Why high-end cable manufacturers don't post measurements?

First the disclosure. I am an engineer and I have been working in the research and development of technical products since the early 70's. One of the issues that always comes up is "why is your product better" and a few people will ask "can you put a number on it".

Audio products present a unique challenge, everyone has an opinion on what is best. So, how do you even go about developing a scale of "goodness" when there is no agreement on what is good. When you consider basics like impedance it is not difficult to produce a cable that meets the requirements to perform the basic function of transmitting a signal well, so why bother publishing this information. On the other hand, why would an engineer tell anyone, outside of the decision group, about any measurements which may be useful in developing a competing product?

If you have ever been involved in doing blind testing to determine the performance level of a system, you are probably aware of the difficulties in analyzing such data. There are ways to do this type of analysis, using such an analysis in developing a scale which will predict the performance of a system is more than a little elusive. Maybe, just maybe, a study of the history of the development of cables will yield some insight into this issue. The major issue in developing a scale is, what is better in terms of the performance.

Lostinseattle, I agree with your comments. With the addition, you need a scale to measure the skill level of people doing the testing, in this case it also helps if you do a hearing tests on the people doing the scoring, and you also need to understand what a particular person appreciates. The subject gets to be complicated in a hurry, but not unmanageable. Connecting blind test data to engineering measurements is the hard part, but in some cases it is well known. I read these blogs because occasional someone will make a comment that adds one more layer to the problem. The idea is to get your arms around as much information and ideas as possible and continue to search for more.

speedbump6, it sounds to me like you understand the difference between the numbers and test performance performance and the search is to figure out what is not being taken into account in the calculations. From my work on cable design I have found there are some factors (if you think of it as a factor in an equation system) which influence the perceived performance, but are not commonly taught in engineering classes. 

In the case of audio, not ever one likes the same thing. So, sell customers what they want or don't bother with that particular customer at all. I often pass on particular customers completely, but I may ask them if they have experienced I particular design they might like even when it is not my design. I try to be helpful when I can, but only if I think the potential customer may appreciate it.

Racing was a hobby of mine, to old for it now.