Most of us that have been interested in this hobby for any length of time have found ourselves shaking our heads at the price of some of the high end esoteric gear. Sure it’s shiny and pretty but is it really worth the price of a brand new motorcycle? Some people obviously think so or these companies wouldn’t stay in business. Of course at those prices all they need to do is sell one to break even on the year.

Case in point, Pear Cable’s Anjou Speaker Cable retails for a paltry $7250 for a 12 foot pair. That’s roughly 302 a foot. Gizmodo did a bit of a rant about the outrageous price a few days ago which caught the attention of James Randi who is now offering a cool million to anyone that can prove that they can hear the difference between these Pear cables and some Monster speaker cables. There are some stipulations however:

First, he/she must have a “media presence,” which means having been published, written about, or known to the media in regard to his/her claimed abilities or powers. This can be established by producing articles, videos, books, or other published material that specifically addresses the person’s abilities. Second, he/she must produce at least one signed document from an academic who has witnessed the powers or abilities of the person, and will validate that these powers or abilities have been verified.

Now, I’m not sure how this works for hearing the difference in audio cables as these rules were outlined for someone trying to demonstrate paranormal ability. Presumably, anyone that can take a hearing test would demonstrate the second requirement. The first requirement is really more to make sure that anyone taking the test has something to lose… like their career. Or at least their credibility. Given the proliferation of blogs these days, one would think they could spend a few months writing and posting all over the net in order to give themselves a “media presence.” Especially if they spent a good bit of that saying how they could pass the challenge. As far as I’m concerned, that is a million dollars he’ll never spend.

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