Do you believe in Magic?

"The problem with many tweaks that can't be explained or have difficult to swallow explanations is that knowledge or expertise in the sciences of electronics and acoustics is no longer sufficient to judge them."

Yep, that sure is the problem.

When one does not know, the double whammy then is one may not be able to determine who to trust when another claims they do.

Luckily, most of the really important core principles of home audio are fairly well understood by many, so that is less of a problem practically.

Geoff, could you explain precisely what you mean by "mind-matter interaction," which was your answer to most of the questions in the quiz you presented a few posts back. And which, if I followed your subsequent responses correctly, is unrelated to anything psychological or subliminal, among many other things you appeared to say it is unrelated to. Thanks.

-- Al

Mapman wrote,

"Luckily, most of the really important core principles of home audio are fairly well understood by many, so that is less of a problem practically."

The so-called experts - the "many" - still don't understand wire directionality (or dismiss it), why one cable can sound better than another one that measures better, why tiny little acoustic bowls have such a dramatic impact on bass frequencies, why cables must be "burned in" to sound their best, why cryogenically treated CDs and LPs sound better than stock CDs and LPs, why degaussing improves CDs and LPs, why degaussing improves cables, why deionization improves CDs and cables, why the Schumann Frequency Generator works, etc. in fact, I suspect most of the so-called experts - the "many" - have never even heard of these things.

"When you assume something you make an ass out of me and Uma Thurman". - old audiophile axiom

"The so-called experts - the "many" - still don't understand wire directionality (or dismiss it), why one cable can sound better than another one that measures better, why tiny little acoustic bowls have such a dramatic impact on bass frequencies, why cables must be "burned in" to sound their best, why cryogenically treated CDs and LPs sound better than stock CDs and LPs, why degaussing improves CDs and LPs, why degaussing improves cables, why deionization improves CDs and cables, why the Schumann Frequency Generator works, etc. in fact, I suspect most of the so-called experts - the "many" - have never even heard of these things."

Geoff, in that case, assuming you are right and everyone else is wrong, the you should help educate them. What better way to build credibility? That's kind of how higher learning works in general.

OR you can continue to keep your secrets to yourself and convince people that you are right and that the rest of the world has their priorities wrong.

Either way works for me. I can only speak for myself.

Almarg wrote,

"Geoff, could you explain precisely what you mean by "mind-matter interaction," which was your answer to most of the questions in the quiz you presented a few posts back. And which, if I followed your subsequent responses correctly, is unrelated to anything psychological or subliminal, among many other things you appeared to say it is unrelated to. Thanks."

When I use the term mind-matter interaction I'm referring to the concept that the mind is capable of interacting subconsciously with it's immediate surroundings, especially with certain shapes, materials, physical phenomena such as electrical charge, alternating current, flashing lights, as well as other things such as physical and digital media like books, especially telephone books, but also CDs, LPs, cassettes. The Princeton University school of engineering studied mind matter interaction for about 30 years - PEAR (Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research). How and why the mind subconsciously interacts with its surroundings is not well understood, but I have a strong sense that it has a lot to do with how early man evolved, especially with respect to self survival and having to develop "extra-sensory" skills to help detect and avoid threats such as large, hungry predators.