Suggestions for an Alternative Cable Challenge
Okay, so the James Randi / Michael Fremer aka Pear ‘Anjou’ vs Monster Cables, has been called off — Pear’s people backed out. I think there are better shootouts than the one that was proposed - that could be fairly conclusive or at least that we could learn more from. With a bit of imagination and hutzpah.
Randi has succeeded in calling attention to an important question: are super expensive cables really “better” than average (decent) cables? If they are, it should be possible to prove it.
I would like to see a DBT shootout with $100, $1000, and $7000 cables, with a panel of participants, a set of criteria, and a methodology that all can agree on. The stated goal should just be to determine which cable performs better than the others.
The process could be something like:
1. all participants agree on a reference system & location for the test
2. all participants allowed 4-5 hours of listening to be familiar with the reference system
3. all participants agree on 4 recordings to be used in the test (say classical, jazz, pop and vocal)
4. agree on nitty gritty details like the test environment (switchbox or direct wired, how many runs through, what parameters measured on the scorecard, who is appointed as an observer, rotation of ’sweet spot’ seat, and so on)
5. Conduct the test and tabulate the scores. They could be anonymous. Publish the data.
I’d like to hear from others, what kind of shootout would you want to see?
