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RE: I have full acess to JASA, and I'd like to read that paper/letter, so...

Here's the part of that article where Machina Dynamica is mentioned:

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B. Snake oil for the ears

The fact that the human auditory system is connected to the human brain makes it a marvelous subject for study, but it also means that we are capable of being fooled about what we are listening to. This, among other factors, has made 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.

Architectural acoustics was prey to a form of this delusion as recorded by Sabine (stretched wires in churches, court rooms, theatres).

Many readers will know of the long debate over the importance of Stradivari’s varnish to the sound of his violins. Consider, then, the claims made by luthier Dieter Ennemoser for his C37 varnish.

Once the sound has left the loudspeaker it still needs to survive transmission through the room.

"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. 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. Until it becomes commonplace it will be hard for those who seek to improve Hi-Fi systems by legitimate means to distinguish themselves from those who just sell false hope. As a last psychosociological note it is worth pointing out that such devices are given short shrift in the world of professional audio systems, where the audience neither knows nor cares what has been done to the equipment, and is therefore immunized to the power of suggestion.

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What could you possibly have said in a letter to the editor? Maybe you could have provided some solid evidence that the devices work as claimed? Maybe you could have provided some solid scientific/technical explanation about how they work?

Klaus

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