Anyone have any information on products such as a Bedini Clarifier or the Furutech products? Do they work or is it a farce?

Please feel free to submit any other tweaks or off the wall things people do with cds, records, etc., I would be interested to hear about them.

Cheers folks.

I heard that using a green marker around the edge of the CD is a really good one.

haha, fortunately for me, I'm far from believing the green marker thing would work but rest assured, if it did work, I would do it.

i like to tie fishing line thru the hole and dangle it from my rearview!!

bigjohn

Riff, I haven't had the need to demagnetize or destaticize any of my 1s or 0s, so those products haven't been attractive to me. As to other scams, probably my favorite light reading is this collection from an outfit that has quite a few entrants in the category. A British take on some of these wonders is found here .

Why does such silliness exist? Possibly something that I read Dr. Kite say in a presentation applies, when he indicated that a desire to tweak in an increasingly untweakable world might be the answer.

Well I generally go with Feng Shui and point all my electronics to the north so that the earth's magnetic field is in harmony with those of the electronic components.

It clearly makes the sound better

no, those products aren't worth a penny. CD's are manufactured to sound as good as they can, aside from bad recording, mixing, engineering, etc.

I've found that there is less background interference with the laser mechanism if I operate my cd player in an optically sealed enclosure. I had one custom made exactly to the specific dimensions of my cd player so that I can still operate it with the remote and load/eject cds. It cost me a little over $8k, because I had it carved from solid obsidian in order to acheive true "blackness". I can definitely hear a difference whenever I play any of my cds. (Except for Madonna's "Ray of Light", must have some inherent luminescent properties or something...)

This thread is bring out some good humour.

John, I don't know. I agree with you on the 1s and 0s bit (no pun intended) but then I read comments from all these people who say it works. they know its all 1s and 0s but they can't explain how it works. One huge scam?

one huge scam is right.

Someone once tried to sell me these cone type metal things that you position on top of your speaker that supposedly 'aims the sound waves' more directly to your listening position. Many people say it works. I wouldn't even dare try, especially considering the $200 per cone price tag.

Here's my take on it:

Someone, in your opinion, knows a lot about audio. They tell you 'do this and it will sound better'. You are convinced. You go home with your new product, which you have spent hundreds on, and you're convinced you will get better sound. You put in your best recorded CD and listen very, very carefully. You think it sounds amazing because a) you are listening so closely and b) you think it sounds better. Voila! you now agree cones make sound better.

The power of suggestion, especially when it comes from an authoritative figure, is extremely powerful. Ask your shrink about studies on this phenomena during your next visit

"one huge scam is right. "

I dunno...back in college I had some friends that put ice in their bong water and swore it made a difference. I've lost track of those guys over the years but think they might be selling some audio gear these days.

hahaha! I'm sure they told you that ice in bong water probably gives the ol' MJ a softer, warmer taste.

yeah, right before they said "ear"