Power cords

An interesting article where an army of scientists and experts cannot figure out if a certain Strad is real is at: http://www.metropulse.com/dir_zine/dir_2001/1107/t_gamut.html

Another different article at: http://www.maestronet.com/wwwboard/messages/3565.html

The thing that puzzles scientists is it should be easy to make a Strad copy with today's technology, but somehow it never seems to work. Remember, even all Strads do not sound the same.

As far as cables, I have on more than one occassion purchased more than one of the same cable, and they all do not sound the same either.

The one thing never measured or questioned is the hearing ability of the particular listener. Maybe they just can't hear a difference or don't know what to listen for. In some ways you save a lot of money having average hearing.

Well I don't know much about fancy violins but I have a few old Gibson and Martin Geetars and it's pretty clear that nobody is able to duplicate those for several reasons. One is that the wood is no longer available for the most part and the wood ages with time. Second, every fine instrument has its own voice. Most folks would consider "replicating" such an instrument as simply out of the question. A new copy of a two hundred and fifty year old wooden instrument can never be a "perfect copy." With all due respect Sugarbrie (and I do respect your knowledge of classical music greatly), that's silly.

I will leave the cable cabal to ya all.

Sincerely, I remain

I don't think it's in the 'hearing' per se but rather in 'listening skills' which are acquired via years of experience. I say that because I know my hearing has degraded with age (there's those scientific measurements again) yet I now know how to listen for sonic charactaristics that I did not very well understand many years ago.
& another thing: I concur with Sugerbrie that you can have two of the same model cables yet they don't sound the same. I sure can't begin to explain that!
Pbb if you want to try this out risk free just call Cable Company www.fatwyre.com & get a loaner cord for a couple weeks. The % rental fee is credited to your account & can be applied to any purchase from them, not just their cables. It'll only cost a few bucks for the shipping.

About Strads: every Strad has aged for a couple of hundred years and was played extensively in its lifetime. Is any new copy going to sound the same, even if made identically?

About power cords: audio electronics as a whole, including power cords, are made by ee's according to the same design principles used in all other areas of engineering. Because of the sensitivity of human hearing and the extension of the dynamic range envelope in high end design, many low level noise variables become evident that are off the screen in other applications. Audio design budgets are not big enough to do the kind of R&D, together with mathematical modeling and testing, that is routinely done for similar high resolution problems in areas like aerospace or medicine.

It's important to try to reduce issues like power and vibration control to a reasonably well understood set of principles because without it, you are simply doomed to tweak forever, chronically repeating the same mistakes from person to person. Individual choice and taste will not disappear during the gaining of understanding.

.........IMO, it may be a "matter of belief", but the belief is based on: 1. having an open mind 2. trusting one's senses 3. learning critical listening skills 4. having equipment capable of showing differences between/among wires, components, tweaks, etc., and 5. maybe other factors. Afterall, isn't listening to music what this hobby is all about? Cheers. Craig.