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The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, and the Hoaxipedia.

Web Hoax Museum

RUDE ROVER
The Christmas dog with no class! He sings and toots Jingle Bells.
INFLATABLE TREE
Who needs the hassle of a real Christmas tree?
FARTING SANTA
Go ahead and pull his finger!

The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear... way better sound!!

I can't believe that there has not been a single knob joke in this thrtead to date. What are you people - grownups?

Knob knob knobbin’ on heaven’s door, thank you MOH, once again I had a wonderfull time exploring strange, new phenomena on the web. On the journey I encountered http://www.ennemoser.com/ with his beautiful "wooden membrane speakers, that sound better than the old cardboard type". There’s Dr. Gizmo who did a double blind test audio smell test, check it out at http://www.meta-gizmo.com/Tri/adv/DoubleBlind.html And of course there’s much, much more.

I contacted an audiophile friend, who told me that a lot of the top end stuff actually comes from Switzerland, and that its appearance can be very basic. He had a quick look at http://www.audio-consulting.ch/ and said that this was utter nonsense. But then again, maybe his condition isn’t as bad as I thought. There is a thin line between hoax and scam...

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoyed myself exploring this eleborate hoax, or maybe better, ingenious art project of some sort. I think they succesfully mock the audio craze. Have a look at the customer systems! It's amazing how they've inspired others to ‘do it themselves’. I love the “woodLenses, made of an extremely slow growing Swiss wood, that have an exceptional effect on audio equipment placed atop of them, especially CD-players”. Good old Dr. Gizmo granted audio consulting an audio art award for “saving the American family” as you’ll find under references. And I’d love to buy one of these wooden tonearms, I just can’t decide wich wood is best, the “beach wood arm with C37 treatment on wood included” (Price: € 3950.00) or “the 42'000 year old swamp Kaori with C37 on wood included” (Price: € 4900.00). I’ve mailed my question to audioconsulting and have also asked how I can order one, because I can’t find out how that works with these guys…. If I hear from them I’ll let you know what they sound like.

Big Gary said

OK, here's a question for you audio-knowledgeable types:

Supposing that using wooden knobs on a high-end stereo outfit really does somehow make the sound better, why couldn't I whittle my own from a piece of scrap lumber at a total cost of ... nothing?
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Gary, I have already admitted my lack of knowledge so I don't really qualify as an "audio knowledgeable type" but I can refer you to a page I linked to previously.

http://www.audio-consulting.ch/C37_wooden_knobs.htm

Scroll to the bottom and you will see some unfinished knobs. I don't see any reason a halfway decent carpenter couldn't make them. The onlt specs seem to be the type of wood (solid beech in this case) as well as a bronze core which they claim achieves much better sound than any other metal or plastic.

Stork said:

"The music doesn't become sound until it reaches the speakers, folks. Until it is converted into sound in the speakers, it is nothing but a stream of signal being passed down the wires, or nowadays, thru a wireless transmission, sometimes."

Exactly correct, Mr. Stork. This whole "wooden knob" thing is a big joke on people who think that the most expensive thing must automatically be the BEST thing. Like another poster said, these would have about as much impact on the sound coming out of your speakers as changing your shorts would.

Although Barnum never said, "There's a sucker born every minute," the guy who DID was about 30 seconds off. Or as Frank Zappa said, hydrogen isn't the most common element in the Universe, stupidity is.

Charybdis said:

"One of them has been an 'expert' for probably 20 years now, and he once spent $10,000 on gold-plated speaker cable that sounds exactly like the cable that came with the system. He refused to allow us to perform a blind test of his ability to distinguish between the two."

Isn't that interesting? Why, it's almost as if, on some level, he KNEW that his ridiculously expensive cable didn't do squat to the audio. I mean, if they were worth $20k, why wouldn't he want to PROVE to you that he knew what he was talking about? The ability of the human mind to bullshit itself is amazing, isn't it?

One word: poppycock!!

Cranky Media Guy - Thanks for validating what I thought all along. I know you're a pro.

You're welcome, Stork, although you hardly needed my validation. This thing has "Emperor's New Clothes" written all over it.

Har it's funny. Regardless of electromagnetic or digital signals and the effect of wooden knobs on their transmission, I find this whole thing even funnier because... if the metal volume knob on your stereo has such a profound effect on the sound of your system, what effect does the huge metal amp case have on the sound? If changing one knob to a bit of wood makes such a difference, then surely what you REALLY need to do is eliminate the big clunky steel box which contains all the electronics...

I might start producing high-end audiophile equipment made out of lovely polished wooden boxes (just like the old days). Wow, what could I charge for a wooden amp? £5000? Of course, it would have a metal volume knob, with an optional upgrade to awooden knob. For only £1000.

Mark

People are like this, always. They are narrow-minded like the topicstarter and most of the crowd who replied, too stupid to figure out how it is possible, and too protective for their tiny, narrow-minded world by refusing to even think. Keep doing this, that's great, the less people use their brains, the easier it is to live well for those who do.

D.R. Norman said:

"People are like this, always. They are narrow-minded like the topicstarter and most of the crowd who replied, too stupid to figure out how it is possible, and too protective for their tiny, narrow-minded world by refusing to even think."


Well, why don't you explain to us fools how exactly wooden knobs can demonstrably improve the sound of an otherwise unaltered stereo system...you know, since you're so much smarter and open-minded than the rest of us. It's OK to use small words so that we simpletons can follow what you say, by the way.

This is a very nice Wooden Knobs wish he all the best.

This seems like it should be a joke,