James Randi

robphy

Slashdot is reporting
"James Randi Posts $1M Award On Speaker Cables"
http://science.slashdot.org/science/.../1354224.shtml

http://www.randi.org/jr/2007-09/092807reply.html#i4
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/speaker-c...ool-302478.php
http://www.pearcable.com/sub_products_anjou_sc.htm

kev1829

There isn't any way to prove one is better than the other since sound quality is objective. However, as the owner of overpriced speaker cable (although not nearly this overpriced), an improvement in audio quality is very achievable by upgrading connections. Feeding a $50 speaker with a $7,000 cable or a $2 cable makes no difference, but if the speaker is say...$30,000 then there would be a huge difference. Not even Mr. Randi could dispute that.

mgb_phys

"Human hearing has its limits, but gullibility has none"

FredGarvin

Oh for the love of...$7,250 for cables? NASA doesn't even pay that price for wiring. There is a sucker born every minute. Whoever did those reviews needs to be shot.

mgb_phys

The good ones are the 'power cleaners' that reconfigure your mains power!
Of course you can't hear the difference straight away because your equipement has to relearn how to work on the clean power so you have to use them for a few weeks to hear any difference.

FredGarvin

I can't say I have ever heard that one. You would think that claims like that would raise some red flags to pretty much anyone.

rewebster

although, the military would if it was labeled 'priority'

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aY5OQ5xv9HR8

Ivan Seeking

I decided long ago that hard core audiofiles are all imagining things.

Integral

while sitting on the couch with a laptop I lost control.. It (the laptop) went bonkers, when I got it all back the title to this thread hqd been deleted! I just barely saw it, I know it was about James Blandi. Sorry for the disruption!

Ok, I now have my contacts in and have corrected my other error. It is Randi, not Blandi....sheesh Murphy has me by the....

Greg Bernhardt

I've bought Monster S-Video Cable, 30ft for $30 on ebay :)

turbo

I have only owned one Monster Cable. It was a free upgrade for my fairly pricey vocal mike. No biggie, but it was a nice heavy cable that resisted tangling on stage.

I have a pretty impressive stereo, and my speakers are fed through the largest-diameter zip-cord that will fit in the connectors. Having built, restored, and repaired quite a number of tube amps over the years, I can tell you that the speaker wire is about the last thing I'd lose sleep over. Much more important is the quality of the components early on in the signal chain, because signal degradation cause by such components gets amplified over and over again.

mgb_phys

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/MAY01/E...uip1MAY01.html only $2000.
They were even testing them on a CD transport!
( a cd player that puts out the digital data stream for the amp to turn into analogue.)

Moonbear

I wonder if Randi considered that it would be cheaper to buy the $7250 cable and find out for himself if it's any better than to pay someone else $1 million for their opinion.

turbo

Randi isn't a dummy. I think his money is pretty safe. Like I said, I've spent a lot of time and effort fixing up tube amps. Randi is safe and the chislers are dead.

Ivan Seeking

IMO, Randi owes the decendents of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, one million dollars.

Moonbear

That, or he's a partner in the company selling the cables and stands to make more than $1million if people are inspired by this scheme to run out and buy these cables just to see if they can get $1 million for just a $7250 investment.

FredGarvin

I was laughing about this with an EE friend of mine from NY. He just sent me a link to this story from EDN news (make sure to press "skip add" if the story doesn't pop up):

http://www.edn.com/blog/1700000170/post/1150015315.html

They also mention a couple other dandies that have come from the audiophile ranks. My new personal favorite is the cryogenic outlets.