Anyone heard of this tweak??? (1 Viewer)

[Gary Zabunian]

"Pick up a Radio Shack Digital clock for $17.99 CAT. NO. 63-796. Plug it into the wall (at the system) and allow the capacitors inside the unit several minutes to charge the house main. Over a peroid of 20 minutes you will begin to hear increased bass performance and cleaner sounding high's. Over the next 60 minutes you will hear your soundstage bloom with increased width and depth and much better imaging. Video perception is actually very interesting. If your looking into tweaking your old RPTV into HDTV quality I can't think of any other method that out performs the digital clock. Increased color saturation, less grain, and video depth (increased blacks) are some of the few traits of this tweak."
The pulsing of the digital clock put in the same AC outlet that your home theater is hooked up to increases the electrical signal for the whole system.
The father of this tweak to my knowledge is George Tice. Maybe some of you have heard about the Tice Pulse Clock, well here it is. George did a demo for the media back in the late 80's descibing a new technology that enhanced electrical power. For his demo he used a simple digital clock and said his new technology was already installed inside the clock. The members of the media (with the exception of Stereophile) liked the demo. This new technology he was basically describing is now known as "parallel filtering".

 

[Lee Bailey]

Gary, This tweak is discussed over at the AVS forum page. Apparently it works, but one needs to watch closely, if the picture gets worse, then they need to replace the plug, swapping the AC connections, and trying it again. I'm gonna give it a try because it's a cheap tweak.
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The Bailey's Web Page and Home Theatre
The Bailey's DVD Collection

 

[Burke Strickland]

I'd be very interested in seeing the sources for the above statements. Without attribution for verifiability, the quotes read a lot like the verbiage in various "urban legends" and virus hoaxes sent around the 'Net. (And well meaning people with my best interests at heart are almost always the ones who send them to me.)
Interestingly, some of the effects ascribed to a $20 digital clock are very similar to those claimed for the $700 Richard Gray's Power Company. But I think I'd buy two of the Richard Gray's before I'd run down to Radio Shack to buy one of their digital clocks, at least for the purposes decribed here. I'm sure the clock shows the time more reliably than the Richard Gray's. :>) But I've had a Rat Shack digital clock plugged into my house wiring for years without it turning any of my video displays into HDTV. :>)
Burke

 

[John Garcia]

But I've had a Rat Shack digital clock plugged into my house wiring for years without it turning any of my video displays into HDTV. :>)

LMAO!

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[RicP]

quote: Interestingly, some of the effects ascribed to a $20 digital clock are very similar to those claimed for the $700 Richard Gray's Power Company. But I think I'd buy two of the Richard Gray's before I'd run down to Radio Shack to buy one of their digital clocks, at least for the purposes decribed here[/quote]So, let me get this straight...
You'd happily spend $1400 because Richard Gray "claims" that he can clean up your AC line, but you wouldn't spend $17.99 to see if the Clock even works?

I mean Radio Shack does have a return policy.
That's the basic problem with the Tweekers v. Geekers discussions. The Tweekers claim that a clock can make your system better (in all honesty, a dubious claim) but the Geekers won't even spend $18 to try it, they'd rather just make fun of it and spend $1400 on a product that claims to do the same thing. A funny lot.
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Ric Perrott
My Theater ;My DVD's

 

[Manuel Delaflor]

This is a joke...
right?

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[Steve T]

Wouldn't the clock in my VCR do the same thing?

 

[Burke Strickland]

Ric -
The Richard Gray's Power Company has the physical heft (and some engineering behind it) to have at least some credibility to do what is claimed for it. It was designed to clean up the power current, and I'd be more willing to believe a device that is designed for the job and looks the part will have a more salutatory effect than merely plugging in a little clock.
But perhaps you missed the point that, in effect, by using one of their digital clocks for keeping time, I've already TRIED the digital clock "tweak". All it did was show me the time. Nothing changed audibly or visually in my HT system when I started using a Radio Shack digital clock.
But, I hadn't mentally set myself up for the placebo effect, either. Maybe I should unplug it and replug it in, while thinking this time: "I'm plugging it in to have the magical effects I read about on the Internet". That must be what I was missing last time around. :>)
Burke
PS -- Actually, I've also tried the Richard Gray's in my system with a lot of skepticism going in, saying "I don't really believe this will make a difference." But it did (although not even it would turn an NTSC display into HDTV) :>), so I bought them. And I still have the Radio Shack clock, because it still shows me the time. :>)
And what REALLY lowered the noise floor in my system this past week was getting a new pre/pro -- out of the box, no "tweaks". How much more quiet than "silent" can we get? :>)

 

[RicP]

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000605.html
explains a little of the "reasoning" behind this tweak.
I can't say I believe it, but for $18 AND a return policy, I'm sure going to try it.

