Stillpoints - snake oil?

Still makes no sense to me. If a $500 power cord makes an amp sound $500 better it would be to the advantage of the company to include such a cord since they could produce the cord for a fraction of cost, think scale, why Dell can buy cpu's a lot cheaper than I can, market the amp with the cords sonic advantage only spending a small amount on production. I gues stereo manufacturers need better R&D and marketing people.

Did the manufacturer of the component's you are considering placing them under think highly enough of them to incorporate them into their design or is it only your dealer who sells them that thinks this highly of them?

If they thought a $500 power cord was all that important to their product I assume they would contract with a company that makes them and place them under their brand. So it would be a $500 Audio Research cord not Shunayata. I recently bought a micrmega amp I'll email them and ask if I need such a cord and if I do why are they cheapo's and sell me junk.

If the manufacturer doesn't think they are needed, why do you? If the company that built my amp doesn't see a need for them I see no reason why I should second guess them. 

If they come with the device then I'll try it since they are desinged to use them. I guess I'm weird I assume companies  selling expensive equipment kinda know what they are doing and like Audio Areo if needed they provide it.

Do these high end audio makers recommend any of these $500 cords or $1000 isolation devices? Does say Esoteric say if you use a $ 500 AQ cord and Stillpoints our amps sound a hell of a lot better? We recommend you buy them. Maybe they do I have no idea. 

Yeah, I assume a mains cable is wire and if the wire meets the specs then it's going to work optimally for what it was designed for and the manufacturer who sold the 'wire' with the component stands behind it , just like Ford isn't going to put sub optimal tires on their cars or expect people to go out and buy uber expensive tires and toss the ones out they sold with the car. 

People can spend money on what they want. The OP said he or she was suspicous. I am simply saying if the companies who make these products don't think their products need more isolation to work as designed why would I think they do? 

Do these manufacturers at least recommend the use of an expensive isolation device, cord, fuse , cable , etc.. in order to get the best sound from their devices? They can leave out specific brands if they feel uncomfortable recommending them but in at least a generic sense do they recommend one go out and purchase these things so their stuff will perform better? I'll email the maker of my amp and see what they recommend. They spent the R&D building the thing, I am not an engineer or designer of these things, I assume they know what they are doing so I'll trust their advice and if they say yes it will improve them then I can consider if I want to spend my money on them over a consumer proclaiming yeah I spent $5000 on tweeks and damn they work great!! 

Who said anything about recommending particular brands? I said generic. If the dealers providers of  amps, transports, TT etc.. convey to the dealer hey such and such cord or interconnect , isolation device works great with our product I am sure the dealer would be more than happy to sell them in his store . This is simple marketing 101 to create relationships,  assuming of course the manufacturer believes these added devices actually  work.  Here a simple example,   say the maker of my amp, micromega advises their dealers that for example  Audioquest products work great with our amps then unless the dealer is a moron they are going to tell potental buyers, you know micromega recommends AQ products with their amps and will for sure start carring AQ if they don't already. Nothing I keep reading here makes any sense from a marketing standpoint on thus reluctance of manufacturers recommending products that their suppliers and dealers could also sell IF THEY WORK. Now if they DON'T think they make a difference then I can see the downside of recommending something. Good lord GE not only recommended Finish dishwashing detergent with my new dishwaher they gave me free samples with it.  I guess with the knowledge they were going to alienate loyal Cascade users. 

Thyname, I hope you find it was a worthwhile investment. If not hopefully you can get a refund. 

Boxer12, That's certainly possible. My original point to the OP before being side tracked on cables etc.. was about isolation devices and my advice is ask the manufacturer what is their opinion on using these devices. Since they designed the componet and have their reputation as well as a monetary consideration I would tend to trust their advice as to what is required for the device to perform at it's optimal level. They might advise the use of these devices. I would rather have their opinion over a hundred ancedotal testamonials.