What's your WTF hifi moment

My positive WTF is when I heard some Mordaunt Short Pageant 2 for the first time. My speakers back then were 5 times the price and sounded horrible in comparison.

And my negative WTF are the overly costly speaker cable risers like these :

https://recordclean.com.au/telos-audio-design-cable-risers-stands-supports-lifters.html

 

"How do I use them?
Three cable stands are used per cable...no more, no less...regardless of the length of the cable. A pair of speaker cables will require two sets of three, evenly spaced. The spacing is very important.
*Please note: With these cable stands it does not matter if the cable between the stands touches the floor."

Who honestly believes this? Mental

 

Machina Dynamica of course.

https://www.machinadynamica.com/machina42.htm

A travel clock with a dot on it, put it anywhere in the room for instant sonic and visual improvements.

"The Clever Little Clock is a battery-powered travel clock the size of an iPhone that has been extensively modified using many highly specialized techniques. At least 19 steps are required to produce the Clever Little Clock, somewhat more for the new Signature version. The clock can be placed anywhere in the room with excellent results for both the sound quality of audio systems AND the picture quality of video systems. The Clever Little Clock is based on concepts and techniques that were developed by PWB Electronics, Leeds, England and is designed and manufactured exclusively by Machina Dynamica. May Belt of PWB Electronics provided assistance with this theory of operation."

 

I have a wtf moment every time I read that someone thinks a one metre mains cable at the end of miles of crappy ancient cable from the local substation can really make their kit sound better... in fact I despair for the stupidity of the human race in such circumstances.

 

I am not sure about a WTF moment but I am surprised how some Hifi manufacturers do themselves a disservice with hotel show/demo rooms. I appreciate it can't be easy, especially as there are usually a very limited number of ideal seats amongst the rows available but I do wonder on occasions if not attending would have been a better option.

I hope I will be proven wrong more often than not at this months Bristol.

 

And when they make skits like ‘and suppose the cables sound different. Ha ha!’
Couldn’t be bothered to have them around, and watch their jaws drop open when I did the cable swaps!
At least they don’t know how boring they are. Bless em!

 

And when they make skits like ‘and suppose the cables sound different. Ha ha!’
Couldn’t be bothered to have them around, and watch their jaws drop open when I did the cable swaps!
At least they don’t know how boring they are. Bless em!

 

Posted twice above.
I like to make my point!

 

...but, "Guaranteed to improve your sound significantly."

Surely you just claim on the guarantee if they don't improve your sound significantly?

 

Utterly ridiculous. Basic engineering tells you those are far too short to be truly effective and if the cable touches the floor in between them then that completely negates their benefits.

 

My WTF moment was the realisation that listening to a track that I was suffering sibilance with at home, sounded exactly the same at the dealers

Problem was...mine was a 30k Naim system and this was a 400k Naim statement system

Made me realise I could never "upgrade" my way out of the thing I disliked with the Naim sound

I sold everything and started again...never to look back!

 

Hearing a big Avantgarde horn system at a show in Milan, where the performers were just hanging in the air, astonishing realism, and then realising I had that album at home. Massive Attack, and not even acoustic music, so not even real in the first place! Never heard anything like it.
Oh, and a DIY mains cable where the drum attack made me literally jump. Totally unexpected, and repeatable.

 

Hearing a massive diy horn system at Scalford; built by 'SpeedySteve' iirc. It looked insane but sounded bloody marvellous, and not at all what I imagined it would sound like.

 

De La Soul approve of this message.

 

Were they the ones where the owner had driven them from I think Germany and they wouldn't go through the door into the room. Totally unphased he sawed them in half then glued them together once in the room. Respect!

 

Yes, that was them. I don't remember him having driven from Germany but it was still some display of commitment to take a saw to them.

 

A big WTF moment for me was indeed at a show, held in an exhibition centre. I walked in to see a £45k pair of 'speakers in a space that I estimated to have been set up as 10 metre cube.

The bass was so elevated in level and the volume control set so loud that I exited very quickly to escape the unpleasantness. Thinking I must have made a mistake I went back later and spent some time in the room. I didn't change my mind. If those doing the demo were achieving what they intended then I was certainly not amongst their target audience.

 

WTF moments?
1. As someone else mentioned, hearing a full blown massive set of Avantgarde Trio's. I've heard more expensive since but nothing bettered the Trio.
2. Certain dealers insisting what they sell is better than what they don't. Hmmm.
3. Going to see more and more live music and realising no hi-fi system gets even close!

 

Yeah, what do you expect from a pathetic entry level £30K system Maybe you should get a CD3/32.5/110.

 

That’s a fact, plenty of gear is already fused on the IEC socket.