Stereo Cable $1,000,000 challenge accepted

[Bobblehead]

JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation - the former magician who debunks psychics) offered $1,000,000 if anyone could tell the difference between $7,250 stereo cable sold by Pear Audio and equivalent cables sold by Monster Cable.

A writer for Stereophile magazine has accepted the challenge.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/calling-b...not-311034.php

This could get interesting.

[ken0042]

So.... wait a sec. Monster is considered to be the cheep one in this test?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by ken0042

So.... wait a sec. Monster is considered to be the cheep one in this test?

Compared to $7,250 for a couple 12' cables, those Monster cables are a heck of a deal!

Mind you, after conversion that's gotta be only a couple hundred bucks Canadian $.

(how long have Canadians been waiting to turn the table and say jokes like that!)

[I-Hate-Hulse]

So it's a 50-50 shot at a million bucks.... I'd take those odds...

"Heads - Pear, Tails, it's Monster"

[Table 5]

Cables of virtually any kind have to be some of the most ######edly expensive things out there. I have no idea how anyone can justify those prices (and I'm not talking about the $7000 ones). Any in the field know if they actually cost that much to make, or is it just a crazy markup?

[troutman]

Next, let's challenge the wine snobs to see if they can detect the difference between a $200 bottle and a $20 bottle. Studies show they can't (and in some cases could not even tell red wine from white wine).

People will pay a premium for things, even if there is no difference in quality. I suppose it is a prestige thing.

[Bobblehead]

A few of my friends are IT contractors. He said as soon as he raised his rates it became easier to get contracts. If you price yourself too low then people wonder if there is a reason you are undervaluing yourself. If you charge more they figure you must be worth it to ask for that.

But $300+ a foot is pretty excessive.

I would think if you can't tell the difference at least 75% of the time then there really isn't a difference. Any stats whizzes out there know how many samples and what percentages are needed for a sample to be statistically significant?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by troutman

Next, let's challenge the wine snobs to see if they can detect the difference between a $200 bottle and a $20 bottle. Studies show they can't (and in some cases could not even tell red wine from white wine).

What!? That's ridiculous!

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Torture

What!? That's ridiculous!

That's true - I'll find the link for you. Very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_tasting

Scientific research has long demonstrated the power of suggestion in perception as well as the strong effects of expectancies. For example, people expect more expensive wine to have more desirable characteristics than less expensive wine. When given wine that they are falsely told is expensive they virtually always report it as tasting better than the very same wine when they are told that it is inexpensive. French researcher Frédéric Brochet "submitted a mid-range Bordeaux in two different bottles, one labeled as a cheap table wine, the other bearing a grand cru etiquette" and obtained predictable results. Tasters described the supposed grand cru as "woody, complex, and round" and the supposed cheap wine as "short, light, and faulty."[4] Blind tastings have repeatedly demonstrated that price is not highly correlated with the evaluations made by most people who taste wine.

Similarly, people have expectations about wines because of their geographic origin, producer, vintage, color, and many other factors. For example, when Brochet served a white wine he received all the usual descriptions: "fresh, dry, honeyed, lively." Later he served the same wine dyed red and received the usual red terms: "intense, spicy, supple, deep." [5]

The world of wine has numerous myths and exaggerations that are only now being disproven scientifically, yet they influence perceptions and expectancies. Not even professional tasters are immune to the strong effects of expectancies. Therefore, the need for blind tasting continues.

The Wine Snob Scandal:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2002-02...ob-scandal.php

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Mind you, after conversion that's gotta be only a couple hundred bucks Canadian $.

(how long have Canadians been waiting to turn the table and say jokes like that!)

That made me burst out laughing! Isn't that just great?

[photon]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

So it's a 50-50 shot at a million bucks.... I'd take those odds...

"Heads - Pear, Tails, it's Monster"

Not at all.. they'll create the test so that there's a 1 in a million chance at least of getting it right. (EDIT: Getting right through chance)

To do that they'll have to either increase the # of people (which they won't because it's just this guy), or increase the # of trials.

So if they did 20 trials of ABX testing and he got it right 19 times or something like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABX_test

[Cube Inmate]

So, if the guy can't tell the difference, then Monster is encouraged to raise their prices with this new evidence...

On the other hand, if the guy CAN tell the difference, then Monster's going to say "we need to improve our quality" and they'll double their prices after adding an additional 1-micron layer of gold to their connectors.

Cynical? Noooo....

[Burninator]

Randi's response and acceptance to the acceptance.

http://www.randi.org/joom/index.php?...7&Itemid=27#i1

Basically the crux of Randi's challenge is this.

...there is a point beyond which no ear can benefit from the expense of conductors...

And that,

Detecting differences between two varieties of excellent conductors of low-voltage electrical signals – speaker leads – via a direct auditory test, would fall within this usage.

The usage being 'paranormal'.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

So, if the guy can't tell the difference, then Monster is encouraged to raise their prices with this new evidence...

On the other hand, if the guy CAN tell the difference, then Monster's going to say "we need to improve our quality" and they'll double their prices after adding an additional 1-micron layer of gold to their connectors.

Cynical? Noooo....

No it would be the opposite. The point of the test is to say that there is no difference between a "cheap" monster cable and a super expensive Pear Audio cable. Randi is saying that the Pear Audio cables are over priced and their justification for the quality and price of their wires is completely unnecessary because the human ears can't tell a difference.

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by Burninator

No it would be the opposite. The point of the test is to say that there is no difference between a "cheap" monster cable and a super expensive Pear Audio cable. Randi is saying that the Pear Audio cables are over priced and their justification for the quality and price of their wires is completely unnecessary because the human ears can't tell a difference.

Yeah, I know... I'm just being cynical in terms of what I think Monster's response would be. No matter what, they'll try to justify increasing their prices. They can probably come up with the necessary spin to make people pay more, and like it!

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

Yeah, I know... I'm just being cynical in terms of what I think Monster's response would be. No matter what, they'll try to justify increasing their prices. They can probably come up with the necessary spin to make people pay more, and like it!

Ah I see. Yeah I wouldn't be surprised either. Heck, I thought Monster was over priced to begin with! I would like to see monoprice.com thrown into the mix. If they win, it should knock both of those guys down a few pegs. I mean it's just copper wire...

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Compared to $7,250 for a couple 12' cables, those Monster cables are a heck of a deal!

Mind you, after conversion that's gotta be only a couple hundred bucks Canadian $.

(how long have Canadians been waiting to turn the table and say jokes like that!)

Yeah I've been using that joke for a while now. It's $250 US, so like $75 Canadian.

I just found this out yesterday, but apparently the US dollar fell so low that it's now par with Canadian Tire Money!

[FurnaceFace]

From The Rick Mercer Show today:
"Canadian businesses want to get rid of the penny. The mint says no problem, people can just use American nickels instead."

[Hack&Lube]

Monster Cables are the cheap ones in this test???

The real test is to put the cheap radioshack/wal-mart cable in a fancy package with a big sticker price and then give to people off the street to compare with Monster Cable or Pear Audio. This is like that bull**** episode where Penn & Teller had a fancy restaurant that sold $20 bottles of exotic water...where it was just a menu with fancy names and made up labels...and a waiter on the roof filling them from garden hose. The customers sampled the waters and remarked on how they were all different and pure tasting and so much better than tap water!!!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by fotze

Those really expensive ones are the ones who couldn't figure an Excel spreadsheet let alone code anything. They are "project managers".