[sdiy] O/T Hi-Fi Snake Oil - UKP700 power lead

[Robin Whittle]

Hi Neil,

Not everyone can do this kind of work.  I couldn't and probably you or
any other decent human being couldn't.

How could a responsible human being with critical thinking ability
keep a straight face, sleep at night, etc. while selling a single
mains cord for UKP700?

  http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?pf_id=1554

      The new SuperKord II has every single wire in the cable
      individually terminated using a series of improved
      perforated discs encapsulated in a wooden 'pod'.

      The effect of this on the sound is quite simply,
      outstanding. To quote Russ; "We initially tested the
      SuperKord design against a Silver PowerKord that's
      fitted to my Meridian 808.2i CD player and there was
      a huge step up in performance: there was so much more
      expression in singers' voices, less 'glare' and better
      dynamics. It was as if you’d taken a step closer to the
      performance".

          Magazine Review Comment

             The improvement... was unmistakable, and heard
             as greater definition, more transparency, and
             subtler micro-dynamics.

                Martin Colloms, HIFICRITIC magazine,
                Vol4/No1 January-March 2010

The explanation for this stuff must be found in psychology, including
the fields of advertising and religion/myth.

Perhaps if I could find a population of people who had far too much
money, and either deserved to be mislead with this tripe, or who I
believed for some reason would benefit from being misled and relieved
of their money in this way, I would be tempted to get into this
business.  Still, I think it would be very difficult for me to sell
anyone a power cord for over a thousand dollars.  Such a business -
selling beautifully crafted, but functionally unexceptional, hardware
for the purpose of making purchasers feel good about themselves would
not sit well alongside a conventional business.

Also, the inevitable consequence of a business like this is that not
all the targeted people could buy one.  So of the apparently large set
of people stupid enough to believe these claims, a subset would gain
the purported pleasure and benefit of owning one, while the rest would
be made to feel personally inadequate, or at least left to think more
dimly of the music which emanates from their hi-fi rig, because they
so far haven't purchased one.

I say "stupid" rather than "ignorant", because the potential
purchasers are not financially impoverished, and are therefore
presumably living in Western democracies - though I guess there could
be a market for this stuff in the Saudi Arabia.  (Maybe there poor
people in third world countries dreaming of how good their CD player
would sound if they could afford one of these power cords, but for
some reason I think this affliction is confined to middle-class
third-rate thinkers in developed nations.)

These people are adults and any functionally literate adult can learn
enough about electronics and physics in general from their local
library, or from searching the Net, to understand that, according to
conventional physics, the electrical characteristics of a power cord
can't affect the audio performance of a CD player.

Most of the purchasers and wannabe purchasers probably know this, so I
guess they are seeking is something mystical, something beyond
conventional science.  They should read some good fiction, eat some
hallucinogenic mushrooms or take a real interest in the limits of
contemporary science and the failings of the Big Bang theory.

I am not suggesting that it is wrong to seek a transcendent experience
- just that it is stupid to seek one from a vastly overpriced power
cord when there are many less expensive and more promising approaches.

For instance, they could obtain a CD or LP of Klaus Schulze's 1977
masterpiece "Mirage" and listen to it all, without distraction, in the
dark.  If that doesn't give them a transcendent experience, they are
as thick as a post.

Quantum physics is a confusing - and I believe somewhat confused -
aspect of modern science.  Some people think:

  "If I don't understand it, it must be profound."

So it is possible to successfully market stuff along these lines
("From UKP1050.00" and "from UKP1550.00":

  http://www.russandrews.com/category.asp?cat_id=PQRTMAINSCOND

    Hi-Fi Plus has awarded the Quantum QX2 and QX4 mains
    conditioners their highly regarded "Discovery Product of the
    Year 2008".

    Discovery Product of the Year When it comes to describing what
    the QX2 and QX4 do it’s easy – they simply improve the
    musicality of your Hi-Fi. It’s when you try to explain how the
    Quantum Resonance Technology works that it becomes difficult.
    Hi-Fi Plus acknowledges this with their description of QRT as
    ". . . a field-generator based approach to mains purification
    that manages to confuse (on an intellectual basis) and impress
   (in terms of its unmistakable sonic impact) with equal ease."


If you think the above product is ridiculous, check this one:

  http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?pf_id=1557

The 1554 is made with Teflon insulated copper.  The 1557 is made with
Teflon insulated silver - and costs UKP$1700.

Or http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?pf_id=2137 - UKP1644 for a
half-metre stereo RCA lead.

Or http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?pf_id=3360 - UKP12,600.07
for an 8 foot speaker cable (admittedly made of silver, and 26mm in
diameter).


I don't think the "Fubar" products are a joke by russandrews.com.
They come from a Taiwanese company:

  http://www.firestone-audio.com

These look like quite functional products - without any unrealistic
claims.  I guess the Taiwanese people didn't know the origin of the
term before they named there products:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUBAR

     The Oxford English Dictionary lists Yank, the Army Weekly
     magazine (1944, 7 Jan. p. 8) as its earliest citation: "The
     FUBAR Squadron...FUBAR? It means "' Fucked Up Beyond All
     Recognition.'"


   - Robin

   http://www.firstpr.com.au/rwi/dfish/   http://astroneu.com