High End Myth Glossary.


Disclaimer:
Many of the glossary terms bellow are entered with little or no comments. Large comments might require large space and time investment. If anyone reading this glossary is offended, than I'll keep you a company as well. Every myth-paragraph bellow adds a price to the audiocomponent only without substantial improvements and "upgrades" to your system.

Feel free to add to the list bellow:

1. Cables' price should be arround 10...20% of the whole system i.e if the system costs $100k than $10...20k should be for interconnects and speaker cables.

2. Directional signal cables.

3. Zero Negative Feedback.

4. $10k 10Wpc amps.

5. No need for larger output power. Place compact system speaker into the plywood horn enclosure and use SET 1W/ch.

6. Tube watts v.s. SS watts.

7. CD-players or digital separates over $1.5k(Analogue sources stay somewhere next to but not to the same degree for example $10k cartridges)

8. Audiable differences in .3dB or in .5%THD v.s. .001%THD.

9. Auditioning of audio furniture.

10. Stereophile or other oriented magazines one-person "expert reviews"

11. $5000 Mark Levinson amp looks like it should sound excellent...

12. $12k CD-player reads CD with greater precision.

13. tubes $900/matched pr

14. amp stands $600/pr.

15. microphonic-free chasis, power interconnects and speaker wires. tubes and transistors can certainly be added as well.

16. wire reactance influence on audio freequencies.

17. Nirvana speaker wire has substantially less reactance than Home Depot.

18. S/N ratings of CD-player(larger than CD's dynamic range 16bit = only 60dB!)

P.S. I would be also glad to see Worst-of section in forums here.
128x128marakanetz
Pardon my mistake in paragraph 16. Please change it onto AC power-line freequencies.

As to audio freequencies refer to paragraph 17.
Good stuff.

Add: Demagnetizing CD's.

Also, re: #18: You get 6db/per bit, so the theoretical dynaic range of 16 bits is 6db x 16 = 96 db.
Sorry I have to disagree. Many of the so called "myths" are things various folks have been able to distinguish based on auditioning, or experimenting with.
My Sony SACD at $(originally $3,500) $2,500 list (I paid $1,700 for a demo unit) has a redbook CD section that is clearly worth every penny as just a CD transport. (and was the reason I decided to buy it, based partly on reading about it in STEREOPHILE, and partly on the comments of members of Audioasylum.)
Some of the things you bring up seem almost ok, but then they are things I have no experience with, and so cannot personally say if they are real or myth. However I am certain many folks who post here could defend your so called myths as having a basis in fact, based on experience.
Another one: I have approx $3,000 in various cables (in use), and only about $11,000 in stereo equipment (excluding Vid and power cleaners)
My cable collection just grew gradually... and I surprise myself with the investment. But each has been well worth the money, and I hope eventually to try out some good Nordost... (that would boost cables to 50% of total system electronics cost)
(Though I probably will never buy any $700+ power cables.)
You're a brave man, M. I'd add the overarching one, that explains why all the other myths persist:

19. Believing that every difference you hear has a physical cause, rather than a psychological one.