Perhaps you missed the point that, in effect, by using one of their digital clocks for keeping time, I've already tried the digital clock "tweak

Unless you made sure that the clock was plugged in "in-series" with the rest of your gear, then you didn't try it as it was explained to me. The clock also cannot contain a battery in the battery compartment. And the LED face should be rather large and the dimmer should be set all the way up.
Try it again following all of that, and THEN if you still don't notice a lowering of the noise floor, then you can truly say that you did all that you can.
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Ric Perrott
My Theater ;My DVD's

 

[Burke Strickland]

Aha! Now that I've read the "rationale", I'll bet the clock may be doing some of the same things in "cleaning up the signal" that devices like the Mondial Antenna Ground Isolation Circuit do as a serendipitous side effect to their eliminating ground loop hum. It is inadvertantly, (not by design), in the case of the clock, acting as line filter. Since my line is already "filtered" many times over, it makes sense that plugging in the clock, adding yet another overlapping filtering device, wouldn't make any noticable difference. Note, though, that I was using a digital clock from Radio Shack long before I had ever heard of Richard Gray's power conditioning equipment, and it didn't make a difference then either. But...
A couple of the universal "outs" for advocates of a "tweak" when it doesn't seem to work for others are #1 -- "you didn't set it up quite right/you used the wrong materials" or #2 -- "your powers of observation aren't 'educated' enough to appreciate the difference". And the most fun is when they can persuade someone else to do something really ridiculous or time consuming just to see if that other person can perceive a marginal effect. (If the other person can't, see #2.) :>)
So, sorry, I'm not going to unplug everything else just to see if the Rat Shack clock would make a marginal difference on its own. I've got enough tweaking to do for a while with my new pre/pro! I'll leave that other experimentation to others since I'd always be left wondering -- do I have one with a big enough digital display? :>)
Have fun -
Burke
PS -- Someone was observant in noticing that this particular clock has those filtering characteristics. Someone else a while back had to be pretty observant to notice that mountain grown beans brew into a tasty beverage. I wonder what they were using the beans for before they made coffee? :>)

 

[John Garcia]

$18 AND a return policy....hehehe
Somehow, I have a hard time believing this one, otherwise Radio Shack would have a hard time keeping those clocks in stock, and we would all have one in basically every outlet in the house connected to any useful device.

 

[Alf S]

J H. C !!! When will this BS stop!? Don't people stop and think, or at least utilize common sense anymore!!??
If ONE person types some magical post SOMEWHERE on the net "claiming" some new magical "tweak" is "amazing"..WHY OH WHY does everyone believe it?? Worst yet, I see people are beating up other people for doubting this preposterous tweak!
p.s.
Don't say "you can't say that because you've never tried it!" Hell, I know a car muffler is hot when a car is running, I don't need to fricken touch it to find that out!!
Arrrrrgh!

Ok, venting complete
Alfer
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[RicP]

quote: Don't say "you can't say that because you've never tried it!" Hell, I know a car muffler is hot when a car is running, I don't need to fricken touch it to find that out!![/quote]How do you know? Is it because at some point you touched one? Or was it because someone TOLD you once that the Muffler gets hot? People are not born with the innate knowledge that mufflers are hot, so you must have acquired this piece of knowledge somewhere right? What if next month a car company announced that they've created a new "Cool-touch" muffler that runs cool to the touch? And what if someone read this release and posted it on the Web? Would you automatically discount it as "ludicrous" because YOU know that mufflers are hot?

It's the easiest thing in the world to discount something by waving your hand and saying "Preposterous!". It's much less easy, yet much more intelligent...to actually "attempt" something and come to your own experienced and educated conclusion. THAT'S all that people are asking. If it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work...no sleep lost. You don't even HAVE to try it if you don't want, but then you really have no basis to discount it simply because it sounds preposterous to YOU.
A wise man once said..."The dumbest Man on Earth is the Man who believes he is smart enough to know everything."
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Ric Perrott
My Theater ;My DVD's

 

[Oswald Pascual]

You want a real ultimate tweak in sound, go get your ears professionally cleaned out. I am not kidding, you would be surprised at the stuff they get out of your ear that a Q-tip can't do. Then go home and be prepared to be amazed at the new fidelity your system will give you.
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[Tom Vodhanel]

>>>But, I hadn't mentally set myself up for the placebo effect, either. Maybe I should unplug it and replug it in, while thinking this time: "I'm plugging it in to have the magical effects I read about on the Internet". That must be what I was missing last time around. :>)
Burke

 

[Craig Robertson]

this is the same tweak as the Tice clock from about ten years ago. Tice actually claimed to have "treated" the clock somehow, tho.

 

[Perry Mason]

actually i use a digital clock that I obtained from Lourdes...it most definitely makes spirituals and all those gospel pieces that I order at 3 am sound infinitely more open and gives it that je ne sais quoi...regarding the radio shack model, do you feel that it being made in china plays any role at all? what about swiss made digitals?

 

[Lee Bailey]

If you already have $1400.00 worth of power conditioning equipment, I would doubt you'd see any difference by trying this $18.00 tweak. The author, Alan Maher, does a lot of serious tweaking, and there appears to be some method to his madness. You don't want to try it, fine. It doesn't mean you have to bash it either.
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The Bailey's DVD Collection

 

[Grant B]

I hear the Sonys do a super job except on December 6th and likewise the Baun- don't use on Armistice day or kiss the Sudetenland and HDTV goodbye, Neville
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Why?
Why do you keep hounding me and harassing me and hounding me?
It's not like I don't have anything better to do, you know.
It's not like the Phantom Cruiser is going to wax itself.
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I am a superhero!
A very very busy superhero! Who does...things!
Now get out of here before I tell your mother.
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[Matt Stryker]

So I need to plug it into the same wall outlet that the surge suppressor is in, or into the surge suppressor. I need a clock for my living room anyway, so I don't waste away all my time on DVDs. What the hell.
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