Hi-fi nonsense

I'm colourblind...

Johnell posted:

Emre posted:

I tried orange vs black sopras, black got more detail and a tighter bass, expended stage and my wife accepted only black.

So I went for the black!

My findings were the exact opposite.  I tried a side by side comparison with the orange sopras connected to a full SL wired Statement system and the black ones were connected via bell wire to a Nad 3020 fed by a 3.5mm output of an MP3 player and the orange definitely had more detail and a tighter bass.....

You must be Dutch then

There is a strong belief held by many and pushed hard by dealers in Japan that piano black gloss sounds so much better that choosing anything else is highly discouraged for speaker finishes. To the point of suggesting that only those who are serious choose piano black.

True or not, I draw the line at that. Monotone Lacquer finishes are just something I can't put up with, even if I had a dedicated listening room. I think I have an aesthetic allergy to it. If ain't wood, it be no good. 

Unfortunately that eliminates many brands of speaker. But we must all select with certain constraints.

I would just be curious to know what would be basis and rationale for suggesting that piano black gloss sounds much better. As a metter of fact it is sometime argued that a gloss finish is harder than the usual wood stain and therefore more prone to sound reflections. 

Chag -

Chag... posted:

I would just be curious to know what would be basis and rationale for suggesting that piano black gloss sounds much better. As a metter of fact it is sometime argued that a gloss finish is harder than the usual wood stain and therefore more prone to sound reflections. 

Chag -

I have been told that being lacquer it is extremely dense and hard and makes the cabinet less prone to resonance and therefore coloration. On the other hand, I have a fairly pragmatic view insofar as I would never buy it so couldn't really care less what it did. After all it's not something like fanciful isolation plates or mains conditioners where you could theoretically be convinced to buy one if the reasoning was compelling enough and the results stood up to a demonstration. When it comes to finishes, it is often not a matter of finances or sound quality but whether you will allow something in your room.

I have no doubt there are those that feel just the same about wood finishes and who have rooms that simply would not accept anything other than a sleek stately piano black obelisk. Which is fine - the point being that even among audiophiles there are only a tiny fraction for which aesthetics are of zero importance when it comes to speakers.

The claims made have even been as far as saying it makes a difference on budget speakers where the option is available.

The pragmatic Henry Ford painted all his Model-T's black because it was the color that dried the fastest. No doubt use of a single color kept production costs down as well. Black is among the cheapest colors of paint, least revealing of flaws, and generally considered neutral. So from a manufacturing standpoint, why not promulgate the notion that black is sonically better?

Damn. I have gloss white speakers. But the grilles are black... sort of explains the confused sound.

Piano black is best for piano music...

Do the manufacturers offering piano black lacquer the inside of the cabinets as well? At least with wood based construction, maximum stability is aided by treating both sides of the panels the same: I know PMC do that with their veneering, as did IMF best part of 50 years ago with the Formica laminate on their professional monitors.

Emre posted:

Johnell posted:

Emre posted:

I tried orange vs black sopras, black got more detail and a tighter bass, expended stage and my wife accepted only black.

So I went for the black!

My findings were the exact opposite.  I tried a side by side comparison with the orange sopras connected to a full SL wired Statement system and the black ones were connected via bell wire to a Nad 3020 fed by a 3.5mm output of an MP3 player and the orange definitely had more detail and a tighter bass.....

You must be Dutch then

I'm definitely guilty of the occasional outburst of Double Dutch, fuelled this time by a rather large glass of Tamnavulin Double Cask malt. 

joerand posted:

The pragmatic Henry Ford painted all his Model-T's black because it was the color that dried the fastest. No doubt use of a single color kept production costs down as well. Black is among the cheapest colors of paint, least revealing of flaws, and generally considered neutral. So from a manufacturing standpoint, why not promulgate the notion that black is sonically better?

Except for piano black, whih is difficult to apply and to make look good 

Richard Dane posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Richard Dane posted:

Chris, I think you are referring to the piano blacked finish compared to the veneers. There was certainly a difference, and I personally preferred them prior to having the piano black process applied. They did look nice though... 

btw, the n-SAts were done differently - I.e. They were piano black finished from the start rather than regular finish that was sent away to be done as was the case with the other speakers. Differences with the n-sat finishes were nowhere near as marked and were probably more down to the grille change. 

Of course there was the joke about either the black or white NACA5 being better than the other...

Found it......actually, it seems it was the other way round! Apparently?

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...45#47323795888999045

Other way round? Not sure I understand.

Just that the Focals were said to have sounded better in Black lacquer, whereas the Naim speakers sounded worse with it.

