|   Time to start turning off the lights.... | pctower
Oct 24, 2003 9:30 AM | | around this joint:
"For anyone who has ever struggled with the tangle of wires behind the entertainment systems, looking for the one connector that is the difference between surround sound and silence, a hero is on the horizon.
Its name is 802.11, better known as wi-fi. It could break you free from the wires that bind.
Wi-fi is short for "wireless fidelity," in which digital information is transmitted over a low-power radio frequency. It is the same technology that makes your cordless phone possible, but wi-fi is much more versatile.
It can connect computers to the Internet, or transmit music and photos from your computer to your entertainment system.
b And one day, it could mean an end to the rat's nest of cables lurking behind your entertainment center, with components connected by radio waves."
More at:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1024wifi1024.html
To think of all the millions of spilled words, shattered friendships and ruined reputations coming out of the long, dark years of the Great Cable Wars, and in the final analysis it will all have been for naught. |
| If only it were so - or could be so ... | woodman
Oct 24, 2003 10:21 AM | | ... I for one, would break out the bubbly and toast the demise of friggin' wire. I look upon wire as the bane of my existence over the past 60 years ... I positively HATE the stuff. The fact that people choose to argue and debate endlessly over the merits (or lack thereof) of various wires, I find both humorous and pathetic. For what they MIGHT be able to add to the performance of any system can only be so damned minuscule as to be laughable. Those that rant about HUGE improvements, and NIGHT & DAY differences are in dire need of professional help, IMO.
But if and when "Wi-Fi" becomes the norm, it'll only mean that the name of this board will have to be changed so that those so inclined can argue endlessly about whose "Wi" has the greatest "Fi".
woodman |
| A solution in search of a problem | skeptic
Oct 24, 2003 11:04 AM | | Call me old fashioned, call me anti progress (are tubes, horn speakers, and vinyl phonograph records a step forwards or backwards?) I see no reason to use radio linkups unless there is some unusuall installation problem. Wires work perfectly well, in fact IMO the cheap off the shelf type work perfectly for their purpose, they are inexpensive, they can easily be installed and replaced, they give you the flexibility to connect the same equipment in different ways, and if there is a problem, it is usually fast and simple to isolate it and correct it. Unless you spend half your life behind your equipment, you install it once and forget about it. When radio linkups arrive, there will be a lot of hooting and hollering about its limitations and its sound among other things by audiophiles. Just you wait and see. |
| Holy Moly! | RADAR O_Riley
Oct 26, 2003 1:15 PM | | I hear you, Woodman. !!!
b "I for one, would break out the bubbly and toast the demise of friggin' wire. I look upon wire as the bane of my existence over the past 60 years"
That's serious Woodman. I find my contempt for capitalist promotionalism to be less narrowly focused, but there are few areas where consumer rape is more flagrant than in the high-end audio business. The old expression "getting screwed without even getting kissed" has never been more applicable, because wire nuts become fanatical (whereas fans of a particular brand of soap or toothpaste seldom take it to the level of religious fervor). I have a little story to share with you that I'm sure will have you gritting your teeth, as it does with me every time I think about it.
Several years ago I drove several hundred miles to pick up a pair of used speakers at a doctor's home. The mans 4000+ sq. ft. home was in a gated and guarded community with a minimum lot size of three acres. Not exactly a slum. I took along a friend, another engineer/analyst, and when the two of us walked into this guys "audio room" I couldn't help laughing and pointing out his insane wiring scheme to my buddy. It was obvious that they guy had spent some big bucks on his wire, and he'd put a great deal of time and effort into "getting it right." The wire itself was over an inch in diameter, and was carefully suspended on PVC pedestals so that the music didn't rub against the floor on its way to the speakers. ;-) Now I was careful, and didn't make any negative comments. Just pointed at the wire, and said something like "there you go, Lee," and then laughed a little. Lee's comments were equally innocuous. Our lack of comment was assumed to be a sign that we were highly impressed (typical cable-nut arrogance at work), so this guys WIFE goes off on this tail of woe, about this friggin' wire. Almost made me cry. They'd just moved into the house, and their credit was pushed to the limit by the time they'd furnished the place. It was the Christmas season, but they were so broke that they agreed that for this one year, they'd forgo the normal exchange of gifts. They just couldn't afford it. (Clearly, a million bucks isn't what it use to be.) ;-)
Then a day or two before Christmas an "audio-salesman/friend" calls on the phone, ranting about the huge improvement he's hearing with these great new cables. The Doc has to hear this, so the guy visits, and brings his magical cables, and naturally, since the Doc trusted the guy, and since the guy is as slick as DNA (the slimy part of snot) Doc heard the "huge improvement" and had to replace his just under $1000 speaker wire with this new $1700.00 wire. With his dual runs for bi-amping that meant $3400.00, two days before Christmas. The man was torn apart, because he just couldn't live without the new magical wire. That's the way his wife told it, and he did not contradict her, so I assume it is an accurate portrayal. She, being the loving wife, told him that it was OK with her if he wanted to get the stuff, so he ran another $3400.00 up on his line of credit. He did this two days before a Christmas in which they could not afford to exchange gifts. This is what cable-cult-craziness does to people. It rots their brains, turns them off to science, engineering, logic, and common sense, and makes them do incredibly stupid things, all of which are directed by and promoted by the high-end audio rags and industry. It goes way beyond a sham. Like "no interest credit cards" it's nothing more than consumer rape, and the raped consumers are fooled into loving it. Just try to IMAGINE being unable to buy gifts for your wife, but equally unable to resist the allure of magical wire. CAN you imagine that? I've seen it and still find it hard to believe that one industry could so disrupt the thinking of an educated man. How would you like to have your chest opened by a doctor who would sell out his wife's Christmas gift for |
| Holy Moly! (the last few lines) | RADAR O_Riley
Oct 26, 2003 1:18 PM | | How would you like to have your chest opened by a doctor who would sell out his wife's Christmas gift for magical speaker wire? Does that give you a warm-fuzzy? Scares the crap out of me. Idiots in the operating room is the only way to describe it, is it not?
