There was a recent incident at The Absolute Sound which was very indicative of the current state of the audiophile cable business. It also confirms what I wrote above about the unprecedented profit margins in audio cables. According to threads in Critics Asylum, Romy the Cat's audio website and TAS' own "Forums", it appears that TAS senior reviewer, Jonathan Valin, received a 17 meter pair of highly expensive Nordost interconnects for a review. Valin never purchased them. Later, Valin, with a "friend", had this same 17 meter pair cut down and re-terminated into (17) individual 1 meter pairs, and then sold them, to unsuspecting audiophiles, on Audiogon. How the all the money they received was actually split between the two "friends" was never disclosed.
Nordost did not ask for the cables back, which is their standard policy with reviewer "loans". This is true despite the fact that these particular cables sold for many thousands of dollars (which then tells you how little they actually cost to manufacture). Valin obviously knew Nordost would never ask for the cables back. He was only caught because one of the buyers of a 1 meter pair had a problem, called Nordost, and they (Nordost) couldn't figure out how the serial number of a 17 meter pair was now located on a 1 meter pair. After a quick investigation, and a few phone calls, the truth was discovered, but only after Valin first claimed he "lost" the cables.
So what happened to Valin? Nothing. All the blame was placed on Valin's "nefarious friend".
Více o byznysu s kabely na
AUDIO CABLES-THE ULTIMATE TEST OF INTEGRITY
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http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html#Cab