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fo.q tape

I think I tend to be sceptical because I have never read a post along the lines of ‘I spent £50 on sticky pads, put them on my capacitors and everything sounded truly horrible.’ Surely by the law of averages I should have by now? Or are all changes always for the better?
 
Martyn Miles said:
Adherents of cables, fuses, sticky tape, etc. always mention 'changes and differences.'
We've all come across them.
The bottom line is, are they nearer the real thing?
Music, I mean.
The thing most foo fans have forgotten about...
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In this case, yes
 
Marchbanks said:
I think I tend to be sceptical because I have never read a post along the lines of ‘I spent £50 on sticky pads, put them on my capacitors and everything sounded truly horrible.’ Surely by the law of averages I should have by now? Or are all changes always for the better?
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people only report positive outcomes. Same with stock market trading
 
MarkieW said:
people only report positive outcomes.
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Exactly, in this sort of field at least. Makes it hard to get a balanced view. I’d be reluctant to try anything if I felt all those who thought it was deleterious were keeping schtum about it.
 
MarkieW said:
I am a fan of SR fuses. I am a fan of uprated power cables. Some on here will instantly dismiss me because of this heresy. I find it amazing they cant hear the difference these things make.
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I'm not sure that 'heresy' is the right word, but that's ok. Whatever floats your boat. No need to get upset.
 
MarkieW said:
Yeah its pretty disheartening to be honest. This is supposed to be a fun hobby. I would guess the average spend of people on their hobby is at least 4 figures and a lot will be 5 figure total spend. But try a £60 experiment? Outrageous! Scam!

Its not unique though. Over on the US boards where I first heard about it, you get the same naysayers https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/ta-102-fo-q-product-from-japan-try-these and also proper hifi enthusiasts who actually try it, and find it to be excellent. So I shouldnt be surprised. Ploughing a new furrow is always tough, entrenched views on what works are exactly that and take time to change. Enough people need to try it for it to gain traction.

I'm thinking of doing a challenge to people, but why should I bother? I have £20 worth of it left, enough to do at least 2 pieces of kit, enough to easily demonstrate what it can do, get a bit of community buy in where people can hear the before and after, but most have already made up their tiny minds, so again, why would I bother?

Hopefully 1 or 2 will be interested enough to give a cheap tweak a go, and write it up. Maybe it will snow ball from there. Maybe I need to get an influencer?!

I have no financial tie in with the product whatsoever, but as an enthusiast, I would want to know about something that makes this much difference.

I am a fan of SR fuses. I am a fan of uprated power cables. Some on here will instantly dismiss me because of this heresy. I find it amazing they cant hear the difference these things make. Sure some changes are more subtle than others. Some changes are a trade off, better this, but less of that. Some stuff works well in one system, not in another.

But this stuff is pure audio gold. Its cheap, easy if a little time consuming to apply, and gives amazing bang for the buck results. Why they dont just flipping try it I dont know? Too busy knowing better from behind their keyboard I guess and showing off how clever they are, when in fact the opposite is true
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Thing is, £60 is only cheap if it works as claimed. Given that it has a hint of foo and snake oil about it, most will be inclined to believe that it is just that and all of a sudden, in that cold light of day, you're looking at paying £60 for a bit of tape that should cost no more than a fiver. For me it comes down to what sort of money am I willing to hedge a risky bet on and that's nowhere near as much as £60.

And the reason I say risky bet comes from their own website. The fact that the usage is so up in the air, stick it on your windows, your speakers sides, tops, bottoms, both! Your caps, your remotes, your cables! Stick that shit anywhere you can think! Errr.. That just sounds a bit unconvincing to me. It's also why you can't really compare it to spending money on cables. Cables have a very specific job and a singular use. Some people may spend more on a well manufactured cable despite it having no audio benefits. This is a bit of tape you can stick all over whatever you feel like.
 
Scotchegg said:
Thing is, £60 is only cheap if it works as claimed. Given that it has a hint of foo and snake oil about it, most will be inclined to believe that it is just that and all of a sudden, in that cold light of day, you're looking at paying £60 for a bit of tape that should cost no more than a fiver. For me it comes down to what sort of money am I willing to hedge a risky bet on and that's nowhere near as much as £60.

