Meagan02 - I can't agree with your assessment. Randi may be trying to embarrass the hotshots, but by making this an open challenge, whatever vendetta he may have has been diluted and the question is now open to all. I'm not saying that someone "should" take the time out of their personal lives to do this - that they are bad if they didn't - it is anyone's choice. But his challenge lends itself to the scientific method. Why should we avoid such an experiment? And I think we do have something to lose, and to gain. If you really believe there is a 50/50 chance that the difference could be discerned - we have to lose an unsupported myth and we have to gain some truth. If 50/50 were the case, the truth would be that some people are dillusional and/or value status over their stated goal (enjoy the music). And the truth would benefit most people, that they don't have to spend that kind of money to get good sound. If it 80/20, or some other statistically significant combination, than the truth is otherwise. My experience tells me that this is the case, though I've never heard a $7,000 cable before!
When you ask who cares - I assume you mean who cares about the outcome of the test, not who cares about the truth. I guess my concern is whether such an experiment could be run in a convincing way - and I truly believe that it could - but would require some significant planning and design. With that kind of money, it would be a good project for a grad student in statistics and the scientific method!
Cheers, Peter
