Audio Accessories

Hi everyone. I have a brief story: my CDP was playing some beautiful Mahler last night. I was putting my finishing thoughts on my BA thesis, when a rude reminder of the derelict nature of my city towards its own infrastructure forced me to use my laptop's battery. While i was fulminating at Berkeley a thought came over me: what affect this might have had on my gear. Thanks to the knowledgeable advice from this forum, I had connected my ZD straight to the wall, and now I was regretting it. While I'm sure the ZD is alright, I really want something to protect it that will not compromise my dynamics... So... what are your recommendations? Thanks everyone...

Monster Cable Sends Cease and Desist Letter to Small Cable Maker for Patent Infringement. President (who used to be a lawyer) Writes a Response Refusing to Stop Making Cables and Makes Letter Public. Kurt's letter is printed below: RE: Your letter, received April Fools' Day Dear Monster Lawyers, Let me begin by stating, without equivocation, that I have no interest whatsoever in infringing upon any intellectual property belonging to Monster Cable. Indeed, the less my customers think my products resemble Monster's, in form or in function, the better. I am evaluating your claim that the connectors on certain Tartan brand products infringe Monster'…

Going to meets and packing up all my gear is a pain. And now with CanJam, it may limit what I bring. I was thinking of getting a Pelican case or two. Does anyone use them. Any other case suggestions? I don't want to use suitcases and cardboard boxes anymore.

This looks promising for those that are into LPs. This is a new somewhat diyish style cleaner for lps that uses a system like a power washer but for lps. You spread on a cleaner that loosens up the dirt and muck on an lp then with a hose that attaches to your sink you spray off the cleaner. The advantage to this system is no residue from the cleaner gets stuck in the groove and should provide for a cleaner quieter lps. The drawback is it is messy and I would probably do this outside or in a garage. The other thing that immediately struck me was the use of tap water that has several contaminates that distilled does not. George Merrill is the maker and seller of this unit a…

I need a pair of standard RCAs, 2M length. I prefer copper vs. silver. I want something shielded and with decent strain relief. This is to go between my source (Adcom) and amp (Gilmore Lite), it is arguably the most important single connection in the house. I have used Kimber products extensively in the past, and I've been very happy with then. Unfortunately, they completely lack strain relief and are rather fragile. I'd like to keep my budget under $100. Suggestions?

Just wondering who out there has owned them or messed with them. Am starting to read up on power conditioners because I believe the power feeding my rig could possibly have a detrimental effect on the sound based on experience. Certain times during the day the rig can sound different, so I would like to keep it consistent, if not noticeably better.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/ its lolworthy no matter how you slice it.

Not sure if we've discussed this, or even if this is the right sub-forum to post this in, but this looked semi-interesting. Ripserver

The loops of litz wire tweak. This is quite possibly the strangest tweak I've heard of, get loops of wire and attach them to the ground connections of CD players, amps, and speakers. Sure, whatever, someone is on drugs. Then a few weeks ago I had my CD player open to make sure all the mods I'd done were still holding up, and while I had it open I thought, "time to prove someone IS on drugs", so I made a couple wire loops and put them on the RCA output grounds. I can't believe this shit works. I have no idea why, but it does. I've since applied the tweak to my amp and it works there too. It's relatively small difference, but the effects are as claimed by the inventor.

What do you people use? I use the blue suspension bridge over Hell's fiery lava sea.

What do you people use? And no.. beer bottles aren't legit..

So I'm listening to a record, and on a whim I plugged up my Grado 15ft extension cable to give my RS-1 a little room to move (damn Grado stock cable is too damn short damn it). At the end of the side, I stand up to flip the record, and notice a buzzing noise coming through the headphones that was previously undetectable when the music was playing. I unplugged the Grado extension cable (because I've always been suspicious of it) and just plugged my headphones straight into the amp. The buzz goes away completely! My question: how can a cable be so crappy that it actually introduces noise into the system?

I had more or less gotten out of the cable game the past few years, as it didn't seem to me to be a cost effective area to get into. I am using old interconnects... Audioquest Turquoise mainly, though I have a couple of pairs of AQ Ruby and 2 pairs of HGA Super Silvers (their first IC) which I am not currently using. I started toying with perhaps looking at something more modern... Grovers maybe? It could be DIY also... VH Audio Silver (but these appear to run ~$120 for a 1M pair, and up depending upon RCA chosen). If I went into this, it would have to be something inexpensive (<$100 per 1M pair preferred... I know that will elicit some ). I noticed a pair of G…

Hoping to find a digital stylus force gauge accurate to 0.01. Really don't want to pay more then $100. Needs to last forever and ever. Any suggestions?

