Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

"dracule1 - why don't you contact the cable manufacturers whose products you find disagreeable & ask them to justify their prices...? Then you can post the response..."

Infection, funny that you ask. I did do that at an audio show. One manufacturer was dumbfounded that I even asked the question and fumbled to give me an answer.  In the end, he said something to the effect of his cables being the Mercedes of cables.  Righhhhhhhhhht.  Others will try to overwhelm you with their proprietary but unproven technology hoping you'll buy into it.

Then, I called a well known cable manucture who makes cables up to about $2000 to $3000. His most expensive power cord is about $900 for 1.5 meters.  I asked him what goes into $15,000 power cord. He is a metallurgist and an engineer. He basically told me he couldn't justify the cost of such power cord based on his knowledge of price of metals, insulators, cost of manufacture, advertising, and distribution.  Either he doesn't know what he's talking about, which I highly doubt because I own several of his power cords and would put them up against any PC, or there is a lot of price gauging in high end. He is not my friend, and I have no loyalty to him. I'm just his customer.

"Well, of course you can find cables that are much more expensive than your $4K room treatment; however, $4K is much more than most audiophiles spend on cables. Besides, your $4K pales in comparison to what better heeled audiophiles spend on room treatments. Ergo, your contention that one can obtain better results for a lot less money (than expensive cables) by employing things like room treatments is patently false."

Geoff, you're not even making sense. My $4k in room treatments has done more to improve the sound of my system than any $40k speaker cable or $10k interconnect I've auditioned.  I need a translator.  Or is this another one of your bad attempts at trolling? If you're claiming some audiophiles spending way more than myself in room treatments is proof that my contention is false, then you're one marble way from frontal lobe dementia.  You don't know much these audiophiles are spending, and you have no clue how much of an improvement the acoustic treatment is having relative to cables, especially given your idea of acoustic treatments is brass bowls, etc. Man, I thought you're smarter than this, but you disappointment me every time.

It's pretty obvious you have very little knowledge of room treatments given what you've sited as room treatments in you past comment. Go to GIK Acoustics site and other sources and educate yourself on scientically validated acoustic room treatment, which is one of the very few things in high end where one can actually CORRELATE  measurements with what we hear.  There's that pesky word you seem to have so much trouble understanding.

Steakster wrote,

"The Pet Rocks sold pretty well."

Of course the pet rocks sold well. It’s all in the marketing. The original idea for the Pet Rock was actually PT Barnum’s Stone Soup, a concept not unlike my Brilliant Pebbles as fate would have it. Coincidence? But the pet rock’s big attraction was the packaging.

"The genius was in the packaging. Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carrying case, complete with air holes, tenderly nestled on a bed of excelsior. Mr. Dahl’s droll masterstroke was his accompanying manual on the care, feeding and house training of Pet Rocks. "If when you remove the rock from its box it appears to be excited, place it on some old newspapers,” the manual read. “The rock will know what the paper is for and will require no further instruction. It will remain on the paper until you remove it.”"

Thus was born the Intelligent Rock. A harbinger of Things to Come?

Dracula wrote,

"Geoff, you’re not even making sense. My $4k in room treatments has done more to improve the sound of my system than any $40k speaker cable or $10k interconnect I’ve auditioned."

Most likely you’re going to the wrong places for auditions. Have you given any consideration to uh, widening your circle of audio friends? I have a nagging suspicion you might be following the wrong sheep. Can I suggest placing an ad in your local newspaper for a HiFi store that can demonstrate expensive cables successfully? Surely there must be someone. Best of luck with that.

cheers,

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
Advanced Audio Conceits

not to mention the many who do not have to choose...they can do the $4k room treatment, a batch of $10k-40k cables, and $100k+ components...without concern with how much these items cost to produce...