And the reason I say risky bet comes from their own website. The fact that the usage is so up in the air, stick it on your windows, your speakers sides, tops, bottoms, both! Your caps, your remotes, your cables! Stick that shit anywhere you can think! Errr.. That just sounds a bit unconvincing to me. It's also why you can't really compare it to spending money on cables. Cables have a very specific job and a singular use. Some people may spend more on a well manufactured cable despite it having no audio benefits. This is a bit of tape you can stick all over whatever you feel like.
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Because the position of the most problematic vibrations will vary from system to system! Hence the best results will depend on the setup of that system

And I, along with many others, have done the experiment sticking it on caps, circuit boards, chassis and power connectors and can tell you it really works. How much have you spent on each of your components of your hifi, including any vibration damping, cables, etc? Do you want to improve the sound you get? If so, then try this. The £60 is not about the physical thing you get to hold, but the improvement in sound quality. People spend £1k buying a better amp. The real thing they are buying is the uplift in sound. They may well get pride of ownership from looking at its shiny front, but the real thing that will have them returning it if not right is the improvement in SQ. That's what this gives. For £60, you get a massive improvement in SQ for the money you spend. Dont know why this is so hard to understand...
 
No need to be upset...even royalty can be fooled...wasn't there a story called 'The Emperor's new clothes', exactly about this sort of thing?
 
I’ve previously used copious amounts of dynamat on internal body panels when restoring cars as it reduces resonance and lessens road noise but applying this stuff to individual components in hifi?, If you like I’ve got a 50m roll of acoustic “duct” tape I could sell you?, you could do every electrical component in your house with that much, just think how wonderful your toast will taste once you’ve dampened the hysteresis in the element
 
MarkieW said:
Because the position of the most problematic vibrations will vary from system to system! Hence the best results will depend on the setup of that system

And I, along with many others, have done the experiment sticking it on caps, circuit boards, chassis and power connectors and can tell you it really works. How much have you spent on each of your components of your hifi, including any vibration damping, cables, etc? Do you want to improve the sound you get? If so, then try this. The £60 is not about the physical thing you get to hold, but the improvement in sound quality. People spend £1k buying a better amp. The real thing they are buying is the uplift in sound. They may well get pride of ownership from looking at its shiny front, but the real thing that will have them returning it if not right is the improvement in SQ. That's what this gives. For £60, you get a massive improvement in SQ for the money you spend. Dont know why this is so hard to understand...
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But it still doesn't answer why every manufacturer of hifi is not doing this. It's not licences, or IPR or anything like that.

If it is so cheap, and generates so much improvement, then it's a no brainer to any industry, think of the revenue increase.
 
Somafunk said:
I’ve previously used copious amounts of dynamat on internal body panels when restoring cars as it reduces resonance and lessens road noise but applying this stuff to individual components in hifi?, If you like I’ve got a 50m roll of acoustic “duct” tape I could sell you?, you could do every electrical component in your house with that much, just think how wonderful your toast will taste once you’ve dampened the hysteresis in the element
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Agree, then you could hold your hand against the panel before application and feel it vibrate. It was simple to measure, a tangible thing.

Here, it is not supported by measurement, just opinion and anecdotal evidence. Think the loch Ness monster.

Myself, I'm looking forward to a perfect cup of rather hot tea.
 
Somafunk said:
I’ve previously used copious amounts of dynamat on internal body panels when restoring cars as it reduces resonance and lessens road noise but applying this stuff to individual components in hifi?, If you like I’ve got a 50m roll of acoustic “duct” tape I could sell you?, you could do every electrical component in your house with that much, just think how wonderful your toast will taste once you’ve dampened the hysteresis in the element
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I am considering taking apart my brand new TV and applying it there as it happens...
 
chiily said:
But it still doesn't answer why every manufacturer of hifi is not doing this. It's not licences, or IPR or anything like that.

If it is so cheap, and generates so much improvement, then it's a no brainer to any industry, think of the revenue increase.
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Because they think like you!

I would wager that 99% of them have no idea this product exists
 
MarkieW said:
I am considering taking apart my brand new TV and applying it there as it happens...
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I don’t doubt you are considering this, try the compressor in your fridge as those things vibrate like buggery

ps : quite a good troll btw, you almost had me
 
Somafunk said:
I don’t doubt you are considering this, try the compressor in your fridge as those things vibrate like buggery

ps : quite a good troll btw, you almost had me
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I take it thats a bit tongue in cheek, but I'll bite. Dont think it would be a problem as all the hifi equipment is on some kind of isolator, and so with the tape inside reducing external vibration wont make much difference as its already been dealt with. The cables are next!
 
John Phillips said:
From 40-ish years of being interested in audio reproduction I have observed that technical stories explaining the basis for tweaks almost always contain a "then a miracle occurs" step in amongst some plausible science. The "vibrations into heat" part - OK. The "and cleans up the sound" part - "I think you should be more specific here in step two" (copyright Sidney Harris).
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I think I invented the word "MOOM" some years ago to sum this up. Mountains Out Of Molehills.

Yes, pretty much any physical substance dissipates some of the mechanical/pressure waves (e.g. 'sound') passing through them. As a 'claim' that's universal. Blobs of boot polish may well be 'better' s well as cheaper.

So, try some boot polish (snazzy colours available) and spend the rest on some LPs/CDs/downloads. 8-]
 
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