Home Propeller Head Plaza

Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Propeller Head Plaza ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Re: Apparently you're not alone in your exasperation and skepticism

Excerpt from article (peer-reviewed, one assumes) in Journal of Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 120, No. 4, October 2006, M. C. M. Wright: A Short History of Bad Acoustics:

...makes objective assessment of subjective listening experiences very difficult, and easily swayed by suggestion, a fact that is exploited by many purveyors of devices that purport to improve sound.

"Brilliant Pebbles is a unique room & system tuning device for audio systems and satellite TV. Original Large Brilliant Pebbles is a 3-inch clear glass bottle containing various minerals/stones. A number of highly-specialized, proprietary techniques are used for preparation/assembly. Brilliant Pebbles acts as both a vibration “node damper” and EMI/RFI absorber via various atomic mechanisms in the crystal structures.

On the floor in room corners, Large Brilliant Pebbles reduces comb filter effects caused by very high sound pressure levels that occur in the corners when music is playing. Large Brilliant Pebbles is also effective on tube and solid state amps, on speaker cabinets, on armboards of turntables and on tube traps and Room Lenses."

The doyen of this field is Peter Belt, whose products have a
small but devoted band of followers who seem to be convinced
beyond doubt that their listening experience has been enhanced by the use of his products. And how could they not, after all:

"Any series of identical species of living objects are linked by Nature irrespective of their location within the world. This applies equally to inanimate objects such as identical Compact Discs, vinyl records, printed objects etc. The energy pattern emanating from such man made objects has similarities to those same living objects to which our senses evolved. The man-made objects have, however, some energy patterns which are dissimilar from those emanating from living objects. Placing a
strip of the new type ‘Real’ Foil on these man made objects within the listening room interjects a changed energy pattern which allows the senses to respond as though the man made object had the same energy pattern as a living object."

If the actual effects of these foil strips, jars of stones and varnish might seem negligible the prices charged for them are certainly not; readers are invited to guess what they might be before investigating for themselves.

Of course, the actual value of any such device can be separated from the psychological effect of its presence and price on the listener by careful double-blind testing. Sadly this is strongly resisted by a significant proportion of the audiophile community.


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
You can not post to an archived thread.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]