NJAS Wall Posting

NJAS Member Wall Postings and Comments

Wiki for Schumann Resonances
If you were at CAF and saw the Synergistic demo, you heard a lot about "Schumann Resonances". These are Radio Waves at Extremely Low Frequencies (ELF). These are not sound waves and therefore not audible, but there is some evidence that the strength of these signals correlates with blood pressure (probably because of nearby thunderstorms and changes in ambient atmospheric pressure). At any rate, it's a good example of how audio markets itself. There's no reason to think that Schumann Resonances (a real if not very reliable natural phenomenon) has anything to do with how well an audio system works, or affects hearing, but it creates a verbal connection between a real scientific (not even engineering) thing and the shielding technology used by Synergistic. You might as well say that the color you paint your listening room will affect how well it sounds. Synergistic is not the only company that makes such vague connections, but they are very explicit about it, so it's easy to discuss. We also don't know exactly what the Synergistic boxes actual do when they are turned on, so we get the double-hop problem of not only how to apply SR's to audio systems in theory, but also what Synergist Research ("SR" again) does in practice--that is, if you can make the first connection, does SR correctly engineer it. A good engineer will happily talk about their implementations all day long (like, say our own Mike K. of Arion Acoustics). Every reasonable question should have a good answer. At any rate, the demo was fun, if opaque.
Comments:
§ Thanks, Jim. Synergistic is the poster child for all that is wrong with audiophile tweaks. This product in particular is pseudo-science BS. Ted takes a real phenomenon, like Schumman Resonances in the Earthâ€™s magnetic field, then sells something that cannot affect that phenomenon but will somehow magically make your system sound better (for lots of money). If you believe the marketing, your system will absolutely sound more enjoyable because enjoyment is in our brains, not our ears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schumann_resonances
⤷ posted Nov 26, 2022
§ I was first made aware of Schumann's Resonators at a club members house/meeting. As they were on during the HiFi demo there was nothing to compare to.I asked a fellow member about the resonators and was intrigued enough to do research and purchase two resonators sans enclosures from Wallmart for $14 each. Sitting 8-10 feet away I felt something not good or bad minutes later.Afterwards,I pulled into one of my Bass amps and played. The sound was less than desirable. Days later in a double blind test,I had a friend play with his back to the resonators and switched them on and off during test. Afterwards I explained what I was doing and asked for feedback.
my friend and I agreed that at times the amp sounded better. Those better sound were with the Resonators off! Schumann's discovery/research is real.The Resonators are real.Snake Oil? I don't think so. Can it affect electronics absolutely. But the perception of net gain large or sublime lives with the beholder.
⤷ posted Jul 9, 2023
§ Barry: The devices were called "Schumann Resonators" but we don't know what they were actually doing. It's entirely possible they are "Schumann Resonators" in name only!
⤷ posted Nov 28, 2023 by JimOfAllTrades

Only 17 rooms?
NY Audio Show
If I am reading the web site correctly,the show, which is just a few weeks away, has a whopping 17 rooms with 31 brands. So, for this wannabe audio show I should spend money to buy tickets, travel to New York, pay a fortune for cans or risk getting mugged on the subway or the street? I will stick to the Capital Audio Fest, thank you very much.

Known for Illuminati and later Black Cat cables along with StereoLab
Other than the headline, we haven't found out much more detail.

(if that's what you're into)

Mat at Axpona Live
Go to his page and he is walking & talking all over Axpona.

Colette & I just saw the Wanderer today and it was fantastic! It was the Life of Dion with 29 songs in it, not all his. The singers were fantastic. It is running at the Paper Mill thru April 24th. See it now before it goes to Broadway and NYC prices.

John P

Watch the recent Zoom presentation.

NJAS Could Net $25!!
Settlement Notice
Zoom has settled a class action lawsuit regarding infringing of user privacy rights vis-a-vis third parties or Zoom "partners". Something like this was almost guaranteed to happen given how Zoom's vague business model and explosive growth worked out last year. Zoom uses free technology that is decades old, but has wrapped it up with a pretty bow, thereby giving the illusion of offering something new to the public. Their main competitor is MS Teams, which can be excessively complicated. I'm surprised there weren't more problems with Zoom, though a lot of issues did eventually come to the surface even if they did not get a lot of media attention. It's not an application you use on your main computer. Leave it to a virtual machine or secondary laptop.

