I have a feeling that I'm gonna get burned more than William Holden in "Towering Inferno," but here goes. Those of you who've read my posts over the years know that I'm into tweaks. Sometimes they've worked, sometimes they haven't. But I've been on a winning streak lately: Extreme SST, Herbie's Grungebuster2, RealityCheck, and, perhaps most controversal of all, Machina Dynamica's Magic Pebbles and Clever Little Clock. Let me cut to the chase--the much-maligned Pebbles and Clock work as advertised, at least in my system. Lest you think I'm some disciple of Geoff Kait, I'm not. I don't own, nor have I owned, any of his isolation platforms, and I had absolutely NO luck with the Intelligent Chip, which he also sells. I'm the furthest thing from a techie, so I have absolutely no clue how these things work, but they do in my system. I auditioned two clocks and two bottles of large Magic Pebbles. First the clock. My reference track of late has been "Water of Love," off Dire Strait's impeccably recorded first album. Burned onto a CD-R using George Louis' RealityCheck, it sounds as good as I've ever heard it. Enter the clocks. After listening to the track sans magic timepieces, I placed the clocks in my listening room, one on a windowsill and the other on my computer desk. I then replayed the track. Damned if I didn't hear an immediate improvement--and I mean an IMPROVEMENT, not a change. At the beginning of "Water of Love," there's a very low-level percussion part that lasts for about 7 seconds. With the clocks in place, I could more easily discern the rhythm being played. In addition, Mark Knopfler's vocals became clearer and weightier. Dynamics improved as well. Again, don't ask me how these wascky things work, but they did. And I'm not imagining it, either. I pride myself on having pretty good ears--maybe not golden, but at least burnished copper :)--and I know what I heard. And it was repeatable. Next, the Magic Pebbles. Per Geoff's suggestion, I tried them in the rear corners of my room first. Nada. Then I tried them in the front corners, next to my tube traps. Mas nada. Frustrated, I moved them to 3 feet behind my speakers. Bingo--bass response improved across the board, getting more "powerful" and seemingly even quicker than it was. To test what I was hearing, my wife and I simultaneously picked each bottle off the carpeted floor. As soon as we did, the bass lightened up. Putting the bottles back in position restored the added weight. I know this is REALLY hard to believe, but I know what I heard. Like that of the clock, the effect of the pebbles was repeatable. The liberal arts major that I am, I can't explain ANY of this. But I trust my ears, implicitly. These tweaks worked for me, but that's no guarantee they'll work for everyone, especially since no one is seemingly able to explain why they do what they do. Anyway, I fully expect to get flamed Human Torch style, but that's OK. My system has taken a nice step foward with the addition of the Clever Little Clock and Magic Pebbles. As long as I know that in my heart--and I do--I don't care what anyone else thinks. Color me a believer.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Topic - Flame On: My Experience with Clever Clocks and Magic Pebbles - Quint 19:52:12 11/04/05 (79)
- And... A "Wise Watch" for use with micro-systems?... - DevillEars 01:45:17 11/06/05 (0)
- Ahhh ha ha ha. LOL Oooh whoo whoo who! Please stop! - AbeCollins 13:21:38 11/05/05 (1)
- Re: Abe,you'll need a tripod to stabilize those laughs - Guy 00:22:15 11/06/05 (0)
- RFI! - unclestu52 10:33:24 11/05/05 (1)
- Re: Excellent guess - geoffkait 12:50:34 11/05/05 (0)
- Now If You Really Want To Be Bold..... - Todd Krieger 09:19:29 11/05/05 (0)
- Peter Belt - Jon L 09:05:47 11/05/05 (0)
- Whoops! I meant BRILLIANT Pebbles! - Quint 08:25:57 11/05/05 (2)
- After three glasses of wine, - Dave Pogue 08:50:01 11/05/05 (1)
- Actually, I had the wine AFTER listening to the clock and pebbles - Quint 09:26:14 11/05/05 (0)
- Might I suggest someone wear one on their forehead to the____ - snert 07:23:08 11/05/05 (6)
- Wearing them on his sleeves should suffice. - soulfood 07:54:09 11/05/05 (5)
- I didn't miss anything - snert 09:36:34 11/05/05 (1)
- Then, you shouldn't object to wearing one on your forehead and reporting back. (nt - soulfood 12:15:36 11/05/05 (0)
- I know why they work for some - Kloss 08:34:21 11/05/05 (2)
- Is your point, manipulating the senses is fooling the mind? - soulfood 12:50:06 11/05/05 (0)
- Because they listen? nt - Norm 11:11:46 11/05/05 (0)
- Quint, you must have teflon on - Norm 07:06:07 11/05/05 (6)
- I am under the impression that the Clever Little Clock... - Wellfed 07:50:33 11/05/05 (5)
