"The Audio Critic" B.S. or what?

Jostler: Thank you for your feedback. You will note that I stated "TAC...to call it as they test and hear it". I do believe that, while having significantly more reliability than sighted evaluation, double blind "testing" absent accurate measurements, is not at all consistently reliable. This has been demonstrated repeatedly by those who claim reliable accuracy under double blind conditions and fail, often to the point of preferring a sample to itself. In well controlled tests comparing the influence of the visual aspect,it was found that the Brand name of the product was the strongest influence upon listener preference. The more subtle the distinction becomes, the more difficult it is to reliably recall or identify that distinction. And communicating those distinctions via totally verbal descriptives is far too subjective to be truly useful. I am, of course, not referring to gross differences, which can be difficult enough for some.

cables do make a difference they all have their own sound and you have to try out variuos ones to find the one that works in your system.That said one does not need to get fovered by the MIT Nordst and Kimbers of the world.I dont care if you paid 800 for 3100 cable you still got fovered. Let look at MIT.If i suggested your preamp have bass and treble control almost all Audiophiles would jump on me.This is considered adding noise and junk to the signal path.Then why would anyone pay for cables with a box which is acting like a tone control.Is not pure and simple and un colered what we strive for.Yet people are takin in by MIT hype.They are coloring the sound by what is in their circuit.Tara labs ans others are also guility of this.Belive me you can find the wire of your dreams for 200\300 range.If you need an ego stroke go nuts.If you want bang for the buck.Get an Electricain to run dedicated lines.Thers is a good spot to sink 1k into.

I wanted to share a story from last week. Spent the holiday at my brother's place visiting family. Dan has an "average" consumer rig: Dennon budget receiver, plastic Sony CD changer, Infinity bookshelf 2-way's. The living room is really bad: 20' vaulted ceiling & all-open to everywhere in the house (reflections everywhere). Carpet, but no drapes(vinyl blinds) one sofa & stuffed chair are the only absorbtion. Room is so hot you can hear it echo with a single finger-snap. To make matters worse, speakers are on stands in corners, & firing long-ways into the room; one firing right into the sofa (I tried to explain spkr. placement, but they're where he wants them). I brought along an abandoned pair of old oxidized Monster Cable & an equally old $20 pair of IC's to give him. He was open-minded, but hardly enthusiastic. First the IC's were swapped out - warmed up the sound; added punch & body. Then the speaker cable was temp. connected. Dan really didn't want to replace the spkr. wire; it was a real pain working in his cabinet. So we temp'd it in anyway & the improvement was significant, enough so that he ripped out that old 18awg. Radio Shack wire asap. I also brought along a pair of Lapis IC's just for fun; now he *asked* to hear them! Sound became leaner & more detailed (his words) the typical sonic signature of silver. We put back the $20 patch cords (brand name long forgotten) & he's a happy convert to 'upgrading via rewiring'. No blind testing done here, but here's a guy who knows next to nothing about sound & (used to) think that wire is wire. "you can't argue with success"

Good story, Bob. And Leafs, what does fovered mean? Is it liked 'rogered' or more like 'buggered'?

You are so dim witted that you can't read my post properly. Blind testing is not the same as double blind testing. And I suggest you go see a shrink about that anger.