I think the first cable referencing sessions I was ever involved in (professionally) would have been Criteria Studios and some of the other private studios, halls and churches in south Florida in the late 1970's. The art of cable making was fairly fundamental back then, and yes, all the cable sounded different and the only debate was what to use where for the best or desired results. Again in the early 1980-87 I was involved in the same sessions at MGAudio, In Touch and Fox Theatre (Atlanta), including the local audiophile clubs. I can remember making power cables for guitar amps for the original "Guitar Works" in Atlanta (not the now school). And, working with audiophile designers on some of our pet projects in the 80's.
I started designing audio cable while still in my Atlanta stores and around that time the cable craze had been in swing for a good ten years, both pro & home. I don't remember the "If" cables made a difference was even an issue back then. It was weird to see HEA audiophiles on the internet, years later, create these threads about "If" but it's just as weird to see so many talk without doing any real research on their own. The communities of pro & home listeners of the 80's were far more advanced in the art of testing vs today. Today there are revolving door debates instead of real life testing, it's strange. Issues in audio that have been settled many years ago are brought up today in ignorance and often. People shouting "proof" about things that were common knowledge and common practice, before the amp of the month club and plug & play "discrete" systems became the norm, somehow loosing the intellect.
As I have suggested here before the talkers will be identified as talkers and the exploring audiophiles will move on to real pastures or separate themselves from those who have nothing better to do then make noise.
My hats off again to the Mods of Agon.
Michael Green