Power Cords - Just Say Yes

Foster_9, how about we add back my initial comment in my paragraph, which you omitted? It makes a difference when it reads thus:

The sad thing is that for some people the price of experimentation has to be virtually nil before they are willing to entertain a change. I will simply say that being cheap holds back one's rig FAR more than most think. This is one of the reasons why I say, "The greatest impediment to building an audiophile system is the audiophile."

You swung the discussion to an extreme of $1K power cords and Fortune 500 salaries. That's quite the shift! My point, regardless of level of experimentation - for instance, perhaps sub-$100 power cords used - was that some people are SO cheap they won't tolerate even the thought of spending money on anything which is not supposedly guarnateed to improve their audio experience.

As I indicated that is "...one of the reasons," not the sole reason. As you suggest there are several reasons, including tight budgets why people can't experiment. My point was that some people are cheapskates, and I think they justify it by listening to the voices of those who have done little to no comparisons/testing of such matters. It's all a bunch of, "I think,...." versus putting up even modest amount of money to conduct a comparison.

You indicate that two of the reasons why audiophiles fail to achieve good sound are, "...knowledge, experience," which I assert can be gained through actually trying things such as aftermarket cabling, rather than sitting on one's opinion. :)

BTW, I did not say that being cheap holds one's rig back far more than other causes; I said that it holds one's rig back far more than the audiophile may think.

I believe you misunderstood my intent. My point is that at whatever level of cost, the decision to choose "value," i.e. disinterest in spending anything - note that I said, "virtually nil," - more on something not considered proven to improve is a big reason why many audio systems do not perform well.

Mapman, seriously? Six figures? You push the analogy to six figure systems? I think you are making the same stretch here as Foster_9. It's a long stretch to go from my complaint of people being cheap and willing to spend virtually nil to six figure systems.

Why is it that when aftermarket power cords are mentioned as a means to overcome insipid system building you guys jump to the 1%er argument? :)

Not sure where that will get me exactly, but thanks for the kind words Rok.

"The sad thing is that for some people the price of experimentation has to be virtually nil before they are willing to entertain a change."

IT might be about money but in my case it is more about how to spend or invest ones time best.


I do not have time to try every tweak I might, regardless of cost. What I have meets my needs currently already so there is little value to me. I'd rather spend the time listening. WHen I hear a problem or determine something might be better, I take some time to investigate what the problem might be, do some research on options to resolve it, chose one and try it,including repairs to what I have if that might be the problem.

I've spent considerable time bringing my system up to snuff over teh last 5 years, but spend increasingly less and less these days. Its more about value, which is a subjective thing, than cost. One must be careful and selective to attain value.

Mapman, Good thought. Personally I really don't care how anyone spends their money or what they believe so long as they don't spend my money or censor my beliefs.

But, while I'm at it - Douglas_Schroeder's comment above about success coming to those who try is striking absent of a caveat to the effect that failure is commonly attendant to any enterprise deemed worth undertaking, that a risk/reward analysis is a prerequisite, and that a fool and his money are often quickly parted.

Sometimes these 'disputes' seem to me to be founded on evidence not much different than that underlying the 'witch' hysteria which permeated the middle ages, extending as late as the 1600's in Salem. But as late as the late 1900's, perhaps even still, when it comes to children in the care of others. Yeh, hysteria is still alive and well. And, except to the degree it exists, IMHO, it still appears in this hobby. I think Jaxwired's views have a lot of merit. Folks buy into a lot of stuff because of what they are told but which they have not personally experienced. Witness, when asked, those folks cannot really describe the differences in specific terms or why it would or should be heard through their admittedly low resolution systems. Many folks, I think, really are looking for acceptance in the crowd by buying into some fairly esoteric stuff on nothing more than faith in the concensus of the crowd. Nothing new here, move on.

FWIW, for anyone who cares, I'm only slightly less than agnostic about wires. I've heard differences, I know they exist, but I'm very selective about what I buy and why I buy. I try to avoid having to buy wires to replace tone controls by careful component matching in the first place. But, wow, have I blown a lot of money on tubes! :-)

Re DS's bit about 'cheapness' being a detriment, IMHO this is a classic pitch to embarass vunerable folks into spending their money. I mean who wants to think themselves a cheapskate. Personally I save that for how rich people tip service people, not how they spend their money. :-(