Shakti Stones

It's funny, when I used to work in BBC TV Sound, out of a department of about 30 only 4 were into hifi in any way at all!
One of them has, however, gone on to being flavour of the month in hifi power conditioning though..

 

Curiously, Henry, there is an instance of this, and it just shows you how gullible people can be. Peter Brock is Australia's most successful saloon car racer, with a great multiplicity of Bathurst 1000Km wins behind him. At a moment of an emotional low (after a particularly unsuccesssful drive at Le Mans), he fell in with a New Age guru. At this point, he was affiliated with Holden, General Motors' Oz offshoot, and started to produce one-off versions of the Commodore (derived from an Opel design but beefed up to take Oz big sixes and V8s). To these, he fitted a strange little box that was wired to the rear screen. This he called an "energy polariser". He wouldn't say much about it, except that it improved ride, fuel consumption, etc. - and some Oz road testers did indeed say that it did just this. However, someone was brave enough to take one apart - and it was full of loose crystals. It was in line with the New Age fascination with crystals being able to focus mystic energy and to give a sense of well-being, etc.

When Holden heard this, they hit the roof. The Brock one-offs were covered by Holden's guarantee, and here they were, being asked to guarantee this device for which there was no explanation for how it worked, if it did. Brock was adamant; it had to stay on the cars, because of the mystic energy factor. In the end, Holden had to withdraw its cooperation.

The amazing thing for me is that experienced motoring journalists observed the thing to work when it couldn't possibly work. The parallel with the Shakti stones is irresistible. Some people will believe anything.

 

Can these stones actually be taken apart to have a look inside?

 

Jeremy
i imagine they are a conglomerate of materials but no actual parts inside

 

Ah "the absorption and dissipation circuits in SHAKTI" made me wonder that their might be something of interest inside one of these things.

Thats a shame, because if i buy something I always like to take it apart and have a look inside.

 

No, I'm afraid they can't, you just lay them on top of component your trying to reduce the rfi emmisions on usually over tranformer area.
I have heard them work, albeit in a subtle way (not in my system) The ERS which Ian had no joy with works exceptional well with cdps/sacds/dvds & sensitive power suppiles/TV's Plasmas.
Anywhere near a clock or SMPS they are great.

Something I've been working on lately, note I hadn't at the time finshed placing the ers around the transformer.

 

I would like to point out, that doesn't resemmble the finished article, just used as a 'test bed' for a few days for placement and pattern testing, but you'll get the jist. Wm

 

Is that one of those anti-static dish cloths Tone

 

subtle use of bybees do i spy?

 

I don't get it. You note that Ian had no joy with it, then state it works exceptionaly well.....

You mean sometimes? Or was Ian not using it right?

 

Ian, used pretty well right I think, He put it inside his phono stage, some things it can have an adverse effect on too, speaker x/overs are one I've found, squashes the dynamics, yet on other stuff works very well, just as no hearers can't hear any difference, quite a lot can Mo, in dvd players it can make a lot of difference, but as always a case of personal use with tell I'm afraid. Wm

As for those stones, I've heard them 3 times, only once did I hear a difference, but difference there was, weather it was worth the price of the 5 stones, is down to the indivdual. I personaly have no need for them, I arrive at the same end point from a different direction.

 

Stones?

Complete and utter bulls*it. Ranks up there with foil stickers on the corners of light switches and snake oil.

Mass damping works so if you really feel you need to do something, get some nice bricks, spray em matt black and stand them on your kit!

Spend the money sorting out a dedicated mains spur or on some filtration. Biggest upgrade you will ever make and it won't cost you a fortune.

How about just listening to some music on all those thousands of pounds worth of kit!

 

so RFI cancelation aint your thing?
your missing out

 

Penance, I feel wardth's even more encamped in Tones trenches, than Tones is

 

Tone it would appear that there are still people out there who are unaware of the enemy within.

 

:cry: :yikes: :chop: :bs: :bakeoff: Merlin I'm stunned, how could you possibly think such a dark and dastardly thought

 

I fear you may be right, alas some souls are lost to themselves

 

...but their wallets have been saved from the demon Pseudo-Upgrade. Hallelujah! Amen!

 

Tones, I can see a cunning ploy by yourself in operation here , yes Tones 'Soon to be pateneted' wallet clamping device/agent, It'll be a best seller in selected parts of the british Isles I feel Tones the yonger and more wallet chalenged

 

You got a spy in my office or something? The wallet will be fitted with a proximity device that senses the approach of a hi-fi dealer and locks shut when still several hundred metres away. I'm working on an Internet-based one which can detect that you're going to use a credit card for nefarious hi-fi-related purposes and that automatically aborts the proposed sale.

Speaking of nefarious dealings, how about this latest US business method patent, granted just the other day (I didn't believe it either):

US 6,658,390

System and method for reselling a previously sold product


Main Claim: A method for reselling a product, comprising:
selling a product to a first purchaser at a first price;
determining that the product can be resold at a second price that is higher than the first price;
responsive to the determining step, recalling the product from the first purchaser; and
reselling the recalled product to a second purchaser at the second price, in which the product includes at least one of an airline ticket and a hotel room reservation.

Naturally, it's American.