Silliest audiophile equipment of all time?

I'm currently pitching the idea to a few mags.

I am also interested in more traditional components than tweaks. I'd rather shed some light on dubious claims than just pure snake oil which is obviously absurd.

Just being curious, may we know for what kind of audience? I've seen teleportation and any speaker cable costing more than $20 a foot thrown in one bucket.
Everyone on this forum knows how to interpret that, but how about people who regale themselves with compressed, 3db dynamic range smear - er, sorry, music - coming from cute plastic boxes fed into "now even cheaper with even more unnecessary features than last month's" receivers connected with dental floss to devices as big as the palm of your hand that somehow manage to throw noise at you. (Hey, we must be allowed to mock also).
Whereas I personally don't mind being called a lunatic by self-proclaimed specialists and scientists among those, I pitty people working hard to offer us supreme musical delight. And yes, even if it is only "in our heads" which is where our ears are btw. And no, I'm not a dedicated follower of any claim that hits the audio universe.

It looks like I've stepped on some toes, so apologies to those who took offense to the initial post. I'm not trying to belittle any enthusiasts, just hoping to educate those as to what they should reasonably expect from their gear.

@ Karelfd: The article is for people who wish to spend a few grand on a stereosystem, but probably under 20K. I'm working with a few sound engineers to help me with the 'science' part of it. I was inspired by a Boing Boing post detailing a blind test done by a bunch of audio geeks who weren't able to tell the diff. between monster cables and a coat hanger. Now, I know monster is a joke considered trash around these parts, but it's still an interesting exercise in purchse behavior.

Although the Machina Dynamics stuff will be good for laughs, I'm more interested in compiling a hypothetical rig in order to find that 'plateau' point, if you will, of diminishing returns.

Thanks

Rocket man - if you're serious about writing this article you describe you should try to find some audiophiles, with various levels of investment and obsession, who are local to you and actually experience what it is that is so important to them in how a system can present music. As far as determining a threshold for diminishing returns, I strongly feel you will find that it varies from individual to individual, and is not necessarily dependent upon results that YOU might actually appreciate or even hear, or not hear. For that matter, if put to the test, I'd venture to guess that many of us might fail a coat-hanger-like, blind test as applied to the choices we've made with gear. Ultimately what makes each of us happy is in our own minds and how we individually interpret the things that are around us and that act upon us, interact with us, etc. Whether real or imagined, if you think a phone call from Geoff Kait pounding some of his pots and pans with a spoon (the way someone on another thread described his Teleportation experience) actually made your system sound any different, well, though most of us might feel sorry for you to be that gullible, all the power to you for finding something that makes you happy. If spending $500 on a Swiss turned hardwood knob floats your boat, go for it. Personally, like most, I find those things utterly ridiculous, needless to say. It's easy to make fun of this stuff, and I'm all for laughing at ourselves. I don't have any sense if you'd be laughing at me or with me, Jonny. I don't really know that I care one way or the other. As far as your advisers for your project; I don't believe physical science has as much to do with it as it does with psychology. It's somewhere in the realms of psychology and psycho-acoustics and behavioral science. Then again I don't believe that our strongest connection with music has much to do with science either. It is emotional and primal. As far as why this smaller subset of music lovers seek out some kind of closer connection with the music that moves them at what others may consider great expense...well, I don't think it's much different from those who obsess to bring themselves some happiness through various other obsessions in life...it's a component of being a human being raised in Western culture (materialist culture), this seemingly insatiable desire for more, and better 'experiences' of life, and with it more 'stuff'. Some folks control it, or direct it better than others, while others seem to let it go entirely. We all end up as dust in the end...be happy. If you really want to learn more about the subject you might be interested in reading this book.There are, of course many good books on psycho-acoustics and the psychology of music, as well as those on the psychology of obsession. You may also enjoy this film on a few of our ilk. If you are going to write an article on this stuff you may want to do some research in this direction. Also, since you are seeking the input of those in a public forum, you may want to continue to elaborate on where you're coming from if you want to gain the trust of others in your endeavors.

Marco

Shunyata research should be ashamed at themselves. selling a special foam elevators for $350 for 12. I am not doubting they work cause they probably do but $350 for some special different layers of hard foam. $99 might be about right.

Nordost valhalla. Way overpriced and often hear complaints about it being thin in the lower octaves. Nordost, take a look at the pricing of synergistics new tesla and look a repricing! Valhalla owners seem to be going the way of tesla.

Shakti holagraphs. $1000 and all you need is a couple of fake fig trees and you will probably get better results. Cost of fig trees....ah,not much!

Wilson alexandria speakers at $140,000 or any pair that price or higher. I think this is highway robbery. In many parts of the US you can buy a brand new home for the same price as some of these higher end speakers. I guess, you could take the woofer out of the wilson alexandria and live in side the speaker. Come on, two speakers costing the same as a brand new house!

This is a chance to vent at the joke this hobbies becoming. Its not a hobby a whole lot can do due to the super high prices.

Freemand, I doubt there are very many americans in $140,000 homes who are evaluating Wilson Alexandrias. However, at the peak of the housing bubble, you could probably have found a mortgage broker willing to finance purchase of Wilson speakers with a no-money-down ARM and a balloon payment after five years. Now that's livin' large!