Awesome Audiophile Snake Oil

Do they mean octopuses or what?

They probably mean the brass stands up to the salty air. I can’t think the internals would but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

no salt air can kill that which is immortal

this is really good and ums has the perfect attitude. i would pay to see sun ra's reaction to these newly minted wonders of the world. they're fomo'ing this schitt, too!

A limited number of early serial number speakers are also currently available for sale.

Does anyone know if the Cosmotron 50 speakers can be used with or without the Levitron stand? That’s my main concern before pulling the trigger…

Yeah this really is the apotheosis of this thread. Good job diamonddave

oh my god

https://cosmotronloudspeakers.com/wp-content/uploads/cosmo-130s.jpg

just sheer insanity

Austin appreciated the use of "schitt" btw

I have to take my hat off to whomever set out to clown audiophiles; job done with a vengeance.

I'd pay $200 for a 5 foot tall brass art deco rocket that wasn't a speaker.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/km5/musics-soul-displayed-in-your-room-new-cp1-cd-player

The amazing analog feel of a compact disc. (I assume it has to be a knowing scam.

Good find. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s AI-generated (“there's something irreplaceable about the warm analog feel of a CD….”)

yeah i'm not an AI expert but

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/042/262/520/e9ece6024cda0757d2ecd6b4c78c8ded_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&w=680&fit=max&v=1694471607&gif-q=50&q=92&s=78161f651ba741272dd42954bbf050d8

this seems pretty clearly ai generated

or idk, heavily photoshopped. same diff

that warm analog feel of bluetooth

hmmm, could be a translation error?

this product isn't for me, but this Techmoan review is enough to convince me it's legit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZyRiHy46FQ

There’s a whole category of CD players in that style, they came up recently in the “Continuing with CDs” thread…

yeah. the video i posted, which i see krakow posted in that thread about four months back, explains how it's meant as an update to the classic muji design but is wireless / bluetooth-enabled

Great story about how far down the rabbit hole you can go w/ this shit and how, in the end, it isn't worth it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/interactive/2024/ken-fritz-greatest-stereo-auction-cost/

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/7hz-x-crinacle-zero-2-iem-review.50534/

pretty refreshing to see a site like this saying something like "I think this IEM will likely make you not like your regular speaker system unless it is of highest caliber! The sound is just so good."

Got these this week to use at the gym on a bluetooth adapter. Working great.

(refreshing cuz it's $25)

audiosciencereview is so weird, on the one hand I like the attempt to try to use measurement, and often he'll show that affordable stuff far outperforms expensive stuff

but he does seem to be really inconsistent in his "objective" approach

also they make fun of the trad audio media ear based evaluation but then get hung up on weird measurements that they well know are not even audible to the listener

Seeing now that you introduced them to the thread 2 years ago lol. Yes entirely otm. Very weird place. It can at least help to see if some cheap-ish stuff is quality or what. Going much beyond that over there is bonko.

I did find it very useful in buying a DAC, that in particular seems like a category where there's really a small handful of chipsets that pretty much everyone is using and the idea of paying more than a couple hundred bucks maybe even less really is just talking yourself into marketing bullshit

but yes just an incredible bunch of weirdos over there

Thanks, you just cost me $25

the nerds getting really into some minimalist IEMs that were super cheap some years back was probably a good thing overall. a lot of the marketing and distribution people rushed into that space but a lot of the market was dividing between super-cheap garbage that’s marked up to $10 and sold at gas stations and $100+ premium items. $25 cabled IEMs that sound nice and work should exist

Yeah I bought some balanced-armature four-driver iems around that price 6 years ago, they have been awesome, but for such a cheap outlay I’m happy to give something else a shot.

bought myself a new amp for my 50th* & audiosciencereview definitely useful to exclude things that aren't well-engineered/fuck up the basics and provide some kind of technical reassurance that your positive options aren't dumb.

But real founder/seeding effect - full of audio engineers without whom these good things could not be made & are obsessed by measurable accurate reproduction but often seem hostile to the fun of listening to music, putting on music, the pleasures of sound in a messy subjective visual-physical world, like they are mistaking their job of engineering the means for the end.

Also on the crinacle train thanks to ASR.