(Or maybe it made the Naims sound more like Focals;-)

Ah ok. Thanks Chris. Maybe because the Naim speakers were designed to perform optimally with normal veneer, and once you then covered that with layers of lacquer it changed the way they sounded for the worse?  I don't know for sure, except that lacquer Allaes were ok, lacquer DBLs ok but neither as good as regular, and lacquer SBLs and SL2s were quite a bit worse to my ears. Lacquer NBLs just sounded like NBLs to me so perhaps least affected by the lacquering process. 

Of course, it could be down to the process itself. IIRC Naim used a custom auto paint shop owned by friends. 

steve95775 posted:

Damn. I have gloss white speakers. But the grilles are black... sort of explains the confused sound.

you must paint them in black!  or buy special glasses to see in white

Innocent Bystander posted:

Piano black is best for piano music...

I believe that - I played an EVH album on this iPod speaker and it sonically trounced the same album on a 552/555/500 system with wood grain speakers!

And when I thought it couldn't get any better, I found listening while resting my head on this pillow made the speaker alone practically "unlistenable".

Which was further improved by correcting my stereo receiver to be in line with the rest of the system.

So EVH tunes never sounded better, but now SRV music sounds like crap...and the LSO, well let;s not even go there.

On a more serious note, there is something incredibly "sexy" about those 70s vintage receivers.

sheffieldgraham posted:

Google PWB Electronics

Oh, no! He's still at it! I thought Peter Belt would have either passed away, or have been sued by The Consumer Council, years ago. Problem is, how do you prove his ideas don't work?  In the early '80's, I was a victim of the "small piece of paper in every album sleeve treatment" No matter how hard I tried to hear an improvement to the sound, I couldn't.

Klyde posted:

sheffieldgraham posted:

Google PWB Electronics

Oh, no! He's still at it! I thought Peter Belt would have either passed away, or have been sued by The Consumer Council, years ago. Problem is, how do you prove his ideas don't work?  In the early '80's, I was a victim of the "small piece of paper in every album sleeve treatment" No matter how hard I tried to hear an improvement to the sound, I couldn't.

When Peter Belt first rose to "prominence", I acquired one of his treatments free from the front of a magazine - it was a small safety pin with a doughnut of metal on one of the "arms". When connected to some fabric (recommendation of curtains) in the listening room, sound was improved.

I tried a test with my brother, playing track after track with the pin attached, or not. My brother didn't know when it was attached, but every time it was he said the sound was better.

Personally, I couldn't tell any difference.

I also remember sound quality was affected by the way CDs were placed - having certain ones up side down improved sound.

Klyde posted:

sheffieldgraham posted:

Google PWB Electronics

Oh, no! He's still at it! I thought Peter Belt would have either passed away, or have been sued by The Consumer Council, years ago. Problem is, how do you prove his ideas don't work?  In the early '80's, I was a victim of the "small piece of paper in every album sleeve treatment" No matter how hard I tried to hear an improvement to the sound, I couldn't.

Is this the same guy that suggested putting a paperclip on one of the cushions on your listening chair or sofa....and it improves the sound?

wenger2015 posted:

Klyde posted:

sheffieldgraham posted:

Google PWB Electronics

Oh, no! He's still at it! I thought Peter Belt would have either passed away, or have been sued by The Consumer Council, years ago. Problem is, how do you prove his ideas don't work?  In the early '80's, I was a victim of the "small piece of paper in every album sleeve treatment" No matter how hard I tried to hear an improvement to the sound, I couldn't.

Is this the same guy that suggested putting a paperclip on one of the cushions on your listening chair or sofa....and it improves the sound?

Not sure, but I am reliably informed that if you place a drawing pin on the listening chair sear, point side up, before you sit down it improves listening pleasure...

Not sure it is such a good idea to only offer all speakers in all ranges the option of a ' stealth'  Matt black Nextel finish by Reference 3A . Said to reduce diffraction effects and make the cabinet sonically disappear.

Cryogenics ????????

Has anyone compared an Cryoed Snaic, against an Standard Snaic!!!!!!!!!

Just curious.

 Allante93!

Adam Zielinski posted:

Yeap - a professional Linn dealer who claimed power supply cables don't matter

I think he was just being brutally honest and not speaking in his best interest. IMHO The whole power cable thing is the largest snake oil scam in audio..

I have just read the fact that 

"CD-Rs should not be played on expensive CD Drives as the Bit depth requires excess Power from the Circuit supplies and will cause the Laser to fail in a short time"

True or False

D41

That is truly nonsense. 

Yes it was posted on another Forum--I have asked for the Link so it can be read fully

Will see if he obliges

D41

DUPREE posted:

That is truly nonsense. 

Indeed, I must admit such statements make me chuckle and cheer me up on a cold winters day... it reads like a random collection of non related words.