James Randi vs. Anjou Pear - once and for all

"I think EE has very limited understanding of why things work and uses a fundamentally unscientific "good enough" perspective on circuits, parts, wire, and even what is safe." TBG

Engineers are by definition not scientists. An enlightened understanding of "good enough" is at the heart of good engineering. Engineers design fantastic, fascinating, shiny devises that actually work.

If the goal of cable design is no audible contribution by the cable, then all cables should sound the same , by design.

If there is a audible difference between two cables, A & B, then either A is no good, B is no good or neither A nor B is good. The better cables get, then the more alike they should sound.

well stated, tbg.

i have suggested blind testing but mr b avoids the subject.

practically speaking, if you can hear a difference and are confident that you do during a number of listening sessions, it should be sufficient. if you then purchase the cable and it remains in your system for a period of time, that also should be sufficient. blind tests are imlpicitly or explicitly rigged to make it difficult to observe differences.

Mrtennis, If you lived nearby I could entertain you with how horrible Cardas Golden Reference is, or the much touted Jenna series for instance. You would have to be here. My gear is so clear sounding, noises going missed in other systems will startle you on my system. It is their insulation that mutilates the signal.

I am in Sacramento California for anyone wanting to test my veracity.

Some of the cables you mention do indeed sound very good, at a serious price. I was impressed with two others, the Shunyata Andromeda Helix, and the Cerious digital cables. I was using Anti-Cables at the time, because they exhibited no dielectric fuzz.

The pricey cables walked all over the Anti-Cables in different ways. The Shunyata had greater extension with some serious bass. The Anti-Cable held it's own in the mids only to be trounced in the highs. The Cerious cables gave a beautiful smooth sound. I wanted them.

The thing is, when I attached ultra thin ribbon SCs to my Scintillas, both cable companies lost all relevance. The short ribbons delivered all the highs and lows of the Shunyata, was just as musical and pleasant as the Cerious and is far more real sounding than either.

The kicker is the ribbon cables only cost me $12 apiece.

Can you imagine how happy that has made me? That discovery saved me mucha bucks that can be turned to a better source, something I can't build myself.

Muralman,

Those are very interesting ribbon speaker cables. I'm inclined to build a set myself to hear how they would sound with my set-up. I'll email you off-line.