Power cords

Well I don't know much about fancy violins but I have a few old Gibson and Martin Geetars and it's pretty clear that nobody is able to duplicate those for several reasons. One is that the wood is no longer available for the most part and the wood ages with time. Second, every fine instrument has its own voice. Most folks would consider "replicating" such an instrument as simply out of the question. A new copy of a two hundred and fifty year old wooden instrument can never be a "perfect copy." With all due respect Sugarbrie (and I do respect your knowledge of classical music greatly), that's silly.

I will leave the cable cabal to ya all.

Sincerely, I remain

Well, I admit I have my own opinoins on some specific issues re equipment. But I think it's important that we do not gravitate into different camps based on objective v. subjective, or ears v measurements, as this is a false dichotomy and leads nowhere. Anyone in audio needs to use BOTH. Ears and measurements are both important. I do not know anyone who makes a decent speaker, for example, who does NOT tweak the final product by listening. On the other hand there is not a single speaker or cable maker who does not set down measured design parameters for the product. Every part of our systems was made by folk who measure and do math (egads !)too. Take a look at the simplest introductions on some subjects, Dickason on speakers or Rosenblit on tube circuit design, measurements are here to stay.

I think it's very hard sometimes to correlate what you hear with a specific measurment. That does not mean measurements are not important and that we should stop trying. On the other hand, its not so hard to look at the design specs of a cable and ask intelligent questions about the specs and to also ask how much it should cost to make cables based upon those specs. My primary beef about wire is the rediculous price put on it when its used for certain applications and the fantastic hype by the industry that can only exist if we think of wire as some miraculous mystery. The hype, and especially the price tag, cannot survive a sustained look at the design paramenters of cables. If you hear a difference in cables fine...there is no excuse for the cost.

Maybe we can all learn from Henry Kloss who died only a few days ago. I quote from his obituary

" Mr. Kloss was guided as much by his senses as by his intellect. Loudspeaker manufacturers tend to stress the technical specifications of their product, which is like describing a wine by its level of alcohol and tanin or a chocolate cake by its calorie content alone....Mr. Kloss developed formidable technical prowess but avoided marketing by the numbers. Instead, he strove to design equipment for the ear and not the spec sheet." NYTimes,2/2/02

Formidable technical prowess in service of the ear...maybe his greatest legacy?

Sincerely, I remain