Here the main link: https://www.zoommeetingsclassaction.com

Desktop Maraschino Monoblocks, 48v PSUs, triple rail caps, new board w/GCM tweaks, Gold WBTs
Click here to listen

On July 20th we were at Alan's place rolling amps and Tommy was having the most fun that night.
Comments:
§ The Cherry Audio guy?
⤷ posted Dec 17, 2021 by JimOfAllTrades
§ He passed away from Covid. Here is a link:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=179605.0

As Victor says we had a very good time that evening. Victor, Tommy and a friend of Tommy were at my place. Tommy wanted to hear his amps on my system and to compare with my Merrill Audio amps. Tommy brought an older stereo amp and a new prototype stereo amp he was working on. Both sounded very good especially the prototype. Also considering they would be about $2500, I thought they were an excellent value.
Very sorry to learn of His passing.
⤷ posted Dec 18, 2021
§ Let's not forget Pierre Sprey of Mapleshade too this past month. Several people have his racks, wires, etc.
⤷ posted Dec 18, 2021 by JimOfAllTrades

I'm setting up a new system in my living room, but I'd like to use it to play music on my PC's hard drive, two rooms away.

My amp, a PSAudio Sprout, has Bluetooth, but I'm not sure that will sound good enough for even my aged ears--and I'm pretty damn sure it won't carry through the lath-and-plaster walls. So what I need is something that will link the Sprout to my Wi-Fi (the router's already in that room). All the gizmos I've seen for this go on and on about how useful they are for getting Spotify et al, but none say anything about accessing music already on my PC.

Also, whatever i get has to be very small and fairly inexpensive.

Any suggestions?
Comments:
§ I'm also lath plaster and I just tested my win11 audio computer's BT output to my BT headset. It went from my 1st to 3rd floor w/o issue. The exterior brick seems to block more but I can still make it to the street. Having to remember to change the PC's default audio device to the Sprout every time you want to listen in the other room would get annoying. A better setup is to have your mobile device (tablet or phone) pull music from the PC's media server (via DLNA/uPnP or Roon) and the mobile device will send output to it's paired BT device (Sprout).
⤷ posted Dec 18, 2021

I apologize for taking this long, but I need to thank the many NJAS members who helped me get my act together for the move from NJ to South Bend, IN.

My original plan was to camp with a friend while looking for a place of my own, and to that end i took along just about everything and anything I might use out here. But I wound up moving in with that friend, in a small place already stocked with furniture. So a lot of the audio stuff I'm now paying storage for will never come into this house because there's no place to set it up. Had I known that, I'd have sold off my big speakers and a lot of other stuff.

For now, I'm runninng a Sony Blu-Ray drive and Essence DAC into a B&W Zeppelin in my bedroom, and a Bose Acoustic-Wave semi-portable in my office. But I've crammed my Artison towers into the living room, and am getting a PSAudio Sprout to drive them. Yeah, I already have amps, preamps, and receivers, but the Sprout will fit the cramped space available.

No NJAS equivalent 'round here. There is an Audio Club at Notre Dame, but it appears to be for students only.

I miss you guys, especially now that live meetings have begun again.

-Ivan

Can You Understand the Dialog in Current Movies?
Slashfilm article
Here's a surprisingly detailed article on the issues with understanding dialog in movies these days.

Contact John Pharo for more details.
The Cable Co. Website
John Pharo
Senior Consultant
The Cable Company/Ultra Systems
Visit our website at http://www.TheCableCo.com.

Contact information:
Telephone: 215-862-4870, or toll-free 800-FATWYRE (328-9973)
FAX: 215-862-4871. Email: John@TheCableCo.com.
Shipping address: The Cable Company, 125 Union Square, New Hope PA 18938 USA
Hours of operation: Mon.-Fri. 10am - 6pm Eastern time. Sat. 11am -5pm

John writes:

Looking for one or two hobbyists that would like to consider becoming sale consultant(s) full time. Please email me and we can discuss. Flemington area.

The NJAS can provide no further details at this time, or provide any proof that the offer is or ever was valid.

MQA takedown video on YouTube
Probably a good critique of a questionable technology.

Here is part II:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHkqWZ9jzA0