James Randi vs. Anjou Pear - once and for all

Just as a note, Dave Clark is hardly a "hot shot" that "auditions and takes measurements for a living.."

Dave is just like the rest of us, but for his passions may run a bit hotter for things audio then most of ours do. He is a school teacher by day and a genuine all around good guy. I think to say he makes his living at reviewing is a gross overstatement.

This is relevant as to the arguments that reviewers won't put their reputation on the line for a million. I think most would. Most reviewers are guys/gals who do if for the fun of it. For a million bucks I would think most would abandon their "reviewing career" at the chance for the cool mil.

I get paid $50 per review and I currently review about 2 or 3 products over the year (Thank God I have a license to practice law to fall back on). Yes, I can hear the differences between cables. But, the ONLY way I can hear that change is in MY own system that I have listened to for hours upon hours and know every intimate detail of how it produces music. I know these details of my system’s sound and therefore, I know when something has changed.

That is how I review most of the mort subtle products such as cables. Honestly, it takes me several listen sessions to fully flesh out the difference and nuances of a new cable. Unlike speakers or amps where these changes are almost immediately apparent. I suspect that there are others, reviewers and otherwise, that can "hear" the most subtle difference loud, clear and immediately. It is different for everyone...

As I usually respond to the one that claims there "is" no difference between cables because they could not hear it….the only thing such a person has proved is, "they" cannot hear such a difference and not that a difference does not exist.

Just some thoughts of marginal relevance, John

hi doug schroeder:

i will make you a wager. allow me to select a stereo system and two pair of interconnect cables.

i will bet you that i can detect the differences between the cables between digital source and preamp. of course i would be blindfolded.

how much do you want to bet ?

My money's on MrT.

Mrtennis, Betting, like other forms of gambling, is a fool's game. I don't gamble. You'll have to find someone else to pad your ego. Save your money. Have your wife conduct the test, then she can report the results here! :) And if you did well, I'm sure she'd say, "You're wonderful!"

The only way $1M can be won is if the cables are tested scientifically, using a tone generator and oscilloscope, to feed a signal in one end and measure how perfectly that signal arrives at the other end.
A listening test will never work due to the subjective way we listen to music, and the simple fact that a component that sounds better to one person will sound worse to the next. No two listeners can ever hear exactly the same thing due to our ears and brain differences.

Few audio enthusiasts would doubt that good quality copper/silver cable with properly machined terminations will "improve" a system's accuracy. The true question is: at what price point does that improvement level off, rendering any more cash a simple waste? That's what Randi is getting at, the fact that a $7000 cable is not going to give a 100 fold improvement over a $70 cable, and may not even display any improvement at all.