JHunter, My first time reading these threads, but this hits my questionong right on. I've been out of the hi fi cicuit for some time,( a good 15 yrs. ). Back when I was really into it, the only 'wire' upgrades were Monster cable speaker wire, & Kimber cable had just hit the market,( we're talking 20 yrs, ago),& I wasn't overly impressed with Kimber back then.I ended up on e-bay from another site, & decided to search audio. I saw a power cord advertised,& was floored by a 1000.00 price tag, then I saw another 2995.00 cord on 'sale' for 1500.00. All I can say is that a fool & their money are soon parted. I can't see spending 1000.00 for a power cord, much less 500.00 for a pr of interconnects. For crying out loud, that's the price of a decent pre-amp, or amp! When you consider the amout of 'material' in any component, even a cheap cd player compared to whats in a 'pig-tail', come on. I don't doubt thay it makes 'a' difference, but the dollars just don't seem to add up. That's my 2 cents worth
Power Cord Challenge
I've got a couple of weeks off before starting a new job. As I clearly fall into the camp of those who suspect no purely audible differences exist (except in pathologic cases of too-small cords or RFI interference), here's a challenge:
If you live in the San Jose, CA area, let's get together and put this to the test. Your system, your choice of music, I supply a stock power cord to test against your exotic. We play both cords blind (identified as A and B) for a reasonable amout of time; I then play one of the two (randomly chosen through a coin flip) for a reasonable amount of time and you identify it as either A or B. We'll do 10 trials for some statistical significance.
Given that some claim drastic and easily heard differences ("blacker background", "music is more alive", etc., etc., etc.), it should be trivial to get right and shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes per trial. The kicker: you get 9 or 10 right and I'll give you $500! The downside: 8 or less correct and you donate $250 to the Red Cross. Hey, I'm even giving you 2 for 1 odds!
Regardless of the outcome, we post the results to this site. Any takers?
Cheers,
JHunter
If you live in the San Jose, CA area, let's get together and put this to the test. Your system, your choice of music, I supply a stock power cord to test against your exotic. We play both cords blind (identified as A and B) for a reasonable amout of time; I then play one of the two (randomly chosen through a coin flip) for a reasonable amount of time and you identify it as either A or B. We'll do 10 trials for some statistical significance.
Given that some claim drastic and easily heard differences ("blacker background", "music is more alive", etc., etc., etc.), it should be trivial to get right and shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes per trial. The kicker: you get 9 or 10 right and I'll give you $500! The downside: 8 or less correct and you donate $250 to the Red Cross. Hey, I'm even giving you 2 for 1 odds!
Regardless of the outcome, we post the results to this site. Any takers?
Cheers,
JHunter