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Hype, Hyperbole and high price!

Okay, I understand that this site has to make money by having advertisers, but cheese and crackers, the claims that are made are just laughable if not down right criminal!  Before I attended an engineering university I too was duped into buying expensive wires and such.  Now, armed with an engineering and physics background, I can see through the BS claims made.  I try and not let it get in the way of my enjoyment of good quality stereo equipment, but when a salesman tries to sell me something based on testimonials, hype and hyperbole, I tell him politely my background and then ask him a series of questions which leaves him dumbfounded. 

Such crap as directional wires - (I used to work for both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman) and trust me, if we had to test the miles of wires for directionality in every piece of equipment built...well you get the gist.

I have friends that are audio snobs and although they argue with me (Basically buyer's remorse) they know that what I say is true and end the conversation.  Oh well, I suppose I will continue to get a headache when I read said claims.

Sigh!
128x128kenny928
geared4me's avatar
geared4me
219 posts
 
I am sure if Lockheed Martin or Northrup Grumman were to manufacture audio cables it would take hundreds of millions of dollars in government funded r&d, several years with many delays, and never actually get sold to the public even if they could afford $200k speaker cables. 
I have friends who are engineering snobs and they are all amazed at how good my stereo sounds compared to theirs. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I worked for both LM and NG as well and doubt that either is aware of wire directionality. Why would they be? Besides wire Is directional only insofar as sound is concerned. And to my knowledge neither LM nor NG have any audiophile divisions. Are there Lockheed Martin speakers or Northrup Grumman cables? In addition, satellite, microwave and other wireless systems are not directional so who really cares about wire? Perhaps if we all join together we can get NASA to do a study. Or MIT or AES or DARPA.

kenny928's avatar
kenny928 OP
47 posts
 
I am an engineer first and an audiophile second.  I just get tired of the massive increase in prices over time.  I have been an audiophile since 1979 and have seen the increase in hype and prices without empirical data to back the claims.  I have had a slew of systems ranging in names from ML, Krell, MBL, Meridian and the like. My preamp is the MBL 6010 of 1998 vintage and it is powered by the ML 331 so although older, it is a kick butt system.  No tweaks or thousand dollar interconnects or speaker cable or power cords.  The beauty of having a dear friend that owns a high end audio shop allows me to audition thousands of dollars of cables and you would be surprised that the $6000 cables sound no different from the $200 ones.  Not an engineering snob in the least, just annoys me when terminology is snatched out of the air and used to make claims just to sell the product.  Ever notice that power cord shipped with the product?  It is an inexpensive one.  Why would a 20K piece of equipment be shipped out with such a feeble cord if it made such a huge difference in sound?  Just sayin'!
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