Bromo said:
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. That is how the State of the Art
advances, BTW. Ridicule of things you disagree with or don't
understand is as bad as the pseudoscience that one condemns.
Remember that the Earth was thought to have the sun revolve
around it. It was the observation and dogged pursuit of detail
that revealed the real truth. This is not the same in magnitude,
but similar in effect

Fine. Today, is ANYONE who claims the sun revolves around the
earth taken at all seriously? If someone made such a claim, how
many scientists would immediately drop what they are doing and
rush to perform observations and doggedly pursue the detail
AGAIN? WOuld we have to start the research all over again, even
though the issue was settled centuries ago, and ALL subsequent
evidence spoke strongly against the geocentric view?

No, A few might politely point out the claim is wrong, and send
the claimant off in the direction of literature and studies already
in existance. If that person simply refused to do the work and
insisted, doggedly, that the earth was at the center of the universe,
in total ignorance of the HUGE body of data that clearly contradicts
that view, eventually, what do you think would happen?

And so it goes: many of the high-end claims are really no different
than medievalist quackery and religion. Utterly fantastic claims
are made about this property or that, when the topic was already
studied and settled DECADES before the high-end pulled it out of its,
uhm, wherever.

So, every time some quack comes up with the latest weirdo claim
about green pens or magic bricks or fatastic cables or the latest
dejitter box or whatever, what's supposed to happen?

Does the entire professional audio industry drop whatever its doing,
contacting the boddies over in the psychoacoustics departments, and
all rush madly about proving the next King of Audio Fool's Hill
wrong?

Or, do we wait for the latest Pretender to the Throne to make good
on his claim with some real proof of his own?

Who has what cart before which horse?

+---------------------------------------+
| Dick Pierce |
| Professional Audio Development |
| (1) 781/826-4953 Voice and FAX |
| |
+---------------------------------------+