I am generally against criticizing audio components primarily because of their retail cost, but what could there possibly be about a pair of speaker wires that could justify a retail price of $30,000? I think MF has to use such equipment in order to make the reader feel that whatever component he is evaluating, the evaluation has been done with the best possible equipment and auditioned by a train to pair of ears, supposedly, the ears of MF. We have to keep in mind that MF does what he does in order to make a living. For the rest of us, it is a hobby, except for the occasional dealer or manufacturer who chooses to comment here. Since he is trying to make a living, it is inevitable and unavoidable that he will have to temper his public comments on equipment, especially mega-expensive equipment. Since he has to maintain a very expensive system for the reason I cited, he likewise probably has to depend on the makers of such equipment for loans, at least sometimes for some of the gear. In the old days, Harry Pearson and probably others at absolute sound were notorious for borrowing equipment from manufacturers that they then never returned or perhaps only returned years later when it was out of date. It is not shocking or even all that damning to learn that MF may do some of the same things, although I think he has said in the past that he owns everything in his home system. Perhaps I am incorrect on that. After all, the components in his system are repeatedly mentioned in the course of his reviews, and that is valuable free advertising. I remember when Lloyd Walker told me how happy he was that Jonathan Valin endorsed his proscenium turntable and how apprehensive he was that valin might change his mind.