My wife and I are at the Louis V store and she's shopping for a new travel bag for yours truly. Seems she's sick of seeing me carry my electronic gear in a Canon camera bag when we travel. While I'd love to get a nicer case for my gear(we travel a lot), there's no way I'm going to carry that thing....at $1200 with NO compartments! So we struck a deal....I find a new/nicer bag to replace my camera case or I carry a Louis V on my next trip. I need a bag with secure compartments, zippers or velcro, dividers...etc. Something a geeky gear junkie like me can store all his goodies in and still slide it under seats on flights. The Louis V has a great big space for a main comp…

Has anyone any experience with Virtual Dynamics cables other than looking at the price and getting turned off?

Hi all, I posted this on Head Fie, but thought some folks here might be interested also: It seems like the response to the review of Hug & Dance, Paranormal Division's Transformation Tweak has died down a little so I thought I would add my response to aGuise's strange treatment of my system. I won the treatment on Audiogon, and here is the letter I sent to aGui this evening: Hi aGui, You cetainly have an unusual job. Tweaking people's minds as well as their systems. I promised to write and relay my experience of the Transformation Tweak. I spent a half hour masturbating before I called you today, and focused on the first few minutes of a Michael Jackson…

http://www.kabusa.com/wirewin.htm I know a few DIY folks around here are fans of the Mogami cables. While browsing the KAB site I saw this. Not sure how long he has been doing it, but it looks like good cables at a good price, if all of one's DIY friends are busy with other projects. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I need to find some footers for my speaker stands so that the spikes won't damage a tile floor. I've used quarters in the past but they have problems. Does anybody have a favorite footer that they would like to recommend? If not, I probably will go with the Head Case approved "Hockey Puck footer". Thanks in advance.

I'm thinking about replacing my current TV and getting something bigger that will also be able to hold all my A/V components. Allowing me to just have one piece of furniture for everything instead of a tv stand and a seperate audio rack. Right now I've been looking at the Syngery 30 w/ center channel shelf. Any other suggestions? I'd like to keep it under $1k and no wider than 65" if possible.

So I don't use my setup at home nearly as much as I'd like, so I'm selling off that shit. I've decided to go back to using a portable setup exclusively for both home and library use. My 3rd gen 10 gig iPod is still running strong (after battery transplant), so I'm looking for opinions on iPod line out docks. I don't particularly have the time to make my own (or to learn how to for that matter) and I don't want to spend a shit load of money, because I'd rather spend it on food and tuition. I was thinking about getting one of Alex's, but I just don't think I can dish out the $70 for one right now. Any suggestions or anyone want to make me one? While we're at it, anyone k…

Spearit Sound in Boston/Northampton bought out the inventory of Siltech America and are selling them cheap(er). I'm not associated with neither Spearit Sound nor Siltech. http://www.spearitsound.com/siltechsale/siltech_home.htm

For primarily budget reasons, I am using a PreSonus Central Station as a pre amp in my living room speaker system. The PCS has a pretty decent built in dac which I am feeding with a modded Onix cdp via spdif. Due to the fact that my Flying Mole custom amp that had been providing amp duties over this past year has suddenly decided to take the vow of silence, I am in the market for a new sub $1.8K amp and perhaps going balanced if that is doable at that price point. The PCS has TRS outputs so I was thinking that if I had a pair of TRS to XLR connectors to a "balanced" amp(s) I would have a true balanced speaker system. Am I right or am I blowing smoke? (Leaves self open f…

I like free stuff, so was sad to learn about the Virtual Dynamics power cord give-away after it was over. I emailed them today, just to see, and got a rather friendly response from some guy named Rick who said he was feeling generous. Nice. Too bad they're probably sending it to someone who won't be able to hear a difference, but I'll give it a go at least. Right now I've got two different Cardas on my amps, and a PS Audio on my source. They've been on "indifinite loan" from agile_one since I got the amps and CDP, since they didn't come with power cords. I don't know what others sound like, so this should be interesting...I hope. Anyway, I like free stuff. Good free stuff…