IMO the most interesting bit Steven Plaskin left out of the review, and posted in the comments while answering to the usual attacks: "The fact is, the ECTs had a bigger effect on the sound than the USB devices I last reviewed. This is why I gave them a Greatest Bits."
IMO the most interesting bit Steven Plaskin left out of the review, and posted in the comments while answering to the usual attacks: "The fact is, the ECTs had a bigger effect on the sound than the USB devices I last reviewed. This is why I gave them a Greatest Bits."
This is what WBF needs more of...comic relief SR may actually have some products that do improve sonics but when they hawk little aluminum skittle-like doodads that you glue to ICs or your listening room walls it calls all their products into question. I'd be wary of buying anything that they mfr....just my $.02..
Peter...really? No crossed fingers? Come on now...
Give them a try (you got 30 days with a money back guarantee) and then you can make an informed (versus speculative) comment. And do try to avoid the dreaded "expectation bias" often cited by the "O" crowd.
What makes me wonder is the following. Suppose that SR releases all the rationale of how and why the products work, all detailed measurements, details about the patents, math and physics, statistical group studies, ABX tests, all the ifs and whys that some people want. Now these people would buy the product, hear for themselves and go "ahhh that is wonderful, I like it", feeling no remorse of what they are hearing because it is "proved".
Except that SR didn't release the secrets. And because of that these people will never hear the products, or if they do, with strong negative biases to refuse to accept. Now how interesting is that? External biases (rational explanation) influencing the listening experience?
Someone has posted a closeup of the little HFT doodads and they are nothing more than tiny machined aluminum bits. Now seriously guys...how can sticking tiny erasure sized aluminum bits...5 on your front wall...impact the sound in any way shape or form? The positive reviews have to be CHALKED UP TO the placebo effect or psychosomatic in nature...IMHO. This falls into the Machina Dynamica category...again IMHO..
Well, speaker horns are just some material (plastic, fiber glass, aluminum) shaped in the same format. Did the speaker designer take it as placebo as well? Oh no, these are measured, the dispersion is influenced by the horn shape. Ahh so these are credible.
But as to little horn shaped aluminum bits that apparently work the other way arround, receiving ambient sound and dispersing it in a calculated way, these are "impossible" to work. Unless someone measures what it is doing and why it is doing it, then everyone will agree it is credible.
But what about listening and forming one's own conclusion? Shouldn't that be the most importat thing?
Someone has posted a closeup of the little HFT doodads and they are nothing more than tiny machined aluminum bits. Now seriously guys...how can sticking tiny erasure sized aluminum bits...5 on your front wall...impact the sound in any way shape or form? The positive reviews have to be CHALKED UP TO the placebo effect or psychosomatic in nature...IMHO. This falls into the Machina Dynamica category...again IMHO..
That could have been me. In one post I showed the manufacturers photos of them and in another I showed what they would look like on my speakers.
I trimmed a wooden dowel to exactly 8mm in diameter and 8mm tall, just like the HFT. I didn't spend the time to cut the funnel into it, but it is the height and diameter of them as specified by the manufacturer.
Check out the photos. I placed one on a speaker as seen from a distance closer than I sit when I listen (look VERY closely to the left of the red bar to see the tiny speck--put on your glasses!), a close up on the speaker and one sitting on a ruler so you can see the actual size.
This is room treatment??? Just how many of these will I need??? It takes about 1400 to cover a square foot.
Below are a few photos are of a piece of wood dowel the EXACT SAME SIZE as the HFT thingies.
8 mm diameter by 8 mm tall
above, see the VERY TINY SPECK to the left of the red line. That's how it looks on my speaker.
above, here it is closer up. Can you see it now?
above, this is how big it is sitting on a ruler. About 8 mm in diameter and 8 mm tall.
Oh, and how could I forget, I attached them with actual Blu-tack that my daughter had left over from her childhood that she used to attach "glow in the dark stars" to her bedroom ceiling.
Wow Infinity's, I am a panel guy and would love to hear them one day, can't locate those in Europe. At Munich SR had 25 HFTs in the room, and when they took off 5, it made a major difference. They did this twice, and I went to two demos. They had placed 5 on each of their speakers and the rest around the room. If you call them up they will tell you how best you can place them for the first trial.
ps: Any thoughts on your panels vs Analysis Audio and Soundlabs? You can PM so that we can stay on topic on this thread.
Most people buy after listening or reading a review, where listening occurred. Much more people have kept the product after the 30 day trial period. I have not tried the HFTs but have some of Synergistic's other products. Most but not all of their products have worked quite well.