Funnier still, this moron, a vinyl-head as well as a wire-nut (how typical), had his turntable located directly in front of one of his loudspeakers, in a position where it was being heavily modulated by the systems bass output. The turntable isolation did not eliminate the feedback, and it made his system sound muddy. No, that's too charitable. It made his system sound like crap. But damn-it, he had some good wire, and was a happy camper. Does seeing a music lover get shafted this way, or seeing a doctor make such irresponsible decisions concern me? Well heck Woodman, does it concern you?
(Same answer.) ;-)
However, in spite of the degree to which we seem to agree on the contemptible nature of audio fraud, it concerns me a little when you speak as if it's been a monkey on your back for 60 years. Is that really true?
(If so, I think I'll indulge in a round of depression.)
R.O. |
| H.L. Mencken said. . . | Swerd
Oct 27, 2003 11:07 AM | | Your story about the MD with more money than brains reminded me about my favorite cynical quote from H.L. Mencken
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." |
| Holy Moly! ..... what a story! | woodman
Oct 28, 2003 5:05 PM | | RADAR:
My comments on your post(s):
b "How would you like to have your chest opened by a doctor who would sell out his wife's Christmas gift for magical speaker wire? Does that give you a warm-fuzzy? Scares the crap out of me. Idiots in the operating room is the only way to describe it, is it not?"
I wouldn't want such an idiot to take my blood pressure, let alone CUT ME!
b " Funnier still, this moron, a vinyl-head as well as a wire-nut (how typical), had his turntable located directly in front of one of his loudspeakers, in a position where it was being heavily modulated by the systems bass output. The turntable isolation did not eliminate the feedback, and it made his system sound muddy. No, that's too charitable. It made his system sound like crap."
If he had the turntable sitting directly in front of a speaker, didn't this also block some of the sound emanating from that speaker? So-called "educated" people making such STUPID mistakes DOES concern me ... not only regarding audio, but in other areas as well (such as politics).
b "But damn-it, he had some good wire, and was a happy camper. Does seeing a music lover get shafted this way, or seeing a doctor make such irresponsible decisions concern me? Well heck Woodman, does it concern you?"
You betcha it does.
woodman
P.S. My statement that "wire has been a bane of my existence for 60 years" wasn't related to the snake-oil marketing of wire, which I look upon as being very nearly a serious fraud and inhumane, but for its plain physical attributes, such as having an almost magical way of getting tangled with itself, how difficult it used to be to trace wires through a "hard-wired" product, and what a nightmare of a "rat's nest" it makes behind equipment racks. |
| re: Time to start turning off the lights.... | Rockwell
Oct 24, 2003 12:30 PM | | Using that technology would require that speakers be self amplified, which means you still need power cables. I think this conundrum is called the "Last Wire" problem(usually applied to computer equipment), where you get rid of one wire, but still need another. Eventually, that may be fixed as well, but speakers may draw more power than a laptop. http://www.etmag.com/publication/magazine/2003-05/98.htm |
| No, the real nut-cases will need magic wire for wi-fi ... | RADAR O_Riley
Oct 26, 2003 12:28 PM | | ... and snake oil will come out of the woodwork. Don't take my word for it. Just wait and see for yourself.
R.O. |
| Don't forget the magic antennas, too(nt) | FLZapped
Oct 27, 2003 10:13 AM | | |
| Caution may be in order. | RADAR O_Riley
Oct 27, 2003 1:17 PM | | Good point. Better keep the Shakti Stone away from the wireless stuff lest it suck-up all the RF before it gets to where it's needed. ;-) |
| |
