Amarra for iTunes at RMAF...

Chadeffect,

Everything marketed as an audiophile item is going to cost more. Remember the blue tack? It sells for $2 at OfficeDepot but 5 to 7 times more at an audio store. I have also seen a pair of cart mounting screws selling for $200 and they are not made of gold.

It is pricing like this gives our hobby a bad name.

I will have to try getting BlueTack at OfficeDepot. I have found too many copies to be worthless.

Your other example is part of capitalism. If you make something and no one buys it, you go out of business.

I didnt mean to turn this thread into a bashing of audiophile vendors or manufactures. Everyone is trying to make a living. It is a niche industry.

I guess we all here on the 'gon love this hobby, one would hope that people within it would show some respect for that. I am sure most manufactures and vendors are involved for the same reason as us. A love for music and music playback.

In my experience most people within this hobby are honest and make worth while products and are doing the best they can. The pricing policies I guess reflect the small market.

There are some cynical repackaging jobs that go on, for sure, especially with cabling. Zero offence taken.

For me, I was a long time member here under the name Redkiwi, till I got to the point where my own cables were better to my ears than my favourite brand Jena Labs. So at that point I more or less stopped posting here and began producing my cables in the weekends. At that stage I bought everything in, but the cables were unique in terms of using what I call our antipodal geometry - very simple but effective. Then I researched every part of the cable and developed my own view as to what sounded best. So we now make our own wire, make the insulation and make the sleeving. The only thing we don't make from raw materials is the connector - though that will be next.

It has been maybe an obsession, but definitely based on my enthusiasm for audio and my love of music. Making it into a business was mainly a way of funding the obsession, not the other way around. As you say, I think a great many audio firms start out like this.

Redkiwi! That you might be one and the same crossed my mind.