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PUBLISHER’S LETTER www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.) Technical Staff John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Peter Smith Ross Tester Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc, VK2ZLO Reader Services Ann Jenkinson Advertising Enquiries Leo Simpson Phone (02) 9979 5644 Fax (02) 9979 6503 Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst Rodney Champness, VK3UG Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed Mike Sheriff, B.Sc, VK2YFK Stan Swan SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 003 205 490. ABN 49 003 205 490 All material copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Hannanprint, Noble Park, Victoria. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $76.00 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see the subscription page in this issue. Editorial & advertising offices: Unit 8, 101 Darley St, Mona Vale, NSW 2103. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9979 5644. Fax (02) 9979 6503. E-mail: silchip<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 * Recommended and maximum price only. 2  Silicon Chip High-priced power cords another fraudulent product Every now and again a reader will send me a letter highlighting the fact that high-priced speaker leads and other hifi accessory products continue to be sold by hifi retailers. In fact, there is a letter on this topic in this month’s Mailbag pages. These days I just tend to shake my head in continuing amazement at the apparently endless ignorance and gullibility of customers and the completely shameless exploitation of this credulousness by some hifi retailers. We’ve seen it all before: oxygen free speaker cables with long grain copper; Litz-wound cables to avoid high frequency skin effect; directional interconnects; special video cables and so on. All wrapped up with technical-sounding mumbo-jumbo designed to confuse the already muddle-headed customer with money burning a hole in his pockets. Considering their willingness to sell this high-priced rubbish, some hifi retailers make car salesman and real estate agents look like honest people. I will go further: How can you trust the recommendations of any hifi dealer who sells these accessories? One recent “innovation” involves interconnect cables with a 12V or 24V battery or 48V supply to supposedly bias the cable’s dielectric. You can also have biased speaker cables, ranging from $1415 to $14,715 a pair. The shyster who promotes this nonsense maintains that the “reason your equipment and cables sound better when you leave the power turned on...is because you are partially biasing the dielectric material in every component.” What can I say? It leaves me speechless. The whole product category should probably be referred to Consumer Affairs. They could have a field day with it. In their defence, hifi retailers will probably state that all their customers who buy these high priced cables are highly satisfied, with no complaints. Of course that is to be expected, isn’t it? If an ignorant person buys a technical product with an expectation that it will sound better, it is no surprise that he thinks it does sound better. And if it doesn’t, he is not likely to admit that he has been dudded. But perhaps the worst example of hucksterism has to be the recent emphasis on special power cords, as produced by companies such as Shunyata Research. We are talking real money here; hundreds of dollars for a power cord! I really think the principal of the company must be laughing up his sleeve (and all the way to the bank) at his feckless customers. Shunyata, usually translated as “emptiness”, “voidness”, “nothingness” or even “relativity”, is a key technical and philosophical term in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. You don’t believe me? Just do a Google search on “shunyata”. To top it off, all the product lines are named after snakes. Is that “snake oil” or what? Even worse, there is an Australian company in on the act. Just goes to show that when it comes to making a buck, Aussie companies are right up there. Worst still, overseas “hifi” magazines such as the “Absolute Sound” give ringing endorsements to these products. It makes you wonder what special medication they are taking. Or what kickbacks? Perhaps the final comment should come from my good friend Poul Kirk at Elan Audio, specialist audio manufacturer. As a joke, he has put together a power cord which passes through a black plastic box. The box is supposedly filled with specially imported elephant poo. He says that poo from Australian elephants just isn’t good enough. Perhaps the imported elephant poo has added impurities from wildebeest (Gnu poo?) for special dielectric doping effect. Whatever. But you can bet that Poul Kirk’s special power cord would “sound” at least as good, and possibly even better, than anything from Shunyata Research. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. Leo Simpson siliconchip.com.au