bcowen, nope, not trolling. Here is some background for you to understand my posts. randy-11and I have an ongoing debate in regards to how to set up systems. He insists that people who recommend aftermarket cables should do ABX testing because he thinks their conclusions are tainted by confirmation bias. I believe he also suspects the motives of reviewers such as myself. I am asking whether he applies his own methods to himself.
I think it would be inconsistent if a person recommended a treatment like Deoxit or construction such as gold terminations based on their listening impressions or received wisdom, not having conducted ABX testing, yet ridiculed others for not doing ABX testing when they offer their listening impressions/conclusions with cables.
BTW, I picked up some contact cleaner, sorry not Deoxit - so I hope the efficacy of cleaning contacts is not reduced to Deoxit brand only - and I will try it. That is the opposite of a troll. I'm showing by my actions that I will not condemn a treatment or method (within reason, of course; I don't want to spent time on sea shells or plastic clocks placed on gear), though I have done many over the years and almost universally the inexpensive tweaks are truly a waste of time and money. At the moment the only cheap tweak I still use consistently is placement of hockey pucks under speakers and subwoofers occasionally. If the contact cleaner is efficacious I will admit it.
I didn't learn how much difference cables make by sitting on my ass and laughing at those who use them. That's what I call trolling. I am showing by example how a person deals with recommendations, even ones which seem laughable; you get off your ass and try it. Imo, the biggest thing stopping half the audiophile community is their death grip on their wallet.