Author Topic: a leap of faith  (Read 7391 times)

shep

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a leap of faith
« on: September 10, 2011, 12:04:09 AM »
I'm in the middle of a big house painting job (a large attic space in a 17th cent. house down the road) and feeling flush so...having been booted by Grover as a beta tester for having said something less than glowing (I don't even know what or where!) about his latest creation, and having that old itch; I followed my nose to Sablon audio and after some discussion was offered a second hand set of rca cables by M. Wolf. They are to be terminated in a new set of Xhadow plugs, burned and sent this week. I haven't a clue what these will sound like. There's only one review on-line. Usually my intuition serves me well. They are not cheap (by my limited standards) and this is really a leap into the unknown. There's nothing especially wrong with the Grover's I own...well you get the picture. It's not called Nervosa for nothing. More to follow.

Offline tmazz

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2011, 12:56:00 AM »
I always thought the purpose of a beta tester was to have someone report back with the bad as well as the good points so that they can be addressed before the item goes into full blown production. Sounds to me like Grover was looking more for a fanboy than a tester.
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shep

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2011, 08:40:22 AM »
I thought so too...live and learn.

Offline _Scotty_

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2011, 01:00:22 PM »
When I was a beta tester a strict non-disclosure agreement was in effect and my feedback to the manufacturer was specifically not for public consumption.
 The manufacturer sells the public on the trustworthiness of his brand and the sale of an individual product comes afterwards.
A product not ready for prime time does not fairly represent the brand and if knowledge of its short-comings enters into the public domain this may damage the public's trust in the brand which means longterm loss of sales.
 Marketing and beta-testing were two completely separate processes.
Scotty

Offline Carlman

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2011, 02:15:12 PM »
Yes, when I have beta tested, the results were between me and the manufacturer only.

I thought the public was Grover's beta testers, though.  ;) I mean, with a version per month product, ditching previous versions, isn't really a normal release schedule.
I really enjoy listening to music.

Offline richidoo

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2011, 03:30:10 PM »
His marketing scheme is to give away free wires to active and impressionable audio forum talkers in the hope that they will have an eargasm and convince others to buy them. There is no beta program.

shep

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2011, 11:36:36 PM »
His marketing scheme is to give away free wires to active and impressionable audio forum talkers in the hope that they will have an eargasm and convince others to buy them. There is no beta program.
Ouch! Well I guess that means me. There was never a non-disclosure agreement except for the sort 'please don't talk about this yet" sort. I don't want to diss Grover since he was trusting and generous. I still  think the latest cable I have is excellent but it's time to move one. Mail box I am counting the days!

Offline richidoo

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2011, 04:52:03 AM »
You, me and many others.

grover

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2011, 08:55:55 AM »
That's partly true Rich, but I do have beta testers. I always strive to improve my cables and shep is a beta tester. But beta testers usually do not speak about a new cable being tested publicly without notifying the maker. That being said I enjoy shep and he will continue being a beta tester with me if he will let me know his impressions of my cables before he publishes them. I've made some wonderful progress lately with my RCA cable out performing the JPS Aluminata in carefully controlled sessions.

Grover,
Just wanted you to know that your latest IC vastly outperformed the $3,700 JPS Labs Aluminata 1m RCA Analogue that an Audiogon acquaintance sent me to try. 
Your cable was open, dynamic, with terrific detail and wonderful sound stage; whereas the JPS was detailed yet opaque, as if there was a curtain -- a heavy one - between the speaker and  the listener. 
This was true on two different systems, one with top of the line Apogees, and terrific electronics, the other on my Dynaudio Confidence One/McIntosh/Lampizator system.
Laurence from Santa Barbara
[/i]

I have further improved the cables since this test. It’s fun and exciting to hear the music as real in front of you. Nothing is more exciting than cable science.

grover

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2011, 07:23:24 AM »
Oh one more thing I don't give cables away, sometimes I provide cables for audition purposes but they must be returned. If anyone on this forum would like to audition my cables send me a message.
 
Here's an email I received today regarding my RCA cable


Hi again!

Your cables arrived safely 2 dags ago  and was immediately thrown into action.If the ICs  wasn´t "cooked"  before shipping I must say they sounded nothing short of fabulous right from the start.The massive increase in transparancy compared to my Wireworld Eqiunox 6  was the first thing that struck me,your cables seem to let all information through without adding or substracting anything .The improved clarity,imaging,detail retrieving  and focus also benefitted soundstage which now is clearly better defined in depth making me able to pick up virtual distances between different players on good recordings.Transients are ultrafast.The treble is extended ,but absolutely cleen.No hint of sibilance.Bass is tight and deep.If  further burn-in will improve on this,I will be totally amazed. So impressed in fact,that I will like to order a new pair of the samme RCA-interconnects in exactly the same length (0,7m) for my secondary system.
 203 dollars as last time to your PayPal account ?

Best regards

Jorgen H Norway


I'm sharing this with you to show listening to my new cable maybe fun for you.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2011, 03:51:15 PM by Carlman »

Offline Carlman

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2011, 07:05:37 PM »
Grover's doing a new tour, linked here
Please continue discussion about Sablon or Shep's findings in this thread.  Thanks!
I really enjoy listening to music.

shep

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Re: a leap of faith
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2012, 04:35:00 AM »
No I haven't passed away! just busy with non audiophile things (I believe it's called Life, or maybe "women....the eternal mystery"! None the less, despite having pretty much settled down to enjoy a very nice system (mine of course) I have the wretched itch and the best and cheapest way to scratch it will be next to send my Panatela's back for a rather expensive (relative to my income) upgrade. Anyone else have experience of this variant on a stellar interconnect?