Interesting thread. I have enjoyed Bryon's postings elsewhere on the Gon. I'm actually surprised this one has gotten as acrimonious as it has, since I thought Bryon started with the proposition that some of these 'tweaks,' for lack of a better word, seem to work even if there is no clear explanation for them. Then, the whole give and take with the guy that makes Brilliant Pebbles sort of derailed this, which I think was unfortunate.
I remember walking into a London retailer years ago, and asking him about Peter Belt and what the view was there in the UK. He pulled a box of stuff from under the counter and said, 'Here, you can have it all for X.' [I can't remember how much it was, but it wasn't much]. I still have some of that stuff, including various shiny colored stickers in a plastic envelope that I keep as a novelty in my listening room, unopened. (Who knows, maybe they are doing something just sitting in the bag?)
I'm more from the subjective school, partly because I don't have the engineering or hard science knowledge that others do, but I believe that there are good, solid scientific explanations for some of these tweaks, and for others- who knows? ( I accept the possibility that science cannot explain everything). But, I like to start by sorting out the obvious, and readily explicable, issues with the system first. If there is a noise problem, or a problem with dynamics, I want to get to the bottom of that by looking at the fundmentals first. What's the story with the AC power? How is the system set-up? Are there equipment isolation issues? Do the contacts need to be cleaned or a tube replaced or an equipment stand damper replaced? I will tweak and can hear differences in cable, footers, and the like, down to changes in the ball bearings on which my equipment stands rest. Sometimes, rather than tweaking, I will change out a piece of equipment that- while well regarded, just didn't do it for me, even after much experimentation, tube rolling and adjustment (this happened most recently in connection with my phono stage and man, what a difference!)
I also believe in certain system synergies, which are a form of 'magic,' to the extent the sum is greater than the parts- I'm thinking here about components that just seem to work well together; perhaps there is an engineering explanation, but you'll find a lot of skeptics on things like 'wire' and I'm not one of them.
I remember reading Enid Lumley back in the day- a lot of what she wrote about seemed pretty far fetched at the time, including not only polarity issues, but hard surfaces under equipment making things sound harder, and vice-versa. It all seemed like lunatic fringe stuff then, but now, much of it (or at least some, I'd have to drag out all those old Absolute Sound issues and re-read them to be sure) are accepted, at least within the 'subjective' school of audio.
Tice- not sure if there was any real explanation for the 'clock,' other than that you can plug any number of electrical appliances into an outlet on the same branch as your system and it will have some electrical effect. (Isn't that what those 'noise harvesters' and the fancy stuff by Nordost do too, on a more sophisticated level?) But, he brought AC power to the attention of a lot of audiophiles through the 'Power Block' products, and power conditioners have been an accepted part of the mainstream high-end for quite some time.
So, while I haven't bought one of those fancy brass bowls that sit in the room and change the sound, I'm certainly receptive to the idea that a lot of strange and wonderful things can change our perception of how an audio system sounds. Often, not always, these things can lead to more refinement and understanding and acceptance.
To paraphrase a noted jurist (hey, you guys were quoting obscure philosophers and Einstein), 'it's nice to be on the cutting edge, so long as you are not the salami.'
Best,
Bill Hart