- Wellfed, yes you are right. They do not plug in like the EAU. - Norm 08:30:39 11/05/05 (0)
- Do you have knowledge of how these clock devices differ? (nt) - soulfood 08:06:01 11/05/05 (3)
- Not really... - Wellfed 08:21:53 11/05/05 (2)
- I meant 'differ' as to their perceptual affects. - soulfood 09:18:20 11/05/05 (1)
- I haven't had any experience with the Tice Clock to make a comparison... - Wellfed 10:17:51 11/05/05 (0)
- Re: Flame On: My Experience with Clever Clocks and Magic Pebbles - chris.redmond2@bushinternet.com 06:06:09 11/05/05 (0)
- Re: Flame On: My Experience with Clever Clocks and Magic Pebbles - sk 05:55:42 11/05/05 (10)
- Re: Flame On: My Experience with Clever Clocks and Magic Pebbles - geoffkait 10:49:27 11/05/05 (0)
- "... it's only when I'm within a few feet that I hear it." - rupertdacat 08:52:55 11/05/05 (1)
- Re: "... it's only when I'm within a few feet that I hear it." - sk 09:26:35 11/05/05 (0)
- "The RealityCheck is one thing that I use daily." Can't live without it, at my house. nt - clarkjohnsen 06:18:07 11/05/05 (6)
- What is the rest of your system? (n.t.) - rupertdacat 08:55:26 11/05/05 (5)
- Don't you know by now? - Dave Pogue 09:30:08 11/06/05 (4)
- "He'll never say." Well, for one thing... - clarkjohnsen 10:42:59 11/06/05 (3)
- Ah, go ahead, Clark - Dave Pogue 13:23:41 11/06/05 (0)
- I'd like to know who your favorite composers and performers are. [nt] - Wellfed 12:49:30 11/06/05 (1)
- Why, thank you! Give me a call and we'll talk. nt - clarkjohnsen 07:40:03 11/07/05 (0)
- Faith - Kloss 05:55:35 11/05/05 (1)
- Re: Faith - porziob@aol.com 06:26:00 11/05/05 (0)
- Dude - Music Machine 22:49:56 11/04/05 (2)
- "That kinda destroys what I thought we know about our world." Happens every day! The March of Time... nt - clarkjohnsen 07:22:30 11/05/05 (1)
- \\\The March of Time/// ……. As opposed to “The Ides of March" is coming?.....~t - three_sox 23:55:56 11/05/05 (0)
- You're a brave man and three_ sox is right on!... Enjoy!!! N/T - musetap 22:45:45 11/04/05 (0)
- Cool... - Wellfed 21:56:41 11/04/05 (0)
- Re: Flame On: My Experience with Clever Clocks and Magic Pebbles - three_sox 21:48:30 11/04/05 (7)
- Thanks, Sox - Quint 08:31:32 11/05/05 (0)
- Re: Hold on a sec.... - Guy 01:06:56 11/05/05 (5)
- I'm here for the comedy material. - bwkendall 07:22:42 11/05/05 (2)
- Make a great Book on Tape... then everyone hear could debate - musetap 11:02:14 11/05/05 (1)
- Re: Here could be a title: 'F*ck off' with the sub-title: SMILE - Guy 00:49:14 11/06/05 (0)
- I am not going to hold on for even a yoctosecond ………….. - three_sox 01:20:05 11/05/05 (1)
- Re: Nice sensa humor. - Guy 01:47:25 11/05/05 (0)
- if there is anything interesting - hifitommy 20:34:41 11/04/05 (26)
- What a silly thing to say - Quint 08:38:38 11/05/05 (4)
- i am VERY proud to say - hifitommy 15:44:58 11/05/05 (2)
- Re: i am VERY proud to say - Quint 04:32:02 11/07/05 (0)
- Hey! Congrats, tommy! - axolotl 18:30:26 11/05/05 (0)
- No. - markrohr 11:03:20 11/05/05 (0)
- The Elements Of Style would be a good tweek. nt. - R Browne 06:42:32 11/05/05 (3)
- You might want to use quotation marks around the "The Elements of Style" :) - Quint 08:41:29 11/05/05 (2)
- Correct. - R Browne 07:04:20 11/06/05 (0)
- Picky, picky, picky [nt] - Wellfed 10:45:05 11/05/05 (0)
- Someone may try using Capital letters too. :-) [nt - garth 06:28:23 11/05/05 (6)
- thats not gonna happen - hifitommy 07:02:43 11/05/05 (5)
- Ok but I do ... - garth 08:41:42 11/05/05 (4)
- If you found the post unreadable, I feel REALLY sorry for you - Quint 08:44:01 11/05/05 (3)
- Unreadabledoesnotmeanonecannotreaditratheritmeansthemessage - garth 08:55:17 11/05/05 (2)
- Sorry,can'tfollow you.My eyeglassesaredirty. :) - Quint 09:32:20 11/05/05 (1)
- Must be my lisp :) [nt - garth 12:19:37 11/05/05 (0)
- Regretfully agree. nt - clarkjohnsen 06:16:24 11/05/05 (6)
- Agree about what, Clark? - Quint 08:47:01 11/05/05 (5)
- Quint, Clark never writes more than ... - garth 12:33:43 11/05/05 (4)
- Begging your pardon, I've written a long column regularly for twelve years, plus... - clarkjohnsen 10:38:00 11/06/05 (3)
- Yes, perhaps your time here is a waste for "us guys". But ... - garth 10:46:22 11/06/05 (2)
- Single Lens Reflex? Still a great camera. nt - clarkjohnsen 10:57:30 11/06/05 (1)
- Subject Line Response :-) [nt - garth 11:02:51 11/06/05 (0)
- Re: if there is anything interesting...must have been streamofconsciousnessstyleofexpression.... - Guy 01:08:59 11/05/05 (2)
- Itwasintendedasstreamofconsciousness - Quint 09:30:04 11/05/05 (1)
- It worked for me. [nt] - Wellfed 12:13:27 11/05/05 (0)
- "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" (nt) - axolotl 20:02:35 11/04/05 (0)