Houdini

[Latteman]

Anyone else following the buzz behind this new product from Funk Firm
A cartridge isolation type gadget
http://thefunkfirm.co.uk/

[Daniel Quinn]

I'm a bit dissapionted in Arthur. For the man who made the pt to descend to this. It smacks of a money earner rather than innovation.

I've always been sceptical of these cartridge devices, like the interface between tonearm and cartridge is an untapped resource for audio nirvana.
.
It will be purchased by people looking for answers in dark.

Of course I may be wrong but I doubt it.

[Latteman]

I'm a bit dissapionted in Arthur. For the man who made the pt to descend to this. It smacks of a money earner rather than innovation.

I get the same feeling especially as it appears to be a step sideways from what the PT / FunkFirm have been developing recently.
I like PT & FF products and still have one of their decks in storage
(I see it’s other people doing the promotions)

[David Brook]

The HOUDINI is not a gimmick, I own several expensive decks and as many cartridges and tried it on 4 different set ups, every single one sounded better.

[Latteman]

Hi, thanks- is that on Shop demo or your personal use

[Daniel Quinn]

Ad hominem removed.

Also, you need 6mm of spare vta to use it. Be careful if your auditioning it.

[karatestu]

I have been offered the chance to buy a Houdini at trade price. Should I take the Funk Firm up on their offer ? I have wasted much more money in the past on various Naim products.

[Latteman]

Yep- u can always sell it on

[Daniel Quinn]

Yep, then you can establish the truth for you

[Latteman]

I've seen this item being spammed across many forums and even more Facebook user groups. Sometimes the text is virtually the same. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad product but it does set my alarm bells ringing. We've seen a lot of 'flavour of the month' products being wildly praised in the past. Most are debunked and forgotten, now. SLIC, anyone?

£300 for a metal shim? How much is a shim of the same depth to raise your tonearm? £5? To me, it fits in a similar category to the £130 mains fuses, in that the material value is so shockingly poor compared to the price that I simply don't need to hear it. I guess it's made of unobtainium, though?

Ah, but the benefit is worth the price tag, they say. This is always an interesting one. If your turntable were badly set up and I set it up properly for you, it might take me 30 minutes...but you would experience a dramatic improvement for the rest of time. Would £30 for 30 minutes work be fair? Or should I charge £500 for the dramatic benefit? I'm afraid that this seems to be the way of many in the hi-fi industry now...not how can I make it better at a sensible price, but how much can I push the price to.

I expect manufacturers to make a worthwhile multiple - around 4 times the build cost (dealers will add their 40% on to that), and more for items that have required extensive R&D. I certainly don't expect stuff to be given away. At £100? I'm giving it a try. At £300? Not a chance.