I thought I have seen it all

[ckelly]

I came across this link www.shunmook.com

I simply feel sorry for the guys that actually spend their money (and LOTS of it) on these snake oul products.

:lmao:

Here is a small sample:

The Mpingo Disc is invented by the Shun Mook team. It is made from a combination of Gaboon and Mpingo Ebony, treated with a proprietary process that gives the disc a unique property to regulate the resonance of any sonic component and its transmission. Yet this is a very simple item to use. Just place one to three disc on top of your preamp, CD transport, DA converter, turntable etc, and listen for the wonderful change in your Hi fi system. When this disc is excited by any external acoustic energy, it will resonate throughout the entire audible spectrum, thus overriding unwanted harmonic distortions and at the same enriching the musical reproduction.

These wonders of audio engineering cost $50 EACH!!!!!

:lmao:

Chris

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Chris,
Mpingo discs have been around quite awhile. Art Dudley (of Listener) reviewed them recently, taking a sceptical stance at first but eventually accepting their beneficial effects. He also claimed to hear the differences in rotating the discs on top of gear and was supported by other listeners in hearing the effects.

I've NOT heard them (or even seen them in person) so I can't say either way. I HAVE damped the chassis of my CD player to good effect--though the Dynamat was $20 or less so I had much less at risk than buying the Shun Mook.

TY

 

[grumpy]

That is the biggsest COS I have ever heard !! Hey Chris what do you say we cut the tops of off Bud cans and wrap them around tubes and say they make em better. We could make Millions !!

 

[Walt]

It's not the claim to make an acoustical difference that I object to ... its charging $50 for something which is easy to replicate at home with any type of similiar shaped object.

 

[thoots]

Use the Force, Walt!

Actually, I think you're wrong about that "easy to replicate at home" thought. I'm quite sure that "special sauce" they roast those things in has some magical qualities you couldn't cook up on top of your stove at home. You had better pony up the dough for a dozen or two of those things, or else suffer the consequences of inferior sound. :cry:

On the other hand, I don't know if any other business on Earth has ever made P.T. Barnum more proud than the ultra-high-end audio industry has. I'm sure they've kept him smiling in his grave for years! :

 

[ProAc_Fan]

Walt isn't the whole point of these things the gaboon and mpingo ebony these things are made with? Obviuosly the size and shape are easy to duplicate but the material is in fact the most important feature. So you could make them out of horse apples for free but I'm sure they wouldn't sound the same.

Mike

 

[MikE]

Ebony is cool

I have no experience with the MS pucks, therefore have no opinion. I would concur with Mike in that the fact they are made of Ebony is likely a reason for whatever benefit they may have. I've had a good bit of success with Ebony footers after using a variety of component feet of metal, woods and composite. The Ebony I used were DIY devices fashioned from raw pieces I snagged at a local specialty wood dealer. While not cheap, they were still far cheaper than any after-market footer available. Ebony is extremely dense and there is something about it's properties that I've found to work well IMS. YMMV and all that jazz. I've been meaning to replace my component platforms with 2" (maple or oak) hardwood bases (Ebonys too expensive).

MikE

 

[ckelly]

Originally posted by grumpy
That is the biggsest COS I have ever heard !! Hey Chris what do you say we cut the tops of off Bud cans and wrap them around tubes and say they make em better. We could make Millions !!

I like the idea - for the cans to be successful they have to be drunk in hot weather, and the beer has to be 4ºC. Also the beer drinker must be listening to 180G vinyl at 90db or more SPL.



Chris

 

[Grunder]

I wonder if the chaps over at the Cable forum are aware of these great products.They are very discriminating listeners who do not mind wast...er um investing money in fresh innovative products.

 

[thoots]

:zoom::lmao:

 

[Walt]

Pro-Ac - you could be right there ... I concede that it probably is the material and not the physical dimensions that give this object its "unique" : properties.

And I still object to the price-tag regardless of these special properties.

But I think on the whole you ought not to discount ALL "treatments" out of hand. I am a sceptic up there with the best of them (actually, maybe not ... compared to some of you guys), but if you have a specific problem, then some of these so-called "treatments" might offer a solution. The trick is, not conceiving of a problem where there is none to begin with!

 

[Thatch_Ear]

I posted a while back about an audio salesman that keeps his gear in a closet on a rolling bakers rack. He isolates shelves and for heavy items uses hockey pucks for the isolation. Density that avoids picking up vibrations can work as well as materials that absorb. Possibly iron woods do both.
My friend Dennis talked of making the casing of RCA jacks out of Bodark because there would not be mechanical transients. It does not seem far fetched to me at all, though I would like to see it done with a wood that wasn't getting as rare as ebony.

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Walt,
As to the price of the mpingo discs, there was an interesting article in Positive Feedback dealing with "perceived value" and pricing (centered around Michael Green and his various products).
MG stated that a price cannot be too LOW or customers won't think it's worthwhile--people will perceive a $50 mpingo as better
than a $10 mpingo and be MORE likely to buy it (rather than people buying 5 times more mpingos at $10 than at $50 as would seem logical).


Some manufacturers have suggested that the price of the actual object being manufactured is the LEAST important percentage-wise in its final price.

TY

 

[ckelly]

TY

I agree pricing isn't a function of cost. There are numerous examples of this, a good one being Bose - since their products aren't cheap people THINK they are geeting a great system.

I understand M. Green - if higher prices are charged, people tend to add value to the item in terms os perception, since they spent good money on the disc, it HAS to work, according to them. That company bases everything on psychoacoustics - people THINK they hear a huge improvement in sound.

I think it's similar to the placebo effect - people are happy thinking these wooden blocks create huge effects on their soundstage and imaging.

Chris

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Chris,
this is just my recollection (so could be wrong) but Michael Green's point was that even if he wanted to sell a RoomTune for $100 (and could make a decent profit doing so), he wouldn't be successful doing so---audiophiles would feel a $100 RoomTune was beneath their contempt. He felt obligated to charge $250 (or whatever they are) just so audiophiles would notice. This wasn't primarily greed or an attempt to take advantage of psychoacoustics, but a sincere attempt (IMO) to offer something beneficial to audiophiles.


I happened to be in MG's shop just as he was developing Room Tunes as a commercial product; his room treatment at that point was strategically placed pink insulation. Still the best imaging/soundstage I've heard.

TY

 

[THOR]

So are they feet?? that you set your gear on? If you are a rich guy I guess $50 for ebony "feet" for your gear is not far fetched. As to us normal folks, well I'm normal the rest of you are weirdos, it does sound pretty ridiculous.

 

[ckelly]

THOR

They are not feet

This is how these magic pieces of ebopny work:

 

[THOR]

You are ****ing shitting me???? People pay for that? That has got to be the most idiotic thing I have ever seen. I betcha if I go to their house and squat over their CD player and pinch off a nice big dense log it would have the same effect as those things.

 

[Tonto Yoder]

First pages of the Listener review (the incredulous would be the plumbers in this scenario)

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/brighter/audiokarma/finalmpingo1.bmp

TY

 

[Grunder]

I think a blind test would be interesting. Some of those magic African wood discs, hockey pucks, some of Thor's AudioLoaf(tm),and nothing at all. I venture there's only one that would make any difference to the experience (there is a distinction between difference and improvement) and it would have nothing to do with your ears.