Some folks assume that since scientists know a lot about delivering voltage and amperage that scientists also well understand how different "qualities" of power delivery affect human hearing. In my opinion we know more about the eye than we do about the ear. We have far to go in having as sophisticated a model for hearing as we do for sight. This coming from someone who has experienced dramatic, negative side effects from laser eye surgery!

That said, the water/hose analogy really falls short rather quickly because you have to consider concepts such as dielectric qualties of wire casing (i.e., the changes to the wave nature of the electric current), skin effects, RFI, EMI, and physical vibration. Remember, electrons have both a particle nature and a wave nature. The folks who focus predominantly on the particle nature of electricity are losing sight of an equally large, if not larger, contributer to the quality of sound in a playback system.

Another reason the water/hose analogy is not correct is because in that analogy, the timing of the delivery of the water molecules is not considered because it is not relevant. However, with electricity, it is entirely relevant. The mistiming of electrical information is called jitter, and it can have a profound effect on the percieved speed and detail of music. Have you ever heard a playback system that had really slow bass, even with those without a subwoofer? Ever wondered why? Typically slow bass can be amerliorated with better cabling, which can lower the noise floor and reduce jitter through shielding, adding filtering networks, using different materials, different winding patterns, and other techniques. Mark_H is correct that there is a significant cumulative degenerative effect from the propogation of each individual component's noise to the entire system. So, if you can't tell, I am firmly in the camp with Nick and Mark_H.

Another point, in my opinion, Meridian makes the best multi-channel gear available anywhere. However, there are quite a few pre-amps that better my 861v4 in 2-ch playback. So, please don't fall into the faulty logic that everything Meridian does is near-perfect, so if they don't use the highest quality part or employ a particular technique, that it must be trivial, unimportant, or wrong. To do so reflects a lack of open mindedness and a lack of experience listening to different systems. Tassie_Devil's experience with improving the performance of his 800 with modifications speaks to this.

If anyone is travelling in the Baltimore/Washington DC area, you are welcome to listen to my system to hear the effects of different cabling, in a well tuned system. I will travel to Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to prove this point as well. Any takers?

Damon