$1M challenge for speaker cables

Hardcore audiophiles — the geeks of the music listening world — claim that buying those prohibitively expensive audio cables (they run to the thousands of dollars) can have a significant contribution to your audio system by actually making it sound better. I myself kind of bought into this whole belief by exchanging a perfectly good pair of AKG headphones for a pair of 1.5 meter QED Silver Special 25th Anniversary speaker wires. Did it have a significant difference from my old pair of generic 12 gauge copper wire? Nothing that was really definable as a difference. There was a bit more openness to the sound and the bass was a little tamed but other than that nothing revolutionary happened to my listening experience. That’s why I remain skeptical to this day.

Apparently, other people feel the same way too. Janes Randi, who became famous for issuing the $1 million challenge for any person who can give evidence of paranormal phenomena under controlled conditions, has recently set his sights on this issue by now issuing a challenge related to high-end speaker cables.

In a recent post to the James Randi Education Foundation newsletter, the challenge was given to anyone who can prove that the Pear Cable Anjou cables, which retail for a whopping $7,800 for just 12 feet of cable, can have a sufficiently better sound compared to a pair of Monster Cables. This direct assault on what can be considered as purely marketing driven claims will really put pressure on companies who claim that wires will actually make your system better sounding.

We’ll see if anyone actually steps up to the plate and take on the challenge. This is gonna be exciting!

Posted by Nick at 3:43 pm under Features, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, News