How can power cords make a difference?

I finally got bored enough to go through this thread, although I did skip around after a while (it was started getting personal.)
I must say I have gained respect for Albert's position and it's consistency (unfortunantly not for everyone who shares it.) By steadfastly rejecting blind tests and focusing on a whole experience sort of thing, *psychological effects and all*, he's arguing something totally different than the skeptics. It gets much broader and more philosophical, even more interesting perhaps.
The problem I see with this position is that it leaves people very susceptible to marketing driven products, and leaves no objective way to protect yourself, or even distinguish them. That may be all well and good for people who have this as their primary hobby (time and energy sink) and/or those for whom money is no object. Others may want to pursue musical nirvana more efficiently. Given the two methods, I can't even say if the destination would end up the same.
Anyway, with regard to cables, and in the spirit of peace, harmony and good will, here's what I think we can all agree on (with no qualifiers):
Gauge matters.
Construction matters.
RFI can be a problem.

Marketing hype actually makes people more skeptical of a product, not less. When products start claiming fantastic results, they expect nothing less. If they don't hear an astounding difference, then they are more apt to think its a hoax than to fall for the placebo effect.

Holy crap this issue again!?

Don't you think that if power cords made a difference then huge dollar equipment makers would include them with their product? Don't tell me that "frickin" KRELL would be concerned with cost cutting and save margin by putting a smaller guage cord on their stuff? God knows that they would talk it up in their ads (and god knows that they could count on Stereophile mag to pump it up!). I'm purchasing one high quality cord to see if I can hear a difference, I will report what I hear.

Mhubbard. Reasonable thinking about including high quality cords with Krell. Unfortunately, this thread is an excellent example of everyone NOT agreeing as to the value of such products.

What would Krell do when a good customer avoided buying their product, refusing to be forced to pay the extra $150.00 or $250.00 for the cord? This would apply doubly, if that customer believed it was an ineffective and unnecessary expense.

It's the very reason manufacturers traditionally do not include NOS tubes or isolation devices for their products. Krell and others are better off allowing the customer to make these decision them self, even if you are correct that the product would benefit from the inclusion.

i tink albert is correct. one fact that he fails to mention is that many mfr's actually *do* recommend the purchase of aftermarket power cords. some, however, do not...

fwiw, doug s.