Ceramic fuses

ricey...I hope you detected the sarcasm in my writing when I listed "safe" topics. They are anything but safe. It would be nice if we could discuss the pros and cons of audio equipment without it devolving into personal insults, but it does happen all too often, particularly with certain topics.  I don't want make it sound like it's always like this, I have asked for advice and been blown away by the civility and desire of many members to help. Some members have gone so far as to offer advice through email because they wanted to avoid the possibility of attack by others. I try to see the good in people, because there are a lot of good people out there, but sometimes it's a struggle. 

Cal91, I did detect the sarcasm....
As far as good people, thats why Ive stayed with the thread.. Coz they're out there somewhere.... 
Thanks for your input. 
Cheers Ricey

billwojo...I wasn't going to comment but you said something that caught my attention. This idea of expectation or confirmation bias is valid. But I would ask, what harm is done if someone can afford what you call snake oil and believes they hear an improvement in their beloved audio? They're happy because, even if it can't be measured, they hear an improvement. And that's what this hobby is all about - doing everything you can to enable your system to sound as close to a live performance as possible. I don't see why anyone would try to convince someone that what they think brings joy to their life is not real and they have no right to that joy. If you can't accept it on those terms, how about considering the fact that we need people to spend money for the economy's sake. It puts people to work which we need desperately. It works for me.

The harm is they convince others with less financial resources that their route to audio nirvana is through the things less likely to achieve that. The view of the audiophile as a rich old guy with excessive disposable income is often not the case with audiophiles spending what to many would be an excessive percentage of their income chasing the dream.