Volume Controls - a bit more...
Almost a year ago I wrote the entry
Volume Control where I talked about a
company that was selling a passive volume control for your high-end stereo for prices ranging from $3,780 up to $6,820.
This was for a box (a very pretty box indeed) with two stepped transformers in it. Fixed voltage in, variable (stepped) voltage out.
They then went on to say that you really needed to get the accessory knobs at $485 each. Their advertising copy said:
The beech wood is coated several times with C37 lacquer for best sound as pointed out by Dieter Ennemoser.
Well, today, I ran into another reference to the good Herr. Ennemoser and it seems that he is the very model of a modern pseudo-scientist. He got his start making violins and now
has his own website filled with the most amazing bits of piffle and fluff.
He is flogging a fiddle lacquer he makes called C37. From the how it works page:
The C37 Ū Theory
All attempts by science to explain the secrets of the character of sound have so far been unsuccessful. On other hand, there is the immensely rich store of experience accumulated by instrument makers, who, in earlier centuries before science had any impact, had their greatest successes.
There must be, therefore, some property of acoustics that has been overlooked by science.
The object of my research was to seek the missing link.
My technical training, my earlier passion for High Fidelity sound, and my profession as sound technician were the building blocks of my work. The more important part of training came later: a violin makerīs apprenticeship with master violin maker Carl Sandner in Mittenwald, Germany and further studies in violin playing and singing. That was followed by the the long hard search for sound quality in violins. Many years of innumerable experiments finally resulted in an important clue:
The imperative selection of the right materials (wood and varnish quality) raised the question about the existence of a reference property. I eventually discovered that human bones and tissue to possess similar qualities. A more detailed analysis showed that carbon is the decisive element in sound quality, and since the sound is also coloured by body temperature, I chose to call this property the
C37 structure.
(Where C = Carbon and 37 = body temperature in degrees Centigrade).
Further analysis showed that C37 frequencies lie very close together (at least 10 frequencies per octave) and this structure reoccurs in each octave.
Another important feature of the C37 structure is that the decay-pattern is the dominant feature rather than merely the amplitudes on a frequency response curve.
It is precisely the C37 Structure that enables our ear to discern the quality of sound.
The ear consists of several interacting elements, eardrum, hammer, anvil, stirrup auditory hairs), each of which has its own C37 property, so that at the end of the chain, the C37 properties are transmitted in preference to others. Consequently the C37 structure is extremely sharp and clear at the end of this chain and gives humans a marvelously sensitive measuring instrument.
The website talks about using this wonderful stuff (r) on all sorts of things including the beechwood knobs mentioned earlier but also speaker cones, bells, the speaker boxes themselves. Testimonials abound.
The question I had is if this new 'wonderful stuff (R)' is based on the relationship between carbon and body heat, why does it work on stuff that is perpetually at room temperature (whatever that is?).
At $215 for two ounces of the stuff, it is still cheaper that Ink Jet ink (which is about $8K/gallon!) but still...
And I am still waiting for a double-blind test to see if people can tell the dfference... I like good audio but enough is enough.
Posted by DaveH at August 18, 2005 9:31 PM
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