Power Cables diminishing returns

Schubert,
I love the spirit and substance of your post above, although in light of what you expressed here, I must say that you were a bit harsh in your exchange with Mapman yesterday in the thread about Ohm Micro Talls, calling them a rip-off. It seems at odds with the view you expressed here. In other words, "value" is in the ears of the listener rather than the perceived material value of the speaker. Still, I really liked your eloquent comments here.

Guys (and Elizabeth). The problem is that the double blind testing did not occur in my living room with my power with my equipment and my music. These tests show that in a particular context, PC's are below the threshold where a difference can be discerned. These tests cannot prove that in no context can any person hear a discernable difference. Come to my house. I will switch out my 6K collection of PC's for the $600 collection they replaced. You can bring all the blindfolds you want. Then tell me you can't hear a difference.

I don't care if other people spend money on power cords or not. With all due respect, I get tired of other people telling me what I can or can't hear. I understand quite well the value of double blind testing and understand equally well the placebo effect. I am not a fool, and I don't throw money around foolishly, which is why I have 6K to put into a bunch of PC's that took my system and my enjoyment to a much higher level. How about I sell you all my $100 PC's, and we will both walk away happy?

Aftermarket cord can only introduce extra colors to audio with excessive reactance parameters brought into the power supply(that's why some of us can hear differences). Most of manufacturers advise not to spend money and use the stock one for this particular reason, but they don't realize that audiophiles don't like accuracy and like to shape sound with wires(extremely inefficient by performance and economically according to the today's market prices). For this purpose for shaping the sound the best device is EQ or some basic tone control board on your preamp.

Next stop, AES and ASA agree to double blind testing of cheap power cords vs expensive power cords. NASA is still working out some of the kinks in the Shuttle tiles and doesn't have the time.

I once asked a major manufacturer why they recommended the stock cord and was told too many customers used old or inadequate cords, causing damage, then wanting warranty service. They said the supplied cord was nothing special, but was safe to use.