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From: Dick Pierce
Date: 6/21/2004 7:46 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id: axCBc.85804$HG.35376@attbi_s53

Bromo wrote:
People wonder why engineers and scientists don't 'rise up' to
counter the ludicrous belief systems of audiophilia. I suspect
it's because they're laughing too hard.

A professional wouldn't ridicule - just note the observation and
trace it to root cause.

So if someone says 1+1=2.1, do you note the observation and trace it to
the root cause?

Ah, but what we were talking about is not that kind of issue.

Excuse me, but it most assuredly is.

No it's not. First math is a language and so one can make irrefutable
assertions. Second, none of the tweaks you name later in this post could be
debunked by a primary grade school student, 1+1=2.1 certainly can and no proof
is required.

People in the high-end
business are making claims that precisely contradict principles
of engineering and physics that have achieved the status of
"theorem" (not theory) through rigorous proof.

Once again the grand invocation of the laws of physics. The notion that an amp
or even a cable may sound different from another amp or cable is hardly a claim
that violates the laws of physics let alone the rules of arithmetic.

They make claims
about tweaks that contradict a century or more of vast and carefully
performed research, and make such claims without a single shred
of evidence to support that claim.

Really? There was research on the effects of green pen on CD playback as long
ago as a century? News to me. By the way there is some evidence to support the
claims. It is anecdotal and not worth much but it does exist.

If I tell you that after washing my amp in warm milk, the sound
is so much more liquid, do you note the observation and trace
it to the root cause? Or have you lost your ability to laugh?

The ridiculous example you give does not have a bearing on what
we were talking about.

Begging your pardon, but it is precisely this sort of ridiculous
claim that the entire topic bears upon. Consider the following
tweaks:

1. Application of gren pens to CDs

2. Water filled audio cables

3. The placement of small wooden pucks around the room to enhance
the sound

4. The strident claim by an editorial contributor to one of the
prominent high-end magazines of the dramatic effects of audible
"glare" from a water faucet in the other room.

5. Armor-all as an "optical impedance matching fluid" to enhance
the playback of CD's

6. CD demagnetizers

7. "micro-diodes" in cables

8. Blue "dithering LEDs" in expensive CD players

Dubious claims yes. But why invoke the laws of physics or vaguely refer to
century old research (I am curious what research was done over a century ago
that would have any bearing on "demagnitizing" CDs, note that the Bedini
contraption is not claimed to demagnetize a CD, or micro-diodes in cables,
whatever that is)? For a group of people who seem to complain so much about
hyperbole this seems a bit much.

How many more of these "ridiculous examples" do you consider to
have "no bearing" on what we were talking about?

Get rid of ALL these "ridiculous examples" that "have no bearing,"
and all of a sudden, the high-end biz is transformed from a back-water
freak-tweal cottage industry governed by mysticism, quackery and
a few vocal, wide-eyed magazine wonks into a reality-based pursuit.

Really? Get rid of the fringe tweak products and everything else in the high
end is OK? wow

Wouldn't THAT be a tragedy, then?

I suppose not. Can't say I ever had any use for any of the tweaks you cited. I
haven't really tested my faucets for audible glare. I do know I hear them when
I turn the water on. I hope everyone else does too. Running water does make
noise. Glare? hmmm. would it upset anyone if I said they sounded wet?