What makes you think that the THX certification for wire and cable products was conceived with the custom installer in mind? Any custom installer worth their salt knows how to identify cables and uses techniques other than the THX color coding. In the consumer world, which is where this was REALLY aimed, the THX schema for color coding has been, for the most part, superceded by widespread application of the relevant CEA standard.

Were you there "...in the beginning..." to witness what you are speculating? Have you read the specs?

While THX testing for certification is a precise process, it is no more daunting than the many other certifications a modern audio/video product must have. The process, itself, is not the problem, no more than it is when submitting a product to Dolby, DTS, UL/CSA/SEMKO (etc.), FCC, HDMI, etc.

So THX cables were invented as a way to communicate helpful information for custom installers. I got a sharpie and a box full of wire, I'm going to write "don't forget your wire cutters" on it and charge $5 a foot. Who's in?

The whole THX certification process for cabling is just absurd. It's just a way for Lucas to cash in on the hype surrounding "premium" interconnect and speaker cabling.

But hey, there are folks out there that willingly pay hundreds (or more) dollars for a "premium" IEC power cable and other folks that will pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for relatively short lengths of interconnect and speaker cabling. I suspect if they ever saw the results of scope tests on those "premium" cables vs any competently crafted cable, they would feel a bit foolish...but then again, those are the same kinds of folks that will drone on about "veils being lifted" or "airiness" or equipment sounding "laid back", etc. *chuckle*

Audio reproduction is a science. If you can't reliably and in a repeatable fashion show differences in peformance characteristics of equipment, they probably don't/didn't exist in the first place.

Cheers,

Yep, although I'm sure that there's a provable psychological relationship between what one pays for gear and how good they think their gear sounds.

If it's all pyshcological, then I'm sure a good shrink is going to be a lot cheaper. 8-)

I heard a couple of good ones the other day: "flabbiness" and "honkiness". That cleared things up.

In all fairness, it's not just snobbery involved, all the time. It's fun to make fun of high priced gear here in the land of excellent sound at budget prices, but remember, it's not always about the sound all the time. Off the top of my head:

• Appearance, feel, prestige, heritage, all count for something at some point.
• Ease of use, flexibility, programability, ability to integrate with home automation systems
• Brand loyalties

Those are ALL valid reasons to "pay more" IMO. Heck, just good old fashioned "I like this one better" should be plenty. Where it starts to go wrong is when the guy who buys on preference tries to validate the purchase based on something else. That often results in grasping at straws, honkiness and flabbiness. *snicker*

Yeah, true...if you have more money than some third world countries (don't we all wish), you probably aren't too concerned with value.

And don't forget the significant other saying "I don't like that, buy something that looks nicer" issue.

honkiness?

Like all of us White Boys need to get in touch and accept our honkiness?

And I thought "Chocolatly Midrange" was a good one!

My vote for ultimate snake-oil: Speaker Cable "Lifters" that keep your wire off the carpet!

I think the speaker cables with the batteries is another good snake-oil feature.

Or cables that purport to have "time correcting" windings...or any that say they resolve "skin effect" issues.