Date:         Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:22:53 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Clark Johnsen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Aren't recordings original sources?
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On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 2:50 PM, David Breneman <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> --- On Thu, 10/16/08, Clark Johnsen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> > > * An example of this type of marketing, and the associated
> > > reviews in magazines, is the $1499 power cord, for which
> > > the reviewer states that "The choice of power cord one makes
> > > to transmit AC over the final feet to a component has the
> > > potential to be the most influential sonic link in a music
> > > system's power chain."
> >
> > And that statement is incorrect, how, exactly?
>


>
> David Breneman replied:
> Well, if the power cord cannot conduct enough current to
> run the device, I suppose that makes it the most
> influential component in the chain.


Yes. *Reductio ad absurdem.*


>   Otherwise, the claim
> is patently silly on the face of it.  I mean, is the
> reader meant to believe that a stinking power cord is
> more important than a transformer, or rectifier or
> filter?


The reader is indeed, and *correctly*, meant to believe that way, and then
to experiment. The fatuous phrase "a stinking power cord" could only
be spoken by someone with no experience in this area.

>
>
> > And what
> > makes it a matter of "marketing" anyway? Alternatively,
> > everything is marketing.
>
> Because a $1500 power cord is designed to separate a
> sucker from his money.  That's pure marketing.


You have data on that?

Perhaps a study published in a reputable, peer-reviewed journal?

If not, then you're operating on the same level as the evil
marketeers, albeit taking the negative. Claims vs. counterclaims, but none
of the "evidence" and "proof" usually demanded by "objectivists".

On another tack, perhaps a $1000 power cord would please you better? Or how
about a $500 one? Specialty cords are available for $100 as well. Are any of
these OK by you?

See, I can't quite decide what you dislike more, the price (admittedly high)
or the very concept that a mere cord (!) could make more difference than "a
transformer, or rectifier or
filter". There being no evidence offered, I'll just have to note that on all
wide-range high-resolution audio systems I've ever heard, specialty power
cords have wrought major improvements. Granted that's just observational
data, but it's the only data so far.

clark