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Snake Oil & The Point of Diminishing Returns!


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OK, I know this company makes a fine product but I still have a hard time believing the Anaconda Helix is $1901.00 better than a Venom[:|] How exactly does one put that in perspective say to the sound difference in one another? I mean after all we are talking conductive wire here, no moving parts or electronics for that matter[*-)]

shunyata anaconda helix

shunyata python helix

shunyata taipan helix

shunyata copperhead

shunyata copperhead

shunyata venom

Starting at $2000

Shunyata
Venom
$99

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you gotta be kidding - this isn't even snake oil for interconnects - it's a power cord?

I can't see how it moves electrons any more better. besides, what kind of wire is the electricity flowing in before it gets to the wall outlet? before it gets to your circuit breaker panel? upgrading the last 3 feet of conductor is a joke.

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"How exactly does one put that in perspective say to the sound difference in one another? I mean after all we are talking conductive wire here, no moving parts or electronics for that matter"

almost...

one aspect of power cables is the interference they can generate to adjacent input wires.

so basically you can run steel conduit all over the place, or buy power cords that are sheilded.

my personal take is the 150 power cables are probally top of the line for sheilding functionality.

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Kaiser-so which one did you pick? (You may want to grab a pair so you have a spare...) [;)]

Along a similar vein I saw some of these Audioquest interconnects at a shop a few weeks back. The highest priced pair was over $15,000 but I think they came with free batteries! What a deal!

http://www.audioquest.com/pdfs/dbs_anaology_field.pdf

http://www.audioquest.com/

-David

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I had two Empire phono cartridges in the distant past. They had color-coded stylus grips. I heard from someone in the biz that the differences between any two adjacent colors were determined at final inspection; above a certain threshold, assign Color A, below the threshold, assign Color B. So, if this is true, a product line of 8 carts (and I recall they had about that many) would have been, in reality, just four configurations.


Then again, a venerable tradition in the electronics & car business is the "loss leader". A cheapie, sometimes stripped-down version of the bread & butter model with a "low, low" price that the OEM will gladly take a loss on, because its function is to allow the salesman to lever the prospect up to the next higher, more profitable product.

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The answer is obvious.  Clearly, without question there's $1,901 more parts in the higher priced power cord.  No doubt it weighs 1,900% more than that cheap arse cord.  So cough up the money or your system will suffer from a dramatically serious loss of range, focus, detail, depth, clarity and downright purdiness. Hah!

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"Kaiser-so which one did you pick? (You may want to grab a pair so you have a spare...) Wink " None David as I tend to agree with Speakerfritz, you can get a great cable that covers all the basic electrical anomalies at or under $150.00. I shopped A-Gon and found nice Cardas PC's for $76.00 a piece.

I bought most of my ic's off A-goN as well so I got TMC (The Music Cable from Down Under) Truly Balanced XLR cables which their website says they have a MSRP of $588.00 for a one meter pair for $75.00 and a .5 meter pair for $50.00 so I feel I got a good deal because I would have never paid that kind of retail pricing! I bought a nice pair of AQ Coral's in RCA form on A-gon for $70.00 so you can get nice cables at a reasonable price you just have to shop around[:D]

Yes Boom, all my cables are in purdy colors[:P]

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Too funny Indy! My budget and sensibilities won't let me spend more than what a Dorian cost and like cables I have a limit to what I'll spend on a a cartridge and I have a hard time getting past that $1000.00 hump unless of course I'm shopping at my favorite audio discount sight in the classifieds[;)]

There are a lot of very fine cartridges in the $750.00 to $1000.00 dollar range out there[:P]

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"Kaiser-so which one did you pick? (You may want to grab a pair so you have a spare...) Wink " None David as I tend to agree with Speakerfritz, you can get a great cable that covers all the basic electrical anomalies at or under $150.00. I shopped A-Gon and found nice Cardas PC's for $76.00 a piece.

I bought most of my ic's off A-goN as well so I got TMC (The Music Cable from Down Under) Truly Balanced XLR cables which their website says they have a MSRP of $588.00 for a one meter pair for $75.00 and a .5 meter pair for $50.00 so I feel I got a good deal because I would have never paid that kind of retail pricing! I bought a nice pair of AQ Coral's in RCA form on A-gon for $70.00 so you can get nice cables at a reasonable price you just have to shop around[:D]

Yes Boom, all my cables are in purdy colors[:P]

My question was asked in jest. (sometimes it's difficult to tell-sorry for the confusion).

-David

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Oh I know David, I think we agree on outrageous cable tweak pricing and I just was saying good stuff can be found at reasonable prices you just have to shop around a little. [:D]

"...you can get a great cable that covers all the basic electrical anomalies at or under $150.00"

If we are considering $150 reasonable for an AC cable, we are still in the land of "outrageous cable tweak pricing".

May I suggest you "shop around a little" bit more.

[;)]

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Come on guys! [:|] You can do all of this but you know there something you forgot? (Have you seen the wire that runs from your breaker box to the wall out let) [*-)] You got to be kidding if you use anything other then what came with your gear.[H] Unless you have money to burn.[*]

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Well we have AC on one side and DC on the other.....Every body knows its the color of the power cord that makes the sound more colorfull.

Good point Maron!

And don't forget to have the AC cord running downhill from the outlet to the unit...You don't want to add to any resistance 'them little electrons' need to face.

Every little bit helps!

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Dare we approach this logically? Let's take this step by step and see what happens.. (everyone feel free to join in)!

Assume that a listener is thinking about possible ill effects due to power cord inadequacy based on some assumptions about "fields" or "interference" or any other terms (not here defined).

Accept for argument that these thought ill effects increase with proximity and other geometric affairs.

May one conclude that this listener must then logically choose to use dual monoblock amps, separate preamp, (no integrated equipment etc.) in order to keep the spatial distance and geometry of the offending power cords maximally separated, or must one conclude that the mutual interference of multiple offending power cords requires that the equipment be fully integrated and use only one minimally offensive single power cord? Possibly wrapped in aluminium foil?

May one conclude that this whole problem with the power cords is brought about by the industrial military electrical power distribution complex that has insisted on us using central generation and fee rate distribution of lossy AC rather than self distributed immediately local solar direct sunk cost DC?

May we conclude that the cost of almost every electrical appliance in your home, office, industry is far more expensive than it needs to be because the first thing it does is use the expensive transformers inside its chassis to convert the AC to DC? Yeah! All your appliance circuits actually use DC to perform their functions from toaster to home theater. (Except some kinds of motors)

May we conclude that one of the biggest barriers to solar self generation of DC is that all the appliances are made for AC power cords, and you must either pull out the transformers you paid for and rewire for solar DC; or get an expensive system to convert your natural solar DC to AC (so that your appliances can convert it back to DC for internal use)?

May we conclude that this is a huge conspiracy by the "powers" that be (get it?). Can I get a witness?

May we conclude that the apparent financial profit advantage of gouging the electric customer for AC is just a veiled cover for the fact that by using AC in your home wiring they can read your mind and monitor your actions?

(edit) A utility truck just pulled up into my driveway; I need to go find some batteries...

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