Fpeel: in what way do the "non-believers" inhibit reasonable exchange? There's no insistance that "if something can't be measured it must be psychological." No, the scientific approach would be to be open-minded; that is, "go ahead, prove it." Either measure it and show the results, prove that the effects are audible in double-blind testing by correctly identifying A or B a statistically significant number of times, or explain how it works so others can investigate the phenomenon. Nobody's offered any of these.
Testimonials of "I'm listening to a stock power cable. My, it sounds harsh. Now I'm listening to a Shunyata. Wow, so much more depth and clarity; it's not even subtle!" do not constitute proof or even reliable evidence. It's not being closed-minded to press this point.
Scientific progress is not scattershot. It is based on accumulated knowledge and understanding and continual examination. Even progress based on unforseen discoveries does not develop without understanding the discovered phenomenon. This takes investigation of the discovery. Without understanding there is no progress. Simply asserting that this power cord or that will affect a device's audio performance with no plausible explanation or proof is not understanding. Asserting that power cords are outside the realm of understandable technology also is not understanding, and it's just plain silly to boot. If something previously unknown is occurring with power cords, then please enlighten us on what's going on. Write a paper on it and submit it to the Audio Engineering Society for peer review. Otherwise, go join Pons and Fleischmann with their "cold fusion" scam.
Science doesn't have to investigate every imaginable allegation to maintain credibility or to remain open-minded. If someone asserts that a ball tossed straight up into the air will sometimes float there and not fall back down, it's up to that person to go ahead and prove it by repeatable means; it's not up to the disbelieving scientist to spend the rest of his waking hours tossing a ball straight up to prove that it'll never happen.
Likewise, if someone asserts that contrary to understood physical principles of resistance, inductance, and capacitance, something is going on in wire such that certain braiding techniques and pretty insulation will affect audio signals, or will somehow affect the AC power and somehow improve the audio performance of the device it's attached to, then go ahead: prove your assertion.
To me, it's reasonable to believe that if a system sounds superb with designer power cords and interconnects and speaker wire, it'll also sound superb with stock power cords and interconnects and speaker wire (of adequate gauge), and for a lot less money.