* just needed a power amp so got a hypex nc252 build from kjfaudio, who were fantastic - described my system and he (one man band I think) gave me solid advice and did not try to upsell me to a fancier amp module. And it sounds fantastic. Strongly recommend if UK ilxors are in the market for a good value clean power amp.

itt ilx finally discovers chi-fi hah

I recently put Edifier S350DB 2.1 speakers in my bedroom, 2 little bookshelf speakers and an 8" sub. Although they have their limitations, I've been amazed by how three dimensional they sound, especially with newer music.

Now I'm starting to feel like something's missing with my main stereo in my little TV room/entertainment room. I have a Kenwood receiver powering a pair of big Polk tower speakers. The stereo is very loud and clear, but I'm struggling to get that same 3D depth or greater stereo separation. Should I consider adding a sub there too? Or is it maybe a different issue, like is it possible the room isn't big enough for that setup?

Oftentimes speakers are too close to the walls and that creates a kind of directionless "boom". If they have ports you could always try loosely stuffing a sock in there, which can ease up the mid bass - it ain't hi-fi but it can be more listenable.
Of course I can supply you with a room-matched set of special fibre socks chosen to enhance pace, rhythm and timing.

booming post

no wait

Moodles, try the Edifier sub plus socks in the Polks? Or try moving the speakers further from the wall if practical.

i use socks+sub in a setup where the speakers are a bit too close to the wall, and the amp is so basic that it doesn't cut off any bass frequencies to the stereo pair.

I have wondered whether I can hook up that sub to the stereo, I think it's possible to hook it up to a different system, although the bookshelf speakers cannot work without that particular sub. It would at least be a good experiment. I'll also take a look to see if the towers have rear ports. If they do, I'll purchase some high fidelity sweat socks for them.

merino wool works wonders

Oh that's a powered set, with the amp, in the sub? May not be able to hook up.

There are various input jacks in the back of the sub so it can at least connect to a different sound source, but I have no idea if it will work correctly with the kenwood receiver.

idk I have a random sub that works great with my Kenwood, just a single RCA out

The subwoofer has stereo rca ins and a coaxial in. The receiver has a single subwoofer jack of indeterminate type. Do I connect that to the coax in? Will using half of a regular rca cable work?

Also the Polk speakers do not have rear ports.

Seems like the sub just does not work without the other speakers

It’s tricky - a co-ax in might be a digital signal, or it might be a mono line level audio feed. More likely digital if it has stereo RCA inputs. I’d check the manual for both units.
Also - merino? wtf dude, for starters merino socks are extremely directional, and often induce jitter and soft clipping. Has to be cashmere if you’re serious about listening.

moodles, have you tried positioning your speakers in a triangle? https://uturnaudio.com/pages/speaker-placement

also, what's the model number of your polk speakers?

I did have them in a triangle, actually tried straightening them out a bit yesterday. Polk Monitor 70 Series II.

I think it's likely the Polk Monitors suffer from poor (or not very good) imaging, quite common for speakers in their price range

it could also be the result of them being out of phase (check the cables)

would being out of phase mean the polarity of the cables is backward?

definitely could be a quality issue, although I'm probably not replacing these any time soon

yes that's what I meant

I googled the model + "imaging" and got a few hits

ok, not to be the "buy more gear" guy but i'm going to suggest you try out a cheap little amp first before getting rid of those speakers. about 20 years ago there was a fad for "tripath" or "class-T" amps - cheap little amps that sounded good at low volumes with great imaging. i had one and it made some $20 infinity bookshelves i picked up off of craigslist sound great.

you can still buy em on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kinter-K2020A-Original-TA2020-020-Amplifier/dp/B077Z7DBRT/ or an apparently more modern iteration https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Audio-Amplifier-Receiver-Integrated/dp/B076XSBCCL/

only suggesting because amazon has a pretty good return policy so you can always return to your nearest kohl's, whole foods, staples, ups store etc. if you don't like it.

what's your receiver model by the way? i've never heard a receiver that i liked, but i also have a pretty serious dedicated power amp so i'm pretty biased.

I'm definitely not trying to get rid of the speakers, mostly looking for ways to improve or sweeten. The receiver is a Kenwood VR-405. I'm not exactly sure how I would connect a separate amp like that, although I'm sure there's a way.

what devices do you have hooked up to your kenwood?

in - TV, blu ray, turntable, CD, bluetooth receiver for phone/streaming

out - Polk loudspeakers