Cables and reviewers

A single pair of speaker wires or interconnects is easy to do, but full looms are a real pain, but big speakers are the worst to review, given that having two sets of speakers in the same room are a major problem, even if you short the terminals on the pair out of the system.

But what mankind knows about designing better cables is not total. Furthermore, people have different rooms, components, different voltages, and certainly different tastes. I am all for realism while others I know favor good, not tiring, and even sleepable music. Costs also greatly influences the picture.

I would argue that cables are different than other components. An optimally designed cable will carry a signal from one component to another with a minimum of distortion. AudioQuest (among others) often makes this point in their ads. An optimally designed cable will also do what its supposed to do in any reasonable system. A cable that only works well in a particular setting is not a well-designed cable. Regarding reviewers lack of consensus, the most likely explanation is a combination of bias, laziness, and incompetence.

So reviewers who are NOT biased, lazy and incompetent would/should all agree? Considering there probably is no human alive who doesn’t possess these traits to some degree I’m not sure I follow your logic.

Are you saying nothing should ever be reviewed unless the reviewer is perfect?
If fallible reviewers don’t write reviews who will?

There are a very select few reviewers out there who have the right qualifications: Honest/unbiased, articulate, possessing good ears and a wealth of experience, and having a solid understanding of acoustics and electrical engineering as it relates to audio. As you said, evaluating and reviewing cables is a nightmare. The average reviewer only adds to the confusion.