On 21 Aug 2003 17:54:20 GMT, "Wylie Williams"
wrote:

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote
I identify 'real' audiophiles as those who are aware of what a pool of
stinking snake oil the self-appointed 'high end' industry really is,

Although you eschew saying "all", the figure of speech you use and the
picture it paints seems to place every single member of the "high end"
industry in the same pool. ("Snake oil' means a product that is worthless to
the buyer, right?.) You create a striking image, for which I congratulate
you. Do you, mean to imply "all".

No, but certainly many of the so-called ''high-end' amplifier brands
such as Jadis, Carey, Unison Research, Audio Note etc, and I do mean
*all* of the cable industry, along with the 'tweak' brands such as
Shun Mook and RATA, and the 'sound improvement' stand makers such as
Mana - but not the Townshend Seismic Sink, despite the name!

Surely you will allow for some
percentage of the members of the industry to be honest. Of course I don't
know every member of the industry, but I am unwilling on general principles
to believe that all of them are selling products that they know to be
completely worthless.

Sure, but these products are readily identifiable, because they can be
*proven* to be both sensibly designed and effective. As a 'high end'
brand, Meridian is the obvious example.

and have both the will and the ability to pick out top-class products
from the scams such as 'audiophile' cabling.

If having the will and ability rely on listening to components, reading
reviews, and conferring with other self aoppointed audiophiles then I am an
audiophile. If following correct testing methodology is required then I lack
the ability. Should I try to acquire the ability? I lack the will. As a
"technically challenged" (as I was called when new to RAHE, where newcomers
are graciously greeted) participant on RAHE I see a lot of wrangling about
testing that makes me wonder who to believe. People who seem to be experts
debate each other's abilities at length, and those of us who are not experts
can only sit back and wonder how to sort it out. So by the standards of the
typical audiophile I am one. I believe that by your standards I am not one.
And all this time I thought I was.

You just need to put in some work, and you can move from being a
dilettante to being a *serious* audiophile! :-)
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering