This feature even shuts the front display off.

The saleman think that the sort kones make a $500 CD player sound like a $5,000 CD player.  I have not done enough listening to agree or diasgree with him.  All I know is that my $500 player sounds much better with than without.

[emsvitil]

Should be able to make your own speaker cables with large gauge fine strand copper cable a lot cheaper................

[junya92toy]

I dont think Ive put a cd in my stereo in like 2 years, with a ipod hookup, and one for my phone that has pandora, no point in cds

[Cheesemaker]

Blackdiamond, no offense, but I couldn't justify spending the $$ you have in a system.  But it's your $$. 

As for the speaker wire your talking about, it must be made of gold, since gold is the best conductor.  And that is the only way I could justify the cost of it.

[dntsdad]

I worked in the audio business for years and honestly I think that these ultra high end cables and wires are similar to when a 6 year old gets new shoes and they can run faster and jump higher.

While the performance is better than the ultra cheapo cables that come with a DVD player, etc, a $500 cable isnt going to warrant a noticeable sound difference to 99% of the human ears.

I would MUCH rather throw my money into components that WILL be observable.

[blackdiamond [OP]]

Blackdiamond, no offense, but I couldn't justify spending the $$ you have in a system.  But it's your $$.

I probably have more money in my system than many, but I think the majority of my money has been spent on very clear upgrades that anyone can appreciate.  Almost the entire investment came from the first four months of this year when I was forced to work a ton of overtime.  I believe in getting toys with overtime whenever possible.

[Rocksurfer]

My cassette player to ipod converter cost me $10.00 at Wallyworld, I'm happy.

[yotarunner85]

X2 

[Cheesemaker]

My cassette player to ipod converter cost me $10.00 at Wallyworld, I'm happy.

You been peeking in my truck?